What Is the Purpose of Life on Earth?

Man was created in the image of God and placed on this earth to experience existence between the pre-mortal life and post-mortal life as a part of the evolution of his eternal being. Mortal life is a test to see if we'll obey, not only the lower laws to which mortals are born, but a test to see if we'll obey, as they are learned, the higher, eternal laws, which God, Himself, obeys. Only by obeying both the lower and the higher laws can we return to Him in the postmortal life. The mission of each person born in mortality is the search for the way to return to life in the eternal worlds from whence we came, a process of continuous evolution in always becoming. Accomplishing that goal can only be achieved by learning that we were begotten by God, the Father of our spirits, by learning the laws which govern that process of return and by adhering to them once they are known. There is no other way.

In the process of learning and applying those laws in this sojourn on earth, one may fall short of knowledge and will, and have to take a step back, re-assess the situation to once again proceed forward. Only by faith in God that He will provide guidance for us to recover and continue to proceed forward can we each one evolve to become that which He desires for us and we desire for ourselves and for all who have lived in mortality, now live, and will come to live. We agreed with this plan and we voted for it by acclamation as intelligent entities in our pre-mortal life. We agreed to move to this earth, acquire a mortal body, and live the laws we obeyed in the previous plane of our existance. We agreed that we would allow a veil to fall between us and our previous life, so that we could live by faith for humility's sake. For it is only when we are humble are we able to learn.

President Spencer W. Kimball (1895-1995) tells it this way:

“Our first parents, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God. By eating the forbidden fruit, they became mortal. Consequently, they and all of their descendants became subject to both mortal and spiritual death (mortal death, the separation of body and spirit; and spiritual death, the separation of the spirit from the presence of God and death as pertaining to the things of the spirit).

“In order for Adam to regain his original state (to be in the presence of God), an atonement for this disobedience was necessary. In God’s divine plan, provision was made for a redeemer to break the bonds of death and, through the resurrection, make possible the reunion of the spirits and bodies of all persons who had dwelt on earth. “Jesus of Nazareth was the one who, before the world was created, was chosen to come to earth to perform this service, to conquer mortal death” (“The True Way of Life and Salvation,” Ensign, May 1978, 6).