2016
Did we choose our families and spouses in the premortal life?
June 2016


“Did we choose our families and spouses in the premortal life?” New Era, June 2016, 41

Did we choose our families and spouses in the premortal life?

We don’t know. There are few things we know for certain about premortal life. For instance, we know that we had agency and were allowed to accept Heavenly Father’s plan of salvation or to rebel with Lucifer. Those who accepted the plan were allowed to come to earth, receive physical bodies, and be tested. Those who rebelled were cast out of heaven, never to receive physical bodies and forever halted in their progress.

We also know that in the premortal life some people were foreordained to certain offices or callings (see Alma 13:3–9), which sometimes may have meant being part of a certain lineage. What has been revealed about our use of agency in the premortal world seems to highlight our consenting to Heavenly Father’s plan and perhaps making covenants with Him related to some foreordained office or calling. We don’t know how much detailed knowledge of our earthly circumstances we may have had when we consented to the plan, but the revelations say nothing of our having made commitments to one another or of our having chosen our parents or spouses.