My Dear Children,
About the Title
I borrowed the title of this letter from a book written by Charles Darwin titled On the Origin of Species and from an article published by John Taylor titled Origin, Object, and Destiny of Women. Although this piece is nothing like either of them, I suggest reading them both. While John Taylor’s article focused on women in particular, the title of this letter makes no particular reference to gender in the grand sense. “Man” merely refers to “mankind.”
Reason For This Letter
Your brother Hyrum sent me a message recently asking for my thoughts on the pre-existence of human souls. Apparently he had been in a discussion on the topic with some friends and his skeptical views were not well received. Since I thought the subject deserved a well reasoned response, I decided to reply in this format where I could give it plenty of thought, reflection, and research. I also wanted to share it with all of you. In contemplating my response, I thought the topic demanded an extension into the post-existence, also. After all, of what use or significance is a pre-existence if there is no post-existence?
Let’s Face It–No One Knows
First let us observe that no one knows whether or not humans had a premortal existence or even whether or not we will continue to exist hereafter. “But,” as some may say, “Joseph Smith and other prophets received visions and revelations concerning these things.” Perhaps they did, but to me, visions and revelations do not constitute real knowledge. Real knowledge is much harder to obtain than that. Real knowledge requires extensive inquiry, experimentation, and experience. It does not come by merely being told something. I may safely say that if I drop an iron ball untethered by anything, then it will fall toward the earth. I think I know this. It is something that I have studied, experimented with, and experienced extensively. Beyond the tangible experiences of our lives, there is little that we can say we know. Even then, human perception of experience is dreadfully subjective and prone to drifting over time. The null hypothesis is that this life is all we have. To accept the alternative hypothesis would require evidence that I do not possess. This does not mean that we did not have, or will not have, any existence beyond this life; it merely means that we should be wary of such claims.
A Little About Joseph Smith
Hypotheses aside, let us delve a little deeper into this idea of a pre-mortal existence. Few religions accept the notion, but of those that do, that of Mormonism is by far the most fully developed. To understand the Mormon conceptualization of the pre-existence, we really need to take a brief look at the man who developed it–Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith was an ardent believer, a thinker, and a philosopher. He worked diligently to understand both Christian scripture and his own prolific spiritual experiences under the banner of a unified theology. I would say that he did a better job than any theologian I have ever had exposure to.
Joseph Smith implicitly accepted that the Bible was true and only his martyrdom interrupted his quest to fully understand and explain every prophecy, pronouncement, and obscure clue. However, when the Bible couldn’t reasonably be interpreted to fit into his unified theory, he boldly altered the Bible with impunity (or, as he said, by “authority”), claiming to restore it to its original condition. He ascribed these “errors” to the mistakes of scribes or to the deceit of designing men. I actually respect his approach more than that of religionists who claim that the Bible is infallible. One reason that I admire Joseph Smith is that he embraced many of the methods of inquiry in formulating his theological concepts. For instance, he studied languages in order to facilitate his thoughtful analysis, rather than relying only on mystical powers. (See the PDF Joseph Smith’s Emendation of Hebrew Genesis 1:1 by Kevin L. Barney for a striking example of this.)
Man Before Time–Scriptural Basis
Hence, even though most Christians deny a pre-mortal existence of man, there is a scriptural basis for it, as Joseph Smith (and others) uncovered. One very striking difference between Mormonism and other Christian sects is that Mormonism holds that Jesus was one of us, a human, an elder brother to man, while most Christians believe that Jesus and God were one-in-the-same. Revelations 13:8 reads, “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship [the beast], whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” This suggests that Jesus had a pre-mortal existence (appointed to die before he came to the earth). Therefore, by Joseph Smith’s logic, if Jesus had a pre-mortal existence, so did we. Furthermore, Job 1:6 reads, “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.” The sons of God in this passage were taken to be the spirits of men. For do we not refer to ourselves as the children of God? How could they (the spirits of men) have been with the Lord during the days of Job unless they were 1) waiting to enter into their earthly estate or 2) resurrected from their mortal existence? Since the resurrection of man had not commenced (Jesus had not yet broken the bands of death), the logical explanation was that man existed with God prior to his mortality.
There are other references, but wresting the scriptures is not my favorite activity. Beyond those I have given, the allusions to a pre-mortal existence get more tenuous and the logic more strained. Because Job treats topics hardly touched upon in the remaining body of works and because of its divergent style, some scholars have supposed that Job actually predates the other books of the Bible and, consequently, the predominant Jewish tradition.
Visions Reaching Beyond The Scripture
Not only did Joseph Smith believe that Jesus was a man like other men (only with a mission of greater scope or importance, and more perfectly fulfilled), but he also went further to describe God himself as a man like other men who had been glorified or exalted. The following quotes are taken from the King Follett Discourse (the Larson version), a sermon preached by Joseph Smith at the funeral services for King Follett, a man who died in Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1844:
- God himself who sits enthroned in yonder heavens is a man like unto one of yourselves.
- He once was a man like one of us and that God himself, the father of us all, once dwelled on an earth the same as Jesus Christ himself did in the flesh and like us.
- You have got to learn how to make yourselves Gods in order to save yourselves and be kings and priests to God, the same as all Gods have done.
- All doctors of divinity say that God created [the spirit of man] in the beginning,
but it is not so. The very idea lessens the character of man, in my estimation. - Man existed in spirit; the mind of man—the intelligent part—is as immortal as, and is coequal with, God himself.
- Is it logical to say that a spirit is immortal and yet has a beginning? Because if a spirit of man had a beginning, it will have an end, but it does not have a beginning or end.
- Intelligence is eternal and exists upon a self-existent principle.
What Greater Vision?
From the foregoing quotations, it is quite clear that Joseph Smith taught that man existed not only before his mortality upon the earth, but that some essence of man (spirit or intelligence) always existed and will continue to exist forever. A colleague and a rational Mormon once asked me what I thought Joseph Smith’s most unique doctrine was. I responded, “that man may become God.” He smiled and nodded in affirmation. This is a most wonderful vision for man. I choose to embrace this doctrine, not because I claim to know that Joseph Smith was right (spirituality is not one of my gifts), but simply because it is the grandest, most noble vision for man ever promoted on the earth.
Belief And Pragmatism
Beliefs only matter to the extent that they drive one’s behavior. I am a pragmatist. I evaluate the virtue of beliefs by their tangible manifestations. If two people have different beliefs, and the one produces virtuous works, and the other produces something less admirable by comparison, then I will naturally value the beliefs yielding more virtuous actions. If Joseph Smith’s doctrine promotes a godly walk and talk among men, then I would treasure and defend it. Furthermore, if a man tells me that he feels moved upon by the Holy Ghost to speak consolation, edification, encouragement, or enlightenment, let him speak his whole soul to me. However, if a man claims to be moved upon by the Holy Ghost to speak vice, hatred, or to slander the holy character of almighty God by attributing malice to him where there is none, then I do not care what threats he hisses and spits at me; I feel authorized by the intelligence that God himself granted me to pay that slanderer no more attention than I would the howling of the wind on a slumbering night. No man has the right to overrule God’s gifts granted to me. My dear children, I would urge you to likewise value God’s gifts to you.
Believe Or Perish!
Judeo-Christian religions (possibly others also, although I’m much less familiar with them) place enormous significance on what a man believes. For instance, it is widely held by Christians that if a man does not believe in God, he is headed to hell, regardless of how virtuously he lives. I think it is wrong to condemn a man for his beliefs and I utterly reject such notions. Instead, focus on developing your conduct into something grand. If a belief nurtures excellent conduct, then embrace it. If it leads to bitterness and hell, discard it. If God judges you, let it be for excellent works and not for barren beliefs. As James 2:14-18 reads:
What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
Speculate!
It is entertaining to speculate about God and existence. The only group I can think of more advanced at it than Mormons is Jews, and that’s only because they’ve been at it much longer, not because they have richer material upon which to feast their imaginations. Nevertheless, I say speculate in another sense, like one who buys land hoping that it will increase in value, in order to gain wealth. Speculate in grand principles and live toward eternity. Although I lack evidence that I will exist after I “shuffle off this mortal coil,” the thought that I may live naturally engenders hope and inspires me to foster those attributes which I believe would be beneficial in such a realm: love, faith, knowledge, and generosity, etc. Then, if we obtain a life after this, what a great blessing! A bonus we had no right to expect. But, if we die and the lights go out, at least we have made the life we lived something beautiful. And perhaps that is enough for mere mortals.
With love, your dad,
Ariel Hammon.