3 Questions for Christians to Answer
The Christian world leaves many questions unanswered.
Here are three.
I recently had the pleasure of reading a talk given by Elder Orson Pratt in 1852 titled “Celestial Marriage” (thank you to my wife for the recommendation). He speaks on uniquely LDS doctrine, contrasting it with the teachings of the Christian world, in ways that I hadn’t heard before. These questions were formed from points discussed there, if you would like to go read the talk for more context.
To the Christians: Please, post your responses. After all, these discussions are of eternal significance!
- Where does your spirit come from?
Since most of the Christian world does not believe in a pre-existence of our spirits, that means God must create the spirit sometime after conception. Nowadays, this translates to creating about 400,000 spirits every day. In that case, the work of creation was not seven days, but will continue until the end of the world. And God never takes a rest day. In Pratt’s words, “that does not look reasonable, nor Godlike.”
The good news is, this is false doctrine. We learn from old revelation (Job 38:7), and from new (Abraham 3:23), that there were spirits with God before the world were formed, including the sons of God.
2. Why do you not affirm the doctrine of eternal families?
A Christian marriage ceremony will contain something like “until death do you part”, meaning that the marriage will end after death, as the two go to worship God forever as single people. Regarding Adam & Eve’s marriage, Pratt remarks:
Before death had entered the world, it wouldn’t have made sense for their marriage to end at death. Therefore, their marriage was eternal. After, they received the commandment to multiply. Given their nature at the time, this was a commandment to “multiply to all ages of eternity”.
Through the Prophet Joseph Smith, God restored this as the “new and everlasting covenant of marriage” (Doctrine and Covenants 131). Today, in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, people are sealed in temples for eternity, the same as Adam & Eve.
3. How will your spirit return to God if you’ve never been with Him?
Ecclesiastes 12:7 — “…and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”
I plan to visit Sweden someday. If I were to say I plan to return to Sweden someday, this would communicate to whoever I’m speaking to that I have already been to Sweden prior.
Your spirit has been with God before. Before your life on Earth, you had a life with God in the heavens. Therefore, you can say you plan to return to God.
Thank you for reading, I look forward to reading your responses.
To speak with missionaries: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/ps/meet-with-missionaries
To read more about premortality: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/premortality-study-guide?lang=eng
To read more about eternal families: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2023/01/10-families-are-eternal?lang=eng
