Thoughts on Abraham 3

On 5/22/07 8:50 PM, in article 1357eh3s6jukf71@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Andrew
R" <adr@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


By skipping them you have not helped me to understand your point of view at
all. I am no closer to understanding why you would reject these ideas at
all.

They're not explicitly in the scriptures, is the basic reason. What Abraham
3 teaches is that Abraham was among many of the "noble and great ones" whom
God chose to be leaders and prophets.

The chapter itself explains some pretty fundamental things, such as the fact
that the faculties and capabilities of preexistent spirits can be plotted
along a spectrum which depicts some as more intelligent than others. (verses
18-21)

Then Abraham shows us that he saw all those
spirits/intelligences-that-were-organized, and is identified with a
subgrouping of noble-and-great-ones. (verses 22-23)

Fine. Later on we learn that many followed after someone we identify later
as Lucifer.

This leaves us with three categories of preexistent spirits:
Noble-and-great, not-noble-and-great, and followed-Lucifer.

When I say that the scriptures don't support the notion that the handicapped
and infirm earned their place on earth in the preexistence, it's because the
scriptures are completely silent on the subject!

Which brings us here:

Since Abraham 3 shows that each of us - at the eternal level - are different
then our obedience in the pre-existence was also probably different.

....which is a supposition not supported directly by a scriptural passage. If
I'm wrong, then dig on into the Standard Works and show it.

I can see why you may hold that they are not doctines, in the same way that
many other things are, due to lack of divine revelation on the matter. But I
do not see how you can say that it is wrong.

It is directly refuted by John 9:2-3, where we learn (in addition to
learning about an implicit Jewish belief in a preexistence) that the blind
man's birth infirmities are *not the result* of preexistent behavior, but
that he was placed in that circumstance in order to showcase "the works of
God", whereupon he was healed.

Thus, it cannot follow that "they are this way because of what
they have "done" in the pre-existence," since there is at least one
counterexample, refuted by words directly attributed to God.

So, we're left with some gray area, since the scriptures are relatively or
completely silent on the predispositions of every person with a birth
defect, including all persons who cannot attain a mental equivalence to the
age of accountability. And all the people who never met or had the
opportunity to listen to one of the noble-and-great-ones when they came
around as prophets.

The scriptures are silent. Further supposition would be argument from
silence, which are insufficient grounds for establishing something as
important as a religious doctrine.

Thus, I do not assume that a mentally retarded person was a spirit world
slacker. That, and I know a couple of people with that handicap. They turn
out to be better people than I am.

Rob

.

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