Are Spirits Created, Born, or are they Eternal and have always existed as spirit individuals?
There are some misleading and misunderstood teachings in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that pop out in talks, devotionals, classes, conversations, and writings. One of the most common is that each of us are literally spirit children of heavenly parents or God Himself, suggesting that we have progenitors of our spirits. The idea that exalted and glorified parents are giving birth to spirit offspring in heaven is prevalent throughout the church membership and in many splinter groups as well. Understanding the details of the subjects to be covered here will not exclude one from a resurrection to the Celestial Kingdom. It may however, help determine which degree within that kingdom one will reside and might, because of a personal attitude of apathy and complacency, exclude one from the top degree.
The treatment of this subject is meant for those of advanced religious thought and of a certainty in possession of the Gift of the Holy Ghost. The following information would likely be considered to be delving into “the mysteries” of Mormonism and is discouraged by Mormon Church leadership. This paper is indeed not intended for doctrinal beginners. The advice of church leadership to leave the mysteries alone is not because mere mortals cannot comprehend them, but rather because the work of the church is to introduce people to the gate by which they can embark on the straight and narrow path and assist them to begin walking that path, which leads back to the presence of God. On that path are many who are at different stages of their growth and development in the gospel and they must be handled carefully to not harm those with new and fragile testimonies. However, there are those who are further along that path or at least they think they are who have been mislead to believe a fairy-tale. This paper is for them.
This imagined scenario of created spirits is not a new belief. It appears that it had its beginnings and continued from the earliest time after the founding of the church. It’s understandable how this belief occurred in view of some of the then new revelations and teachings about the kingdoms of heaven and the potential for righteous humans to gain a more glorious exaltation and to have eternal increase, meaning ever expanding families through the eternities. And of course there is also the underlying question of what the exalted humans would be accomplishing in the interim periods between earthly creations.
The popular, but faulty scenario goes something like this: There are three major kingdoms of glory after the final judgement and in the realm of the Celestial kingdom there are three divisions or degrees. Those who go to the top degree will be godly and have eternal increase or additions to their family structure that began during their mortality. And preparations must be made for the creation of the next earth or creative cycle. So what will those of the top degree be doing? “Why, adding to their posterity of course by having eternal increase through giving birth to spirit babies made out of intelligence as a raw material to then people the soon to be created earth.”
It all seems quite logical and easily understood. The only problem is that it is less truth and more imagined fantasy. First, spirits are not created or procreated beings. Joseph couldn’t have been clearer on that fact and twisting his words will never make them different.
After many years of listening to others express their ideas on the subject, parts of the following is a generalized aggregation of the imagined scenario. You may have heard versions that differ in some details but I think the one alluded to herein is pretty close to the overall consensus. It all starts with a belief that there was an actual spiritual creation or procreation or “making of things” including people spiritually before they existed as spirits and then after that they were created physically or earthly. The creation as a more comprehensive subject is for a different time but for now this one is limited to the spirit of man. From the earliest times Joseph tried to correct this faulty thinking about the spiritual creation of man.
To begin, Joseph gave a key to understanding the word “create” in connection with the beginnings of a new earthly cycle. The word “create” should be rendered as “organized.” He was specifically focused on the fact that things physical are always built from existing physical matter and things spiritual are eternal in their existence and never “made.”
When God speaks about creating or organizing spirits or a spiritual creation, the connotation is always along the lines of contemplating, planning, categorizing, determining, preparing, commanding, or stating an intended outcome.
The prevailing belief regarding spiritual children or offspring must be thoroughly investigated. Mormons are taught the concept of eternal progression. They are also taught that families (earthly family ties and structure) are forever, or at least can be so. Another teaching is that they can, if they perform well enough, receive an exaltation in the highest degree of the Celestial Kingdom and become members in a quorum of Gods and joint heirs with Christ of all the Father has. These exalted beings will be under Adam who is under the Lord Christ who becomes God the Father at the conclusion of this creative cycle when the earth is redeemed and glorified. Also, that as exalted beings they will have eternal increase and eternal lives. This increase is obviously not money, but wealth in ongoing progeny. These generalized ideas lead some to illogically conclude and believe that with the highest exaltation and at least one, if not many exalted wives they will be bearing spiritual offspring while in heaven to prepare for the next creative cycle of which our Christ will be the Father of that next created earthly estate. Taking all these ideas into account and the need to imagine an explanation about what exalted people might be doing between earthly creations, we get the following ideas.
Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p.751 SPIRIT CHILDREN
In a future eternity, spirit children will be born to exalted, perfected glorified couples for whom the family unit continues. The very glory of exalted beings is to have “a fullness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever.” (D. & C. 132:19-25, 29-32; 131:1-4.)
The preferred wording of such a statement should have been, “glorified parents” instead of “glorified couples.” There will be polygamists like Joseph Smith Jr. there too. Regardless of brother McConkie’s opinion, plural marriage remains part of the fullness of the gospel restored to the earth by Joseph Smith even though the membership of the church rightfully voted to no longer participate in that practice within the church and no longer keep it as a church tenet. This option is legal and legitimate according to the church’s governing law of common consent. One holding the Priesthood of God however, does not have such an option, but must obey every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God according the oath and covenant of the Priesthood and not just the will of the membership or leadership of the church. It should also be noted that brother McConkie’s scriptural references do not directly support his conclusion or statement even though he is abstractly on the right track in that aspect of their glory is ongoing seed or offspring and family. Furthermore, all statements in this paper that reference scripture should be carefully scrutinized by the reader to determine their full context and applicability to the referenced material and the veracity of the interpreted conclusion based on those references.
The only part of the foregoing generally accepted, if publicly unspoken, scenario that gives rise to confusion and contradiction is brother McConkie’s conclusion, which relates to the idea of procreating spiritual offspring. Another false idea that exists in the church in contradiction to the above quotation, many, if not most adherents believe and are taught that we all, as spiritual children, are the literal offspring of God the Eternal Father.
Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p.653-654
There is a God in Heaven who is the sovereign power of the universe, and we are His literal offspring.
Also in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Vol.2, GOD THE FATHER
The Father, Elohim, is called the Father because he is the literal father of the spirits of mortals (Heb. 12:9).
First of all, it logically can’t be both ways. Either we are literally the offspring of exalted parents, once of an earth like ours, or we are the literal offspring of God the eternal Father alone. Also, God the Father only claims one being to be literally His Only Begotten Son.
The definition of LITERAL might help.
lit-er-al | ˈlidərəl, ˈlitrəl |
adjective
1 taking words in their usual or most basic sense without metaphor or allegory: absolute: exact: prosaic.
If all the highly exalted beings are not making spirit children, what then is an eternal family and eternal increase? To add confusion, for some, to this question, Joseph Smith taught clearly that the spirit of man is as eternal as God or as Joseph actually stated, “co-equal” with God with regard to existence as a spirit, and is not created in any fashion, meaning that your spirit is eternal and has existed the same as God’s Spirit having no beginning and no end. He makes the explicit statement that all things created must have an end and states it as an eternal principle of truth. Joseph’s greatest key gave to understanding this is his statement is: God cannot create Himself.
The following is another example of the ongoing erroneous believe Joseph was trying to dispel with his sermons, which misunderstanding exists today but clearly started in Joseph’s day.
Journal of Discourses, Vol.15, p.247, Orson Pratt, December 15, 1872
If we were born in heaven before this world was made, the question might arise as to the nature of that birth. Was it by command that the spiritual substance, scattered through space, was miraculously brought together, and organized into a spiritual form, and called a spirit? Is that the way that Jesus, the firstborn of every creature, was brought into existence? Oh no; we were all born there after the same manner that we are here, that is to say, every person that had an existence before he came here had a literal father and literal mother, a personal father an a personal mother; hence the Apostle Paul, in speaking to the heathen at Ephesus, says, “We are his offspring.” Now I look upon every man and woman that have ever come here on this globe, or that ever will come, as having a father and mother in the heavens by whom their spirits were brought into existence. But how long they resided in the heavens before they came here is not revealed.
Some imagine that instead of physical intimacy to create spiritual offspring a sort of magically antiseptic process of impregnation must exist where maybe a command is given and bingo, an exalted wife is miraculously pregnant and just as magically, delivers a spirit infant. This was not the belief held by early prominent members of the church including some of those of the highest stature and standing in the church, and who were taught directly by Joseph himself, such as Brigham Young and other notables.
Many modern Mormon believers in the fundamental teachings of some early saints, such as brother Pratt, believe conception and birth in the heavenly realms are accomplished the same as here on earth.
The obvious point brother Pratt was making was that spiritual begetting is actual copulation resulting in a physical procreative birth in heavenly realms. He rightly ascribes that same belief to Brother Brigham. Unfortunately invoking President Young’s name doesn’t make the belief true.
The following is what Joseph actually taught.
Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Section Six 1843-44 p.351
I have another subject to dwell upon, which is calculated to exalt man; but it is impossible for me to say much on this subject. I shall therefore just touch upon it, for time will not permit me to say all. It is associated with the subject of the resurrection of the dead, — namely, the 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. I do not believe the doctrine; I know better. Hear it, all ye ends of the world; for God has told me so; and if you don’t believe me, it will not make the truth without effect. I will make a man appear a fool before I get through; if he does not believe it. I am going to tell of things more noble.
We say that God himself is a self-existent being. Who told you so? It is correct enough; but how did it get into your heads? Who told you that man did not exist in like manner upon the same principles? Man does exist upon the same principles. God made a tabernacle and put a spirit into it, and it became a living soul. (Refers to the old Bible.) How does it read in the Hebrew? It 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. I know that my testimony is true; hence, when I talk to these mourners, what have they lost? Their relatives and friends are only separated from their bodies for a short season: their spirits which existed with God have left the tabernacle of clay only for a little moment, as it were; and they now exist in a place where they converse together the same as we do on the earth.
I am dwelling on the immortality of the spirit of man. 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.
I want to reason more on the spirit of man; for I am dwelling on the body and spirit of man — on the subject of the dead. I take my ring from my finger and liken it unto the mind of man — the immortal part, because it has no beginning. Suppose you cut it in two; then it has a beginning and an end; but join it again, and it continues one eternal round. So with the spirit of man. As the Lord liveth, if it had a beginning, it will have an end. All the fools and learned and wise men from the beginning of creation, who say that the spirit of man had a beginning, prove that it must have an end; and if that doctrine is true, then the doctrine of annihilation would be true. But if I am right, I might with boldness proclaim from the house-tops that God never had the power to create the spirit of man at all. God himself could not create himself.
Intelligence is eternal and exists upon a self-existent principle. It is a spirit from age to age, and there is no creation about it. All the minds and spirits that God ever sent into the world are susceptible of enlargement.
Joseph uses the terms “intelligence” and “spirit” interchangeably, but some insist that raw intelligence is different from a spirit being and “intelligences” must be provided a spirit body, so to them, the idea of heavenly offspring seems once again logical. This, of course, still does not speak to the other contradictions and tries to change what Joseph actually taught. Joseph’s sermon on the spirit of man was intended to clarify some references made to intelligences in the Book of Abraham and to correct the emergence of this faulty notion of heavenly created babies of spirit in his day.
In TPJS Page 158 Joseph said “The spirit of man is not a created being; it existed from eternity, and will exist to eternity. Anything created cannot be eternal; and earth, water, etc., had their existence in an elementary state, from eternity. Our Savior speaks of children and says, Their angels always stand before my Father. The Father called all spirits before Him at the creation of man, and organized them.”
Many commentators define spirit here to mean “intelligence” or the wispy stuff that goes into the making of an embodied spirit individual and ignore that Joseph already calls the spirit a being.
This is an example of what others heard Joseph teach on the subject.
The first step in the salvation of men is the laws of eternal and self-existent principles. Spirits are eternal.
Extracts from William Clayton’s Private Book
By Joseph, Jan. 5th 1841, at the organization of a school of instruction.
Observations on the Sectarian God.
Certainly God taught Abraham the correct principle.
Abraham 3:19-23
18 Howbeit that he made the greater star; as, also, if there be two a 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.
19 And the Lord said unto me: These two facts do exist, that there are two spirits,
one being more intelligent than the other; there shall be another more intelligent than they; I am the Lord thy God, I am more intelligent than they all.
20 The Lord thy God sent his angel to deliver thee from the hands of the priest of Elkenah.
21 I dwell in the midst of them all; I now, therefore, have come down unto thee to declare unto thee the works which my hands have made, wherein my wisdom excelleth them all, for I rule in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath, in all wisdom and prudence, over all the intelligences thine eyes have seen from the beginning; I came down in the beginning in the midst of all the intelligences thou hast seen.
22 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;
23 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.
Some may say “Aha” Joseph did teach of spiritual offspring in the following way.
Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Section Six 1843-44 p.300
Except a man and his wife enter into an everlasting covenant and be
married for eternity, while in this probation, by the power and authority of the Holy Priesthood, they will cease to increase when they die; that is, they will not have any children after the resurrection. But those who are married by the power and authority of the priesthood in this life, and continue without committing the sin against the Holy Ghost, will continue to increase and have children in the celestial glory. This is found on page 301 of the TPJS and is an entirely accurate statement.
So this could be said: “There, even Joseph is saying our spirits are born in heaven!” It’s an honest conclusion, but incorrect.
You’ll notice Joseph said the “Celestial Glory” not the “Celestial Kingdom.” There is a difference, as Joseph was well aware.
Here we have to delve into the creation of the earth while trying to avoid wandering too deeply into that whole subject at this time. From one’s experience in the temple it is realized that there is only one time that God the Father, Elohim visits the earth in person. It should also be clear that He is surrounded by His glory which is Celestial, which implies that the new, pristine earth is within the celestial glory of God’s presence while it is created and certainly when He is physically in Eden. It is also realized that this visit is for the express purpose of creating mankind (adam) on the new earth, attended by those of the top degree of the Celestial Kingdom.
Since procreation is strictly an earthly ordinance, one must remember that Eden was within God’s sphere of Glory and remained there through the Fall when the adam including Adam and his woman were expelled and only God’s voice could be heard outside of Eden and only from the general direction of the Garden. Some have characterized the earth rolling out of the presence of God, but before that could happen the earth was within His Celestial Glory. Hence, in God’s glorified, Celestial presence, but on earth, children, who were members of “adam” or mankind, were born to exalted parents to eventually begin ongoing, earthly family generations accruing to the increase of the originating progenitors.
The notion of intelligence as a separate entity from a spirit ignores the actual understanding of intelligence as an aspect of a spirit being.
If you want a definition of the word intelligence one must only read in section 93 of the D&C to verse 36 which says,
“The a glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth.”
Light and truth are clearly attributes defining intelligence as one among many of a spirit’s characteristics, so referring to intelligences as spirits and visa-versa is nothing more than identifying spirits by their attributes, making the words intelligences and spirits synonymous.
The simple truth is that the word “intelligence” and the word “spirit” are synonyms and mean and refer to the very same thing and are used interchangeably. An eternally existent being of spirit same as the being of the Holy Ghost.
The question remains; to what purpose is exaltation in light of eternal lives, eternal progression, an eternal family, eternal increase, kingdoms, dominions, and principalities if not to inherit the spirits of future mortals? Eternal progeny is indeed the glory of exalted beings, but procreation is strictly an earthly process and is to be conducted only on a mortal earth. There is no copulation, pregnancy, or childbirth in the heavenly presence of Almighty God. It is unnecessary. There already exist plenty of eternal, individual and self-existent spirit beings in the expansive heavens to populate many future earths. Stop to consider the many billions of people who will ultimately have lived on this earth by the time of its conclusion, and that number represents only a third part of spirits originally slated for this creation so the number could possibly reach into the trillions of spirits. Even if the exalted parents numbered 144,000 more or less, the task would be mathematically mind-boggling in the extreme. The notion of procreating spirit children may be an attractive idea if one loves to have their mind boggled and believes in a magical heaven. Even if it were possible for the members of the exalted quorum to spiritually increase their families in such a way, their family structure would be only one generation deep per creative cycle and limited by their own personal reproductive efforts.
The truer, and far more elegant plan for an exalted being, is to seed an earthly line of progeny to self-perpetuate through time, compounding itself with every successive generation and containing the spirits already slated for an earth, who then, as complete souls all fall under the final family structure, and accrue to the increase and glory of the originating progenitors, which adds glory upon glory to them, their Redeemer, and the supreme God of that creation and the governing Eloheim. This performance done in successive creative cycles is eternal lives for all the exalted ones.
So, what occupies the efforts of exalted beings in the heavenly realms? It can be argued that there is no time in the presence of God so, no clocks or calendars and though true, although there is a sequence to all performance throughout eternity.
So, again, what are they doing? To understand this, one must realize what is meant by the word “beget.” On earth and in our vernacular it refers to procreation of offspring, but in the spiritual realms it means to have jurisdictional and familial claim upon one, but not to give birth. The term “begotten” likewise is the past tense of beget.
The word beget or begotten can mean giving birth, but it also means adopting or to adopt and is therefore context dependent. In the pre-existence when being first introduced to the notion of a supreme ruling God and His plan of growth and improvement and upon acceptance of that idea, then we became begotten of God the Father and therefore adopted to Him before we had to choose which plan of redemption we would follow. One is begotten of Christ by believing on His name and thereby become begotten or conditionally adopted to Him while on earth, so He can claim jurisdictional authority over us to allow Him to atone for our sins. At the successful completion of this earth, the Parenthood over us all will be formally transferred from the Father and sealed to the Son who will become our Father God for future eternities. Also, the idea of turning the top degree of the Celestial Kingdom into a procreation hyper-nursery is rather crude, carnal, and juvenile in my view. There may be infants in the Celestial Kingdom but they will be only those who died before the age of accountability. There are many examples of the scriptural usage of the word beget or begotten. Here are just a few.
Psalms 2:7
7 ¶ I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou [art] my Son; this day have I begotten thee.
Acts 13:33
33 God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus
again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.
Hebrews 1:5
5 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I
begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?
Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Section Four 1839-42 p.218
But while one portion of the human race is judging and condemning the other
without mercy, the Great Parent of the universe looks upon the whole human family with a fatherly care and paternal regard; He views them as His offspring, and without any of those contracted feelings that influence the children of men, causes “His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” He holds the reins of judgment in His hands; He is a wise Lawgiver, and will judge all men, not according to the narrow, contracted notions of men, but, “according to the deeds done in the body whether they be good or evil,” or whether these deeds were done in England, America, Spain, Turkey, or India. He will judge them, “not according to what they have not, but according to what they have,” those who have lived without law, will be judged without law, and those who have a law, will be judged by that law. We need not doubt the wisdom and intelligence of the Great Jehovah; He will award judgment or mercy to all nations according to their several deserts, their means of obtaining intelligence, the laws by which they are governed, the facilities afforded them of obtaining correct information, and His inscrutable designs in relation to the human family; and when the designs of God shall be made manifest, and the curtain of futurity be withdrawn, we shall all of us eventually have to confess that the Judge of all the earth has done right.
It should be noticed that Joseph said God VIEWS us AS His offspring. Stating that as a simile gives it a metaphorical character and not an affirmative statement. He didn’t say directly that God views His “children” or “offspring” and he didn’t say it was with a father’s care. What he said about His care for us has the meaning and connotation of “care like our father would have.”
The great heavenly work of the exalted ones, assisted by others of the Celestial Kingdom, is missionary work among the spirits who inhabit the cosmic immensity, who are yet ignorant of the existence of a Righteous, Powerful and Benevolent God who is capable of providing them with Glory. When, the “at large” spirits in the eternities are converted to God, they enter into a covenant through an eternal ordinance with God and are adopted by Him as His spiritually adopted children giving Him patriarchal jurisdiction over them and they are then slated to inhabit an upcoming earthly creation. Spirit beings are thus collected in anticipation of the next creative cycle, and all overseen by the Eloheim. Once the slated spirits are assembled, a Jehovah class spirit must be anointed as God the Redeemer for the new creation and so it begins again, one eternal round.
There is only adoption in the heavens since all spiritual entities are not created, but are eternal, individual, and self-existent. Only on earth does the temporal “beget” mean both, to give physical birth to, and under some circumstances to adopt as part of one’s family. I imagine the first spiritual adoption covenant with God the Father to be something akin to a baptism. I believe all eternal covenants have their accompanying ordinances that some might call rites or rituals.
Mosiah 5:7
7 And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters.
In light of the immediately foregoing reference, consider the baptismal ordinance, which is the earthly covenant mentioned in Mosiah.
D&C 20:73
73 The person who is called of God and has authority from Jesus Christ to baptize, shall
go down into the water with the person who has presented himself or herself for baptism, and shall say, calling him or her by name: Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
This earthly baptism acknowledges and verifies, now in the flesh, the original adoption in the preexistent heavens to God the Father and places the one baptized under the jurisdiction of Christ within God’s overall adopted family structure, so the Redeemer then acquires the patriarchal right and power to intercede on behalf of His spiritual children to answer and fulfill the eternal and uncompromising law that is Almighty God, which would otherwise damn and destroy us all of the lower orders of spirits were an atonement not made on our behalf. None but another Jehovah class Spirit can accomplish such atonement.
Moses 6:57
57 Wherefore teach it unto your children, that all men, everywhere, must repent, or they
can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God, for no unclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence; for, in the language of Adam, Man of Holiness is his name, and the name of his Only Begotten is the Son of Man, even Jesus Christ, a righteous Judge, who shall come in the meridian of time.
Here on earth we are fully under the veil of darkness, but we are given examples of things heavenly to jog our spiritual intelligence as we are taught through the Holy Ghost of things more noble, virtuous and pure.
D&C 128:13
13 Consequently, the baptismal font was instituted as a similitude of the grave, and was
commanded to be in a place underneath where the living are wont to assemble, to show forth the living and the dead, and that all things may have their likeness, and that they may accord one with another–that which is earthly conforming to that which is heavenly, as Paul hath declared,
1 Corinthians 15:46, 47, and 48:
46 Howbeit, that which is natural first, and not that which is spiritual; but afterwards, that which is spiritual;
47 The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven.
48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
Reasoning now on the word Estate, it clearly is a stage or state of being that changes by virtue of the act of procreation as used in the context of the Book of Abraham 3:24 “And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell; And we will prove them here- with, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them; And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever.”
This is a declaration that there are but two estates. If man’s entity was first in the state (estate) of being as a distinct entity of intelligence and then being born into a subsequent state (estate) of being in the form of a distinct entity of spirit, we would be in our THIRD estate (state) here in mortality, not our Second as stated clearly by the one like unto God. Therefore, only spirits can have existed before mortality as Joseph taught and as declared also by God.
Finally, the only reasonably logical conclusion that can be reached after all the evidence is examined is that the terms “intelligences” and “spirits” are used by the Lord and the prophets interchangeably and therefore must be synonymous, which immediately defeats the notion that spirits are born from parents in the top degree of the Celestial Kingdom out of intelligence as raw material because, that idea demands intelligences be separate and distinct entities from which spirits as separate and distinct entities are created through birth and humans are separate and distinct entities into which spirits are born. So intelligences and spirits in the “making spirit babies out of raw intelligence” theory CANNOT possibly be used as synonyms. Using these terms interchangeably by God and Holy Prophets only means there can be no difference between them. We know there are spirit beings but intelligence as raw spiritual material is a made up concept produced by faulty inference drawn from information not clearly understood.
Godly parents of the top degree of the Celestial Kingdom do increase in progeny, just not by birthing spirits and not in the spiritual realms of the Celestial Kingdom. Consider the meaning of “adam, which are many.” The final reality is that the words “intelligences” and “spirits” are in fact synonymous references and refer to the very same thing – an eternal spirit being, just as Joseph plainly said. Godly parents do have ongoing progeny but not in heaven. It takes place in Eden. Every Time.
I believe enough has been exposed at this point that if one is honestly a seeker of truth, additional study and prayer will greatly enhance one’s understanding of what actually goes on in this exquisite plan of our salvation, learning, experiencing and ongoing progression. I suggest testing the teachings one encounters in this life, wherever it’s found, according to the witness of the Holy Ghost, which is the best and surest path to understanding what is right.
My parting quotations are found in the Doctrine & Covenants.
D & C 88 verse 33.
“For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift? Behold, he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in him who is the giver of the gift.”
What is the greatest earthly gift given by God to man? Is it not the Gift of the Holy Ghost to be a readily available witness, teacher, revelator, and comforter?
This paper’s partial explanation of the creative cycle, Godhood and the workings of God, as far as it has been exposed, may seem to some to make God, His Works, Godhood and Godliness too common and un-mysterious. The challenge therefore is to pray God will reveal the truth of these matters and to receive personal enlightenment through the Holy Ghost, if one is able. I’ve been told by some that they will only believe what their leaders tell them to believe. To my mind that will make them a most valuable servant but I fear that may not allow them to become a sovereign Priest and King unto God.
The work of Godhood is only righteousness and at times heartbreaking, but also joyful with a kind of joy, of which mortals have no real knowledge.
D&C 18:13-18
13 And how great is His joy in the soul that repenteth!
14 Wherefore, you are called to cry repentance unto this people.
15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!
16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!
17 Behold, you have my gospel before you, and my rock, and my salvation.
18 Ask the Father in my name, in faith believing that you shall receive, and you shall have the Holy Ghost, which manifesteth all things which are expedient unto the children of men.
Exaltation in the highest realms is not glamorous, titillating or thrilling, but filled with learning, teaching others and striving for perfection in all things eternal. The path to exaltation beyond salvation in the kingdom of God should not be undertaken lightly or with carnal expectations. May God bless all with wisdom and the assistance to fill the measure of their creation and so gain their greatest possible reward in the heavenly realms.
SOJ