Item Detail
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33433
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0
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6
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English
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The "Spirit" that Returns to God in Ecclesiastes 12:7
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Let Us Reason Together: Essays in Honor of the Life's Work of Robert L. Millet
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Provo, UT; Salt Lake City, UT
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BYU Religious Studies Center; Deseret Book Company
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189-204
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"Influenced by the Restoration doctrine of premortality, some Latter-day Saints have employed the KJV translation 'the spirit' in Ecclesiastes 12:7 to support the doctrine that spirit personages leave their mortal bodies at death. Furthermore, Latter-day Saints have sometimes asserted, again citing Ecclesiastes 12:7, that a premortal spirit being can only 'return' to God because it previously came from him. This verse has thus become one of several in the Old Testament that some Latter-day Saints have employed as support for premortal existence, a doctrine that is so important in the broader plan of salvation.
"Although the doctrine itself is not in question, this paper does question whether 'the spirit' in Ecclesiastes 12:7 refers to individual spirit personages and considers the validity of employing this verse as biblical support of premortal existence. In order to determine whether Ecclesiastes 12:7 can bear the interpretation placed on it by many Latter-day Saints, I will (1) review what Latter-day Saints have claimed about the content of this verse, (2) consider 12:7 in the context of Ecclesiastes, especially chapter 12, and (3) analyze the language and meaning of 12:7 in its biblical context." [From the text]
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A Witness for the Restoration : Essays in Honor of Robert J. Matthews
Bountiful Harvest : Essays in Honor of S. Kent Brown
Encyclopedia of Mormonism : The History, Scripture, Doctrine, and Procedures of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Premortal Life
Studies in Scripture
The Pearl of Great Price : A verse-by-verse commentary