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You are dealing with closed minds, by their own choice closed. Here is a prime example of how Mormonism starts with a premise offered by Joe Smith, then they seek verses out of context by which they may establish false pretext:

"Jer. 1:
5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations."
To which verse restornu applies the Mormon pretext: "Here we have pre mortal existence of the Spirit of the Prophet Jeremiah!" It never occurs to such an one that God's perspective being greater than the present time can actually see Jeremiah's entire exitence in the body and beyond even before it begins to manifest in spacetime, so the poster assumes the verse out of context affirms a heresy asserted by Joseph Smith.

I wish you well in seeking 'to set the record straight', but it has been my experience these past several months that pretext is the only reason Mormons use the Bible, to establish the efficacy of their false prophet's Book of Mormon and the sundry assertions and fabricated 'scriptures' Mormonism depneds upon.

Perhaps, you like Elsie, would enjoy a thorough reading of Enoch. There are several references to a premortal life for all of God's children. Here is just a couple, to whet your appetite:

"…And every thing found in the world has been before and has passed before him and has been organized before him… All the creations of the world have existed in each generation before they came to this world. All the souls of the children of men have been before they came down to the world, formed, before him in Heaven in the very likeness that they have in this world… For all souls are prepared to eternity, before the formation of the world." – 2 Enoch 9

"Enoch answered the people saying, 'Before anything was and before the whole Creation took place, the Lord established the age of creation; and after that he made all of the creation both visible and invisible and after that he created man in his own image. He gave him eyes to see, ears to hear and a heart to think with and a mind to council. I swear to you my children that before man was in the womb of his mother we were prepared, each individual and a place for each spirit that each should sojourn here in his proper time, that man might be tested in the balance." – 2 Enoch 17

And lest you think I find only Apocrypha writings to testify of such things, here are old and new testament writings that speak of the same thing:

When God laid the foundations of the earth, all the sons of God shouted for joy, Job 38: 4-7. The spirit shall return unto God who gave it, Eccl. 12: 7. Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, Jer. 1: 4-5. We are all his offspring, Acts 17: 28. God chose us before the foundation of the world, Eph. 1: 3-4. We are to be in subjection to the Father of spirits, Heb. 12: 9. The angels which kept not their first estate, he hath reserved in everlasting chains, Jude 1: 6. The Devil and his angels were cast out, Rev. 12: 9.