My teenage Sunday School students and I probed the question of eternity. How far back could we remember? I recalled looking at the towering legs of a horse and being hoisted up into my granddad's saddle when I was just three years old. Several pupils could also clearly remember events when they were about that age.
Could anyone in the class remember existence prior to birth? No. Was it possible to know anything other than this mortal experience? We agreed that yes, somehow it was possible.
As we continued our discussion, the Bible gave us some insights. And later I pondered Jeremiah's glimpse of eternal existence when he discerned God's words "Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." Jer. 1:5. The Gospel of John records Jesus' profound words "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." John 17:5. In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy makes specific reference to the fact there is life before birth (see 429:19—30).
