I have always found comfort in knowing I came from heaven and will return there someday.
So many gospel songs tell of meeting our loved ones when we 'go home'.
Home is where you belong because it is home.
Untill I was on this forum and others I had no idea that many christians didnt believe they came from heaven, and then returned. Guess they just believe in the earth exhistance as a beginning. One told me "his mothers womb".
I have asked many friends where they were before they were born, and so far all have said heaven.
Go figure, we sure live in a diverse world of religion.
It's interesting that you would come to these conclusions that
we came from heaven. Early Christian bibles show this, but also art works too. Adam descends to earth in a
mandorla symbol, often seen in art works of
Christ's ascension up into heaven, (hand of the Father extends to clasp Christ's right hand to pull him up into heaven, from
wence he came). Plus, in
Christ's descent into hades, hell, limbo, purgatory. It's like the
gates or door ways from one realm of existence to another, where often
hand & wrist grasping takes place (Isa. 41:13; 42:6-7; 45:1; 61:1-4; Eph. 4:7-10; 1 Pet. 3:15-22; 4:5-6; Psa. 68:8; 23:3-10; Anna D. Kartsonis,
Anastasis, The Making of An Image.
Many Near Death Experiences & Pre-birth Experiences, NDEs & PBEs that speak of spirits waiting to be born. Historic biblical Christianity is also filled with the concept too, that can be
traced through the centuries.
These studies are presented in a fiction-historical book about a futuristic martyr, Max Pointer, leader of a team of
Cosmic Agents, Into a Universe Filled With Life. (
Cosmic Agents: Their missions, to help save inhabited worlds from being destroyed by global killers in possession of global killer weapons. The
Divine Parents, who seed different worlds throughout the universe, to send their spirit sons & daughters down from heaven to experience all kinds of life experiences in each their own physical bodies.
They aren't going to let these global killers ruin their seeded worlds that are garden types for all kinds of life forms thus
seeded. So they, with their guardian angels, prophets & prophetesses, & teams of
Cosmic Agents, help to preserve the freedoms, & seeded worlds from being held ransum, from being destroyed, or completely taken over by
fallen angels & Lords of Darkness. Thus, book 1, of
Cosmic Agents, starts out with Max being killed. He has a
NDE, where he finds out
who he was before he was born into a physical body. How that he was the great spirit warrior in the war in heaven, before he was born. NDEs gets to see the pre-existence, war in heaven, & fall of the angels. The question is asked: "
Ever wonder about who you were before you were born?" Max gets to find out! So this fictional book, also gives historical endnotes to support the concept, showing that it goes back into historic Christianity, NDEs & PBEs).
Pre-birth experiences = PBEs, are experiences that parents sometimes have with pre-existence spirits. How these spirits will appear & announce that they will be born into the family. Or parents have dreams, or other encounters with their children to be.
The Pre-existence concept, was taught by the earliest Christians, while some later began to reject it too. Later, it was rejected by much later Church councils, like in 553 AD, during the Council of Constantinople. In other areas of Christianity, it was preserved in thousands of art works; while in other areas, it became legends, myths, stories & strange customs. Legends about water spirits, fairies, underworld demons, like in Lord of the Rings, where Gandalf falls & battles with a demon from the ancient world, Balrog, as they fall down into the deep places of the earth. This is a legendized version of Michael's combat with Satan, falling from heaven, crashing down into the underworld. Other pre-existence themes legendized are in stories about gulls, trolls, goblins, & strange creatures of the woods, lakes & streams; which are the fallen angels, which when cast out of heaven, during the war in heaven, fell into the deep places of the earth, & other places. Ironically, many modern anti-Mormon "Christians," have to use parts of the pre-existence doctrine, to make the false charge that "Mormons are satanic!" Or are "devil worshipers!" What nonsense! The very mention of "devil," or "satan," taps into the doctrine of the pre-existence, because of how the devil or satan is said to be a fallen angel, who made war in heaven. Earlier bible illustrations, & thousands of art works depict this, & these earlier biblical themes were acted out in numerous mystery-moral plays on down through the centuries in Christendom.
Dr. Melvin Morse says that a girl, Krystal Westover, who died at age 7, in a swimming accident, had told him that while she was having a NDE, she saw two spirits who were waiting to be born. At the International Associations for Near Death Studies = IANDS of Utah, 8-10-2011, Wednesday; Krystal Westover, now in her 30's, told of her near death experience, in which she mentions how Dr. Melvin Morse had revived her. During his visits with her, as she was getting better, she told him about the experience she had of seeing 2 pre-mortal children spirits who were later born. Krystal Westover was also interviewed on K-Talk, KTKK 630 AM radio, Salt Lake City valley area, & on the internet, 8-2011; on Mills Crenshaw's Drive Time Live. clicking on this link, or by going to Mills Crenshaw's Blog Schedule & Archives of shows." (From: Darell Thorpe, Ancient to Modern Near Death Experiences = NDEs & Pre-Birth Experiences = PBEs, Fall Quarter, Nov. 1996, revised for internet 1999 & 3-6-2011, up-dated 8-12-2011; See also: Closer to the Light, by Dr. Melvin Morse, 1990, p. 6-7).
Dr. Raymond Moody, also talked about how different ones who had NDEs, had said that they felt like they were returning to where they'd came from, back to their heavenly home. Of seeing spirits getting ready to be born.
Shirley Temple, The Blue Bird - 1940, goes to a place where children are waiting to be born. There they meet their sister who is to be born into their family. Some of these children were later called to go down to earth so that they could grow up & invent the things they had worked on during their pre-mortal existence. Others were lovers & were sad that they would be born in times where they would be apart & wouldn't know each other in earth life. The dress & sets for these scenes in the movie, seem to be derived from ancient Greek versions of the pre-existence, or at least later Christian versions, that were becoming myths in later centuries.
Plato's telling of the story of Er, a warrior, who came back to life, is a pre-Christian version of these types; a sort of ancient Greek Near Death Experience. Plato tells of how Er saw souls being prepared to be born into life; thus, we read in some accounts: "Just before he returned, he saw souls which were being prepared to be born into life: "They all journeyed to the Plain of Oblivion, through a terrible and stifling heat, for it was bare of trees and all plants, and there they camped at eventide by theRiver of Forgetfulness, whose waters no vessel can contain. They were required to drink a measure of the water, and those who were not saved by their good sense drank more than the measure, and each one as he drank forgot all things. And after they had fallen asleep and it was the middle of the night, there was a sound of thunder and a quaking of the earth, and they were suddenly wafted thence, one this way, one that, upward to their birth like shooting stars. Er himself, he said, was not allowed to drink of the water, yet how and in what way he returned to the body he said he did not know, but suddenly recovering his sight he saw himself at dawn lying on the funeral pyre." (Raymond A. Moody, Jr., M.D., Reflections On Life After Life, (Toronto; New York; London & Sydney, Bantam Books, 1977, 6th printing, Nov. 1983), p. 12-13, 28, note 1: Edith Hamilton & Huntington Cairns, eds., The Collected Dialogues of Plato, trans. Hugh Tredennick, Bollingen Series 71 (New York: Pantheon Books, 1961), p. 844). Plato, The Republic, Book X, written about 360 B.C.E., Translated by Benjamin Jowett.
Bibliography:
Carol Zaleski,
Otherworld Journeys, Accounts of Near-Death Experiences In Medieval and Modern Times.
Roy Mills, with Martin Tanner, 2-27-2000, On KSL radio, "
The Soul's Remembrance."
Colleen McDannell & Bernhard Lang,
Heaven: A History.
E. A. Wallis Budge,
Coptic Apocrypha in the Dialect of Upper Egypt, 6 vols.
Ernst & Johanna Lehner,
Devils, Demons, Death and Damnation.
Jeffrey Burton Russell,
Satan, The Early Christian Tradition.
Lucifer, The Devil In the Middle Age;
The Prince of Darkness, Radical Evil and the Power of Good in History.
Linda J. Ivanits,
Russian Folk Belief
Brent L. Top,
The Life Before Life.
Terryl L. Givens,
When Souls Had Wings, Pre-mortal Existence in Western Thought.
R. G. Hamerton-Kelly,
Pre-Existence, Wisdom And The Son of Man, A Study of the Idea of Pre-existence in the New Testament.
William G.T. Shedd, D.D.,
A History of Christian Doctrine.
Sarah Hinze, Suzanne Freeman (In station guests), & Darell Thorpe on the Guest Line. Radio shows: The Pre-existence of souls: In Pre-birth Experiences = PBEs; Near Death Experiences = NDEs & in historic biblical Christianity, art works, writings, legends & other cultures around the world. Books by all authors. Hinze, with Laura Lofgren, The Memory Catcher. Suzane Freeman, Through the Window of Life. Darell Thorpe, The Pre-existence: Our Pre-earth Life as Spirits in A Family in Heaven.
