All Our Yesterdays
"To the last
syllable of recorded time, and all our yesterdays. . ." (Macbeth V.v.)
A series of brief articles
dealing with Human Pre-existence
by Arthur & Rosalind Eedle.
4. Born wicked
Isaiah
48:8 ". . . for I know that you dealt very treacherously, and
were called a transgressor from the womb."
Psalm
58:3 "The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray
as soon as they are born, speaking lies."
Verses like
these cannot be pushed under the mat as though they didn't exist. I suppose all
of us, at one time or another, have been responsible for choosing passages of
Scripture selectively, based on our then-present assessment of
Biblical doctrine. Leaders of denominations are dab-hands at such selectivity,
laying down rules of interpretation, and asking their members to comply to a
set of "orthodox" beliefs. But this simply will not do. All of us are
learners. None of us has "arrived." We cannot waste time sitting
still within our creedal frameworks. We must move on. There is much pioneering
work to be done, and those who are free in the spirit rejoice when new
revelations of truth are presented, making life full of interest, and granting
us a deeper insight into the mysteries of God and His age-plans.
In the
first of these articles I made a statement about physical defects, such as
being born blind. I said that it might be construed that our Lord gave final
judgment on all such physical defects, that they were not the result
of pre-mortal, or parental sin.
But the verses
quoted above show another side to this question. Even if all physical defects
may be eliminated, there is clear evidence here that something far more
terrible is passed on. There are human beings who, from the earliest
childhood, show signs of rebellion, and the power struggle grows as they mature
into adulthood. No matter what the parents do, no matter what form of
discipline is applied, no change is experienced. It does make us wonder whether
this was the reason why Moses was instructed about such matters, thus -
Deut.21:18-21.
"If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not obey the
voice of his father or mother, and though they chastise him, will not give heed
to them, then his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to
the elders of the city . . . and say . . . 'This our son is stubborn and
rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.' Then
all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones; so shall you
purge away the evil from your midst, and all
It may be
suggested that this is the result of parental sin, based on Exodus 20:5, where
the Lord says that He will "visit the iniquity of the fathers upon
the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me," but
this is quite a different matter. The generations mentioned are those who hate
the Lord, but the instance quoted in Deuteronomy is of parents who have
tried their level best to bring up their son in the fear of the Lord.
If we are
willing to accept the growing evidence of human pre-existence, then the verses
in Psalms and Isaiah, quoted above, may be seen in a new and more meaningful
light. Something happened in pre-mortal life that is reflected in earth-bound
life. Physical deformities may not be considered here, but moral
deformities may be perpetuated. This may account for a number of otherwise
difficult psychological problems today. The law of stoning, which could only be
applied in a theocratic community such as
The Lord
said, (Isaiah 46:8-9) "Bring again to mind, O you transgressors.
Remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is none else . .
."
There is
the whole problem. The transgressors had assumed there was someone
else, in the person of Satan, whom they had listened to in pre-mortal days.
More of this later.