In the obscure 1991 movie Defending Your Life with Albert Brooks and Meryl Streep, Brooks' character dies and finds himself in the afterlife where he is judged for the things he learned (or didn't learn) during his earthly sojourn. He is told that those who progress past a certain level of knowledge and achievement in their Earth life are able to move on to other (better) realms of existence.  Those that do not are doomed to be reincarnated on Earth and try again…and again…and again until they get it right.

He also discovers that in this new universe, Earth is fairly low on the totem pole in spiritual progression. It is an early stop on everyone's spiritual journey, one that the good spirits will quickly pass through on their way to better things, while the not-so-great spirits get stuck there for a while–sort of like the spiritual equivalent of a dead-end cashier job in a small town gas station.

While the movie is not doctrinally accurate from an LDS standpoint by any stretch of the imagination, it does bring to mind some important doctrines…and some important questions.

Much is made in the scriptures of the importance of Earth life within the plan of salvation. We need to be born and live on Earth so we can obtain a physical body, make covenants, perform ordinances, and learn the important spiritual principles we need to continue on our journey to perfection into the celestial kingdom and beyond.

The status of those of us currently on the Earth is a subject of much debate.  Many scriptures and modern day sayings have implied that those of us on the Earth today are among the ˜noble and great ones" who were saved to be sent down to Earth specifically during these last days.  While doctrines concerning "generals in the war in heaven" have been discredited, there's still a sense that those of us living today, particularly in the Church, are supposed to be among the "elite"--the best of the best--of God's children.

And yet…we have to reconcile this idea with other doctrines in the Church.  For example, from the Doctrine & Covenants:

And I also beheld that all children who die before they arrive at the years of accountability are saved in the celestial kingdom of heaven. (137:10)

Steven P at BCC takes this notion and analyzes it statistically.  His conclusion: taking this statement at face value, for every person who lives a faithful celestial life on Earth, there will be over 125 people who are in the celestial kingdom because they died before the age of accountability.  That is, over 99% of the celestial kingdom will have essentially gotten a 'free pass'.

Now, there are three important caveats, here:
(1) There are a lot of statistics assumptions (which Steven outlines in his post).
(2) "Celestial Kingdom" does not automatically mean "exaltation".
(3) These figures do not take into account temple work for the dead at all--a significant omission, as that is a key element to man's eternal destiny within the plan of salvation.

Put these together and the ratio between the two groups likely won't be nearly as egregious, although it still seems likely that the first group will severely outnumber the second group when all is said and done. 

Many modern day prophets have expanded upon the idea of the 'free pass', saying simply that some of Heavenly Father's children need only to come down to Earth for a short period of time to obtain their physical body before being called back to heaven. For those within this statistically significant group, it appears there is no need to prove that they are ‘celestial quality’ in this life, thus do not need to stay long.

That's perfectly fine in and of itself--the problem comes when you consider, again, the sheer size of that group.  Even if the above caveats brought the ratio from 125:1 to a more manageable 4:1, for example, that would still imply that 80% of the celestial kingdom consists of people who didn't really need to be tested in mortality. 

If so, what does that then imply about the other 20%...the rest of us here today?  Far from being the 'best of the best', that implies instead that we're, literally, the "back of the class":  the poor, struggling students who have to spend their summer in summer school while the smarter kids get to go out and play.

Speculating on things that happen in the pre-existence is false doctrine, but taking these figures at face value suggests some obvious questions:

(1) Does this mean many (if not most) spirits were so valiant in the preexistence that there was nothing left for them to prove in this life? If so, what does that imply about the rest of us?

(2) If celestial worthiness was not determined in the pre-existence, then when do those spirits obtain the experience, trials and testing necessary to develop celestial attributes–as we are doing today?

(3) If there is no need for these spirits to obtain these types of experience and knowledge in this mortal life, then is there any benefit at all to living past the age of eight in this life?

The idea of children being 'saved' automatically is an easy one to trace:  many other Christian churches teach that children who die without being baptized are automatically bound for hell.  Joseph Smith, through the D&C, repudiated this doctrine directly--articulating something that most of us even without direct revelation already knew would be true and obvious according to any idea of a just God.  Children are innocent and sin free, and don't need repentance or baptism.

This perfectly reasonable doctrine, however--coupled with the sheer size of the group of "innocent" children--ends up pushing the question of God's justice in another direction entirely.  How can we reconcile the importance of mortality with the fact that a large number of God's children get to skip it seemingly without consequence?  

The problem with mortality is that while many of us can and will keep our covenants and become celestial worthy in the end, many of us will not. That means that Earth life represents a very real danger to those who become accountable.  We're subject to the temptations of Satan, and many will never make it back to the celestial level.

If that's true, we would have to ask what the advantage is to being on the Earth in the last days...or on the Earth past the age of accountability at all.  We have nothing more to gain, but everything to lose.  Compare it to soldiers who risk their lives on the front lines of a war, while others are working safely back home in reserve roles.   After the war is over, both groups receive equal rewards for "serving"...but many in the first group won't survive to get home in the first place.  Which group is it better to be in, then?

My gut feeling says surviving Earth life–learning about the role of the Spirit and how to progress and avoid temptation in this life–does present invaluable experience and benefits that help us become truly celestial people.   In other words, mortality provides benefits above and beyond simply "not sinning".  If so, when and how do those "unaccountable" spirits make up that missing experience?  If they don't need this experience (or already have it) based on what happened in the pre-existence perhaps, doesn't that indicate that the preexistence does, in fact, have a fairly large role in determining the situation in which we find ourselves born into in this life?

Since I'm here on the front lines, I'll fight as needed...but there's still some nagging questions about how the social hierarchy of spirits are divided.  What's happens if in the end I find out I was really one of the ‘lower-middle class’ of spirits before being born, and God just didn't want to hurt my self-esteem…