Many of the notions in the Bible are never explicitly said. The Bible has alot of implied meanings as well as polymorphism (one statement, multiple meanings based on context and situation). If you ever read the book of Proverbs you should start with chapter 1 first which is the chapter many Baptists ignore despite the fact that they read the KJV. That being said on to your question, as far as i know the Bible (protestant theology's attempted source) does not answer all or even probably most philosophical questions. Assuming there is a God, that question you would have to ask him directly.

To see examples of polymorphism in the Bible check out the free pdf (or purchase a carbon copy). Coincidences in the Bible and in Biblical Hebrew by Haim Shore. I would like to note that Arabic that predates Islam also has similarities in polymorphism the same as Hebrew.

That's a great answer thank you

How would you define "potential life"? — Anonymys

Potential anything is just a thought in the mind.

There must be a sort of "existence wave" in which we currently tend to exist rather than not exist. I gather mathematicians point to a "moment" when person and time "appeared" and shortly after, light (there must be a reason for its specific speed and spectrum of frequencies). Physics books I've read say that most of the 26 dimensions (or 10 by some counts) almost immediately "collapsed". There must be some sort of "pattern" according to which these things can form a "framework" for the current "phase".