Editor’s note: To support personal and family gospel learning, the Church News is publishing articles on messages from October 2025 general conference. It is recommended to listen to or read the full address in addition to reviewing these resources.
About this talk
- “They Are Their Own Judges”
- Elder David A. Bednar | Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
- Sunday afternoon session of October 2025 general conference.
- Theme: If children of God have exercised faith in Jesus Christ, made and kept covenants with God, and repented of their sins, the judgment bar will be pleasing.
Read the full message here.
Read a summary of Elder Bednar’s message here.
Outline
- Moroni described the Resurrection and Final Judgment as “pleasing” (Moroni 10:34), even though other prophets connected Judgment Day with “dread and fear” (Jacob 6:13). This indicates that the doctrine of Christ enabled Moroni and other prophets to anticipate that day with hope.
The Father’s plan of happiness
- The purposes of God’s plan are to provide His spirit children with opportunities to receive a physical body, learn good from evil, grow spiritually and progress eternally. Moral agency, or the freedom to choose and act, is essential in this plan.
- The fundamental purposes for the exercise of agency are to love one another and to choose God.
- God’s children were not given agency to do whatever they want, but rather to seek after and act in accordance with eternal truth.
Doing and becoming
- President Dallin H. Oaks taught that the Final Judgment is not just an evaluation of what one has done; it is an acknowledgment of what one has become.
The Savior’s Atonement
- Works and desires alone do not and cannot save people. Individuals are reconciled with God only through the mercy and grace available through the Savior’s infinite and eternal atoning sacrifice.
Godly fear
- The Final Judgment will not be filled with uncertainty and fear, but rather “godly fear” (Hebrews 12:28), which encompasses a deep feeling of reverence and awe for Jesus Christ. It grows out of a correct understanding that everyone will be accountable for their own desires, thoughts and acts.
- If one’s desires have been for righteousness and one’s works have been good, then the judgment bar will be pleasing. Individuals are ultimately their own judges.
Promise and testimony
- Alma testified of a merciful and just judgment to those who “do good continually” (Alma 41:13-14). This blessing is available to every devoted disciple of the Savior.
Reflection questions
What do you learn about God’s character from Elder Bednar’s teachings on the Final Judgment?
How can you shift your focus from “doing” to “becoming”?
Why does cultivating godly fear bring peace and confidence rather than anxiety and fear?
How does learning about Christ’s Atonement impact your view of the Final Judgment?
How is moral agency a blessing?
Speaker quotes
- “A primary purpose of the Creation and of our mortal existence is to provide us the opportunity to act and become what the Lord invites us to become.”
- “The fundamental purposes for the exercise of agency are to love one another and to choose God. And these two purposes align precisely with the first and second great commandments to love God with all our heart, soul and mind and to love our neighbor as ourselves.”
- “Our works and desires alone do not and cannot save us. ‘After all we can do’ (2 Nephi 25:23), we are reconciled with God only through the mercy and grace available through the Savior’s infinite and eternal atoning sacrifice.”
Reference scriptures
- “Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.”
- “For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.”
- “And I soon go to the place of my rest, which is with my Redeemer; for I know that in him I shall rest. And I rejoice in the day when my mortal shall put on immortality, and shall stand before him; then shall I see his face with pleasure, and he will say unto me: Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of my Father. Amen.”
Invitations and promises
- “Consider that we are commanded — not merely admonished or counseled but commanded — to use our agency to love one another and choose God.”
- “We have not been blessed with moral agency to do whatever we want whenever we will. Rather, according to the Father’s plan, we have received moral agency to seek after and act in accordance with eternal truth. As ‘agents unto [ourselves]’ (Doctrine and Covenants 58:28), we should engage anxiously in good causes, ‘do many things of [our] own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness’ (Doctrine and Covenants 58:27).”
- “If our desires have been for righteousness and our works good — meaning we have exercised faith in Jesus Christ, made and kept covenants with God, and repented of our sins — then the judgment bar will be pleasing.”
Additional resources
- Related image: “The Second Coming” by Harry Anderson
- Related video: “The Kingdoms of Glory”
- Related hymn: No. 1002, “When the Savior Comes Again”
Recent conference talks on agency
- President Dallin H. Oaks: “Divine Helps for Mortality” (April 2025)
- President Dallin H. Oaks: “Kingdoms of Glory” (October 2023)
- President Russell M. Nelson: “Think Celestial!” (October 2023)
Who is Elder Bednar?
- Elder David A. Bednar was sustained Oct. 2, 2004, to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. President of Ricks College during its transition to BYU–Idaho, Elder Bednar was formerly a professor of management in the College of Business Administration at the University of Arkansas.
