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Dear
Gramps, 1.) Did we make commitments to our families in the pre-existence
that we would be a family unit? Were we promised in heaven to be the
mother, the child, or the sister to particular people?
If so, WHERE is this found? 2.)
If the above is true, what happened to the spirit of my 3 fetal month old
child. His mortal body disintegrated and was reabsorbed by my body.
Is he waiting for me to provide him another body so he can come to
earth? I have been told conflicting things by my church leaders. This has
caused great contention in my branch. Please help me. Victoria, from
Arkansas |
Dear
Victoria,
1.)
No scriptural evidence exists to support pre-mortal family commitments. It is
reasonable to think, however, that at least in some instances foreordination
to specific family units may indeed occur. The rather lengthy quote below from
President Joseph Fielding Smith gives some particular detail on the subject.
2.)
We also have no scriptural information on when the spirit enters the body. So
we will never know for sure until our advent into the spirit world if a fetus
that never reached term was endowed with a spirit or not. If it was so
endowed, then that pre-natal child will be resurrected and belong to its
earthly parents. If the pre-natal life was terminated before being endowed
with a spirit, than no independent life exists for than entity.
Gramps
--While
there is evidence of at least some degree of foreordination to families,
President Joseph Fielding Smith taught that there was “no scriptural
justification... for the belief that we had the privilege of choosing our
parents and our life companions in the spirit world.” Addressing this issue
in a talk given to seminary and institute teachers in 1966, Elder Harold B.
Lee stated that “we have no revealed word” on the extent to which
pre-mortal choices of family members were made. He then cautioned that we
should not accept or teach ideas that cannot be firmly established in the
standard works or by inspired utterances of the living prophets. In 1971, the
First Presidency once again declared that “we have no revealed word to the
effect that when we were in the preexistent state we chose our parents and our
husbands and wives.”
Because
of the eternal significance of marriage and families, it is reasonable to
assume that there may have been some covenants or choices made in the
pre-mortal life and also that special divine guidance may be given here on
earth. However, it is important to remember that this may not apply to all of
God’s children. As President Joseph Fielding Smith stated: “This belief
has been advocated by some, and it is possible that in some instances it is
true, but it would require too great a stretch of the imagination to believe
it to be so in all, or even in the majority of cases. Most likely we came
where those in authority decided to send us. Our agency may not have been
exercised to the extent of making choice of parents and posterity.”
Foreordination to favored families may come as a reward for pre-mortal righteousness, but, perhaps more important, such foreordination is based on what will best correspond to the capacities of the individual, provide him or his family with optimal opportunities for growth and service, and fulfill the designs and purposes of God. We must remember that our Heavenly Father often sends some of his noble and great spirits to the least likely families because he knows that they have the spiritual capacities to rise above those conditions and, in turn, bring blessings to that entire family. As the Lord taught Isaiah, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.... For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8‑9). It is for this reason that we must never attempt to judge someone’s pre-mortal character or performance based on parentage or family conditions. While it is true that we believe in the general concept of foreordination to favored families, we do not fully understand its specific application to individual cases. Until more is revealed we are as Paul said: “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face-to-face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1 Cor. 13:12) (Joseph Fielding Smith, The Way to Perfection p. 440).