Sunday, October 23, 2011

PRE-EXISTENCE?

Reason 22

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 you a prophet to the nations."
          As a member I thought this meant God literally knew us as spirit children. However, I did not take into consideration that God is all knowing. He knows all because He created all...in the womb.

     Psalm 22:10
I was cast upon You from birth. From My mother's womb You have been My God.
          If we were all living in the pre-existence with God in heaven, then God would have been my God before my mother's womb.

     Psalm 139:13
For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb.

     Isaiah 49:1
"Listen, O coastlands, to Me, And take heed, you peoples from afar! The LORD has called Me from the womb; From the matrix of My mother He has made mention of My name.
          These Bible verses tell us life begins in our Mother's womb.

     Matthew 10:30
But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

     1 Corinthians 15:45-47
And so it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven.

The Bible also teaches Jesus is the only pre-existent Being ever and our existence began on earth.

     John 8:58
Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."

     Colossians 1:17
And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

The Book of Mormon agrees with the Bible = no pre-existence of man.

     Jacob 4:9
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 being 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?
          (this scripture does not even make sense to me)

     Alma 18:28 and 34-36
And Ammon said: This is God. And Ammon said unto him again: Believest thou that this Great Spirit, who is God, created all things which are in heaven and in the earth?


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; And a portion of that Spirit dwelleth in me, which giveth me knowledge, and also power according to my faith and desires which are in God. Now when Ammon had said these words, he began at the creation of the world, and also the creation of Adam, and told him all the things concerning the fall of man, and rehearsed and laid before him the records and the holy scriptures of the people, which had been spoken by the prophets, even down to the time that their father, Lehi, left Jerusalem.

Other LDS scriptures disagree with the Bible and the Book of Mormon = man pre-existed.
LDS scriptures also state Jesus is Firstborn of the many pre-existent children of God and everyone pre-existed. Another LDS teaching is that we will return to live with Heavenly Father, because we lived with Him before we came to this earth. This is a major teaching of the LDS church, but it is not a Biblical teaching.

     D&C 93:23
Ye were also in the beginning with the Father, that which is Spirit, even the Spirit of truth;

     D&C 93:29-33
Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be. All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also; otherwise there is no existence. Behold, here is the agency of man, and here is the condemnation of man; because that which was from the beginning is plainly manifest unto them, and they receive not the light. And every man whose spirit receiveth not the light is under condemnation. For man is spirit. The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy;

     Pearl of Great Price: Abraham 3:18
Howbeit that he made the greater star; as, also, if there be two spirits, and one shall be more intelligent than the other, yet these two spirits, notwithstanding one is more intelligent than the other, have no beginning, they existed before, they shall have no end, they shall exist after, for they are gnolaum, or eternal.

     PoGP: Abraham 3:21-26
lds.org/scriptures/pgp/abr/3

     PoGP: Moses 5:16-41
lds.org/scriptures/pgp/moses/5

The same scriptures state Jesus and Lucifer (Satan) lived together in the pre-existence and Jesus is the Spirit Brother of Lucifer.

     D&C 93:21
And now, verily I say unto you, I was in the beginning with the Father, and am the Firstborn;

     PoGP: Abraham 3:27
And the Lord said: Whom shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of Man: Here am I, send me. And another answered and said: Here am I, send me. And the Lord said: I will send the first.

Also see post MY SAVIOR, Reason 4
as well as the following websites.

     LDSvideo.org #23
ldsvideo.org/2011/06/preexistance-and-afterlife.html

     carm.org
carm.org/questions/about-doctrine/did-we-exist-god-we-were-born-earth

My unanswered question was:

If the Bible teaches Christ is the only person to pre-exist, then why does the LDS church teach everyone pre-existed?

I was initially devastated when I received this answer that I did not live in a pre-existence, yet overjoyed to find the truth that Christ is the only person worthy enough to have pre-existed! He created me in my mother's womb. He knows everything about me...even the number of hairs on my head. I AM TRULY BLESSED!

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