I find it interesting that only one Christian denomination teaches that we lived with our Heavenly Father before we came to earth. I would guess that if you talk to most people they would say that they believe they existed before coming to earth. It is an interesting inconsistency or paradox that most people believe this yet it is not taught by any churches except one. It is a theme found in great literature such as Milton’s Paradise Lost, Maeterlinck’s The Bluebird, and Wordsworth’s Ode on Intimations on Immortality.
Wordsworth penned:
- Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
- The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,
- Hath had elsewhere its setting,
- And cometh from afar:
- Not in entire forgetfulness,
- And not in utter nakedness,
- But trailing clouds of glory do we come
- From God, who is our home
There is of course much to discuss and little time for me to write
For further discussion see:http://www.mormon.org/mormonorg/eng/basic-beliefs/heavenly-father-s-plan-of-salvation/you-lived-with-god
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I have always loved this Wordsworth poem. He was truly inspired.
I agree with you, it is an interesting paradox that the pre-earth life is never discussed in other churches, however you will always hear religious people saying that when they die they are “Going Home”, or “Returning to the Arms of Jesus”. The concept of Home means a place where we lived, where we grew, where we belonged, and then had to leave – but is the one place we can return to and will always be accepted. We can’t “return” to somewhere we never were before.
Jesus is the perfect example of our mortal journey – he lived with God – he descended to earth and was born as a baby – he grew up – he died – and as he was dying on the cross he told the man hanging next to him exactly where they was going next; “today you will be with me in paradise”. (Luke 23:43). In other words, when we all die, we go to the same place Jesus went – returning to our Father and our God (John 20:17).
Jesus tried to teach his desciples not to be worried about his death, nor their own:
1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
We know the place and the way, because we have been there before, and traveled the path.
By: mormonsoprano on September 6, 2008
at 4:27 pm