". . . Intelligences and Eternal Life
Question: ""Within the Church we are taught that there was life before mortality and that there will be a life hereafter. Also that before we were spirits we were 'intelligences.' The scriptures declare that we are also 'begotten sons and daughters unto God in the spirit (D. & C. 76:24), and Paul speaking to the Greeks declared that we are the 'offspring of God' and ought not to think of the Godhead as gold, silver, or stone graven by the art of man's device. We are also told that intelligences have always existed and can neither be created nor destroyed. Moreover in the Pearl of Great Price, in the Book of Moses, it states that God created animals and all life here on the earth for the purpose of man, and it is for this life only. This has bothered me, for while 'intelligences' were neither made nor created and therefore cannot be destroyed, I have wondered why animals were created for this life only. Is not the difference between man and animals a matter of degree of intelligence, just as the difference between man and God is? Why then should animals be for this life only?"
Answer:
First let us consider the question of intelligences. There are many things that the Lord, for a wise purpose, has not revealed to mortal man, evidently because in mortality man is unable to comprehend them. In The Progress of Man, by Joseph Fielding Smith, page eleven, the following is quoted:
"MAN WAS ALSO IN THE BEGINNING WITH GOD"
"Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created nor made, neither indeed can be. . . . For man is spirit. The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy; and when separated, man cannot receive a fulness of joy." [D. & C. 93:29, 33-34.]
Some of our writers have endeavored to explain what an intelligence is, but to do so is futile, for we have never been given any insight into this matter beyond what the Lord has fragmentarily revealed. We know, however, that there is something called intelligence which always existed. It is the real eternal part of man, which was not created nor made. This intelligence combined with the spirit constitutes a spiritual identity or individual.
There are so many things in the gospel which are essential for us to know and observe, that we need not bother about the mysteries which have never been revealed. There are many things that we will know when we receive the resurrection and attain to the glories of the kingdom of our Eternal Father, which we cannot understand in this mortal state even if they were revealed to us. The Lord expects us to spend our time preparing for eternity, and he has given us his laws and will reveal to us line on line as we study, all things that are essential for our preparation for salvation in his celestial kingdom. It is the duty of the children of men to seek out fundamental truths and ordinances of the gospel which are made known. A little child commences its motivation by creeping on the floor. Then a step or two holding on to a chair or other object, and eventually it gains power and confidence to move short distances to the waiting hands of its mother. Thus step by step it becomes strong. We may be compared to this little child. We gain knowledge, wisdom, and power to act by observation, study, and practice of correct principles. Too many members of the Church expect the Lord to make known to them his purposes, to reveal knowledge, to give them wisdom, without their putting forth any physical, mental, or prayerful effort. Knowledge, like anything else worthwhile, comes to the individual through his study and practice. The words of Alma declared to Zeezrom should be an incentive to every seeker after truth. It is as follows:
ALMA'S WORDS TO ZEEZROM
It is given unto many to know the mysteries of God; nevertheless they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart only according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men, according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him.
And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full.
And they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser portion of the word until they know nothing concerning his mysteries; and then they are taken captive by the devil, and led by his will down to destruction. Now this is what is meant by the chains of hell. (Alma 12:9-11.)
EVERY LIVING THING ENTITLED TO A RESURRECTION
Now, as to the second question:
A careful reading of the first chapter of Genesis, and the third chapter of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price, will show that the animals were all created and placed on the earth preceding the coming of Adam and Eve. In fact the whole earth and the creatures on it were prepared for Adam and Eve before Adam's fall. In that condition the earth and all upon it were not subject to death until Adam fell. When Adam and Eve partook of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the same judgment was placed on the earth and all things upon it. Therefore every living thing, including the earth itself, partook of the same condition of mortality. Therefore every living thing, including the earth itself, is entitled to death and the resurrection. There is nothing in the Book of Moses that in any way indicates a condition to the contrary.
We read in the Book of Moses the following:
And now, behold, I say unto you, that these are the generations of the heaven and of the earth, when they were created, in the day that I, the Lord God, made the heaven and the earth;
And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew. For I, the Lord God, created all things, of which I have spoken, spiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the earth. For I, the Lord God, had not caused it to rain upon the face of the earth. And I, the Lord God, had created all the children of men; and not yet a man to till the ground; for in heaven created I them; and there was not yet flesh upon the earth, neither in the water, neither in the air. (Moses 3:4-5.)
In the ninth verse of this same chapter the Lord declares:
And out of the ground made I, the Lord God, to grow every tree, naturally, that is pleasant to the sight of man; and man could behold it. And it became also a living soul. For it was spiritual in the day that I created it; for it remaineth in the sphere in which I, God, created it, yea, even all things which I prepared for the use of man; and man saw that it was good for food. And I, the Lord God, planted the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and also the tree of knowledge of good and evil. (Moses 3:9.)
ANSWERS PRESENTED FROM DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS
Since all creatures and the plants and trees of the earth were created spiritually, we discover that not only man is entitled to the resurrection but every other living thing that suffered the fall through Adam's transgression. We read in the Doctrine and Covenants, Section 77, the following in answer to a question put to the Prophet Joseph Smith:
Q. What are we to understand by the four beasts, spoken of in the same verse [Rev. 4:6]?
A. They are figurative expressions, used by the Revelator, John, in describing heaven, the paradise of God, the happiness of man, and of beasts, and of creeping things, and of the fowls of the air; that which is spiritual being in the likeness of that which is temporal; and that which is temporal in the likeness of that which is spiritual; the spirit of man in the likeness of his person, as also the spirit of the beast, and every other creature which God has created. (D. & C. 77:2.)
Also in Section 29, verses 22-26 in the Doctrine and Covenants, we find the following:
And again, verily, verily, I say unto you that when the thousand years are ended, and men again begin to deny their God, then will I spare the earth but for a little season;
And the end shall come, and the heaven and the earth shall be consumed and pass away, and there shall be a new heaven and a new earth.
For all old things shall pass away, and all things shall become new, even the heaven and the earth, and all the fulness thereof, both men and beasts, the fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea;
And not one hair, neither mote, shall be lost, for it is the workmanship of mine hand.
But, behold, verily I say unto you, before the earth shall pass away, Michael, mine archangel, shall sound his trump, and then shall all the dead awake, for their graves shall be opened, and they shall come forth—yea, even all. (D. & C. 29:22-26.)
So we learn that this mortal earth, like all on its face, is growing old, and eventually shall die, be cleansed, and then come forth a celestial world and everything will be restored to life never to die again. This does not mean, however, that everything that has been on this earth in mortality will be assigned to remain on this earth when it is purified and has received the celestial glory and becomes a fit abode for celestial beings, human, animal, and plant, according to the divine decree.
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(Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, 5 vols. [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1957-1966], 4:.)
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