Can the human spirit remember anything without a physical body? (LDS perspective)
Upvote:0
I found it! I won't give the full quotations because the story is well known and it's a couple of longer passages.
In Genesis 3:1-6 and Moses 4:7-12 (two accounts of the same story), we have the story of Satan tempting Eve. It appears, as Satan is talking to Eve, that he knows what the fruit will do to Adam and Eve. He could only know that if he were to remember the council in Heaven where the plan was laid out. Without a memory, he wouldn't have had any other way to know what the fruit would do.
Upvote:1
Yes, our spirits can store and remember and recognize truths, lessons, and even people we knew in our prior existence before coming to earth. We didn't have a mortal body before coming to earth, but our spirits have memories or "echos" of something or someone we recognize.
We can't remember now because we have the veil of forgetfulness over us while we are being tested, but after we have passed our tests and as we progress in life, I believe we can get glimpses of these memories back to our conscious minds, not just to our hearts. Here are the LDS articles I'm getting that viewpoint from:
- https://www.lds.org/new-era/2015/02/what-we-know-about-premortal-life?lang=eng
- http://www.ldsliving.com/9-Things-You-Have-Forgotten-About-Your-Premortal-Life/s/77778
- https://www.lds.org/new-era/2015/02/to-the-point/why-cant-we-remember-our-premortal-life-as-spirits-and-when-will-those-memories-return?lang=eng
- https://www.lds.org/new-era/2015/09/what-you-knew-in-premortal-life?lang=eng
The church also teaches that we, as humans, are "intelligences or spirits that "have no beginning; they existed before, they shall have no end, they shall exist after, for they are gnolaum, or etermal" (Abraham 3:18)." As you see, they refer to our spirits as intelligences, therefore, our spirits are intelligent and can store memories on a spiritual level even without a physical mind.
Upvote:5
Yes.
Gospel Fundamentals Chapter 35: Life after Death
In the spirit world our spirits will have the same form as when we lived on the earth with bodies of flesh and bones. We will look as we do here. We will think the same way and believe the same things as we did here. Those who are righteous in this life will still be righteous. Those who were unrighteous will still be unrighteous. We will have the same desires after we die as we had while on this earth.
Pay attention to "We will think the same way and believe the same things as we did here." What we think and believe stem from our experiences in mortality. Those experiences are stored in our memories. If we couldn't remember until after the resurrection, we wouldn't be the same person as a spirit. We would be a void so to speak until we regained our memories.
34 Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world.
The same spirit we have now, will remain with us. This includes our memories.
I hope this answers your question.
Upvote:5
Yes it can, in fact every person on Earth had a perfect knowledge of the universe and of the plan of salvation prior to being born into it. It was for this reason that the Earth was created, and the plan presented. As pre-mortal beings we had progressed as much as possible, and required bodies in order to progress any further.
Upon entering this world, and receiving a physical body, a veil is placed over our minds, and the memories of our spirit are forgotten:
Ecclesiatsies 1:11
There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.
The veil does not erase our memories however, it only conceals them, so that we may be tested, to see if we will obey the commandments of God without them. When we are resurrected, the veil will be lifted, our memories will no longer be hidden from us, and we will become aware of how well we performed during the test of our mortal life:
Alma 11:42
The spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame, even as we now are at this time; and we shall be brought to stand before God, knowing even as we know now, and have a bright recollection of all our guilt.
There have been times where individuals have parted the veil, and accessed those memories of their spirits:
D&C 110:1
The veil was taken from our minds, and the eyes of our understanding were opened.
Our spirits are not immaterial, they are made of matter, but matter that is more refined and pure than the matter we perceive here on earth. Our Spirits are just as capable if not more capable of retaining knowledge than our mortal bodies are.
More post
- 📝 What exactly did Pope Gregory the Great mean by "Universal Bishop?"
- 📝 What is the dominant theory of atonement in Catholic theology?
- 📝 Why when all are separated by mans sin was Noah chosen?
- 📝 How does mainstream Christianity view "Heaven is for Real"?
- 📝 How does the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America handle heresies?
- 📝 Why did Zechariah's neighbours make signs to him?
- 📝 What happens to unborn, unbaptized babies who die?
- 📝 What is the relation between Christianity and Islam
- 📝 Pertaining to Genesis 12:3 "I will curse those who curse you" is God referring only to unbelievers in Jesus?
- 📝 Can you refer to the Trinity as "Others"
- 📝 Are Christians called to forgive Unbelievers?
- 📝 Does the Bible support the concept of male spiritual headship?
- 📝 Why did Jesus submit to the authority of God while Jesus was a man?
- 📝 How did Karl Barth justify his relationship with Charlotte von Kirschbaum?
- 📝 Which Catholic theologians say that Purgatory is a "fiery moment"?
- 📝 2 Corinthians 5:10 addresses the Judgment Seat of Christ. What is the result of the individuals' judgment?
- 📝 Who are the lambs in John 21:15?
- 📝 Do ghosts exist or not?
- 📝 How does Christianity view participation in dangerous sports?
- 📝 What is the argument and Biblical basis that it is possible to know God from nature?
- 📝 Was Jesus in unity with the Holy Spirit?
- 📝 How does one explain God being outside the universe yet on the throne in heaven without violating divine simplicity?
- 📝 Why has Mary Magdalene been portrayed as a prostitute?
- 📝 Does the Lutheran view of pope as AntiChrist stem from doctrine of justification?
- 📝 What is a "Pentecostal Catholic"?
- 📝 Which denominations have official flags?
- 📝 Which sects of Christianity recite verses of God and prostrate to God during the night?
- 📝 Protestant explanation of an immortal spirit
- 📝 Why is Christianity fixated on ancient Israeli culture? Is such a 'spacetime-lock' evidence of falsehood?
- 📝 How many different people in the New Testament are called or claim to be "Brothers" or "Sisters" of Jesus?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Can the human spirit remember anything without a physical body? (LDS perspective)
- 📝 How similar was the resurrected body of Jesus to his physical human body?
- 📝 LDS belief in pre-existence of the human person vs. human physical deformities
- 📝 I seek the LDS perspective concerning Cornelius and his house receiving the Holy Ghost without laying on of hands in Acts 10:44-45
- 📝 If the Holy Spirit is God, and God can not be in the presence of sin, then how can the Holy Spirit dwell in me a sinner?
- 📝 From a LDS perspective, when does the Holy Ghost get a Physical Body?
- 📝 Can a non-Catholic receive Baptism (to formally marry a Catholic), without converting to the Catholic faith?
- 📝 When did the teaching that salvation can still be obtained by people after their physical death first appear in Christianity?
- 📝 What is the Biblical Basis for Christ returning with a physical body at the Second Coming?
- 📝 Reformed perspective on "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us" (Acts 15:28)
- 📝 Does the Bible say anything about our human relations being kept after death?
- 📝 LDS perspective on the New King James Version?
- 📝 Can you give air-kisses to icons in the Eastern Orthodox church instead of physical kisses?
- 📝 Did only Jesus human body remain in the grave for the three days?
- 📝 Can the Holy Spirit take control of a person completely?
- 📝 Can the ancestral sin doctrine (and Paul's epistles) survive without a single breeding pair?
- 📝 What attributes does Jesus have from an LDS doctrinal perspective that are different from the Jesus in the Holy Trinity?
- 📝 How can we be with Christ when we die, if Christ has a glorified body and we won't until the resurrection?
- 📝 In the Church of England, can one accept communion without being confimed?
- 📝 According to soul sleep adherents, if unclean spirits can be conscious without bodies, why can't human spirits also be conscious without bodies?
- 📝 Can we know anything about Jesus' appearance from the Bible?
- 📝 When God said to man that if he sinned he would die, was he speaking of death of the human body or death of the Soul, or the Spirit?
- 📝 From an LDS perspective, what is the difference between feeling the influence of the Holy Spirit and receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit?
- 📝 How were people baptized in the name of Jesus without the Holy Spirit in Acts 8?
- 📝 LDS teaching about man being able to become God, and the snake telling Eve that she can become "like God"
- 📝 How long can the Catholic Church be without a pope?
- 📝 Can a person prove that Jesus Christ is in the Old Testament without going to the New Testament?
- 📝 Are any of the LDS gods without beginning or end, or are they all created at a certain point in time?
- 📝 Under a Protestant perspective what sort of ‘sacrifices’ as a symbolic priest can a believer perform within the ‘priesthood’ of all believers?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for saying that God can annihilate human souls?
