Another cause of misconception is the meaning we attach to the word Creator, in describing our relationship to the Lord. We usually take the expression, "He is our Creator," to mean that we had no existence as individuals until He called us into being, and this in the face of His own declaration to the contrary. He says to Abraham, as hereinbefore quoted:
"If there be two spirits, and one shall be more intelligent than the other, yet these two spirits, notwithstanding one is more intelligent than the other, _have no beginning_, they existed before; they shall have no end, they shall exist after, for they are gnolaum or eternal."[[17]]
The construction of this statement seems purposely designed to negative the doctrine that spirits owe their origin to God, for, in that case, one might well question the justice of the Creator in giving one spirit so much more intelligence than another.
But the fact is, as the Prophet Joseph Smith has said: "God never had the power to create the spirit of man at all. God himself could not create himself."
As if determined so to state the fact that his meaning could not be misunderstood, the Prophet Joseph further says:
"I have another subject to dwell upon, which is calculated to exalt man. But it is impossible for me to say much on this subject. I shall, therefore, just touch upon it; for time will not permit me to say all. It is associated with the subject of the resurrection from the dead, the mind of man, the immortal spirit. Where did it come from? All learned men and doctors of divinity say that God created it in the beginning. But it is not so. The very idea lessens man in my estimation. I do not believe the doctrine. I know better."
Continuing, he adds:
"We say that God himself is a self-existent being. Who told you so? It is correct enough; but how did it get into your heads? Who told you that man did not exist in like manner upon the same principles? Man does exist upon the same principles. The mind or the intelligence which man possesses, is co-equal with God himself."
And again:
"There never was a time when there were not spirits, for they are co-equal with our Father in Heaven."[[18]]