WHOM DO YOU TRUST, JOSEPH SMITH OR JESUS CHRIST? Part 2 by Judy Robertson

WHAT DID JOSEPH SMITH SAY?

About Pre-existence

"Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made neither indeed can be" (Doctrine and Covenants 93:29). "The first step in salvation of man is the laws of eternal and self-existent principles. Spirits are eternal. At the first organization in heaven we were all present, and saw the Savior chosen and appointed and the plan of salvation made, and we sanctioned it. We came to this earth that we might have a body and present it pure before God in the celestial kingdom. The great principle of happiness consists in having a body…" ( Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, by Joseph Fielding Smith, Every person that ever existed on earth or will be born in the future was first a spirit formed through the marriage of "heavenly father" and one of his millions of wives. In this pre-existent state we were all spirit brothers and sisters of Jesus who was the first and only one born through a physical union between "heavenly father" and Jesus' earthly mother, Mary. What Did Jesus Say?

About Pre-existence?

No one has ever gone into heaven except the One who came from heaven-the Son of Man... The One who comes from above is above all (John 3:13,31).

No one has seen the Father except the One who is from God; only He has seen the Father (John 6:46).

For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world (John 8:23).

This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His One and only Son into the world that we might live through Him (1 John 4:9).

These scriptures from the Bible form the basis for the knowledge in historic Christianity that Jesus has no equal. He is uniquely divine and not one of a group of brothers and sisters who all existed together with God in the beginning. Jesus alone was with God in the beginning and in fact is God incarnate (embodied in flesh) as John 1:1-2, 14, 18 shows us: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning." Verse 14: "The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us." Verse 18: "No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made Him known."

QUESTIONS TO ASK MORMONS:

1. Is there an existence before our earth life? The current Mormon study guide, Gospel Principles (published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah 1995), says this on p.11:

"Every person who was ever born on earth was our spirit brother or sister in heaven. The first spirit born to our heavenly parents was Jesus Christ (see D&C 93:21), so he is literally our elder brother (see Discourses of Brigham Young, p.26)."

2. Where does the Mormon idea of pre-existence come from?

3. Does this agree with the Bible?

4. Do your four "Standard Works," Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price and the Bible, agree about the existence of a pre-mortal life? If all these works are called scripture, shouldn't they agree? (Compare Doctrine and Covenants 93:29 with Moses 2:26 from the Pearl of Great Price and the Bible 1 Corinthians 15:46)

5. Did you have parents in heaven? If a veil has been put over our minds (Latter-day Saints say), so that we don't remember pre-existence then how do you know there is a pre-existence? Is it told about in the Bible? (No, the Bible tells only Jesus pre-existed. John 1:1; Col. 1:17) Is it in the Book of Mormon? (no)

What the Bible says:

This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His One and Only Son into the world that we might live through Him" (1 John 4:9).

This is what the Lord says--your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb… (Isaiah 44:24).

The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being (Genesis 2:7).

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written:' The first man Adam became a living being,' the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual (1 Corinthians 15:44-46).

The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes of bread for the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger (Jeremiah 7:18).

Conclusion

We were formed in our mother's womb, not before. Only Jesus was in heaven before coming to earth. Jesus is God's only Son. God said He had only One son and He sent only One from heaven. He didn't have other sons (and daughters) in heaven. Jesus alone came from heaven, took on flesh or human likeness, humbled Himself, "became obedient to death---even death on the cross!" (Philippians 2:8)

2 Corinthians 3:14-18 says that the pharisees have a veil over their hearts regarding Jesus. "But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away." (Emphasis added)

Joseph Smith's teaching that we all existed in the beginning with God puts us on the same level as Jesus, who alone is Deity.

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