Each of us is foreordained to
spend a certain period of time in this life. However, just as it is with other
aspects of our foreordination, the events of our mortal life can alter how long
we live.
President Spencer W. Kimball made
the following statement regarding the scriptural statement that for each of us
there is a time to die: “Just as Ecclesiastes [3:2] says, I am confident that
there is a time to die, but I believe also many people die before ‘their time’
because they are careless, abuse their bodies, take unnecessary chances, or
expose themselves to hazards, accidents, and sickness” (Faith Precedes the
Miracle, p. 103). The fact that we can die before our time confirms beyond
any doubt that the events of our lives are influenced by the things such as
agency and change. How long we live in mortality is not fixed or predestined.
(Grant Von Harrison, Understanding Your Divine Nature [rev ed.; Sandy,
Utah: Sounds of Zion, 2000], 189-90)