Premortal Life

Premortal Life: PL

Jeremiah 1:4-5

In the beginning with God                       D&C 93:29

Noble and Great ones                             Abraham 3:22-23

Adam was told of existence before birth Moses 6:51

All things created spiritually first             Moses 3:5

Received lessons and preparation         D&C 138:55-56

Made choices in Heaven                        Alma 13:3

War in Heaven                                        Revelation 12:7-9

Death returns us to God                         Ecclesiastes 12:7

Resurrection brings us back to Lord      Helaman 14:17

Without an understanding of our premortal life we cannot correctly comprehend our relationship with our Heavenly Father, nor can we completely grasp the purpose of this earth life and our divine destiny. This doctrine of premortal life, was known to ancient Christians. For nearly five hundred years the doctrine was taught, but it was then rejected as a heresy by a clergy that had slipped into the Dark Ages of apostasy. Once they rejected this doctrine … they could never unravel the mystery of life. They became like a man trying to assemble a strand of pearls on a string that was too short. There is no way they can put them all together.

There is no way to make sense out of life without a knowledge of the doctrine of premortal life. … When we understand the doctrine of premortal life, then things fit together and make sense.

Life did not begin with mortal birth.  When we comprehend the doctrine of premortal life, we know that we are the children of God, that we lived with him in spirit form before entering mortality.

We know that this life is a test, that life did not begin with birth, nor will it end with death.

Then life begins to make sense, with meaning and purpose even in all of the chaotic mischief that mankind creates for itself.

                Boyd K. Packer, October 1983 General Conference

Because we came to earth to be tested and to walk by faith, the Lord has not revealed many details about premortal life. What has been revealed, however, is sufficient for us to accomplish our purpose here on earth.

Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: “In the premortal world we were taught the Father’s plan of redemption and enjoyed moral agency. Through the use of this agency, men and women developed varying appetites, talents, and capacities over time and no spirits remained the same” (Give Heed unto the Word of the Lord [CES fireside for young adults, May 2, 1999], 2).

During your premortal life you learned to love truth. You made correct eternal choices. You knew that here in mortality, there would be afflictions and adversity, sorrow and suffering, tests and trials to help you grow and progress. You also knew that you could continue making correct choices, repent of incorrect choices, and through the Atonement of Jesus Christ inherit eternal life.

                Randall K. Bennett, October 2011 General Conference

One of the strange things to me is the fact that so many people believe that there is a spirit in man and when he dies that spirit continues to live as an immortal thing, yet that it had no existence until man was born in this mortal life. 

Joseph Fielding Smith in Doctrines of Salvation, comp. Bruce R McConkie vol 1:56