Problems With Mormonism

by Mike James

One of the many issues I have with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) (Mormons) is their use of extrabiblical books they consider equal to the Bible. Mormons consider the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price to be equal to the Bible. Now, they do accept the Bible, too, but they believe parts of the Bible may have been lost or removed, so that is how they can resolve some contradictions between what the Bible says versus their other books of scripture. But I'm not going to get into that in this short blog. What I want to focus on here is the Mormon idea that their spirits existed prior to them being born on earth.

In other words, Mormons believe they had a preexistence as spirit bodies prior to their spirits being placed in mortal bodies on earth. In his King Follett sermon, given a few months before he died in 1844, Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, is reported to have said the following:

...the soul—the mind of man—the immortal spirit. Where did it come from? All learned men and doctors of divinity say that God created it in the beginning; but it is not so: the very idea lessens man in my estimation... [The Bible] does not say in the Hebrew that God created the spirit of man. It says, "God made man out of the earth and put into him Adam's spirit, and so became a living body." The mind or the intelligence which man possesses is co-equal with God himself…. Is it logical to say that the intelligence of spirits is immortal, and yet that it has a beginning? The intelligence of spirits had no beginning, neither will it have an end. That is good logic. That which has a beginning may have an end. There never was a time when there were not spirits; for they are co-equal with our Father in heaven.

Elder Boyd K. Packer, who served as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints from 1994-2008, is attributed with saying, "that we are the children of God, that we lived with him in spirit form before entering mortality."

This idea is like some Gnostic sects believing humans previously existed as angels and their spirits entered humans.

The Bible is clear that human spirits/souls did not preexist. In Genesis 2:7 we read the following: "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."

Notice this scripture says nothing about the living soul having existed anywhere before. The scripture suggests there was no existence prior to this because it says man became a living soul. If we existed as spirits prior to our birth the scriptures would be worded much differently here.

Other scriptures that would lead one to believe we did not preexist include Zechariah 12:1 and Jeremiah 1:5.

Nowhere in the Bible is there any evidence of a premortal spiritual existence of man. But that is what Mormons believe. The LDS Church teaches that during the premortal existence, there was a learning process taking place leading to the next necessary step in the premortal spirits' progression. The next step included the need to get a physical body that could experience pain, sorrow, and joy, and through which the spirit could "walk by faith."

Believe it or not, Mormons think there is evidence for this in the Bible. They use Revelation 12, which discusses Satan being cast out of heaven with his angels. They think angels fall into three categories. The first is the spirits of people who have not yet been born into mortality on earth. The second is spirits of people who already have lived on earth. The last category would be people who have lived on earth, died, and subsequently been resurrected.

Obviously, I have a different understanding of the origin of Satan and angels because I stick strictly to what the Bible has to say. Mormons get mixed up because they are using the Bible along with three other books, they consider equal to the Bible. They also put a lot of emphasis on the words of their prophets which causes more confusion.

I don't want to tell people what to read, but I'm noticing people in the Church are getting carried away by false scriptures (Book of Mormon, Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, etc.). Please remember the Bible alone is the Word of God.

Sources:

"Premortal Life (Latter Day Saints)," Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premortal_life_(Latter_Day_Saints)#:~:text=It%20is%20believed%20there%20were,sons%20and%20daughters%20of%20God%22.

The Kingdom of the Cults, by Walter Martin, (Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers, 1985).

"Gnostic theories of preexistence of souls make more sense of the problem of evil than orthodox Christianity," https://www.reddit.com/r/DebateAChristian/comments/1ck6w1f/gnostic_theories_of_preexistence_of_souls_make/

"What does the Bible say about the preexistence of souls?" Got Questions, https://www.gotquestions.org/pre-existence-of-souls.html

"What Do Mormons Believe About Angels," Mormonism: Really Want to Know?, by R.S. Ghio, October 21, 2012, https://reallywanttoknow.wordpress.com/2012/10/21/what-do-mormons-believe-about-angels/