We Lived with God Before We Were Born

Did my consciousness or intelligence exist before I was born?

At some point or another, many people ask three fundamental questions about their existence:

1) Where did I come from?

2) Why am I here?

3) What happens after death?

Science provides no satisfactory answers to these questions. Using the scientific method of observation and empirical evidence, all that scientists can say is that physical life begins at conception, life on earth has no specific purpose except to perpetuate the species, and death results in annihilation with nothing beyond.

Philosophical Answers

The meaning of life and the universe, therefore, belongs to philosophy and religion. Modern philosophers sidestep any questions of the origins of life on Earth. They accept the scientific theory that we are the product of blind evolutionary forces. Given that there is no good reason for humans to exist beyond sheer luck, philosophers focus on the question of whether human life can hold genuine value.

Nihilists say that life has no purpose or meaning, and to try to create meaning is a fool's errand. Existentialists believe that we have no inherent purpose, and each person creates their own meaning.  Objective naturalists claim that we can create our own meaning in life when we harness our natural passions to achieve something that benefits others. In other words, either there is no God, so who cares, or we are our own God, and we make ourselves whatever we want to be.

While many people accept these secular views of life, I choose to reject them in favor of a fourth belief. I believe in objective purpose, ultimate accountability, and intrinsic human worth anchored in a divine being and an eternal destiny. In other words, I reject the notion that I am an evolutionary accident, the universe is a cold and silent place, and an ant and I are of equal value on the cosmic scale. Because science and philosophy cannot give me a soul-satisfying answer to my basic questions, the fourth avenue is religion.

Religious Answers

Turning to religion, before I try to understand the purpose of my life, I want to know where I came from. Most religions provide an answer to this question. The majority teach that the soul is created at conception. Only a few (Hinduism, Jainism, and Kabbalahism) claim that the human soul exists with God before birth. Only one Christian faith tradition teaches of an eternal soul that exists before birth and continues to exist after death, namely, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One of the reasons I was first attracted to the Latter-day Saint church was its belief in a preexistence or ante-mortal state of man.

I choose to believe the doctrine that my identity, consciousness, and personality did not begin at conception or birth. I lived as a spirit-child of my Heavenly Father. In fact, I am co-eternal with God. Just as He did not create the earth out of nothing, but rather, organized existing materials to form the earth, He did not create me out of nothing, but rather, brought my beginningless intelligence into His family by clothing me with a spirit body.

As a spirit-child of God, I participated in a Grand Council in heaven before the earth was created. God presented His plan of salvation, in which the earth would be prepared, and I would have a chance to receive a mortal body, experience the pains and adversities of mortal life, and exercise my moral agency. I made my first important choice when I chose God's plan.

Latter-day Saint Answers

This doctrine of preexistence is distinctive to the Latter-day Saint tradition among Christian denominations; it has scriptural backing. Ancient Scripture hints at the doctrine, and modern revelation speaks explicitly of human origin.

For example, in Numbers 16:22, Moses addressed Jehovah as "the God of the spirits of all flesh." In the Book of Job, God responded to Job's complaining by asking, "Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? ... When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" (Job 38:4, 7) In calling Jeremiah to be His prophet to the Jews, God said, "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations" (Jeremiah, 1:5).

In Jesus's day, the notion of a person's existence before birth was not foreign. The apostles asked Jesus, "Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" (John 9:2). The Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians, "he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world" (Ephesians 1:4).

In the Book of Mormon, another ancient text translated and published in modern times, the Prophet Alma spoke of men ordained to the priesthood as "being called and prepared from the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God, on account of their exceeding faith and good works; in the first place being left to choose good or evil" (Alma 13:3). And the Prophet Samuel taught, "the resurrection of Christ redeemeth mankind, yea, even all mankind, and bringeth them back into the presence of the Lord" (Helaman 14:17). People could not be "brought back" into God's presence if they had not already been there in the first place.

Further, in the book of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price we read, "And he [Enoch] beheld the spirits that God had created" before they came to the earth (see Moses 6:36). In plain language, Father Abraham testified: "Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones; And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born" (Abraham 3:22-23).

And to put a finer point on this discussion of the preexistence of man, God revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1833, "Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be" (Doctrine and Covenants 93:29).

Conclusion

I believe, therefore, that we all were spirit-children of God and lived with Him before we were born on this earth because I believe in what the Scriptures have said about man's origin. I believe the Bible. I have an undeniable testimony of the Book of Mormon as the word of God. And I possess an unshakeable witness of Joseph Smith as God's prophet in these last days. I choose to believe I have a divine origin, a meaningful purpose, and an eternal destiny because to believe anything less would make life meaningless and untenable.

Sin Is Real and Repentance Is Necessary

Isn't sin just a construct of ancient religious leaders to try to control people?

Before explaining why I believe sin is real and repentance is necessary, I should define what I mean by sin and repentance. 

Sin Defined

First, sin is any action, desire, or intention that puts me out of alignment with God. God is the perfect Being. By His very nature, His every action, desire, thought, and intention is perfect. He is in perfect harmony with the universe and its laws and with Himself. He possesses no contradictions in His character or attributes. He never changes or deviates, because to change would either degrade His perfection or admit that He was not perfect before the change.

Because He is perfectly aligned with the universe and its laws, He knows how to be perfectly happy. Because I am His beloved child, He wants me to be as happy as He is. So, He has revealed the secret of being happy. We call that secret happiness formula the commandments. 

God first introduced commandments to Adam and Eve. Their posterity carried on the commandments through the Patriarchs down to Moses. Because the enslaved Israelites had completely lost the commandments, God revealed them anew through Moses in what are identified as the Ten Commandments. These are the most basic, fundamental guidelines for living a happy life.

The people of Israel struggled individually and as a society for centuries to live by these ten simple rules. Then God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to reiterate the Ten Commandments and to elevate them with the higher laws of the Gospel of Christ.

Therefore, the most obvious sins are those actions that deviate from the commandments. In addition, Jesus taught that our thoughts and desires are as important as our actions. Therefore, to think, desire, or act contrary to the commandments and laws of the Gospel puts me out of alignment with God's plan for my happiness. This is sin.

Repentance Defined

Second, repentance is the act of aligning myself with God's way of living and His will for me. To repent means literally to turn back. If I have turned away from God by even a small degree, then I repent when I  turn back to Him and follow His plan again. If sinning is not so much about breaking a rule as it is about getting out of harmony with God, then repenting is not so much about following prescribed steps of contrition and restitution as it is about getting myself back in harmony with God.

Of course, to be in harmony with God, I need to be in harmony with the people around me. That may mean confessing, apologizing, restoring, repaying, and earning renewed trust. When I am realigned with people I have offended or hurt, I can then align myself with God. 

Because God is loving and merciful, and because He knows I'm a flawed human, He has made provision for me to make mistakes and then overcome them. Making mistakes and then fixing them is called learning. The laws of the universe demand justice in the form of punishment. But God has tempered justice with mercy through His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus took my punishment through His atonement, so God could offer me forgiveness and as many chances as I need to start over and try again.

Forgiveness, however, is not free and unconditional. God will not forgive me while I'm in a state of misalignment. He will not save me in my sins. But He will save me from my sins when I put those sins away and align myself again with Him. 

Conclusion

Therefore, sin is real because God is real, and His godly ways are the only ways to become like Him, which is His goal for me. I sin when I turn away from His goal and follow my own lesser goals, that is, when I try to be happy in some other way than the way God is happy.

Repentance is therefore necessary to bring myself back in alignment with God's goal. When I repent, He forgives. Without His forgiveness, I would be lost forever. But because He forgives, I can learn and grow without being eternally condemned.

I choose to believe sin is real and repentance is necessary because my experience has taught me that lasting happiness is found in following God's plan.

God Hears and Answers Prayers

My belief in prayer begins with foundational beliefs:

1. God exists.

2. God is aware of us in the universe.

3. God cares about humans as His children.

4. God engages with us.

5.  The scriptures are true accounts of real people who had real experiences with God.

These fundamental beliefs are the background upon which I have built my belief that prayer works. I have laid out my rationale for these beliefs in previous articles, so I won't rehearse them here. 

I am also aware that many people believe in prayer as a beneficial practice without the notion that a God is listening. Some consider prayer a form of meditation or a way of sending energy into the universe. That's not the kind of prayer, however, that I'm talking about. 

When I speak of praying, I mean a conversation between a human and an omniscient, omnipotent, Supreme Being, the King of the Universe. I believe I can speak to a God who created me, knows me, loves me, sent me to earth to have experiences and learn lessons, and wants me to return to Him.  He is my Father, and I am His child. He knows my name and is interested in me as an individual. 

I believe God hears and answers my prayers because:

1. The Scriptures provide me with a written record of hundreds of answered prayers.  Both the Bible and the Book of Mormon recount the experiences of many people who prayed and received answers. While many of those people were prophets with spectacular experiences, many more were normal people like me, who pleaded for strength, guidance, or rescue and received the help they needed.

2. People I know personally have testified to the effects of answered prayers in their lives. Their needs and desires are very much like those of the people in Scripture, and their petitions have been granted. Some answers have been dramatic, while most have been subtle, almost coincidental--except that so many coincidences no longer appear coincidental.

3. Jesus set the example of prayer. Not only did He teach His disciples to pray, but He also practiced what He preached, often finding places and periods of solitude where He could commune with His Father. 

4. In addition, Jesus promised that prayers would be answered. "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you" (Matthew 7:7). "And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it" (John 14:13-14). Because I believe Jesus is the Son of God (another foundational belief), I trust that He is telling the truth.

5. I have had my own personal experience with prayer. I have spoken to my Father in the name of Jesus daily, often multiple times a day, for more than fifty years. I have prayed in times of great sorrow and great joy, great distress and great triumph. Many of my prayers have been outpourings of gratitude. Some have been angry shouts, while most have been whispered or silent. He lets me know that He hears me. Most often, He provides a subtle feeling of peace, a gentle acknowledgement that He has received my message. I have received ideas and impressions. Sometimes He has given me words, sentences, and paragraphs--not in my ears but in my mind. He has strengthened me, encouraged me, lifted me, and prompted me to act. When I have needed guidance, He has confirmed certain critical decisions and directed me away from bad choices.

Not every prayer has required an answer or deserved one. I often get no for an answer, and even more often, I get no answer at all. I've learned that God's silence doesn't mean that He's not listening or doesn't care. Sometimes, He lets me exercise my agency, use my own logic, and learn from the consequences, both good and bad. He's not raising a puppet, He's training a son.

I choose to believe in prayer, not only because I have the evidence and testimony of others, and not only because I have a lifetime of my own experiences, but because my logic tells me that a God who took the time and effort to create the universe and the earth, and who created me and sent me here, would not turn His back and walk away. My Father has a purpose for me, and He wants to have a relationship with me. That relationship I call prayer.