Exposing Pre-Existence

 

One of the doctrines that Mormonism teaches is known as pre-existence. Pre-existence is the belief that humanity started out in heaven as spirit-beings prior to being born in the flesh, chose God’s plan of salvation, which according to their doctrine, meant taking the opportunity to live righteously on earth, in order to “become like” God the Father.

In LDS’ Journal of Discourse, founder Joseph Smith claims, “We were first begotten as spirit babies in heaven and then born naturally on earth” (Journal of Discourse, Vol. 4, p. 218).

In a pamphlet handed out at the temple on BYU Campus, this belief is further defined by saying, “Life for you did not begin here on earth. You lived before you were born (how does one live before they are born?), you will live on in the spirit world after your mortal life is ended... We all once lived in the presence of God the eternal father... With this divine parentage, your destiny, through righteous living, is to become like your Father in Heaven and return to his presence.”

This pamphlet goes on to say, “In your life before birth, before the earth was created God presented a plan to his children for their advancement. You were free to accept or reject this plan of salvation. Those spirit children who accepted his plan were given the opportunity to live on earth; those who rejected his plan were not privileged to enter mortality.” 

• This in and of itself contradicts the Bible on another level as well, which is that God's plan for humanity has remained a "mystery which has been HIDDEN from the ages and from generations, but NOW has been REVEALED to His saints. To them God willed to MAKE KNOWN what are the riches of the glory of this mystery... which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:26-27).

By reading through just a few paragraphs explaining the LDS doctrine on pre-existence, anyone with even a miniscule grasp on Scripture will quickly realize that something is amiss, not only biblically, but logically. I am sure that even for the most devout Mormon, this concept of preexistence seems a bit hard to swallow, unless of course they disconnect themselves from reasonable thinking.

If we do approach this subject logically we quickly run into problems.

• For example, the Bible tells us we will remember our life on earth (1 Cor. 13:12). If that is the case, why don’t we remember our past life in eternity prior to coming to earth? Scripture is quite clear that Jesus (our spiritual brother according to Mormon doctrine) remembers His preexistence in eternity past. Jesus remembered Abraham (John 8:58), and He remembers His time with His Father in eternity past (John 17:5). Why is it that we do not if we are truly His spiritual brothers and sisters?

• The Bible also tells us that we will be reunited with our loved one’s in heaven (those loved ones who were believers), and died before us (1 Thess. 4:13-18), which further supports the fact that we will remember each other in eternity. Why is it, we have no recollection of our loved one’s in heaven prior to being born on earth? Do we only get to remember our existence from the time God sent us to earth, and not our relationship with Him and one another prior to coming into mortality?

• The Bible tells us that we will remember our earthly relationship with Jesus when we get to heaven, why don’t any of us get to remember our relationship with Him in eternity past, prior to coming to earth? After all, Mormon doctrine teaches that He was our firstborn spirit-brother. Why don’t we get to remember Jesus, along with all of our other family members?

I can go on and on with logical scenarios like these, that in the end obviously make no sense at all. But this would only be wasting our time, and take us away from the purpose of this article. The purpose of this article is to present undisputable evidence from Scripture that clearly establishes the fact that we did not “pre-exist” in heaven prior to being born.

There is no greater defense, as well as explanation in all of Scripture proving preexistence is nonexistent, than in Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians.

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul is defending the resurrection of the dead.

In this chapter Paul tells us:

• Jesus rose from the dead according to Scripture (1 Cor. 15:1-4)
• There were over 500 witnesses who testified of it (1 Cor. 15:5-7), and even Paul himself was a witness, and that is why they as witnesses preach Christ has Risen (1 Cor. 15:9-11)
• Paul also argues that because Christ has risen from the dead, death has been defeated (1 Cor. 15:12-34)

And so we see in context up to this point, the focus and purpose of this chapter is the importance of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

After Paul establishes that the Resurrection of Jesus must happen according to the Scriptures (15:1-4), and did happen according to many witnesses (15:5-8), so that eternal life could be offered to humanity (15:9-11), and death could be defeated (15:12-34), he answers the question of what our resurrected or glorified bodies will be like (15:35).

Paul tells us that “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet... the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (15:52), and death will be “swallowed up in victory” (15:53-57).

So this is what Paul is trying to get across in this very important Christological and Eschatological chapter from first Corinthians. And, it is in the section of this chapter that Paul explains how our resurrected body will be different than our earthly body (15:35-49) that the Bible will reveal to us that preexistence is clearly something that doesn’t exist at all.

• If you are a Mormon reading this, please stay with me here, and decide for yourself if what I point out about this essential Mormon doctrine is contrary to what the Holy Scriptures tell us.

After answering the question of what type of body the dead in Christ will receive once they resurrect (1 Cor. 15:35-38), and the different types of bodies in all areas of creation. There are celestial (heavenly), and terrestrial (earthly) bodies. In the celestial, there is the sun, moon, and stars, and each are different and each has its own glory or special qualities (1 Cor. 15:39-41). There is also a terrestrial body, which is our earthly bodies that were birthed in corruption, dishonor, and weakness. And on the other side of eternity there will be a spiritual body which will be raised in incorruption, glory, and power (v.45).

In (1 Cor. 15:42-45) Paul begins differentiating between our natural earthly bodies, and our supernatural spiritual bodies, pointing out how our earthly bodies were sown in corruption, dishonor, and weakness (vv.42-45). While the spiritual body is raised in incorruption, glory, and power (vv.42-45).

It is at this moment that the Bible clearly reveals to us that there is absolutely no way we could have ever pre-existed in heaven before being born on earth. The Bible clearly teaches us in 1 Corinthians 15:46, “However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual.”

Here we read that the spiritual body DOES NOT COME FIRST, but the NATURAL BODY COMES FIRST. After we live first in our natural body (on earth), “afterward the spiritual” body (in heaven) is given to us (1 Corinthians 15:46).

The Bible tells us that God has “created” man from the dust of the ground (Genesis 2:7), and woman from man’s rib (Genesis 2:22), and not in heaven before the world was made. Upon creating man from dust, and woman from mans rib, God began a new reproduction system for humanity, which is man and women have intercourse, and with God’s blessing produce offspring.  

A verse that is commonly used to support preexistence is Jeremiah 1:5 which says, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you...”

This could appear to be talking about preexistence, but only if you take the verse out of context. This verse is not talking about pre-existence though. It is talking about God’s ordination and appointment of Jeremiah to be a prophet to his nation. Meaning, before God began knitting Jeremiah together in his mother’s womb, He knew what He was going to design Jeremiah to do, which is to be a prophet (cf. Psalm 139:13-18). The same is true for the Apostle Paul, who had a calling upon his life prior to ever being born (Galatians 1:15).

In Jeremiah 1:5, the Lord speaks to Jeremiah saying, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

This was God’s plan for Jeremiah in the same way Ephesians 2:10 is God’s plan for us. The Bible says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

So as you can see the doctrine of preexistence is truly nonexistent when we approach this deceptive doctrine with logical thinking, and more importantly sound doctrine.


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