From:	Marcus Martins

To:	Smith, Wes

Date:	1/14/00 2:17PM

Subject:	Re: Preexistence and Mortality

Wes:

Thank you for your message. I appreciated your insights, and I noticed that you and I have a lot in common.

For example, just like you I dislike the idea that our temporal circumstances on earth might be the result of chance. Since the house of the Lord is a house of order, and we see order everywhere we look in nature, our circumstances must be dictated by a set of criteria. Notice that my argument in my paper was that this set of criteria might be incomprehensible to the mortal mind, and that in the absence of specific revelations on the subject our imperfect attempts to identify these criteria might be tainted by our fallen nature and biased views.

The idea that receiving the gospel on earth is a reward certainly has a lot of appeal. But we must remember that the Lord never promised that all people would have access to the gospel in this life. The plan of salvation continues in the spirit world--that world being just a parallel dimension of this earth. In our mortal experience we tend to disregard the next, or spiritual stage of our experience. And so it is that we always expect certain blessings to be bestowed here and now, and when they aren't we usually assume that something went wrong. In some cases the Lord will reserve certain blessings to the next stage.

In response to your question (regarding viewing blessings of the gospel as consequences of pre-mortal righteousness) I still maintain the opinion I suggested in my paper. I believe that the blessings we receive will be aimed at: (1) to impel us to receive the Lord's salvation in his own due time; and (2) to further the work of his kingdom, or to ensure that we will have what is needed (e.g. knowledge, talents, skills, guidance) to fulfill our pre-ordained assignments.

If one nation still has not opened its doors to the restored gospel, it doesn't necessarily mean that there is something wrong with that nation, or that that nation is somehow "unprivileged." It is clearly possible for "noble and great ones" to never receive the gospel in mortality. If we had had the fulness of the gospel on the earth for 1,000 years, then we might say that something was wrong. But only 170 years have elapsed since the organization of the Church, and it has been only one decade since the Lord began to bless us with the technological tools necessary to take the message of the gospel to billions of his children.

Let us pause here and reflect on this last word. We are talking about God's children. It doesn't matter whether we know them as Chinese, Hindus, or Arabs–these are temporary and irrelevant mortal categorizations when we take eternity into consideration. These are sons and daughters who were created in the likeness and image of God, nurtured in the glorious pre-mortal world, possessed with the same spark of divinity, and the same rudimentary divine attributes, gifts, and powers as we have been. The Lord would never set them up for failure or for degradation; He is a perfect and loving Father. So, temporary mortal conditions should not be viewed as permanent decrees.

Finally, consider these words from President Harold B. Lee:

"... don't be too hasty in your conclusions as to what conditions in mortality constitute the greater privileges. That condition in life which gives the greatest experience and opportunity for development is the one to be most desired and any one so privileged is most favored of God. ...

Now, don't misunderstand as to just what may be a great privilege or opportunity. Sometimes to be born through the channels of adversity is to have had the greatest opportunity. Just because we haven't been born rich, for instance, may be the greatest blessing we could possibly have. Perhaps some physical infirmities might be a blessing." (The Teachings of Harold B. Lee, p.23)

Once again, thank you for your message.

Marcus Martins

E-mail: martinsm@ricks.edu

Internet: http://www.ricks.edu/religion/martinsm

>>> Wes Smith 01/13/00 05:15PM >>>

Marcus,

I read your paper about race, preexistence, and mortality. I appreciate your unique perspective on the subject, and I have learned much from your comments.

I am one of the authors you talk about who asserts a direct cause-and-effect relationship between our earthly circumstances and our pre-mortal faithfulness. I come to that point of view because I dislike the possibility that "fortunate"conditions here on earth have anything to do with chance, luck, or random selection. How could a God who "is no respecter of persons" (Acts 10:34) relegate some, indeed most, mortals to lives of inescapable hardship when others, like us, are given lives that are relatively free of inconvenience? He wouldn't do that by any sort of lottery, would He? To me, it makes more sense that a just God is simply blessing those people, and only those, who have obeyed in the preexistence--the laws on which the blessings are based (D&C 132:5).

But you've gotten me to think about what constitutes real (eternal) blessings and what might comprise irrelevant (temporal) trifles.

I do not know how race, prosperity, or health correlate with anything. But certainly one blessing that comes as a consequence of pre-mortal faithfulness is the Melchizedek Priesthood (Alma 13:3-5). Ordination is incontrovertible evidence of a man's having chosen good in the previous life. The circumstances under which a person can hear and accept the gospel is very likely another. Currently, a large fraction of the earth's population (e.g., China, India, Africa, etc.) have not even heard of the Savior, much less have had the free agency to embrace or reject His gospel. By my estimate, more than 90% of the world will live their entire mortal lives in such ignorance. Why are the rest of us the only ones "privileged" enough to possess critical knowledge necessary to work out their own salvation? I say it has to be the result of our valiance in the preexistence.

As you point out, however, the converse of this may not be true. Statistically speaking, I know there must exist great hoards of people who were pre-earthly slackers or who will never accept the truth even if it is declared "with the trump of God [and] a voice to shake the earth"(Alma 29:1). But I have no way of identifying any one of them on an individual basis. There may be many reasons why a truly valiant spirit would be born into a gospel-less society. Only one of which might be that he or she has accepted a pre-earthly calling to be the key person who eventually finds the gospel and brings it to his or her people. I can only regard any individual person, therefore, as a potential pillar of the faith regardless of circumstances.

In short, I tend to infer that any and all blessings of the gospel are consequences of pre-mortal righteousness, but I withhold judgment otherwise.

Do we agree or disagree on any of these matters? I wasn't fully sure from your paper. Let's discuss it.

Wes Smith

"Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth [up] the coals

in the fire[works]." Isaiah 54:16