I ponder 2 Nephi 2 again today.
“27 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.”
If a person is not free to choose captivity and death then that person is not actually free. But why you may ask would anyone choose captivity and death in the first place? Why would someone crawl to the bottom of a liquor bottle? Why would someone take that first drag from a cigarette? Why would someone who has witnessed the captivity and death of heroin try it anyway? Why for that matter do people accept permanent prescriptions of modern legal medicine?
There is comfort in captivity. There is solace in death. And there is the desire of a person to choose for themself whether to be free and how much to be free. Freedom can be frightening. The more absolute that freedom becomes the more terrifying it can be. You have perhaps seen people on social media complain that being an adult means having to choose what to eat every single day of their lives. So for some it is easier, safer, more comforting, and more peaceful to listen to someone or something else tell them what to do and just do it. It is just as wrong to force someone to be free as it is to force them to serve. That I think is the appeal of captivity and death.
Latter Day Sinner 