While any concept of predestination clearly flies in the face of the doctrine of agency, …..and it would seem weird indeed if after a massive war in heaven, fought over the doctrine of agency, God then turned to us and said and now you will each be forced to marry the person I choose….However, none of the quotes mentioned in Part 1 remove the possibility of our having used our agency in the pre-mortal world to choose a partner whom we desired to meet and marry in mortality.
Scriptures suggesting Pre-Mortal choice impacting marriage
While the scriptures do not teach the doctrine that every person’s spouse was selected or chosen in the pre-mortal existence, it seems that in some cases that was very likely the case. If pre-mortal choice played no part in the marriage decision, then;
--Would the Jews still have been saved had King Ahasuerus chosen some other virgin among the many to be his wife and the new queen of the Persian Empire?
--Could Abrahams servant been just as successful with convincing any of the women of Haran to go with him back to marry Isaac? Was it just happenstance and Rebekah’s good fortune to be the first one to meet the servant at the well, and to act just as the servant had prayed she would?
--Could Mary have been happily married and Jesus raised by any other righteous Jewish man who would also be willing to look past her unexplained pregnancy?
--Was Eve selected to be the mother of all living and Adams eternal companion by chance. Could any of the other women of the pre-mortal existence have equally fulfilled that role?
Can the Doctrine of Foreordination Apply?
It is an indisputable teaching from the scriptures that our choices and actions in the pre-mortal realm, impact to some degree who, what and how we are in this mortal life. If it is true that our actions led us to be foreordained as prophets (Jeremiah) or High Priests (Alma) or to be among the noble and great one’s (Abraham) or be held in reserve to come forth in the dispensation of the fullness of times (many others) why is it not also possible that some of us, using our agency in the premortal world, came to love, care for and desire to marry, another.
If positions in church governance were, at least in part, based on our pre-mortal activities, why could it not also be the case for family organizations, the central focus for which church government even exists? Could we not, with divine approval, have chosen a partner we wanted to be with us through life, a help meet who would be exactly what we needed or desired in the eternities, understanding always that agency of both parties would still apply once we came to earth? If the same sociality that exist with us in this life rises with us in the resurrection, why does it not follow that the same sociality we felt in pre-mortal spheres remains rooted in our souls as we pass though the veil into mortality?
I am well aware that many find the movies/plays "Saturdays’ Warrior" or "My Turn On Earth” to be fallacious, non-doctrinal and some even see them as heretical. Yet, I also know many who resonate with the song “Feelings of Forever.” Others have felt the power of the lyrics from My Turn on Earth’s “Eternity is You” and the concept that for some at least, their choice on earth is merely a continuation of choices they made in the pre-mortal sphere. Some I know have received a spiritual conviction that such was true in their individual cases, as confirmed to them by the Holy Ghost. I find no scriptural or authoritative comments that render that to be impossible, or the personal revelations they have received in that area to be merely the faulty imaginations of the hyper romantic mind.
In looking closely into this concept, I discovered a quote by President John Taylor, which for me sums up the possibility of such pre-mortal choices. It was in a letter he wrote to the women of the church inspiring them to recognize their divine heritage and potential. In part the wrote; “…You also chose a kindred spirit whom you loved in the spirit world to be your head, stay, husband and protector on the earth and to exalt you in eternal worlds. All these were arranged, likewise the spirits that should tabernacle through your lineage. Leaving thy father and mother’s bosom and all thy kindred spirits thou camest to earth, took a tabernacle, and imitated the deeds of those who had been exalted before you.” (Emphasis Added)
On the issue of Pre-Mortal choices as they relate to our choice in marriage partners, it seems clear that to take either extreme, ie. It never happens in any case, or it happens in every case, would be inconsistent with the experiences, teachings and doctrines surrounding this issue. In this area, we must as many of the leaders have before, leave open the possibility of such, and not destroy the truth, by adhering to one extreme or the other.
Whether we have made prior commitments or choices or not, that fact remains that if we will follow the advice of the Church Leaders, God’s Holy Word, and the prompting of the Holy Ghost, we will use prayer, fasting, pondering, and faith, in the selection of who we marry. In so doing we will in the end be lead to what President Hinckley described as the “Right Person.” For some of us that person may very well be one whom we chose, and who chose us, before we came to earth.