Russianwolf
“You're denying that there's a heavenly Mother, with whom Heavenly Father produces billions of spirit babies? - Toddm
It does seem rather obvious that Todd is playing off of a strange and intentionally sensational presentation of early Christian Doctrine. In contrast to that approach, I have a great deal of interest in early Judao-Christian teachings and am very interested in parallels between the LDS and the early Judao-Christian literature.
For example, in ancient descriptions of Judao-christian doctrine (Judaic pseudoepigraphs, apocalyptics, Jewish Haggadah, Zohar, etc), the spirit of man existed long before it was placed in the body. For example, the Haggadah relates the non-arbitrary process of God (the Father) taking a specific pre-existing spirit and placing it into mortality under specific conditions.
When christianity abandoned the early doctrines, and adopted arbitrary ex-nihilo creation theories (i.e. an arbitrary creation from "nothing"), they created theories which philosophers, agnostics and theist themselves recognize as unfair. For example : the theory where God creates a spirit from nothing and places INTO that spirit, characteristics which he later punishes the man for having, is inherently unfair. They point out that many billions were placed upon the earth during a time period or under conditions where they could not have heard about Jesus, or died before receiving knowledge and understanding of Jesus (i.e. infants who die, the retarded, etc). Many later Christianities then, were forced to conclude such individuals and innocents were sent to a tortuous hell since such individuals died without having accepted Jesus.
Christianities who kept to the early doctrine of pre-existence did not have to deal with such complaints of unfairness the later doctrines created. If the LDS (and others) have kept to the early doctrine, then they also avoid the inherent unfairness of arbitrary creation, arbitrary conditions, and arbitrary and unfair punishment.
Though most modern Christianities have discarded the early doctrine of pre-existence of spirits which avoided such doctrinal deficiencies, If I am correct, the LDS also believe in the ancient Judao-Christian version of pre-existence of spirits.
In enoch’s vision of pre-creation heaven, he relates ;
“And after that, I saw a hundred thousand times a hundred thousand, ten million times ten million, an innumerable and uncountable (multitude) who stand before the glory of the Lord of the Spirits. (1st Enoch 40:1)
These spirits are not just angels, but they are also the spirits (souls) of men awaiting the time when they will be born upon earth and experience mortality. Enoch is told :
“ whatever I have taught you, ...sit down and write all the souls of men, whatever of them are not yet born, and their places, prepared for eternity. For all souls are prepared for eternity, before the composition of the earth.†(2nd Enoch 23:4-5)
If the LDS are trying to restore this early doctrine, then good for them.
Russianwolf: How does the LDS doctrine compare to the ancient Judao-Christian belief of the existence of spirits of men in “heaven†before they are “sent†to earth?
Clearly
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