ROMANS 9 11 The Doctrine of Foreordination Romans

ROMANS 9 -11 The Doctrine of Foreordination

Romans 9 -11: Foreordination Yesterday’s horoscopes …

What is Foreordination? God’s premortal ordination of his valiant spirit children to fulfill certain missions during their mortal lives. The Guide to the Scriptures, lds. org

ROMANS 9 -11: The Doctrine of Foreordination • Read Romans 9: 1‑ 5. Note the words adoption, glory, covenants, and promises. • According to verse 4, who is promised these blessings? Why do you think they were chosen? • How does vs 6 tie into this doctrine? • Read Election of Grace in the BD, p. 662

President Harold B. Lee: “All these rewards were seemingly promised, or foreordained, before the world was. Surely these matters must have been determined by the kind of lives we had lived in that premortal spirit world. Some may question these assumptions, but at the same time they will accept without any question the belief that each one of us will be judged when we leave this earth according to his or her deeds during our lives here in mortality. Isn't it just as reasonable to believe that we have received here in this earth [life] was given to each of us according to the merits of our conduct before we came here? ” Conference Report, Oct. 1973, 7‑‑ 8.

What is foreordination? Is it predestination? “The doctrine of foreordination applies to all. . . Before the creation of the earth, faithful women were given certain responsibilities and faithful men were foreordained to certain priesthood duties. Although you do not remember that time, you surely agreed to fulfill significant tasks. As you prove yourself worthy, you will be given opportunities to fulfill the assignments you received” (True to the Faith: A Gospel Reference [2004], 70).

True/False Some people were foreordained to do bad things.

Elder Bruce R Mc. Conkie “When we come into mortality, we bring the talents, capacities, and abilities acquired in our prior existence. Mozart composed and published sonatas when but eight years of age because he was born with musical talent. Melchizedek came into this world with such faith and spiritual capacity that “when a child he feared God, and stopped the mouths of lions, and quenched the violence of fire. ” (JST, Gen. 14: 26. ) Cain, on the other hand, like Lucifer, was a liar from the beginning and was told in this life: “… thou shalt be called Perdition; for thou wast also before the world. ” (Moses 5: 24. ) Ensign, May 1974, p. 71

True/False If you were foreordained to do something, you will do it.

President Harold B. Lee “Do not misunderstand that a calling pre-determines what you must do…God may have called and chosen men in the spirit world to do a certain work, but whether they will accept that calling here is a matter in which it is their right and privilege to exercise agency. Hence as the Lord has said, ‘there are many called but few chosen. ” Decisions for Successful Living, pp. 168 -169

Elder Neal A. Maxwell “By reason of that surpassing knowledge, God reads the future; He knows what each of us will do under given conditions. His foreknowledge is based on intelligence and reason. He foresees the future as a state which naturally and surely will be. ” The Great Apostasy, p. 20. James E. Talmage, Quoted by Neal A. Maxwell, Things As They Really Are, p. 28)

True/False All Melchizedek Priesthood holders were foreordained to be Melchizedek Priesthood holders.

Joseph Smith “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. ” Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 365. Alma 13: 2 -3 (cross-reference Jeremiah 1: 5 -6) “And those priests were ordained after the order of his Son … being called and prepared from the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God. ”

True/False If you don’t do what you were foreordained to do, you will be held accountable for it.

President Spencer W. Kimball “While we do not now remember the particulars, this does not alter the glorious reality of what we agreed to. You are accountable for those things which long ago were expected of you just as are those we sustain as prophets and apostles!” Ensign, Nov. 1979, p. 102.

True/False Everyone is foreordained to do something.

Elder Bruce R. Mc. Conkie “As with Abraham, so with all the prophets, and for that matter so, to one degree or another, with the whole house of Israel and with all the members of the Lord’s earthly church—all are participants in the blessings of foreordination. ” Ensign, May 1974, p. 71.

True/False We agreed to do the things we were foreordained to do.

President Spencer W. Kimball “We made vows, solemn vows, in the heavens before we came to this mortal life…We made covenants before we accepted our position here on the earth. We committed ourselves to our Heavenly Father that if He would send us to the earth and give us bodies and give to us the priceless opportunities that earth life afforded, we would keep our lives clean and would marry in the holy temple and would rear a family and teach them righteousness. ” Be Ye Therefore Perfect, Utah Institute Devotional, Jan. 10, 1975, 2.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell “Orson Hyde taught, ‘It is not impossible that we signed the articles thereof with our own hands, which articles may be retained in the archives above to be presented to us when we rise from the dead…Our forgetfulness cannot alter the facts. ” (Journal of Discourses, 7: 314– 15. ) Hence, the degree of detail involved in the covenants and promises we participated in at that time may be a more highly customized thing than many of us surmise. ” Neal A. Maxwell, Brigham Young University 10 October 1978.

True/False Our birth time and location was based on our preearth life choices.

Elder Bruce R. Mc. Conkie “As a result of preexistent faithfulness, certain of the Father's children earned the right to receive preferential treatment during their mortal sojourn. Some who were noble and great were foreordained. Others merited birth into the house of Israel so they would be in a position to hear the word of truth before that same gift was given to others. ” The Promised Messiah, p. 506

President David O Mc. Kay “Our place in this world would then be determined by our own advancement in the pre-mortal state, just as our place in our future existence will be determined by what we do here in mortality” Home Memories of President David O. Mc. Kay, 228– 30.

True/False We chose our spouses in the Pre-Earth Life.

“We have been counseled not to teach the idea of a ‘one and only. ’ The Church does not teach that we chose our companion or our parents during our pre-mortal existence. A successful date or marriage often depends more on being the right person than on finding the right person. ” Seminary Teachers Manual for O. T. p. 59

Romans 9 -11 Why did Paul teach this doctrine of foreordination? Romans 9: 31 -33 Romans 10: 13 -15