Free Republic

...Latter-day Saint literature to a Mother in Heaven...Since the 1840s, this cherished doctrine has been an important, although relatively obscure, part of the Latter-day Saint understanding of the premortal origins and divine nature of mankind... As Elder Erastus Snow (Quorum of the Twelve, February 12, 1849–May 27, 1888) avowed: “What,” says one, “do you mean we should understand that Deity consists of man and woman?” Most certainly I do. If I believe anything that God has ever said about himself...I must believe that deity consists of man and woman...There can be no God except he is composed of the man...

The Bible teaches life begins at conception, which means there is no pre-existence of life. Christ is the only Pre-Existent Being. According to the Bible, we were not in a pre-existence with Christ. There are no scriptures in the Bible stating we were in heaven and will one day return. Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained...

Pre-Mortal Existence in Western Thought Latter-day Saints usually think of pre-existence as a doctrine unique to Mormonism, known to Abraham and alluded to by Wordsworth in an oft-cited poem, but otherwise long lost to the Christian world. In actual fact, belief in the soul’s pre-mortal existence constitutes a rich if largely forgotten tradition in Western thought. Several philosophers from Plato through Leibniz and Kant to twentieth-century Cambridge intellectuals, dozens of poets from antiquity to Robert Frost, and numerous religious thinkers throughout the Jewish and Christian traditions, propounded a pre-earthly realm peopled by the souls of men and women yet...

BIRTHby W. John Walsh"Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee…"Latter-day Saints believe that every member of the human family is an eternal being. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught : "The spirit of man is not a created being; it existed from eternity, and will exist to eternity."  While each person is eternal, he or she goes through "successive phases"  of existence. Each of these phases is marked by a birth or change, including our spirit birth, our mortal birth, and our spiritual conversion. This series of births...