An institute teach drew a diagram on a whiteboard, and it left an impression on me. It charted our different births, premortal, mortal, and postmortal.
Spirit Birth
First, we were premortal spirit children of heavenly Parents. We "received [our] first lessons in the world of spirits and were prepared to come forth in the due time of the Lord" (D&C 138:56). We were part of a grand council in heaven before the creation of the world, (Abr. 3), and shouted for joy at the opportunity to come here and have Jesus be our Savior (Job 38:7). We overcame Satan with faith in Christ (Rev. 12:11). Brigham Young learned from Joseph Smith in vision: "Tell the Brethren if they will follow the Spirit of the Lord they will go right. Be sure to tell the people to keep the Spirit of the Lord; and if they will, they will find themselves just as they were organized by our Father in Heaven before they came into the world. Our Father in Heaven organized the human family, but they are all disorganized in great confusion." (Brigham Young Collections, 17 Feb. 1847). Those who receive priesthood callings in this life were ordained to them before: "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. I suppose that I was ordained to this very office in that Grand Council." (Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 6:364). We gained spirit bodies, knowledge, status, and promises of potential to become like our Father in heaven.
Mortal Birth
Next, we were born here as mortals. The veil over our minds "...[withholds] the recollection of [our] former friends and birth..." (Eliza R. Snow, O My Father, LDS Hymnal, #292). (The question of when and how this veil over premortal memories will be removed is one that has tantalized my imagination for several years now. To see the lost eons of premortality in light of this removal will certainly be hell for those who did not repent here in mortality.) The warmth and light of Celestial fires we came from seems to cool and dim as we grow and live on this fallen, mortal world. We gain bodies, which make us like God by giving us procreative power. Yet they make us prone to sin because they are mortal and fallen. Sin robs us of light. We can get it back, though, and include our bodies and our spirits in the process:
Spiritual Rebirth
Spiritual rebirth is available to us as we obey the first principles and ordinances of the gospel: Faith in Christ, repentance, baptism by immersion, and receiving the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands. The Atonement overcomes the effects of the fall in us. If we come to Christ in humility, with faith in Him, we can be "[baptized] with fire and with the Holy Ghost" (3Ne. 9:20), "having no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually" (Mosiah 5:2). Jesus becomes our new parent, and we inherit his nature as we surrender our whole self to Him. It is spiritual rebirth, but it includes our physical bodies too. It is possible to reverse this change, however, and lose light again (D&C 20:30-34). Of all the births listed here, this one is the most mutable, and easy to lose or reverse. Whereas the others have a sense of finality about them, this one resembles a walk across a tightrope that lasts the duration of mortality, hence the command to "endure to the end."
Death
Death is a kind of birth also. We shed our flawed mortal bodies. The righteous who die are received into a state of rest, peace, devoid of worldly cares and sorrows (Alma 40:12). They are taken home to God who gave them life (Alma 40:11). Some continue their missionary work (D&C 138:57). Those who have died "...are not far from us, and know and understand our thoughts, feelings, and motions, and are often pained therewith” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 326). Those on the other side of the veil are busy—we cannot be made perfect without them (D&C 128:15). What are they doing to make us "perfect?"
Resurrection
Finally, resurrection is an obvious kind of rebirth. We are reunited with our physical bodies in a permanent and glorified state. If we are married by the proper authority, our capacity to reproduce is also restored to us. "...it will be a great while after you have passed through the veil before you will have learned [the principles of exaltation]. It is not all to be
comprehended in this world; it will be a great work to learn our
salvation and exaltation even beyond the grave” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 348). D&C 132:20: "Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting
to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all,
because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them." And we eventually begin to administer the same process to other intelligences.
God describes His course as "one eternal round." It seems that a great deal hinges on what happens in this mortality phase. So much of our eternal progression in the following phases will be based on what is probably the briefest stage of eternity, though: spiritual rebirth. It is a prerequisite for entry into heaven (Mosiah 27:25-26). This review of our eternal progression highlights how mighty a future hinges on such a small thing. A man will get nearer to God by abiding by the Book of Mormon's precepts, and the repeated emphasis of the book is coming to Jesus and being reborn, changed by Him.
