If you were raised in the LDS Church, you probably learned that before this life, you lived in the pre-mortal realm as a spirit child of Heavenly Parents.

Yes—parents, plural.

It’s rarely discussed openly in official forums, but it’s heavily emphasized at the grassroots level: the teaching that God the Father has a Heavenly Wife, a divine Mother, and that we—along with Jesus, Lucifer, and every other human soul—were literally born to them as spirit children before being sent to earth.

On the surface, it’s presented as a comforting idea: that we’re part of an eternal family with divine origins and heavenly parents who love us. But under the surface, this belief raises serious theological questions:

• Was your soul created by God—or did it always exist?
• Is God truly the sovereign Creator, or just a fatherly figure continuing a cycle?
• If Heavenly Mother exists, why doesn’t she speak, appear, or receive worship?
• And most importantly—what does the Bible actually say about where we came from?

Today, we’re going to dig into the LDS doctrines of the pre-existence of souls and Heavenly Mother and compare them to the truth revealed in Scripture.

Once again, these aren’t just quirky, minor theological differences—they’re part of an entirely different origin story.

What the Bible Actually Teaches About the Origin of the Soul

The LDS Church teaches that every human being lived as a spirit child of God before birth—formed in a heavenly realm long before their earthly body existed. But is that what the Bible teaches?

No. Not even close.

God Alone Is Eternal

Let’s start here: the Bible is clear that only God is eternal.

“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”—Psalm 90:2

“I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.”—Isaiah 44:6

Humanity doesn’t share in that eternality. We are creatures—finite, dependent, and made by God. We do not pre-date our conception. We don’t have a stash of memories from a spirit world locked behind a mysterious veil. And we certainly weren’t born into some celestial nursery.

Souls Are Created, Not “Birthed”

The Bible teaches that each person comes into being by God’s creative act, not through divine reproduction.

Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.”—Genesis 2:7

This is the moment life begins: not before Adam’s body, not in some pre-existent realm—but right there, in the dust and breath of God’s creating power.

Even David—reflecting on God’s intimate role in his development—speaks of being formed in the womb, not assembled from pre-existing parts:

“You knit me together in my mother’s womb.”—Psalm 139:13

It doesn’t seem like David believed he had lived previous life. His identity, his soul, his personhood—it all begins when God makes him.

No Evidence of a Pre-Mortal Life

Scripture never teaches that humans lived with God before birth. In fact, verses like Zechariah 12:1 directly associate the formation of the human spirit with God’s creative activity:

“…who forms the spirit of a person within them.”-Zechariah 12:1

The Hebrew verb here (יֹצֵ֖ר, yōṣēr) is the same root used in Genesis 2:7—to form, shape, or fashion. God doesn’t deliver pre-existing spirits into bodies—He creates them. Body and soul are knit together by God’s will and design.

What the LDS Church Teaches About Pre-Mortal Life and Heavenly Mother

The idea that we lived with God before we were born isn’t a side note in LDS theology—it’s foundational. The pre-existence explains everything in Mormon doctrine: where we came from, why we’re here, how we got our bodies, and how we can become gods ourselves.

Behind all of that stands an even quieter doctrine: the belief that we weren’t just created—we were literally born to a Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother in a celestial realm.

Pre-Mortal Life as Spirit Children

According to LDS teaching, all human beings lived with God in a pre-mortal existence as His literal spirit sons and daughters.

“All men and women are… beloved spirit children of heavenly parents. Before we were born on the earth, we lived in the presence of our Heavenly Father as His spirit children.”¹

This is more than metaphorical, as Latter-day Saints believe Heavenly Father and His eternal wife produced our spirits in spiritual procreation.

Elder David A. Bednar taught:

“The Father’s plan… required that His spirit children be provided the opportunity to receive a physical body.”²

That phrase—”His spirit children”—isn’t just poetic for Mormons. It’s literal. In this system, your soul isn’t something God created from nothing. It’s something you inherited from divine parents.

This teaching underpins other LDS doctrines, such as eternal progression, humanity’s divine potential, and exaltation (becoming like God).

Heavenly Mother: Revered but Silent

While not often emphasized, the LDS Church does teach that God the Father has a Heavenly Wife—a Mother in Heaven who helped bring our spirits into being.

“We are part of a divine plan designed by Heavenly Parents who love us. They provided a Savior to redeem us and a path for us to return to their presence.”³

The doctrine is rarely expanded on, addressed in prayer, or quoted. It doesn’t appear directly in LDS scripture and is only ever spoken of in supposed “divine revelation.” Yet she’s affirmed as a necessary being in Mormon cosmology.

This puts the LDS worldview in a strange theological position: it claims belief in a divine mother but keeps her invisible, silent, and functionally irrelevant (very typical for LDS views on women in general). She’s essential for the theology to work but absent from everything that matters in worship and revelation.

President Gordon B. Hinckley once said:

“The fact that we do not pray to our Mother in Heaven in no way belittles or denigrates her… But out of respect, we honor her as the mother of our spirits and the eternal companion of our Father.”⁴

So she exists and helped birth our spirits, but no one can talk to her. She remains an unexplained and unapproachable figure whose existence raises more theological problems than it answers.

A Different View of God—and Us

This doctrine of Heavenly Mother and pre-mortal birth reframes everything:

• We’re not created by God—we’re born as the spirit offspring of divine beings.
• Our souls are eternal in, with memories of pre-mortal exi we can’t remember.
• We’re not unique creatures made in God’s image—we’re literally gods in development, following the same pattern as our Heavenly Parents.

That’s not a biblical worldview. That’s an entirely different origin story.

Side-by-Side: The Biblical View of Spirits vs. The LDS View

At first glance, the LDS doctrine of pre-mortal life might sound like a poetic take on being “children of God.” But when you lay it next to Scripture, the difference becomes dramatic—and deeply significant.

Doctrine	Biblical Teaching	LDS Teaching
Origin of the soul	God creates each soul at His will (Zech 12:1; Ps 139:13–16)	Each soul is born as a spirit child of Heavenly Parents5
Pre-existence of souls	No biblical support; humans begin at conception (Gen 2:7; Eccl 12:7)	Souls lived in a pre-mortal realm with God before birth6
Nature of humanity	Created beings, made in God’s image (Gen 1:27), not eternal	Eternal intelligences “organized” into spirit bodies7
Heavenly Mother	No mention in Scripture; God is revealed as Father, Son, and Spirit	A divine Mother exists, but is silent and never worshiped8
Reason for life on earth	To glorify God and live in a restored relationship with Him (Isa 43:7; Acts 17:26–27)	To gain a body, prove worthiness, and eventually become like God9
Relationship to God	We are God’s creation—redeemed, not exalted (Rom 9:20–21; Ps 100:3)	We are literal offspring—gods in embryo, destined for exaltation10

The Bible says your soul began because God created you. LDS doctrine says your soul always existed and was born as the child of a divine couple.

The Bible presents God as the only eternal being. The LDS Church teaches an eternal chain of spirit offspring stretching back through divine generations.

Heavenly Mother doesn’t just complicate the picture—she rewrites it entirely.

Why This Matters

At first glance, the idea of a Heavenly Mother and a pre-mortal life might seem harmless—even sweet. Who wouldn’t want to imagine a warm, celestial family where we’ve always belonged?

But sentiment doesn’t make something true. And theology isn’t judged by how comforting it sounds—but by whether or not it aligns with God’s revealed Word.

It Undermines God’s Role as Creator

The Bible is clear: God created everything, including the human soul.

“The LORD… forms the spirit of a person within them.” —Zechariah 12:1

But in LDS theology, God isn’t your Creator—He’s your literal Father, one of two divine parents who birthed your spirit. That changes your origin from a sovereign act of God’s will to a product of heavenly reproduction.

It reduces creation to a process—and God to a participant in an eternal cycle of divine family-making.

It Introduces a Silent, Unrevealed Deity

The doctrine of Heavenly Mother creates a problem that LDS theology never resolves:

• If she exists, why is she hidden?
• Why has God revealed Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—but not as a couple?
• Why does the Bible never mention her?
• Why can’t Latter-day Saints pray to her, worship her, or hear from her?

But this isn’t a hidden mystery the Bible hints at—it’s a completely foreign idea with no scriptural foundation. If she’s real, her silence is more than mysterious—it’s theologically troubling.

It Redefines What It Means to Be Human

In the Bible, we are created beings—formed by God, dependent on Him, and utterly distinct from Him in nature. That’s what makes the gospel so powerful: the Creator died for His creatures.

But in LDS doctrine, you’re not just created—you’re divine stock. A spirit child of exalted beings. Your goal isn’t just reconciliation with God—it’s eventual deification, following the same pattern your Heavenly Parents followed before you.

It Distorts the Gospel

If you’ve always existed, if you were born to divine parents, and if your destiny is to become like them—then Jesus isn’t your Savior in the biblical sense. He’s your older spirit, brother, showing you how to progress.

But the gospel isn’t about climbing a ladder to godhood. It’s about a holy God stepping down to rescue people who were never divine to begin with.

This isn’t a difference in terminology. It’s a completely different message—and a completely different God.

Final Verdict

The doctrines of Heavenly Mother and the pre-existence of souls may sound poetic, even beautiful—but they’re not biblical.

They don’t come from God’s Word, they don’t reflect the nature of the true Creator, and they don’t point people toward the gospel that saves.

They offer a comforting illusion: that we’ve always existed, that we come from divine parents, and that mortality is just a stage in our eternal ascent.

But the truth is better—and far more humbling.

• You were not always.
• You are not divine by birth.
• You did not descend from heavenly parents.
• You were created by God, on purpose, from nothing.
• You are a dependent creature, not an eternal intelligence.
• You were made to know Him, to worship Him, and to be redeemed by Him—not to become Him.

And the good news is that though you weren’t born into heaven, you’ve been invited there not because of your divine origin but because of Christ’s divine sacrifice.

“Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his.”—Psalm 100:3

If you’ve believed the story that you’ve always existed, that you were born to a Heavenly Mother, and that you’re climbing your way back to exaltation—it’s time to come to the truth.

The truth is that you were made by God. The truth is that humanity fell into sin and corruption by our own will. The truth is that God Himself in the person of Jesus came to rescue you—not as your divine older brother, but as your Creator, Redeemer, and Lord.

Worship the God who formed your soul by His breath and for His glory.