All religions would most likely agree that God, the Father of us all, is all-powerful, most intelligent as well as eternal. Meaning He had no beginning and He has no end. If I were to say that about man, that he too, has always existed, there would be much opposition to such a statement. Doesn’t Genesis, say that God created man spiritually first? In fact, all things including the earth were created spiritually before they were created physically. (Create here, has to be interpreted as to organize) If you study Genesis carefully you will have to agree that there were two creations, not one. Therefore, God created the spirit of man first, before he created him physically. The world was organized from unorganized, chaotic materials in space. Matter has always existed; in fact, matter is indestructible. It can change its state and form but it cannot be annihilated. Water in its liquid form can be heated and evaporated, in a sense gone from human view but through the process of condensation it can be brought back to it’s original state. Gunpowder too can be exploded but it merely changes its form from a solid substance to gases. There was once a universal concept that things could rise out of nothing and vanish into nothing as well. The common theology in times past held to that way of thinking, assured that God created all things from nothing. God rather has the power to cause the elements to obey Him. “For I am the Lord thy God…I stretch my hand over the sea, and it obeys my voice; I cause the wind and the fire to be my chariot; I say to the mountains depart hence and behold they are taken away.” (Abraham 2:7)
All matter has a degree of intelligence, otherwise how would it be able to obey God’s command. Is not all matter made up of molecules that are composed of two or more atoms. Atoms too, are made up of three particles: protons, neutrons and electrons. Neutrons are extremely dense and they are found in the nucleus of every atom. Protons have a positive charge of electricity and electrons have a negative charge. Protons and electrons circle the neutrons. Therefore the smallest particles of matter have organi- zation, direction, and combined with other molecules make up every structure and various types of material on earth, including a human being. Chaos is merely unorganized matter and that is what God created the earth from. The spirits of man were created from a higher order of intelligent matter, “And the Lord said unto me: These two facts do exist, that there are two spirits, one being more intelligent than the other; there shall be another more intelligent than they; I am the Lord thy God, I am more intelligent than they all.” (Abraham 3:19)
We were created from intelligent matter, it has never been revealed to us what that matter may have looked like. From that intelligent matter, God created (organized) spirits, therefore we are his spirit offspring. The process by which we were organized as spirits from intelligent matter has not been revealed to us either. We do know that our spirits look exactly as we do physically. (See Ether 3:16)
(That may be a clue as to the process.)
It has been revealed that the spirit and the body, together, are the soul of man. (D&C 88:16)
We determine by our behavior, where our soul, in the end, will finally reside. Whether it be with God or whether it be in a lesser or different place. Why do I say that we decide? Because we decide to be obedient to His instructions for us or we decide to rebel, we have our agency to choose. Too, there are many degrees of rebellion, as there are many mansions in His Kingdom. God has infinite love for all of His spirit offspring and He is always rooting for us to make the right decisions while we sojourn on earth. He would that not one soul be lost. But He cannot defy justice, He has to do all that He does in consideration of all intelligent matter, not just the most intelligent ones. If He became partial He would no longer be honored by the lesser intelligences and therefore no longer obeyed by them. Therefore, He would cease to be God.