If They Had Not Been Born

After speaking of the three Nephites and the great work they would do, Mormon wrote, “And wo be unto him that will not hearken unto the words of Jesus, and also to them whom he hath chosen and sent among them; for whoso receiveth not the words of Jesus and the words of those whom he hath sent receiveth not him; and therefore he will not receive them at the last day; And it would be better for them if they had not been born. For do ye suppose that ye can get rid of the justice of an offended God, who hath been trampled under feet of men, that thereby salvation might come?” (3 Nephi 28:34-35) He suggested that for some, those who would reject His words and the words of the prophets, it would have been better if they had not been born. What did He mean by this? Taken literally, if one never had been born then he or she would have never received a body and would have thus followed Satan in the premortal world. To have not kept his or her first estate—synonymous with not receiving a body or not being born—would have meant being cast out of the Father’s presence with the third part of His children who rejected His plan. The Savior spoke of “everlasting fire⁠, prepared for the devil and his angels⁠,” and, according to the Guide to the Scriptures, the “devil⁠’s angels⁠…. are those spirits who followed Lucifer and were thrust out of God’s presence in the premortal life and cast down to the earth.” The scriptures suggest that their final fate is “the lake of fire and brimstone, with the devil and his angels” (Doctrine and Covenants 76:36). It is hard to imagine that this group of whom Mormon was speaking would have been better off to have followed Satan originally and never received a body. Their sins do appear to be more serious than simply rejecting the word of God through His servants—they “trampled under feet” the Savior—but it is hard to see with a strict interpretation of the language that they truly would have been better off not to have been born.    

            There is one other scripture that speaks of a situation that merited not being born, and I think this gives us an alternative explanation for what Mormon might have meant here. At the Last Supper, Jesus spoke of one who would betray Him. He said, “Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.” He continued, “He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born⁠” (Matthew 26:21, 23-24). He then confirmed to Judas that it was he who would betray him. Though we do not know the final fate of Judas, we know that he in a sense wished that he had never been born after he committed the act of treachery. Matthew recorded, “Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself” (Matthew 27:3-5). Having betrayed the Son of Man, Judas no longer wished to live. By suggesting that it would be good for them never to have been born, perhaps the Lord meant in these two passages that the sinners (those who betrayed and trampled the Savior) would ultimately feel such remorse that they would wish they had never been born. Though strictly speaking that wouldn’t be the case—no fate is worse than having not kept our first estate in the premortal world—the regret on the order of what Judas felt would be so intense that they would feel that way. However we interpret that passage, the bottom line is that our best path forward is always to be loyal to the Savior and our covenants with Him no matter what happens.