This article discusses how pre-existence is related to eternal progression, and contrasts it with what the Bible teaches. It also shows how the Book of Mormon contradicts and disproves the LDS doctrine on the pre-existence of man.



ETERNAL PROGRESSION

The LDS maintains that we all originally existed as intelligent matter and then progressed to the point of being born as spirit beings into the family of God, our Heavenly Father, and his wife/wives, all of whom had bodies of flesh and bone. However, this story doesn't jell. It is a fact that kind reproduces kind, so how could beings of flesh and bone have reproduced children who did not have fleshly bodies, but were in a spirit form?

The First Presidency of the LDS church (Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder and Anthon H. Lund) said:

"All men and women are in the similitude of the universal Father and Mother and are literally sons and daughters of Deity;" as spirits they were the "offspring of celestial parentage." (Man, His Origin and Destiny, pages 351, 355) c/f Mormon Doctrine, LDS Apostle Bruce R. McConkie, page 589.

Not only does the LDS teach that mankind were the literal spiritual offspring of God the Heavenly Father in a pre-existence, but that Christ was his first-born, followed by the rest of mankind and all the angelic beings. (See chapter 2, Gospel Principles; Doctrine and Covenants 93:21, Discourses of Brigham Young, Page 26 and "Mormon Doctrine" by Bruce McConkie, pages 192-193, 321, 516, 589).

They go on to teach that we lived in this spiritual pre-existence, which they call our first estate, until we were ready for the next step in our eternal progression. This involved taking on bodies of flesh and bone, by being born all over again, but this time to earthly parents. Then whilst on earth we would be required to serve a period of probation. And through obedience to the laws and ordinances of the LDS gospel, it would be possible for men to be exalted to godhood, in the same way as our Heavenly Father had been before us. With this end in mind, a council was called in heaven to work out the details of how all of this would be managed (c/f Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pages 348-9, 365, POGP Abraham 3:24-28, Doctrine and Covenants 29:36-40).

However, this doctrine of eternal progression, from which the teaching of pre-existence stems, is flawed. If God is a glorified man who progressed to a spirit being by being born into the family of an already existing God, where did the first God come from?



WAR IN HEAVEN

The teaching of the LDS is that during our pre-existence, the fall of mankind was planned, and that Jesus, the oldest son of the Heavenly Father, was chosen as the Redeemer. However, Lucifer, who was Jesus's brother and ours too, came up with a counter-plan, whereby the whole of mankind could be saved by not permitting anyone to have free agency (the right to choose their own actions and make their own decisions). There was some controversy over this, which culminated in a war in heaven, where a third of the hosts of heaven fought on the side of Lucifer. They were not permitted to obtain physical bodies. This meant that they would not be able to progress any further than they had done at that stage.

And again, we exclaim, O Mormonism! No wonder that Lucifer, son of the morning, the next heir to Jesus Christ, our eldest brother, should fight so hard against his brethren; he lost the glory, the honor, power, and dominion of a God and the knowledge, spirit, authority and keys of the priesthood of the son of God! (Times and Seasons, volume 5, page 758, Jan. 1, 1844, article by W. W. Phelps)

The story of Lucifer is the most terrible example of such apostasy. ... He pitted his own plan and will against the purposes of God. He strove to gain the birthright of his Elder Brother, Jesus the Christ (LDS Apostle John A. Widsoe, Evidences and Reconcliations, page 209)

The 1992 edition of Gospel Principles, pages 18 to 19, explains:

"Because we are here on earth and have mortal bodies, we know that we chose to follow Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father ..... When he became our Savior, he did his part to help us return to our heavenly home. It is now up to each of us to do our part and become worthy of exaltation." [Exaltation is an LDS term used denoting progression to godhood and eternal life, which are one and the same thing in Mormonism.]

Some of those who were not valiant in the war in heaven were given black or coloured bodies here on earth. Others were born into non-Mormon families. In other words, their race or the fact that they weren't born as Mormons was a direct consequence of their performance in the pre-existence.

The race and nation in which men are born in this world is a direct result of their pre-existent life. All the spirit hosts of heaven deemed worthy to receive mortal bodies were foreordained to pass through this earthly probation in the particular race and nation suited to their needs, circumstances and talents. (Bruce R. McConkie, "Mormon Doctrine, 1993 printing," page 616)

Though he was a rebel and an associate of Lucifer in pre-existence, and though he was a liar from the beginning whose name was Perdition, Cain managed to attain the privilege of mortal birth. ..... Then he came out in open rebellion, fought God, worshiped Lucifer, and slew Abel. ..... As a result of his rebellion, Cain was cursed ..... The Lord placed on Cain the mark of a dark skin; he became the ancestor of the black race. (Moses 5, Genesis 4, TOPJS page 169) (LDS Apostle Bruce McConkie, "Mormon Doctrine, 1993 printing," pages 108-109.)

(The reader needs to take note that whenever LDS teachings are changed, which has happened on a regular basis ever since the inception of their church, their doctrinal books are all amended accordingly. In other words, their teachings are there in black and white one minute, but have disappeared the next. On the other hand, truth is eternal. It never changes.)



LDS SCRIPTURES DISPROVE PRE-EXISTENCE

Joseph Smith wrote his Book of Mormon at about the time the LDS church first came into being. So it reflects his beliefs prior to his change over to pre-existence and eternal progression. Consequently, the Book of Mormon teaches that mankind was created by God, thereby contradicting his later revelations on pre-existence:

And Ammon said: Yea, and he looketh down upon all the children of men; and he knows all the thoughts and intents of the heart; for by his hand were they all created from the beginning. (BOM, Alma 18:32) (Italics inserted by writer.)

Ammon said unto him: I am a man; and man in the beginning was created after the image of God, and I am called by his Holy Spirit to teach these things unto this people, that they may be brought to a knowledge of that which is just and true. (BOM Alma 18:34) (Italics inserted by writer.)

Now when Ammon had said these words, he began at the creation of the world, and also the creation of Adam ...... (BOM, Alma 18:36) (Italics inserted by writer.)

For behold by the power of his word man came upon the face of the earth, which earth was created by the power of his word. Wherefore, if God was able to speak and the world was, and to speak and man was created, O then why not able to command the earth, or the workmanship of his hands upon the face of it, according to his will and pleasure? (BOM, Jacob 4:8) (Italics inserted by writer.)

It needs to be noted that the Book of Mormon also teaches that God is spirit, in line with the Bible and with Joseph Smith's earlier teachings, and in contradiction of today's Mormon beliefs. This subject is fully covered in other articles on this site.



GOD'S FOREKNOWLEDGE DOES NOT MEAN WE PRE-EXISTED

When our doctrine on deity is wrong, all our other doctrines will be wrong too, because they all stem from our understanding of God.

Some of the scriptures reveal God's foreknowledge about certain individuals. And it seems that because the LDS teaches that God is merely a glorified man, they equate Him with finite man regarding the knowledge of future things. So they assume that if God had foreknowledge about people, this means that He must have known them in a prior existence. But the reason that they have fallen into this error is because they are completely unfamiliar with the attributes of the biblical God. He is infinite.

The LDS God bears no resemblance to the God of the Bible at all. He is a far inferior, finite being with a body of flesh and bone, and is restricted in many ways. Before being exalted to godhood, he was a man who had lived on an earth such as ours. So he could not have created the universe. This means that he is not even remotely necessary to it, but instead is subject to it in exactly the same way as we are.

On the other hand, because the biblical God created the universe it is subject to Him and He sustains it by His almighty power (Hebrews 1:3). So He reigns supreme over all. He also created time and space. Consequently He is not bound by these dimensions or subject to them, as is the Mormon God, who can only be in one place at a time. The whole of the universe and all that is in it, including time and space, is subject to the deity of the Bible. He lives in eternity, outside of time and space, and to Him the past, present and future is one long panorama. That's why He is able to give His prophets accurate prophecies about what is to come. It's just as easy for Him to know the future as it is for Him to know the present or the past. His foreknowledge means that He isn't restricted, as we are, by the dimension of time.

Where the biblical God says in Jeremiah 1:5 that He knew all about Jeremiah even before he had been born, Mormons have jumped to the false conclusion that God must have known Jeremiah in a previous existence. And instead of learning something about God's attribute of foreknowledge from Jeremiah 1:5, they have used it as a so-called proof scripture for their doctrine of pre-existence.

A more explicit example of the biblical God's foreknowledge that can't be attributed to the possibility of a Mormon pre-existence, concerns Cyrus, the pagan king of Persia. Here is the relevant prophecy:

That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid. (Isaiah 44:28, KJV)

In this prophecy Cyrus is actually named by God's prophet, Isaiah, 150 years before he began his reign in 550 BC. In other words, even before Cyrus had been born God foreknew that his parents would name him "Cyrus" and that he would become the king of Persia. He also foreknew that Cyrus would be instrumental in enabling the Israelites to return to Jerusalem after their captivity and dispersion. The fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy (and also another by Jeremiah), is as follows:

Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? The Lord his God be with him, and let him go up. (2 Chronicles 36:22-23, KJV)

It can now be clearly seen that the biblical God's attribute of foreknowledge concerning His calling of Jeremiah, has been wrongly used by the LDS as so-called "proof" that God knew us all in a previous existence.

Another of the scriptures the LDS uses to vindicate their doctrine of pre-existence is Ecclesiastes 12:7. They maintain that it wouldn't be possible to return to God after death unless we'd lived with Him before we were born:

Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. (Ecclesiastes 12:7, KJV).

However, this scripture doesn't say that the spirit lived with God before birth and then returns to Him after death. It says that the spirit will return to God who gave it. The Bible teaches that God creates our mortal bodies and then forms a spirit within us. Giving, creating or forming something is a completely different thing to procreating or reproducing it. Nowhere does the Bible say that our spirits were begotten by God in a previous existence. That is purely a Mormon fantasy.



THE BIBLE DISPROVES THE LDS DOCTRINE OF PRE-EXISTENCE

Not only is there no proof in the Bible that we had a pre-existence, but the following scriptures actually disprove this false LDS doctrine:

And he [Jesus] said unto them, Ye are from beneath [the earth]; I am from above [heaven]: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. (John 8:23, KJV)

And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. (1 Corinthians 15: 45-47, KJV)

..... The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. (Zechariah 12:1, KJV) (Italics inserted by author.)

The first three leads will take you to articles on major changes in LDS doctrine on deity, and the last lead to an article on Eternal Progression:

The Mormon Gods, Past and Present

The LDS Jesus Christ is Not the Saviour of the Bible

The LDS Holy Spirit and Holy Ghost

Mormonism's Law of Eternal Progression


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