Creatures or Children of God?

I must claim ignorance as to the specific beliefs of all other religions as it pertains to the existence of man’s soul before birth. From what I gather generally, most religions recognize the creation of the soul at some point here on Earth either in the womb or at birth. I am open to be enlightened by those of other faiths as to their beliefs on the existence of the soul before life begins. It is not so much my intent to define other’s religious beliefs as it is to explain and clarify mine. 

Mormons believe that all of us existed together as spirit children of our Heavenly Father before coming to this Earth. We co-existed as literal brothers and sisters and interacted with God. God knew us as he knew Jeremiah before he was “formed in the belly” (Jerimiah 1:5). Details of day to day life in this pre-earth state aren’t readily available, but some of the major events of that life have been revealed through prophets. 

John teaches in Revelation that there was a great battle between good and evil before the Earth was (Rev 12:7). Mormons believe that this “battle” was a battle for our souls even before the world began. We believe that two plans were presented to bring us back to our Heavenly Father. One plan was presented by Lucifer. His plan was to force all mankind to choose good so that not one soul would be lost. In return for saving all of mankind, Lucifer wanted all glory. The alternative plan was that of Jesus Christ. He presented a plan of free will and offered Himself as a sacrifice for those that used free agency to sin. Christ returned all glory to The Father (Abraham 3:27-28).  When Christ’s plan was chosen, Lucifer rebelled and fell from heaven (Luke 10:18; 2 Nephi 2:17). 

Because we are here on Earth, we know we accepted Christ’s plan to come to Earth and be tested (Abraham 3:24-26). Job even tells us that we all “shouted for joy” (Job 38:7) when we accepted the plan. Here, we do not remember the events that happened before we were born. We must rely on the revelations given to prophets and the promptings of the spirit. These promptings tend to be very strong and lead people to ask, “Where did I come from?” Others wonder what it means to “return” to our Heavenly Father (Eccl 12:7). 

As Mormons, we happily share that we came from a Heavenly Family. We are literal spirit sons and daughters of a Heavenly King! Great happiness come from the knowledge that we are not mere creatures of a foreign God, but rather we have a loving Heavenly Father anxiously awaiting our return.