Foreordination

Volume Two—Chapter Fifteen FOREORDINATION

#Introduction

Among all God’s spirit children that have passed or will yet pass through the premortal experience, there surely is great diversity relative to spiritual growth and progress. Some have been rigorously diligent and obedient to God’s law, and have accordingly been blessed with abundant gifts of the Spirit. Others have been more casual or careless, and have grown more slowly. While some were valiant in the war in heaven and fought steadfastly on the side of the Father and the Son, others supported the cause of God but were less valiant in its defense. Still others defended Satan’s cause and were cast down to earth. With Satan, they will never participate in the second estate or receive a mortal body. There has always existed every shade of grey—every degree of spiritual growth—among the billions of spirits who have been and still are in the premortal world.

Abraham saw in vision the spirits in their first estate and referred indirectly to their diversity:

Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences [spirits] that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones; And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born (Abraham 3:22-23).

Abraham learned what Jeremiah, Peter, Paul, and other prophets and apostles would also learn. God, in the premortal world, chose individuals and groups of his spirit offspring and pre-designated them for special responsibilities. With successful fulfillment of these callings would come special blessings. These premortal callings or designations are known among Latter-day Saints as foreordinations. Elder Bruce R. McConkie defined the doctrine of foreordination:

To carry forward his own purposes among men and nations, the Lord foreordained chosen spirit children in the pre-existence and assigned them to come to earth at particular times and places so that they might aid in furthering the divine will. These pre-existence appointments, made “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father” (1 Peter 1:2), simply designated certain individuals to perform missions which the Lord in his wisdom knew they had the talents and capacities to do (Mormon Doctrine, 290).

Foreordination, then, is the premortal selection of individuals, groups, or nations to come forth in mortality at specified times and to certain places. Foreordination in the premortal world was likely accomplished as hands were laid on spirit heads, and preexistent spirits were ordained to do special work here on earth. Since they were ordained before coming to earth, we say they were ordained before, or foreordained.

#Alma 13:3—a Treatise on Foreordination

Alma 13 is the prophet Alma’s discourse on the higher priesthood. Verse 3 of that chapter is a remarkable description of the doctrine of foreordination to that priesthood:

And this is the manner after which they were ordained—being called and prepared from the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God, on account of their exceeding faith and good works; in the first place being left to choose good or evil; therefore they having chosen good, and exercising exceedingly great faith, are called with a holy calling, yea, with that holy calling which was prepared with, and according to, a preparatory redemption for such.

Our accountability for our priesthood began prior to the current phase of our existence. No man is called to the higher priesthood in the second estate (this mortal life and the spirit world that follows) without being prepared, qualified, called, and foreordained in the first estate (“from the foundation of the world,” in the “first place”— during the pre-existence). Thus, priesthood holders in this second estate are “twicecalled.”

Seldom do we find a single verse of scripture (Alma 13:3) that so aptly defines an important doctrinal principle. We will, therefore, carefully consider this verse and generalize its applications to other types of foreordination:

“And this is the manner after which they were ordained.” Alma seems to be referring here to the ancient patriarchs (“they”). In the premortal world, they were “ordained”—actually foreordained—to their prophetic offices. Does this verse apply only to them or does it also apply to all of us with lesser station in the Church? It likely applies to all of us.

“Being called and prepared from the foundation of the world.” To be called is to be foreordained. The phrase “from the foundation of the world” refers to man’s preexistence or first estate.

“According to the foreknowledge of God.” This calling and foreordination to the priesthood (and to other roles in life) is not made capriciously. It is made “according to the foreknowledge of God”—his knowledge of us while we were in the premortal sphere and perhaps before. God’s foreknowledge of each of us is perfect. Referring to his divine insight, Elder James E. Talmage wrote:

Our heavenly Father has a full knowledge of the nature and disposition of each of his children, a knowledge gained by long observation and experience in the past eternity of our primeval childhood; a knowledge compared with which that gained by earthly parents through mortal experience with their children is infinitesimally small. By reason of that surpassing knowledge, God reads the future of child and children, of men individually and of men collectively as communities and nations. He knows what each will do under given conditions and sees the end from the beginning. His foreknowledge is based on intelligence and reason. He foresees the future as a state which naturally and surely will be; not as one which must be because he has arbitrarily willed that it shall be (Jesus the Christ, 29).

Both the Father and the Son have divine foreknowledge concerning all mortals regarding their responsiveness to the gospel message. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine” (John 10:14, italics added). On another occasion he said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27, italics added). It is no wonder the Lord could say to Jeremiah, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee and I ordained thee a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5). Paul said of God, “He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4).

A word of caution: With our limited mortal intellects, we should not expect to understand, in full, this divine foreknowledge. The past, present, and future are before God simultaneously. We cannot understand how. In a revelation to Moses, the Lord said, “And all things are present with me, for I know them all” (Moses 1:6). In a revelation to Joseph Smith, the Lord described himself as “The same which knoweth all things, for all things are present before mine eyes” (D&C 38:2). As we utilize our mortal logic to try to explain this concept, we are inclined to say that God is able to interpret the light that emanates from each of us and thereby understand us perfectly. Hence, he is able to predict with virtual certainty what we will do in any given circumstance. There may, however, be more to this process than we know.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell used the symbol of a university as an analogy to teach of God’s foreknowledge. He explained that universities can often predict with unusual levels of accuracy the future collegiate grades of an incoming freshman student. These predictions are based on certain empirical tests and careful analysis of the student’s past performance. Although the university may be able to predict a student’s eventual achievement, this prediction does not compel that student or interfere with his actual academic performance, behavior, or opportunities.

Elder Maxwell summarized the relationship between foreknowledge and foreordination in this way:

God, the Father, who knows us perfectly, surely can foresee how we will respond to various challenges. While we often do not rise to our opportunities, God is neither pleased nor surprised. But we cannot say to him later on that we could have achieved if we had just been given the chance! This is all part of the justice of God. . . .

When we mortals try to comprehend rather than merely accept foreordination, the result is one in which finite minds futilely try to comprehend omniscience. A full understanding is impossible; we simply have to trust in what the Lord has told us, knowing enough, however, to realize that we are not dealing with guarantees from God but extra opportunities—and heavier responsibilities. If those responsibilities are in some ways linked to past performance or to past capabilities, it should not surprise us. . . .

It should not disconcert us, therefore, that the Lord has indicated that he chose some individuals before they came here to carry out certain assignments and, hence, these individuals have been foreordained. . . .

Foreordination is like any other blessing—it is a conditional bestowal subject to our faithfulness. Prophecies foreshadow events without determining the outcomes, because of a divine foreseeing of outcomes. So foreordination is a conditional bestowal of a role, a responsibility, or a blessing which, likewise, foresees but does not fix the outcome (CR, October 1981, 9).

The foreordination of an individual in the premortal world to accomplish particular things here in mortality is dependent, at least in part, upon the attributes he acquired through his obedience in the pre-existence. Through acquisition of these abilities, each individual becomes to possess a truly unique combination of divine attributes. Depending on his unique combination of abilities, he is foreordained to specific earthly tasks. He is thus called to specific earthly callings.

“On account of their exceeding faith and good works.” Was it really necessary for us to exercise faith when we lived in the pre-existence (referred to in this verse as “the first place”)? After all, did we not live with our heavenly parents, see them with our eyes, and converse with them? Was it really necessary for us to exercise faith in that setting? Did we not walk by knowledge and not by faith?

We know it was necessary to exercise faith as we all strove, with various degrees of success, to be obedient. Each of us possessed there a “natural self” that rendered obedience to the law of the Lord difficult. Even there, in the very presence of God, it was necessary to deny the natural self in order to obey the commandments. As we learned in the chapters on Faith,1 an important aspect of faith—“deliberate faith”—is the deliberate, disciplined denial of our natural self and obedience to the law. Even in God’s very presence, it was imperative that we learned to exercise this deliberate type of faith. Based on our obedience, some qualified for more blessings from the Father than did others.

Abraham was allowed a vision of the individuals in the first estate. He saw “many [who were] noble and great ones.” This implies there were some there also who were not as noble or great. All blessings, talents, or gifts we possess here on earth were not given to us gratuitously. They were earned in the premortal world. For example, those born into this life with the gift of spiritual character merit that blessing. It is something they brought with them.2 We are taught: “There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated” (D&C 130:20). This eternal principle pertained in the first estate as it does in the second. Some were better at obeying the law than others. Hence, some qualified for more blessings than did others. It should not be surprising, then, that the Lord selected certain individuals for particular assignments before they came here. By their obedience, they earned certain divine attributes. Each possessed these attributes in unique combination. The Lord wished each individual to utilize them for the betterment of his fellow mortals and the furthering of his earthly kingdom. Thus, each was foreordained to his own unique assignment.

Those men who demonstrated “exceeding faith and good works” were ordained in that “first place” to receive the higher priesthood in this “second place.”

“They having chosen good, and exercising exceedingly great faith, are called with a holy calling.” Those who were valiant in the first estate were “called with a holy calling.” They were foreordained to receive the higher priesthood and other holy callings or foreordinations. Since it was possible to hold the priesthood in the premortal world, then perhaps this being “called with a holy calling” refers to actually receiving the higher priesthood in the first estate as well.

“That holy calling which was prepared with, and according to, a preparatory redemption for such.” This phrase is at first a bit confusing. Let us consider its meaning carefully. “That holy calling” refers to the higher priesthood. The phrase “which was prepared with, and according to” means the higher priesthood “was created for the purpose of.”

Thus far, the meaning is that “the higher priesthood was created or prepared for the purpose of. . . .” Of what? Why was the higher priesthood created? What is its essential purpose here on earth of those who bear this higher priesthood? Their purpose is to assist in the “preparatory redemption” of man. What is this “preparatory redemption”? It is the redemption of fallen man from their sins. The priesthood holder’s calling is to aid, strengthen, encourage, bless lives, and ultimately assist in the redemption and exaltation of fallen man—their fellow mortals.

Their work is “preparatory.” Prior to Christ’s mortal advent, the work of the priesthood was to prepare the people for his coming. The work of those who have lived or are living in this final dispensation is to prepare the world for his second coming.

Just who is it these bearers of the higher priesthood are supposed to assist in their redemption from the fall? They are to provide help “for such” people as they encounter here on earth.

We may expand the concept of foreordination in Alma 13:3 to include other foreordinations by the Lord in addition to the priesthood. The Lord seems to dispatch premortal spirits to earth where and when he wishes for any and all of his purposes.

We commonly observe in life some individuals with special limitations and challenges. These are all in the Lord’s hands, and he loves them perfectly. According to his divine foreknowledge, he has placed, or at least he has allowed to be placed through mortal accident, a “thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7) of some of his children. Like him who was “blind from birth” (John 9:1-2), some will come to bring glory to God because of their infirmities. Certainly we should not assume that all circumstances here on earth are micromanaged and orchestrated by the Lord, but he does, on occasion, dictate circumstances as divine tutorials for the purpose of teaching certain lessons. For these occasional instances, a proper understanding of the doctrine of foreordination can help us in understanding and coping. We can be more comfortable with the things allotted to us in life.

#Foreordination Is a Stewardship

Each foreordination is a blessing. We know the Lord asks nothing of us without providing sublime blessings in return for our successful fulfillment of his assignments. Here is an important pattern characteristic of all our interactions with the Lord. Blessings far in excess of what he requires of us are implicit in each divine assignment. He inevitably promises more than he asks.

His foreordinations do place us under obligation to comply with his requests and magnify our callings. Hence, a foreordination becomes a stewardship for each person so ordained. Each will be accountable before the Lord for this stewardship (D&C 72:3- 4; 104:12-14). A foreordination implies no guarantees from God, though we know he delights to bless those who are diligent in fulfilling their stewardships. We should view our stewardships as extra opportunities, extra challenges, as well as extra obligations. Foreordination is like all other blessings. It is a conditional bestowal subject to our faithfulness.

But how are we to become aware of the particulars of our foreordination? The veil has been drawn, and we can’t remember. The Lord stands willing, through his Spirit, to reveal the nature of our premortal qualifications and gifts. This quest for selfdiscovery ought to be a central focus in each of our lives. It must include sincere and repeated prayer, pondering, and exploring of our abilities through a lively curiosity and diligent study. Since this is the only way we can fulfill our stewardship, this quest itself is a stewardship (see “Discovering and Redeveloping Our Premortal Glory” below).

A prophet’s prophecies may accurately predict events without actually determining their outcome. So also is foreordination a bestowal of a blessing or an opportunity that foresees but does not fix the outcome. Those who magnify and accomplish their callings or stewardships may then be chosen for exaltation. There is ample evidence in scripture that many are called or foreordained, but only a few are chosen or exalted (see D&C 95:5-6; 121:34-37).

Some notable mortals have tragically failed their trusts. David and Judas are examples. In spite of his doubtless sublime foreordination, David saw Bathsheba from the balcony, lusted after her, and sent for her. God was obviously not pleased with David. Judas Iscariot was foreordained to a critical role in the dispensation of the meridian of time. He was to become one of Christ’s chosen apostles during the Savior’s mortal ministry. He received the testimony that Jesus was the Son of God. Yet, in the light of that conviction, he turned against his Lord, and betrayed him to death.

One might well ask, “Why have the prophets revealed to us the doctrine of foreordination?” An understanding of the precious doctrine of foreordination can and should encourage us in diligent searching out and doing our own good works here on earth. There exist some works for which each of us is particularly suited. We can do them better than any other.

#God’s “Staffing” Prerogative

In a way, we may regard foreordination as God’s “staffing prerogative.” In a previous chapter, we discussed God’s power.3 We learned that coercion is not part of God’s economy or method. God will not, in fact cannot, impose his will forcibly upon any of his creatures. God will not force an intelligence against his will. He does, however, maintain to himself an active, even pro-active and vigorous, administrative prerogative to organize and direct the affairs of all his creations. He has, after all, a passionate interest and purpose in the successful function of his universe and its innumerable worlds. They are the venues whereon live his children, and he wants those children, every one, home to live with him forever (2 Nephi 26:24).

He reserves the right to send to this earth any individual whose particular abilities would be useful to him at a particular time and place. He may place that individual on earth just where and when he wishes, so that his divine purposes may better be served.

#Foreordination to the Latter Days

God has sent worthy and faithful spirits into mortality in every dispensation. Prophets have taught that God has reserved many of his choice spirits to come forth in these tumultuous last days. Iniquity abounds as Lucifer’s “last-gasp” evil efforts increase. The need for righteous and worthy spirits to carry forth God’s purposes and designs increases proportionately. President Wilford Woodruff said:

The Lord has chosen a small number of choice spirits of Sons and Daughters out of all the creations of God, who are to inherit the earth, and the company of choice spirits have been kept in the Spirit World [preexistence] for 6,000 years, to come forth in the last days, to stand in the flesh in the last dispensation of the fulness of times, to organize the Kingdom of God upon the earth to build it up and to defend it (“Our Lineage,” Topical Outline to the Way to Perfection, 4).

President Ezra Taft Benson delivered the following message to the students of Brigham Young University in 1980:

For nearly six thousand years, God has held you in reserve to make your appearance in the final days before the second coming of the Lord. Every previous gospel dispensation has drifted into apostasy, but ours will not. . . . God has saved for the final inning some of his strongest children, who will help bear off the Kingdom triumphantly. And that is where you come in, for you are the generation that must be prepared to meet your God.

All through the ages the prophets have looked down through the corridors of time to our day. Billions of the deceased and those yet to be born have their eyes on us. Make no mistake about it—you are a marked generation. There has never been more expected of the faithful in such a short period of time as there is of us. Never before on the face of this earth have the forces of evil and the forces of good been as well organized. . . .

Each Day we personally make many decisions that show where our support will go. The final outcome is certain—the forces of righteousness will finally win. What remains to be seen is where each of us personally, now and in the future, will stand in this fight—and how tall we will stand. Will we be true to our last-days, foreordained mission? (“In His Steps,” BYU Speeches of the Year, 59-60).

The Lord has directed his prophets to prophesy that this final gospel dispensation will not fail prior to his second coming. Every prior dispensation of the gospel during this earth’s existence has failed due to apostasy. How can God do that? How can he be so certain of the success of this final gospel dispensation? After all, he will not force his earthly kingdom to survive. Yet, his prophecy is clear. He is able to “guarantee” its success. Why? It is because you and others like you are here. By virtue of you and your premortally-acquired abilities, and the abilities of others, he is able to confidently predict that the earthly kingdom this time will not fall into apostasy. He is able to do this by virtue of those he has dispatched to earth during this period. Thus, by this staffing privilege (foreordination), he ensures the kingdom’s success.

#Is Foreordination a Free Gift?

It is an honor to be foreordained to do a work for the Lord. Was this privilege a free gift to us, or did we have to earn it? The latter is true, of course. Our first estate, the premortal world, was an important testing period to see if we would “choose good or evil.” Those who chose good qualified to become foreordained to receive the higher priesthood and other privileges on earth. Joseph Smith wrote: “Every man who has a calling to minister to the inhabitants of the world was ordained to that very purpose in the Grand Council of heaven before this world was.” Then, referring to his own leadership role in directing the latter-day restoration of the gospel, he wrote, “I suppose I was ordained to this very office in that Grand Council” (TPJS, 365). Referring to this statement of the prophet’s, J. Reuben Clark, Jr. said:

I do not know whether we have a right to interpret the prophet’s statement . . . but I like to think that it does include those of us of lesser calling and lesser stature. . . . I like to think that perhaps in the Grand Council something at least was said to us indicating what would be expected of us, and empowering us, subject to the re-confirmation here, to do certain things in building up the kingdom of God on earth (CR, October 1950, 170-71).

Just as our behavior in the mortal/spirit world phase of our existence (our “second estate”) influences our condition in the eternities (our “third estate”), our behavior in our pre-existent phase (our “first estate”) influenced our condition here in mortality.

Mary, the mortal mother of Jesus, is an example of one who was surely foredesignated or foreordained to a significant, sacred mission in life (see 1 Nephi 11:18). This type of foreordination may also apply to many people with vital non-priesthood abilities. I believe Cyrus the Persian, Columbus, other great explorers, the pilgrim founders of America, the framers of the American constitution, John Adams, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, other great national and world governmental leaders, the reformers, inventors, scientists, academicians, philosophers, and musical composers have all been foreordained to important works.

#Foreordination and the Priesthood

For further discussion of the vital association between foreordination and God’s priesthood, see “Foreordination and the Priesthood” in chapter 12, Priesthood.

#Did We Agree to be Foreordained?

No one is ever forced. All those foreordained willingly accepted that honor. Elder Orson Hyde said of our premortal perspective, “We understood things better there than we do in this lower world.” Given this heightened eternal perspective, Elder Hyde speculated about the agreements we made there:

It is not impossible that we signed the articles thereof with our own hands—which articles may be retained in the archives above, to be presented to us when we rise from the dead, and be judged out of our own mouths, according to that which is written in the books. . . . Just because we have forgotten, our forgetfulness cannot alter the facts (JD, 7:314-15).

#Discovering and Redeveloping our Premortal Glory

The unique combination of abilities, actually increments of divine attributes, we earned in the premortal world established our identity and made us who we were in that sphere. The veil of forgetfulness was drawn over our minds as we moved from premortality into mortality. Our forgetting notwithstanding, on occasions there are inklings of remembrance that penetrate the veil. Elder Neal A. Maxwell referred to such an experience as “immortal insight” or a “doctrinal déjà vu.” Elder Maxwell added: “We will sometimes experience a flash from the mirror of memory that urges us forward to a far horizon” (But for a Small Moment, 102). President Joseph F. Smith wrote:

But in coming here, we forgot all, that our agency might be free indeed, to choose good or evil that we might merit the reward of our own choices and conduct. But by the power of the Spirit, and the redemption of Christ, through obedience, we often catch a spark from the awakened memories of the immortal soul, which lights up our whole being as with the glory of our former home (Gospel Doctrine, 13-14).

It is clear that our abilities from premortality accompany us into mortality. Our attributes are manifest here on earth as exciting potential abilities or proclivities. When discovered and re-developed, they provide tangible evidence that we do not start from nothing at birth. We are allowed to bring with us most, if not all, our hard-won attributes. They “leak” through the veil and abide in us during our mortal sojourn. Elder Neal A. Maxwell said, “Thus, when we now say ‘I know,’ that realization is rediscovery; we are actually saying ‘I know—again!’ From long experience, his sheep know his voice and his doctrine” (CR, October 1985, 22).

We maintain a proclivity for a rapid recall of our gifts acquired in the premortal realm. As we strive to “re-acquire” these same gifts, we notice they return quickly. We experience much joy from their reacquisition. Here, these remarkable abilities seem to come “from somewhere else.” Indeed they do! They come from the premortal world.

#Do We Select Our Mortal Circumstances?

A topic related to foreordination is how much influence we have in determining the circumstances of our mortal life. The question, for example, has been raised as to whether we exercised any premortal prerogatives in choosing our parents, siblings, spouses, or even children. Elder John Taylor published an article entitled “The Origin and Destiny of Woman” in the August 29, 1857 edition of The Mormon (as cited in N. B.

Lundwall, comp., The Vision, 145-148). In this article, he advanced the notion that, at least in some specific cases, we chose, in the premortal life, those who would be our earthly parents, spouses, and even children. However, subsequent comments by prophets have questioned this idea. It would seem that, in fact, we had little say in these matters. President Joseph Fielding Smith taught there is “no scriptural justification . . . for the belief that we had the privilege of choosing our parents and our life companions in the spirit world” (The Way to Perfection, 44). Addressing this issue in a talk given to seminary and institute teachers in 1966, Elder Harold B. Lee stated that “we have no revealed word” on the extent to which premortal choices of family members were made. He cautioned that we should not accept or teach ideas that cannot be firmly established in the standard works or by inspired utterances of the living prophets.

#Foreordination and Predestination

Foreordination is a powerful doctrine that must be understood carefully in the context of other gospel principles. If misunderstood, it can encourage a belief in fatalism or lead to a misunderstanding of our agency. It might focus our attention on who we are and not on what we should do. It may cause us to focus on status or position in the kingdom rather than service, and nudge us toward a belief in predestination.

The doctrine of foreordination is fundamental and supported by numerous references and examples in the scriptures. It has, however, led to some confusion. This confusion results from a failure to recognize the true relationship between the foreknowledge of God and his foreordinations. Numerous scriptural passages attest to the omniscience of God (see, for example, Acts 15:18; 1 Nephi 9:6; Helaman 8:8). Foreordinations are based on God’s knowledge of man, man’s premortal characteristics and propensities, and his likely ultimate course in life. God’s foreknowledge and his foreordinations do not interfere, in any way, with the free exercise of agency of any individual.

Paul’s writings have added to the confusion surrounding this doctrine. Paul uses the word predestinated in connection with the doctrine of election. Actually, to be elected is the same as being foreordained, except that election implies that the individual is among the elect and therefore is foreordained to some extraordinarily special work. To the Ephesian saints, who understood the doctrine of premortal foreordinations, Paul wrote: “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will” (Ephesians 1:4-5, italics added). The Greek word from which the King James translators chose the word predestinated has a variety of meanings and could also be translated “foreordained” or “appointed.”

Without an understanding of the premortal world and the doctrine of foreordination afforded us by latter-day revelation, some may understandably interpret predestinated and God’s foreknowledge to mean there is absolute determinism in all things.

One theologian who came to this conclusion was John Calvin. He went beyond what Paul taught on the doctrine of election or foreordination. He interpreted these passages to mean God not only foreknew events but actually caused them to happen by his foreknowledge. Thus, God became the causal agent, negating man’s agency in all matters. Calvin also accepted the doctrine of absolute or ex nihilo creation. He concluded that all are not created on equal terms. Some are predestined to eternal life; others to eternal damnation. Calvin taught that God determined in advance who would be saved and who would be damned. Such predestination, according to Calvin, was not due to acts of individual agency or righteousness but solely due to God’s foreknowledge. Calvin’s doctrine of “absolute determinism” grates uncomfortably and rings untrue in the mind of anyone familiar with the fulness of the Lord’s gospel.

The verb to damn comes from a Latin root meaning “to condemn,” or “to pronounce guilty.” Hence to be damned is to be judged worthy of punishment. In a spiritual sense it means to be declared guilty of sin, the exact opposite of being “justified” or declared innocent of sin. It is unrelated to the similar verb to dam, meaning to stop or to block one’s progress. Several writers, however, have pointed out that the effect of being damned might also be to be dammed. For this and perhaps other reasons, it has become common LDS usage to interpret the word damned as both being condemned and stopped in one’s spiritual progress (i.e. to be forever in a nonexalted state). President Spencer W. Kimball stated that to be “damned means stopped in progress” (Marriage and Divorce: An Address, 29; see also Richard N Holzaprel, “Damnation,” in Ludlow et. al., Encyclopedia of Mormonism 1:353; Margaret McConkie Pope, “Exaltation,” in Ibid., 2:479; N. Gaylon Hopkins, “Joint Heirs with Christ,” in Ibid., 2:583; Dillon K. Inouye, “Celibacy,” in Ibid., 1:260, see also D&C 1:1-4). Thus, those who, through the exercise of their agency, choose darkness over light are stopped in their progress of acquiring light and truth. They literally descend toward hell and darkness (2 Nephi 26:10). Joseph Smith taught that “if we are not drawing towards God . . . we are going from him and drawing towards the devil. . . . As far as we degenerate from God, we descend to the devil and lose knowledge, and without knowledge we cannot be saved; thus, we are damned!” (HC, 4:588). In answer to the question, “Will everybody be damned, but Mormons?” the Prophet responded, “Yes, and a great portion of them (Mormons), unless they repent, and work righteousness” (TPJS, 119, italics added).

The doctrine of predestination has been adopted by some Protestant denominations. There are also Protestants who have parted company with Calvin over his view of absolute determinism. There continue to be diverse views among orthodox Christians on the relationship between God’s foreknowledge and predestination.

Modern prophets including Brigham Young and James E. Talmage have always taught the true relationship between foreknowledge and agency (see JD, 10:324; Articles of Faith, 191).

#God’s “Staffing” the Nations of the Earth

Are God’s spirit children foreordained to be born to specific nations or races here on earth? Teaching the Athenian intellectuals on Mars’ hill, the apostle Paul suggested they were: “God that made the world and all things therein . . . hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation” (Acts 17:24, 26).

Elder Bruce R. McConkie also seemed to teach that men were foreordained to be born among a specific and pre-designated race of people:

All men are the spirit children of the Eternal Father; all dwelt in his presence, awaiting the day of their mortal probation; all have come or will come to earth at an appointed time, in a specified place, to live among a designated people. In all of this there is no chance. A divine providence rules over the nations and governs in the affairs of men. Birth alone determines where and when and among what people his spirit children shall undergo their mortal probations (A New witness for the Articles of Faith, 512-13).

Elder McConkie further clarified and even suggested there may have been separate groups, boundaries, and preferences in the premortal world:

God sends his spirit children to earth on a regular, organized schedule. There is nothing haphazard or accidental about the peopling of the earth or the assignment of various land areas to the races of men. The race and nation in which men are born in this world is a direct result of their pre-existent life. All the spirit hosts of heaven deemed worthy to receive mortal bodies were foreordained to pass through this earthly probation in the particular race and nation suited to their needs, circumstances, and talents (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 2:159-60; see also Alvin R. Dyer, The Meaning of Truth, 33-36).

Apparently there are criteria for foreordination other than premortal righteousness and ability. President David O. McKay, in reference to the peopling of the nations of the earth, suggested that another criterion is a spirit’s attraction to other spirits or groups of spirits of “like character.” This view and its relationship to foreordination to specific lineages and nations is based on the principle of “spiritual attraction” (Llewelyn R. McKay, Home Memories of President David O. McKay, 229).

The placement into certain nations, times, or circumstances is done by an infinitely wise and compassionate Father. He “staffs” the earth for the good of each of his children. Apparently, each spirit child is assigned to such a nation as would be best for his or her own growth and development. Great spirits have come to all nations and races to render service to humanity and contribute to the enlightenment of others. “The great religious leaders of the world,” wrote the First Presidency, “such as Mohammed, Confucius, and the Reformers, as well as philosophers including Socrates, Plato, and others received a portion of God’s light. Moral truths were given to them by God to enlighten whole nations and to bring a higher level of understanding to individuals” (“God’s Love for All Mankind,” Statement of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, February 15, 1978, cited in Spencer J. Palmer, The Expanding Church, 5).

Thousands of other great and noble spirits, not as famous but whose service and contributions have been significant, have been and will continue to be sent to all the nations of the earth.

#Foreordination of a Covenant People

Sometimes an entire nation is foreordained to a particular work and consequent blessings. An example of the foreordination of a nation is the posterity of Jacob, the house of Israel. President Harold B. Lee wrote:

It would seem very clear . . . that . . . Jacob, who was later to be called Israel, and his posterity, who were known as the children of Israel, were born into the most illustrious lineage of any of those who came upon the earth as mortal beings.

All these rewards were seemingly promised, or foreordained, before the world was. Surely these matters must have been determined by the kind of lives we had lived in that premortal spirit world. Some may question these assumptions, but at the same time they will accept without any question the belief that each one of us will be judged when we leave this earth according to his or her deeds during our lives here in mortality. Isn’t it just as reasonable to believe that what we have received here in this earth life was given to each of us according to the merits of our conduct before we came here? (“Understanding Who We Are Brings Self-

Respect,” Ensign, January 1974, 5).

Election of this sort is a type of collective foreordination. It is a selection of spirits to form an entire favored group or lineage. But what of the individuals within that collective group? How does each individual relate to the collective foreordination of the entire nation? Although it is a collective foreordination, the eventual judgment of one’s stewardship is nonetheless based on individual premortal faithfulness and spiritual capacity. Through the lineage of Israel were to come the true and tried souls who had demonstrated their righteousness in the premortal world. In spite of this group foreordination, the promised blessings to this favored lineage depend on each individual’s obedience and valiance to the Lord and his gospel here in mortality. Paul taught, “They are not all Israel, which are of Israel” (Romans 9:6). Lineage does not ensure salvation.

An individual born into mortality in the lineage of Israel becomes part of “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people” (1 Peter 2:9; see also Exodus 19:5-6; Leviticus 20:22-26). An individual so foreordained becomes one of the Lord’s covenant people. The foreordination therefore becomes more than a stewardship. It becomes an actual covenant. To fulfill that foreordination, to become a covenant person, and receive the blessings promised to the house of Israel, Paul taught, each must accept the Mediator of the Covenant, who is Jesus Christ (see Hebrews 8 and 9). Each must seek for and accept the opportunity to be baptized, join the Church of Jesus Christ, receive the priesthood, enter the ordinance of celestial marriage, and be sealed up unto eternal life.

While it may result in an inclination toward spirituality, being born into the lineage of Israel does not guarantee salvation. The Lord taught Alma that “all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God . . . and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God” (Mosiah 27:25-26).

All of those not born into the lineage of Israel also have ample opportunity for exaltation. By accepting the gospel here in mortality, they are received, as Paul taught, “by adoption” into the favored lineage. They thus receive all the blessings and responsibilities to which they are entitled. Their apparent lack of a premortal foreordination is overcome when they become as though they had been foreordained. In the Abrahamic covenant, the Lord promised: “For as many as receive this Gospel shall be called after thy name, and shall be accounted thy seed, and shall rise up and bless thee, as their father” (Abraham 2:10).

#Foreordination and the Salvation of the Foreordained

We have largely spoken of foreordination as God’s technique for effectively staffing the earth to better accomplish his own purposes. But there are other purposes of foreordination.

Let us recall again that God’s essential purpose, relative to his children, is to bring each one home to him. This is his passion and his obsession. This is the purpose of the earth and the purpose of his gospel. He may utilize the technique of foreordination to better accomplish this. He may place an individual on the earth at a time and in a place that will offer him the best opportunity to progress spiritually and, thus, the best opportunity to one day return home to God.

Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote:

It is the Lord’s work and his glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. This is axiomatic among us. All that he does during all the endless ages of his everlasting existence is designed to save souls. There is no aim or end or purpose in anything that comes from God, except to further the salvation of his children.

The Almighty Elohim is the father of billions of spirit children, all of whom lived for millions (perhaps billions) of years in his eternal presence. He ordained and established the plan and system whereby they might advance and progress and become like him. That plan is the gospel of God, known to us as the gospel of Jesus Christ because he is the one chosen to put all of its terms and conditions into operation.

Our Eternal Father knows all of his spirit children, and in his infinite wisdom, he chooses the very time that each comes to earth to gain a mortal body and undergo a probationary experience. Everything the Lord does is for the benefit and blessing of his children. And each of those children is subjected to the very trials and experiences that Omniscient Wisdom knows he should have. . . . We are here now in latter-day Israel, scattered in all the nations of the earth, because that is where the Lord wants us to be, and that is where we need to be for our own development, advancement, and salvation (Millennial Messiah: The Second Coming of the Son of Man, 660).

#Foreordination and the Granting of Deserved Blessings

The Lord may also utilize foreordination for granting deserved blessings. During our long premortal trial, some of God’s children were especially valiant. The Lord may wish to reward and bless some of these through special considerations in issuing their foreordinations.

Elder McConkie taught:

Those who were entitled to an inheritance in Enoch’s Zion came to earth in that day. Those whose spiritual stature qualified them for life among the Nephites during that nation’s golden era found their inheritance with that people in ancient America. . . . Billions of spirits will come to earth during the Millennium, when Satan is bound, when there is peace on earth, when there is no sorrow because there is no death, when they will not be confronted with the evil and carnality that face us. They will grow up without sin unto salvation. Thus saith the holy word. Knowing this, we are obliged to conclude that a millennial inheritance is the kind and type of mortal life that billions of spirits are entitled to receive. Whatever the Lord does is right whether we understand his purposes or not.

Without question there are many valiant souls now living who are worthy to receive a millennial birth, but who were sent to earth in this day of wickedness to be lights and guides to other men and to lead many of our Father’s children to eternal life. But nonetheless, there will be billions of millennial mortals who will never be tested as fully as we are, and who will go on to eternal life . . . because an Almighty God in his infinite wisdom arranges that kind of a life for them (Ibid.).

Elder McConkie implies that being born during the Millennium is pure reward and results in easier and more likely exaltation. We will learn in a future chapter that this may be an oversimplification. It is true that living during the Millennium implies a different test than occurs here in the telestial world. It may, however, be an even more

rigorous one than what we are now experiencing (D&C 82:3).

1 See volume 1, chapters 9, Revealed Faith, 10, Deliberate Faith and Revealed Faith, and 11, Other Notes on Faith.

2 See the discussion of “Perquisite Gifts of the Spirit in volume 1, chapter 8, The Blessings of Spiritual Gifts.

See volume 1, chapter 14, The Power of God.

4 See the chapter titled, The Millennium, in volume 4.