Pre-existence

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Pre-existence (also spelled preëxistence), beforelife, or pre-mortal existence refers to the belief that each individual human soul existed before conception, and at conception (or later, depending on when it is believed that the soul enters the body) one of these pre-existent souls enters, or is placed by God, in the body. This belief is held to a varying degree in Abrahamic and other religions. Alternative positions are traducianism and creationism, which both hold that the individual human soul does not come into existence until conception.

The boundaries of the beforelife are debatable, since there is controversy over when a human life formally begins.

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[edit] Pre-existence in Christianity

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"The idea that certain things pre-exist in...heaven has a long history in the Biblical and early Jewish traditions. Knowledge of this history is essential for an understanding of the idea of pre-existence in the New Testament" [1]

The earliest surviving Christian writings on the pre-existence were from Origen. Origen posited in a speculative work that the soul was assigned a body as a penalty for its sin of looking downward toward the corrupt earth. He also taught that Jesus Christ was actually born of the Father before the world began or before any other creatures existed.

"Jesus Christ Himself, who came, was born of the Father before all creatures; and after He had ministered to the Father in the creation of all things, for through Him all things were made" (The Fundamental Doctrines 1:0:4 [A.D. 225]).

The doctrine also derives in part from a repudiation of Greek thought by Tertullian, who argued that for each immaterial soul a material body was created.

The Christian Bible is unclear about whether or not humans pre-existed. In John 8:23 Jesus says:‘You are from the realms below; I am from the realms above. You are from this world; I am not from this world.’” (Jesus did come from the spirit realm. But, as Jesus said, other men did not.) Romans 9:10-12 says: Re·bek′ah conceived twins ... when they had not yet been born nor had practiced anything good or vile, in order that the purpose of God respecting the choosing might continue dependent, not upon works, but upon the One who calls, it was said to her: “The older will be the slave of the younger.” (Of course, if the twins Jacob and Esau had lived previously in a spirit realm they certainly would have built up a record based on their conduct there. But they had no such record until after their birth as humans.) On the other hand, Paul says in Ephesians 1:4 that "he hath chosen us in him before the foundations of this world Jeremiah 1:5 reads that, "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee." [2])

In historical Christian theology, Jesus pre-existed as the Word who was created all things in heaven, or earth, visible and invisible, and also was born as the Son of God. (John 1:1-14; Colossians 1:15-16). [3]) [4]) [5]) While some Christians insist that humanity did not pre-exist, there is a long Biblical tradition that they did. [6]

Those Church fathers who held that humanity did pre-exist, may have adopted it from Plato or Greek thought but they may have also developed it from biblical passages.

[edit] Pre-mortal existence in Mormonism (Latter-day Saints)

The concept of pre-mortal existence (sometimes referred to as pre-mortal life or, incorrectly, as pre-existence) is an early and fundamental doctrine of Mormonism. In 1833, early in the Latter Day Saint movement, its founder Joseph Smith, Jr. taught that just as Jesus was coeternal with God the Father[7], "Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be." [8] This manner of reference, however, is a little misleading, seeing as Latter-day Saints believe there was a spiritual creation quite some time before the physical creation[9] (intelligences always existed, as stated, but spirits and intelligences are not precisely the same thing); the difference between intelligences and spirits largely seems to be an arguable moot point, so far, until further revelation is given (but, suffice it to say, there are spiritual bodies as well as physical bodies, according to LDS doctrine[10]).

In 1844, Smith taught:

"[T]he soul—the mind of man—the immortal spirit. Where did it come from? All learned men and doctors of divinity say that God created it in the beginning; but it is not so: the very idea lessens man in my estimation.... We say that God himself is a self-existent being.... Man does exist upon the same principles.... [The Bible] does not say in the Hebrew that God created the spirit of man. It says 'God made man out of the earth and put into him Adam's spirit, and so became a living body.' The mind or the intelligence which man possesses is co-equal with God himself.... Is it logical to say that the intelligence of spirits is immortal, and yet that it had a beginning? The intelligence of spirits had not beginning, neither will it have an end. That is good logic. That which has a beginning may have an end. There never was a time when there were not spirits; for they are co-equal [co-eternal] with our Father in heaven." (King Follett Discourse)

After Smith's death, the doctrine of pre-mortal existence was elaborated by some other Latter Day Saint leaders, primarily within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its breakoffs. Although the "mind" and "intelligence" of humanity were still considered to be co-eternal with God, and not created, Brigham Young introduced the idea that the "spirit", which he distinguished from the "mind" or "intelligence", was indeed created and not co-eternal with God. Young postulated that we each had a pre-spirit "intelligence" that later became part of a spirit "body", which then eventually entered a physical body and was born on earth. In 1857, Young stated that every person was "a son or a daughter of [the Father]. In the spirit world their spirits were first begotten and brought forth, and they lived there with their parents for ages before they came here." 4 J.D. 218.

Among Latter-day Saints the idea of "spirit birth" was described in its modern doctrinal form in 1909, when the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued the following statement:

Jesus, however, is the firstborn among all the sons of God—the first begotten in the spirit, and the only begotten in the flesh. He is our elder brother, and we, like Him, are in the image of God. All men and women are in the similitude of the universal Father and Mother, and are literally the sons and daughters of Deity." MFP 4:203.

This description is widely-accepted by modern Latter-day Saints as fundamental to the Plan of Salvation. However, among other Latter Day Saint denominations, there are differences of opinion as to the nature of the pre-mortal existence.

The mainstream LDS Church teaches during the pre-mortal existence, there was a learning process which eventually led to the next necessary step in the pre-mortal spirits' opportunity to progress. This next step included the need to gain a physical body that could experience pain, sorrow and joy and "walk by faith." According to this belief, these purposes were explained and discussed in "councils in heaven," followed by the War in Heaven where Satan rebelled against the plan of Heavenly Father.

References:

[edit] Pre-existence in Judaism

Some believe that the idea of an immortal soul was not originally part of Jewish theology, but that it became so after Jewish contact with Persian and Greek thought.[citation needed]

In rabbinical literature, the souls of all humanity are described as being created during the six days of creation (Book of Genesis). When each person is born, a preexisting soul is placed within the body. (See Tan., Pekude, 3). See also The Guf.

In Tractate Sanhedrin, the question is asked, When does the soul enter the body of the newborn? The answer "at birth" is rejected in favor of an intermediate stage within the womb, usually interpreted as 40 days after conception, after which it is traditionally believed that a baby is taught Torah by an angel.

Within the Jewish scriptures, the Tanack (commonly called the Old Testament by Christianity), there is a passage used to teach that the spirit within humans did not pre-exist, but was created within each person in the womb:

"The burden of the word of the LORD concerning Israel. The saying of the LORD, who stretched out the heavens, laid the foundation of the earth, And formed the spirit of man within him" (Zechariah 12:1. The Holy Scriptures: JPS. Copyright 1917 by the Jewish Publication Society of America)

[edit] Pre-existence in Islam

In Islam, all souls are believed to have been created in adult form (before earthly life) at the same time as when God created the father of Mankind, Adam. The Quran recounts the story of when the descendants of Adam were brought forth before God to testify that God alone is the Lord of creation and therefore only He is worthy of worship (Quran chapter 7, verse 172), so that on the Day of Judgment, people could not make the excuse that they only worshiped others because they were following the ways of their ancestors. God then removed the memory of this event from the minds of Mankind (leaving only an innate awareness the He exists and is One, known as the Fitra in Islam) and He decreed at which point each and every human would be born into the physical world and who would be the direct parent/child to whom in humanity.

[edit] Pre-existence in Greek thought

Plato believed in the pre-existence of the soul, which tied in with his innatism. He thought that we are born with knowledge from a previous life that is subdued at birth and must be relearned. He saw all attainment of knowledge not as acquiring new information, but as remembering previously known information. Before we were born, we existed in a perfect world where we knew everything. This theory is similar to reincarnation, though there are differences - for example, Plato only believes in one earthly life.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Hammerton-Kelly, Robert. Pre-Existence, Wisdom, and the Son of Man Society for New-Testament Studies Monograph Series No.21. Cambridge, UP, 1973, p.15
  2. ^ NWT and Reasoning from the Scriptures.
  3. ^ PDF:THE PRE-EXISTENCE: Is it Biblical?
  4. ^ NON PDF/CACHED: THE PRE-EXISTENCE: Is it Biblical?
  5. ^ Mormonism 201: Chapter 4 - Preexistence
  6. ^ Hammerton-Kelly, Robert. Pre-Existence, Wisdom, and the Son of Man Society for New-Testament Studies Monograph Series No.21. Cambridge, UP, 1973, p.273
  7. ^ LDS D&C 93:21-23
  8. ^ LDS D&C 93:29
  9. ^ LDS Moses 3: 5, 7, 9
  10. ^ Ensign, September 1984 - First Presidency Message - We Are Children of God
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