(2007 journal entry)

I was reading in my son's history book about young men in the Greek city-state of Sparta.  At birth baby boys were examined.  Those that were judged unfit were placed on the mountain and left to die.  Boys were taken from their families at age 7 and placed in the care of military trainers whose job was to make them tough and mean.  They slept on a mat of rushes and lived lives devoid of comforts.

Did these people know what circumstances they were coming to when they left the pre-earth existence?  Did they know that they would be without comforts, families, gentleness, and any hope of learning about Jesus Christ and the Plan of Salvation?  Their names are probably not even recorded anywhere on earth, thus eliminating any chance for temple work to be performed in their behalf without heavenly intervention.

Did they choose this sort of life?  Were they given a choice?  Why didn't I get sent to earth to be a Spartan?  Why was I privileged to come to earth when the gospel of Jesus Christ was available, and when life is so full of comforts and opportunity?

I can't believe that this was all happenstance.  There have to be reasons why the Spartan boys came then, and why I came now.

The prophets have told us that anyone who receives the Priesthood here was foreordained in the pre-earth existence.  I, therefore, received the Priesthood there.  I, therefore, had to be placed on earth in a circumstance where the Priesthood could be offered to me again.

That says to me that the Spartan boys, and the billions of others who lived in times and conditions when the gospel of Jesus Christ was not available were not foreordained to the Priesthood in the pre-earth existence.

Receiving the Priesthood is a voluntary thing.  It would never be forced upon anyone on either side of the veil.  A person has to want it, seek it, and live for it even as did Abraham, a close contemporary of the Spartan boys.

"Finding there was greater happiness and peace and rest for me, I sought for the blessings of the fathers, and the right whereunto I should be ordained to administer the same; having been myself a follower of righteousness, desiring also to be one who possessed great knowledge, and to be a greater follower of righteousness, and to possess a greater knowledge, and to be a father of many nations, a prince of peace, and desiring to receive instructions, and to keep the commandments of God, I became a rightful heir, a High Priest, holding the right belonging to the fathers.

"It was conferred upon me from the fathers; it came down from the fathers, from the beginning of time, yea, even from the beginning, or before the foundation of the earth, down to the present time, even the right of the firstborn, or the first man, who is Adam, or first father, through the fathers unto me.

"I sought for mine appointment unto the Priesthood according to the appointment of God unto the fathers concerning the seed."  (Abra. 1:2-4).

Abraham lived in a wicked, idolatrous society.  Probably the only other righteous people in Ur of the Chaldees were a few of his near relatives—not including his father.  Those few righteous were led away from that wicked place, as the Lord has had to do over and over and over in the scriptures.

Seeking the Priesthood was not an easy thing for Abraham to do.  Finding someone to ordain him and who would judge him worthy of holding the Priesthood must have been difficult.  He received his Priesthood from Melchizedek, king of Salem (Jerusalem).  (D&C 84:14).  How that meeting took place, whether in Ur, at Jerusalem, or elsewhere, we're not told.

Abraham wasn't placed on earth into a situation where the Priesthood would be readily available, but he was one of the "noble and great ones" (Abra. 3:22-23) who had previously received his foreordination.  He, therefore, had an inbred desire which moved him to become what he had earlier determined to be before he came to earth.

The Spartan boys did not have such high aspirations.  Choice, or moral agency, is something we have always had.  In the pre-earth life we were given the agency to choose between the plans offered by Jesus or Satan.  We and the Spartan boys chose Jesus'.

I theorize that we then had the three degrees of glory explained to us.  We could choose which degree we wanted to aim for.  The Celestial—the highest—would surpass all understanding.  We would there become like our Father—Gods—but would have to take upon ourselves the Priesthood, and great responsibility.  The rewards for enduring and succeeding would be phenomenal, but getting there would entail great risk.  Failure to honor the Priesthood and its accompanying covenants would place us in the power of that being whom we had already chosen not to follow.

If we were unsure of our ability to endure, be faithful, and keep our Priesthood covenants on earth, I theorize that we were allowed to aim for a lesser goal, refuse the Priesthood, and thus ensure ourselves of a kingdom of glory below that of the Celestial.

By such a choice we could not become Gods, but neither would we spend eternity in hell.  If we lived and died "without law" (D&C 76:72),—never hearing about nor being taught about Jesus and His gospel plan—and if we succeeded in being "honorable men" (D&C 76:75), we would eventually inherit the terrestrial kingdom.  If we failed to merit that goal, we would at least make it to the telestial glory "which surpasses all understanding (D&C 76:89).

These things seem reasonable.  If this is so, then relatively few of us were foreordained to the Priesthood.  James E. Faust said, "I am reminded that the great blessing of holding the priesthood of God is one that is reserved for the relatively few, considering the billions of people in the world.  To hold the priesthood is a signal honor."  (Ensign, May 2007, pg 54).

The Spartan boys then, were perhaps well aware of the conditions under which they'd be living on earth.  It's not unreasonable to suppose that they, and we, chose the circumstances under which we'd live.  The Spartans were happy to accept those earthly conditions so that they wouldn't have the responsibility of living up to covenants they didn't think they'd have the ability to keep.

We, on the other hand, were willing to take the risk because we thought that, Abraham-like, we'd have the strength and determination to carry through and achieve our goals.  Such thoughts really would make us a "chosen generation" and explain why the prophets tell us that we were "reserved for this day."

It is, therefore, fair that the heathen nations apparently don't have a shot at the Celestial Kingdom.  It was a choice those individuals made.

It also entails a great responsibility upon us who have the blessings of the Priesthood to faithfully keep our covenants lest we come up short and end up in the power of that being we already chose not to follow.  Nothing but strict obedience will do.