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Intelligence didn't cross from Pre-existence
Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2026 3:52 pm
by sock puppet
According to Mormon teachings--as they were taught to me during the 20 or so years I was enmeshed in the Mormon church--we were organized as intelligences, became 'spirits', lived in the pre-existence with God, and made a choice to align with Jehovah's plan to prove ourselves in mortal existence or with Lucifer's plan that all of us would be saved despite our mortal shortcomings.
Those that chose Lucifer's plan--1/3 of the hosts of the pre-existence--were cast out into outer darkness. The other 2/3 chose Jehovah's plan and have been and are yet being born into mortal existence, here to prove ourselves worthy of returning to live in God's presence for eternity.
So in crossing that veil from pre-existence into mortality, why were we not born with our intellect, developed to the point it was when we left the pre-existence? Babies are not born with that intellect in tact, just here to gain a body and how to control it as those teachings purport the purpose of mortality to be. Why was the reset button hit on our intellects? Why, intelligence speaking, did we have to start from scratch again?
As a corollary, when we die and pass through that veil, will the intellect reset button be pressed again? Will we have to yet again restart intellectual develpment from scratch? If not, why was that necessary when we came into mortality, going from one realm (pre-existence) into another (mortality), but not when we pass again from mortality into the realm of the hereafter?
Re: Intelligence didn't cross from Pre-existence
Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2026 4:33 pm
by drumdude
This part has long confused me. Mormons like DCP seem to be simultaneously both dualists and materialists. Dan rejects the notion that the brain contains the entirety of self, yet he embraces the idea that the universe contains God and heaven. That God formed the universe out of the pre existing eternal matter.
These are two self contradictory beliefs that Mormonism seems to just gloss over and make no attempt to reconcile.
In relation to intelligence, that seems to be both material and non material at the same time within Mormonism. So you would first have to choose how to define intelligence within Mormonism. Is it linked to the brain or is it connected to the non mortal material spirit?
Re: Intelligence didn't cross from Pre-existence
Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2026 9:04 pm
by Rivendale
sock puppet wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2026 3:52 pm
According to Mormon teachings--as they were taught to me during the 20 or so years I was enmeshed in the Mormon church--we were organized as intelligences, became 'spirits', lived in the pre-existence with God, and made a choice to align with Jehovah's plan to prove ourselves in mortal existence or with Lucifer's plan that all of us would be saved despite our mortal shortcomings.
Those that chose Lucifer's plan--1/3 of the hosts of the pre-existence--were cast out into outer darkness. The other 2/3 chose Jehovah's plan and have been and are yet being born into mortal existence, here to prove ourselves worthy of returning to live in God's presence for eternity.
So in crossing that veil from pre-existence into mortality, why were we not born with our intellect, developed to the point it was when we left the pre-existence? Babies are not born with that intellect in tact, just here to gain a body and how to control it as those teachings purport the purpose of mortality to be. Why was the reset button hit on our intellects? Why, intelligence speaking, did we have to start from scratch again?
As a corollary, when we die and pass through that veil, will the intellect reset button be pressed again? Will we have to yet again restart intellectual develpment from scratch? If not, why was that necessary when we came into mortality, going from one realm (pre-existence) into another (mortality), but not when we pass again from mortality into the realm of the hereafter?
No you don't get a reset after death. Why would baptisms for the dead be needed. After death you wake up and think damn there is an afterlife and along comes two missionaries and they say that Tad did your temple work do you accept? Essentially when you commit in the pre-existence you agree to a mind wipe that is never guaranteed to be removed. Would a rational being agree to a eternal recovery?
Re: Intelligence didn't cross from Pre-existence
Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2026 9:22 pm
by Limnor
Faith requires forgetting and then believing someone who tells you what you forgot.
Re: Intelligence didn't cross from Pre-existence
Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2026 10:46 pm
by Rivendale
Limnor wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2026 9:22 pm
Faith requires forgetting and then believing someone who tells you what you forgot.
The quip we all agreed to come down is doing a lot of heavy lifting and is blame shifting at it's finest.
Re: Intelligence didn't cross from Pre-existence
Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2026 11:00 pm
by Limnor
Rivendale wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2026 10:46 pm
Limnor wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2026 9:22 pm
Faith requires forgetting and then believing someone who tells you what you forgot.
The quip we all agreed to come down is doing a lot of heavy lifting and is blame shifting at it's finest.
For me it’s similar to “the plates existed, Moroni just took them back before anyone could get a good look at them. Except these friends of mine, of course. Have faith in us.”
Re: Intelligence didn't cross from Pre-existence
Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2026 11:13 pm
by Rivendale
Limnor wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2026 11:00 pm
Rivendale wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2026 10:46 pm
The quip we all agreed to come down is doing a lot of heavy lifting and is blame shifting at it's finest.
For me it’s similar to “the plates existed, Moroni just took them back before anyone could get a good look at them. Except these friends of mine, of course. Have faith in us.”
And why take them back? Does god have melancholy over lost civilizations and their diligent scrapings on Au? Or perhaps he is of the mindset of Frank Fritz and can't resist a specimen from a rustic age.
Re: Intelligence didn't cross from Pre-existence
Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2026 8:46 am
by I Have Questions
Somebody far wittier and articulate than I coined a phrase along the lines of Mormonism is constantly being proven true by things that are not available for scrutiny. Hidden things. Missing things. etc. It was a witty phrase that was used, but I cannot for the life of me remember it, nor who came up with it. A bit like "The Book of Mormon is true because of evidence that hasn't been discovered yet'.