Understanding the gospel of Jesus Christ is made easier if we believe and understand the doctrine that we lived before we were born. I’ve found that most people find it easy to accept this idea because of their faith in life after death. Life before birth, and life after death are companion doctrines. To my knowledge LDS are the only Christian church to teach the doctrine of premortality.
The doctrine of premortality teaches that we were born as spirit children to heavenly parents. In the premortal world of spirits we grew into adult spirits. We experienced many things there that prepared us to come to this life where a veil of forgetfulness is placed over our memory so we can learn to walk by faith while in mortal life.
Following are a few key points related to this doctrine:
1. Mankind are the sons and daughters of God (D&C 76:24).
2. Jesus Christ is the first born of God’s spirit children (1 Colossians 1:13-19, D&C 93:21).
3. We were instructed and prepared for life on earth while in premortality (D&C 138:56).
4. There was a “war” in heaven over the plan of salvation. Lucifer sought to take away the agency of man. (Revelation 12:7, Moses 4:3).
5. Those who followed Lucifer (satan) became evil spirits and will never have a body. (Moses 4:3, Mosiah 3:6).
6. Some were foreordained to be God’s prophets and leaders (Abraham 3:22-23).
7. “Privileges” in this life result from our faithfulness in premortality (Alma 13:3-5).
8. Life on earth is designed to accomplish two things: 1) give us experience, 2) try us to determine our future reward (D&C 76:43).
9. Everyone born into earth-life is innocent (D&C 93:38).
10. God’s purpose is to help each of His children become perfect, even as He is (Moses 1:39, Matt 5:48).
Adam, our progenitor, “the first man,” was, like Christ, a preexistent spirit, and like Christ he took upon him an appropriate body, the body of a man, and so became a “living soul.” The doctrine of the pre-existence revealed so plainly, particularly in latter days-pours a wonderful flood of light upon the otherwise mysterious problem of man’s origin. It shows that man, as a spirit, was begotten and born of heavenly parents, and reared to maturity in the eternal mansions of the Father, prior to coming upon the earth in a temporal body to undergo an experience in mortality. It teaches that all men existed in the spirit before any man existed in the flesh, and that all who have inhabited the earth since Adam have taken bodies and become souls in like manner.
Jesus, however, is the firstborn among all the sons of God-the first begotten in the spirit, and the only begotten in the flesh. He is our elder brother, and we, like Him, are in the image of God. All men and women are in the similitude of the universal Father and Mother, and are literally the sons and daughters of Deity.
Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder, Anthon H. Lund,
First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (As quoted in Encyclopedia of Mormonism [Macmillan, 1992], vol. 4, pp. 1668, 1670).
Since “all men and women are in [that] similitude,” obviously there were both male and female spirits in heaven. Elder James E. Talmage wrote:
We affirm as reasonable, scriptural, and true, the eternity of sex among the children of God. The distinction between male and female is no condition peculiar to the relatively brief period of mortal life. It was an essential characteristic of our pre-existent condition, even as it shall continue after death, in both disembodied and resurrected states… (”The Eternity of Sex,” Millennial Star, 24 August 1922, p. 530.)
It sounds like you are assuming a literal viviparous spirit birth. That is not a safe assumption (though it is common enough). There are lots of problems with that idea, not the least of which is the fact that Joseph Smith indicated that spirits are beginningless. See a couple of long debates on the subject here: http://www.newcoolthang.com/index.php/category/theology/spirit-birth/
Geoff J,
Thanks for your thoughts and the link.
My purpose in posting a brief outline regarding permortality is to touch on the subject with the hope of increasing faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Premortality, in my opinion,is an essential point for followers of Christ to understand. It helps answer many questions for the thoughtful seeker. However, the essential points of the doctrine is all that is needed to increase faith.
Jared,
what evidence do you have that spirits grew from and infant state to a adult state? I’m not antagonistic in my questioning, I feel the same but have found no definitive information to prove this postulation. The idea is implied in the scripture but is some what ambiguous.
I would also like to have your opinion–if you believe the above–on how extensive you felt the pre earth life was, ie. did we organize into family units, make covenants, etc. Obviously the eternal principle of gaining light and knowledge, and having greater opportunities and advantages in the next world through diligence and obedience in a preceding world, would translate into our opportunities here, but to what extent, and how would that relate to the doctrine of omniscience?
I would love to hear your comments. Dan
PS I Geoff J is right to an extent, spirit is eternal but I believe that we were organized–added upon by God– from intelligent matter into a spiritual being and therefor became a begotten son or daughter of God. The question again is was that spirit that was then organized, an infant type or a adult type individual or entity?
Hi Dan,
I’ll gather together a few quotes that can be used to support the idea we were born as children and then grew. I don’t think we have anything conclusive.
Dan said: what evidence do you have that spirits grew from and infant state to a adult state?
I found the following sources that shed some light on your question:
“that man, as a spirit, was begotten and born of heavenly parents, and reared to maturity in the eternal mansions of the Father” First Presidency Statement: 1909
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Orson Pratt taught:
If we were born in heaven before this world was made, the question might arise as to the nature of that birth. Was it by command that the spiritual substance, scattered through space, was miraculously brought together, and organized into a spiritual form, and called a spirit? is that the way we were born? Is that the way that Jesus, the firstborn of every creature, was brought into existence? Oh no; we were all born there after the same manner that we are here, that is to say, every person that had an existence before he came here had a literal father and a literal mother, a personal father and a personal mother; hence the Apostle Paul, in speaking to the heathen at Ephesus, says, “We are his offspring.” JD 15:246
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Ella Jensen, while in the spirit world, saw children:
…another room filled with children. They were all arranged in perfect order, the smallest ones first, then larger ones, according to age and size…They seemed to be convened in a sort of Primary or Sunday School…
Life Everlasting, Duane S. Crowther, p. 174