Many Christians have wrestled with the doctrine of pre-existence before earth and our predestinations determined from before our life on earth. Traditional Christianity has always believed that we came into existence spirit, soul and body when the male sperm and the female egg came together and created a new human being. Although not taught and silence prevails, this is the traditional assumption. Since Christianity has its roots in Jewish laws, including the use of the Old Testament as foundations to the New Testament, we want to consider first the concept of life from the Jewish perspective first. This does not mean that we agree with it (in fact Christianity views life and ‘humanness’ exists from the first day of conception) but it is a good basis for discussions on the evolving Christian view of when life begins for a human being. Remember that I do not fully agree with the Jewish view so don’t panic when read about them, which I will put in coloured italics as a quote from other sources. Following quotes from Wikipedia:
While the Talmud gives the full status of humanness to a child at birth, the rabbinical writings have partially extended the acquisition of humanness to the 13th postnatal day of life for full-term infants. The Babylonian Talmud Yevamot 69b states that: “the embryo is considered to be mere water until the fortieth day.” Afterwards, it is considered subhuman until it is born. The issues of abortion, embryo research, multifetal reduction and cloning will be discussed according to Jewish Law perspectives.
The first detailed description of the creation of a human being by God points to the moment when human life begins. “Yahveh God formed the man from the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living nefesh” (the first breath). Life began for human being when God breathed breath into him (Genesis 2.7).
Additional Statements in the Torah demonstrate that breath is understood to be essential to life; and that when the breathing stops, life ends. “And all flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds, cattle, wild animals all swarming creatures that swarm upon the earth and all human beings. Everything which had the nishmat (breath) of life in its nostrils, all that were on dry land died” (Genesis 7.21–22).
The Bible does not make any other direct references regarding the beginning of human life. The conclusion as to when human life begins can be obtained from the Torah’s stated position on the issue of abortion.
And if men strive together, and hurt a woman with a child, so that her fruit depart (if she miscarries) and yet no harm follow, he shall be surely fined, according as the woman’s husband shall lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if any harm follow, then shalt thou give life for life… (Exodus 21: 22–23)
According to the Jewish interpretation,” if no harm follow the hurt to the woman resulting in the loss of her fruit refers to the survival of the woman following her miscarriage; in that case there is no capital guilt involved, and the attacker is merely liable to pay compensation for the loss of her unborn child. “But if any harm follow,” i.e., the woman is fatally injured, then the man responsible for her death has to give “life for life”. In that event the capital charge of murder exempts him from any monetary liability for the aborted fruit [2]. From the interpretation of this passage it can be inferred that the killing of an unborn child is not considered murder punishable by death in Jewish law. What is explicitly stated in the Jewish law is that murder is an offense that is punishable by death: “He that smiteth a man, so that he dieth, shall surely be put to death” (Exodus 21:12).
The Responsa literature reached from these two passages the conclusion that the capital charge of murder should be used for death of “a man, but not a fetus”. It means that complete human life does not begin at the embryonic or fetal stage of development.
The Septuagint—the translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek by 72 Jewish Scholars, 270 BC—renders the word ason not as ‘casualty’ or ‘serious injury’ but as ‘form.’ This gives a completely different meaning to the passage. The first verse, in which there is a liability, compensation, refers to the miscarriage of an ‘unformed’ fetus. The second, which speaks of a capital crime, refers to a ‘formed’ fetus, in other words one sufficiently developed to have a recognizably human shape. [This, is the source of the teaching of the Church, from Tertullian who was ignorant of Hebrew onwards through later church fathers, that at a certain stage the fetus is a person and that abortion is a form of homicide.]
This position was further reinforced by the belief that the “animation” (entry of the soul) of a fetus occurred on the fortieth or eightieth day after conception for males and females respectively, an idea first expressed by Aristotle and by the doctrine, firmly enunciated by Saint Augustine and other early Christian authorities, that the unborn child was included among those condemned to eternal perdition if he died un-baptized. Some even regarded the death or murder of an unborn child as a greater calamity than that of a baptized person.
Eventually the distinction between animate and inanimate fetuses was lost; and since 1588, the Catholic Church has considered as murder the killing of any human fetus from the moment of conception.
This position is maintained to the present day. It assumes that potential life, even in the earliest stages of gestation, enjoys the same value as any existing adult life. Hence, the Catholic Church never tolerates any direct abortion, even when, by allowing the pregnancy to continue, both mother and child will perish; following the principle two deaths are better than one murder].
The above differentiates the Christian view that all human life begins at conception (even one cell zygotes) whilst Jewish views differ on laws of abortion. Personally, I hold to the Christian view of human life as beginning from the first conception of sperm and egg. However, I do not view that as the first creation of the human spirit. There are no Bible verses that support the view that the spirit was created at the time of conception of sperm and egg, although traditional Christian view takes that viewpoint silently without apologetics. Apologetics from the Bible seem to show that the spirit of man (all our spirits) were created in God before the foundation of the earth:
- We were blessed in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:3-4)
- We exist before our physical bodies were formed or had substance (Psalm 139:16)
- God knew (relationship level of knowing) Jeremiah before he existed in the womb (Jeremiah 1:5)
- Predestinations, sometimes with earthly names given hundreds of years before human existence like Josiah and Cyrus, were determined before our existence on earth (1 Kings 13:2; Isaiah 44:28; 45:1; Matthew 20:23; Mark 10:40; Romans 9:11-13; Ephesians 1:5, 11)
- All positions and blessings have been prepared before the foundation of the world (Matthew 20:23; 25:34; Revelation 13:8).
Many questions arise when we take the view of spirit pre-existence before human existence on earth. What were we doing? How were positions determined in predestinations before earthly choice is made? Definitely, God does not play favouritism and He has to have a means by which He determines each person’s predestination. Before earthly human existence, we had a spirit and soul (manifest in a spiritual-type body) and upon entrance into earthly human existence, we have a spirit, soul and a physical body. There must be a qualification of Jacob and Esau BEFORE they came into earthly existence otherwise it looks unfair from our human perspective (Romans 9:12). In visions and time spent in heaven, I saw that God is just and fair. We must look at all our existence in God, in pre-existence, then life on earth and then life in eternity to realise how just and fair our God has been.
Our Existence in the Spirit Before Earth Human Existence:
We were like the angels and existed in spirit form with souls in a spiritual-type body (1 Corinthians 15:40). During the time of the Pristine Age of Angels (before Lucifer fell), we were hidden in God and observers, learning from God and His interaction with angels (Ephesians 1:9-10; Colossians 1:26). While hidden in God, we all grew as we observed and absorbed the wisdom and knowledge of God, each according to their special individualities bestowed by God’s creative impartations individually. It was the predestination of God that we all come to be made spirit beings with individualities that reflect different aspects of God’s nature and characteristics (the spiritual nature part imparted through Spiritual DNA). Then in our observation and learning process during the Pristine Age of the Angels, we all were able to grow and increase in the knowledge and wisdom of God through observing the Angels in their Pristine works in God. None of us were allowed to intervene or interfere in the affairs of angels just like angels are not allowed to intervene during the Millennium Age of Mankind. This observation period included being present in many of the Pristine Angelic activities. The Pristine Age of Angels lasted like billions of years of Pristine Earth Time (Pristine Earth Time is different from Fallen Earth Time. One day of Pristine Earth Time is equal to about 1000 years of Fallen Earth Time. Time slowly changed over the period of Adam’s fall to post-Noah time, our present measurement of time and so the change is not immediate and exact for calculation; the days grew in quantum leaps shorter and shorter). This is the period of us nurturing and growing according to our inbuilt spiritual DNA given by God (the Spiritual Nature Stage of Growth).
Then during the Good vs Fallen Angel Period (after Lucifer fell and became Satan) that lasted nearly a million years of Pristine Earth Time (nearly 360 billion years of Fallen Earth Time), we were allowed to participate in the work with the Good Angels of God against the Evil Fallen Angels. The roles that each of us were given were assigned by God based on our Future Predestination in Christ and based on our Spiritual Nature Growth Stage during the Pristine Age of the Angels. Our working together with the Good Angels against the Fallen Angels during this period supplied us with the Spiritual Nurture Growth Stage. Our involvement in this period of the Good vs Fallen Angel Period is like the good angels of God being involved in our Adamic Fallen world now. Angels of God are seconded into roles that was for perfected mankind. One day when humans have matured and progressed in God, they will take up all the roles that angels played today in our present world and govern all aspects of earth and its creation for the human race’s role as priests and kings in Christ. Based on our various growth in working with the Good Angels against the Fallen ones, we continue to grow in wisdom, knowledge and in the works of God before coming to the earth. Not all were chosen or allowed to come to the earth, those chosen have to go through another third process of Growth in Christ the Word of God, the manifest Second Person of the Godhead.
Earth Existence After Three Stages of Growth:
After these three stages of growth: the Spiritual Nature Stage of Growth, the Spiritual Nurture Stage of Growth and the third stage of Growth in Christ the Word of God, we were made ready to come to the earth. There is a place in heaven, where we were all stripped like Christ or emptied like Christ was (Philippians 2:7) before coming to the earth, and then our essence was ready to come into our physical bodies in the womb of our mothers. Our essence is like the spirits of little children all-ready to be born to the earth. Our full Original ‘Essence or Self’ remains in a place hidden in God in a similar way in which the Word was made flesh and yet the Word was still sitting on the Throne throughout the lifetime of our Lord Jesus Christ on earth. During our childlike essence period, we continued to receive training for the earth existence and were sometimes allowed to visit our future parents. Usually about five sets of potential parents with various strengths and weaknesses to be inherited were given to us. Through the counsel of the Holy Spirit and our Lord Jesus Christ, we were prepared to be born on earth to our parents. In this process we were not allowed to retain our heavenly memories but some ‘mile-stone’ memories and some giftings useful for our earth predestination are given to us. When we progress spiritually in growing in God, like Christ some of us were allowed to re-call some of our roles in heaven pre-existence (John 8:58; 17:5).
God is a Just and Fair God, who has assigned and given us all different roles to live out in this life. It is a blessing of God to discover your predestination. Continue to grow in God to discover who you really are and the special assignment work which God has for you. We are all to live out the lives that God has written for us in His book and to walk in the works that God our Father has prepared for us (Psalm 139:16; Ephesians 2:10). Amen.