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I'm asking this with an open mind and willingness to accept your answer, so please don't feel my intention is to undermine what you believe.
If I understand correctly, there is an LDS belief that states we all had a pre-Earth spiritual existence in Heaven with the Lord before coming to Earth and taking on a physical body. Going on that belief, I presume it's reasonable to conclude that the Lord knew each one of us and that we somehow had an awareness of Him, and we were sentient beings before we came to Earth. Yet after being born into this world, our memory of that pre-Earth existence was wiped away. Would that be correct?
If that is correct, then I have a question about something Jesus said. In Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus indicates there will be some who claimed to prophecy, cast out demons and perform miracles in his name. But when such people want to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, he goes on to say he will tell them to get away from him, because he never knew them.
How is it possible Jesus could know everyone in their pre-Earth existence, but later tell some people that he never knew them?
I'm asking this with an open mind and willingness to accept your answer, so please don't feel my intention is to undermine what you believe.
If I understand correctly, there is an LDS belief that states we all had a pre-Earth spiritual existence in Heaven with the Lord before coming to Earth and taking on a physical body. Going on that belief, I presume it's reasonable to conclude that the Lord knew each one of us and that we somehow had an awareness of Him, and we were sentient beings before we came to Earth. Yet after being born into this world, our memory of that pre-Earth existence was wiped away. Would that be correct?
That would be 100% correct.
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If that is correct, then I have a question about something Jesus said. In Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus indicates there will be some who claimed to prophecy, cast out demons and perform miracles in his name. But when such people want to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, he goes on to say he will tell them to get away from him, because he never knew them.
How is it possible Jesus could know everyone in their pre-Earth existence, but later tell some people that he never knew them?
I don't think He meant that He had never "made their acquaintance," so to speak. I think He simply meant to say that He didn't recognize them as His followers. From my perspective, this really doesn't have much at all to do with the pre-existence. I think that most mainstream Christians would say that the fact that "He never knew" certain people has nothing at all to do with whether He had ever "met" someone in person but with whether He considered the person to be His disciple. In other words, I would say that He "knows" anyone who is sincerely committed to Him, regardless of whether He's ever shaken that person's hand.
Okay, so it's kinda like when you say you know someone in the sense that you know who they are, but that you don't really know them in a personal way...?
I guess it's kinda like me with some of my cousins. Yes, I've met them...but I don't really know them well enough to say I have a relationship with them. That sorta thing...?
Okay, so it's kinda like when you say you know someone in the sense that you know who they are, but that you don't really know them in a personal way...?
I guess it's kinda like me with some of my cousins. Yes, I've met them...but I don't really know them well enough to say I have a relationship with them. That sorta thing...?
Okay, so now this leads me to another question. In our pre-Earth existence, did we not know Jesus personally? Did we not have a relationship with him?
Were we perfect in our pre-Earth existence? And if so, why the need to come to Earth to become more like Jesus? What does the LDS church teach about that?
Okay, so now this leads me to another question. In our pre-Earth existence, did we not know Jesus personally?
Yes, we believe we did.
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Did we not have a relationship with him?
Again, yes -- although I'm sure some people had a closer relationship with Him than others did.
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Were we perfect in our pre-Earth existence?
I don't know that I'd use the word "perfect" since to me that would mean that we were without flaws of any kind and fully mature.
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And if so, why the need to come to Earth to become more like Jesus? What does the LDS church teach about that?
We believe that we needed to obtain a physical body and to gain experiences that are inherent only in mortality. We also needed to be able to have the mortal experience being outside of God's presence, so that we could learn to make choices between good and evil, and to come to recognize that we were all incapable of always choosing the right. We needed to come to realize that through faith in Jesus Christ, we could be forgiven for the sins we would commit if we remained faithful to Him.
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What does the LDS church teach about that?
