2 Nephi 1&2 Captain of My Soul

And if ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is no sin. If ye shall say there is no sin, ye shall also say there is no righteousness. And if there be no righteousness there be no happiness. And if there be no righteousness nor happiness there be no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not there is no God. And if there is no God we are not, neither the earth; for there could have been no creation of things, neither to act nor to be acted upon; wherefore, all things must have vanished away.

2 Nephi 2:13

Can I just say existentialism? Existentialism is the philosophical belief system that every action is ONLY a result of a cause and so there is no freedom or accountability. On the other side of the spectrum we have those who believe men are always free to choose. Sounds like the gospel right? This model would also say that we can chose where we end up in our next life because we are always free. This is not true. Really, we are a mixture of freedom and determinism. We have absolute agency over our choices, but the consequences are existentially determined by our choices. This is what Lehi teaches in 2 Nephi 2.  

And the Messiah cometh in the fulness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall. And because that they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the law at the great and last day, according to the commandments which God hath given. 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. 

2 Nephi 2:26-27

I love this principle. Though there are consequences for our actions, our outcome is our choice and it always has been.

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me, 

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance 

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll. 

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

-William Ernest Henley