Elder Bruce R. McConkie labeled the Creation as one of the “very pillars of eternity itself”, along with the Fall and the Atonement, and I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that the doctrine of the Creation is a crucial part of our belief system as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When the Plan of Salvation was presented to us by our Father in Heaven we learned that we would have to leave His presence to live in a place where we would have the freedom to choose who we wanted to be. Our new home would eventually be known to us as earth.
Due to our acceptance of modern revelation by inspired men such as Joseph Smith, the LDS belief regarding the Creation can differ greatly from the doctrine taught and accepted by other Christian churches. I hope that those of other faiths will not be afraid to leave their own beliefs regarding the Creation in the comments section as I am deeply interested in learning how we might differ, and of course, what areas of common ground we can find.
We believe that under the direction of God the Father and through the power of the Priesthood, Jesus Christ created this world and everything in it, as well as many other worlds. In Moses 1:33, God the Father said “And worlds without number have I created…for mine own purpose; and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten…. And as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof even so shall another come; and there is no end to my works.” In this scripture, we learn that the Creation of the earth and other things we know (the sun, moon, stars, galaxies, etc) is placed in a much larger context of ongoing creations of innumerable inhabited earths with their own respective heavens (in all of which Christ played a central role). Source.
All things created physically were first created spiritually. From scripture revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith, we know that in the work of the Creation, the Lord organized elements that had already existed. We do not believe in creation”ex nihilo” or ”out of nothing.” “I, the Lord God, created all things, of which I have spoken, spiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the earth…. And I, the Lord God, had created all the children of men; and not yet a man to till the ground; for in heaven created I them; and there was not yet flesh upon the earth, neither in the water, neither in the air” (Moses 3:5).
The Old Testament account of the Creation found in Genesis, as well as the accounts found in Moses and Abraham, break the creation up into six time periods, referred to as “days”. Elder McConkie talked about the meaning of the word “day” in this context:
But first, what is a day? It is a specified time period; it is an age, an eon, a division of eternity; it is the time between two identifiable events. And each day, of whatever length, has the duration needed for its purposes. One measuring rod is the time required for a celestial body to turn once on its axis. For instance, Abraham says that according to “the Lord’s time” a day is “one thousand years” long. This is “one revolution … of Kolob,” he says, and it is after the Lord’s “manner of reckoning.” (Abr. 3:4.)
Though we may not know how long it took, or understand exactly how such an organization of spirit matter can be accomplished, we certainly know it was magnificent! First, Christ formed and organized the earth. He divided light from darkness to make day and night. He formed the sun, moon, and stars. He divided the waters from the dry land to make seas, rivers, and lakes. He made the earth beautiful and productive. He made grass, trees, flowers, and other plants of all kinds. These plants contained seeds from which new plants could grow. Then He created the animals—fish, cattle, insects, and birds of all kinds. These animals had the ability to reproduce after their own kind.
After all of this was done, it was time for the most glorious act of them all, the creation of man. Our spirits would be given bodies of flesh and blood so they could live on earth. “And I, God, said unto mine Only Begotten, which was with me from the beginning: Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and it was so” (Moses 2:26). And so the first man, Adam, and the first woman, Eve, were formed and given bodies that resembled those of our heavenly parents. “In the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:27). By this time, six time periods, or “days” had passed, and the Lord declared His work very good and rested for a time.
I believe God not only gave us our bodies and opportunity to experience mortal life and be tested, but that He created this world filled with beauty that we might have joy.
Roaring waterfalls,
rainbows,
flowers,
creatures of the land and sea,
and of course our beautiful bodies which are capable of achieving so much. What glorious gifts our Father in Heaven has provided for us through the Creation!
February 28th, 2010 on 6:09 pm
I’m curious: what role does evolution play in your beliefs?
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February 28th, 2010 on 6:12 pm
On Springform, someone asked “Do you believe in evolution?” and you responded “yes.” How does your above state belief in creation inform/contradict/coincide with your belief in evolution? And what does the church say about evolution (do they oppose it being taught in schools as other religions do?). Thanks!
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Sophia Reply:
February 28th, 2010 at 6:16 pm
I was going to ask this exact same question
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Jenna Reply:
February 28th, 2010 at 7:41 pm
I’m sure you’ll check back, but in case you are getting email notifications I wanted to let you know I had answered Erin’s (and thus your) question.
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Jenna Reply:
February 28th, 2010 at 7:40 pm
It wasn’t until I got married and started talking about this with That Husband that I came to the conclusion that I do indeed believe in the idea of both intelligent design and organic evolution, and I confess I haven’t researched it to a point where I would feel comfortable writing a whole post on it. To be honest, I was only a mediocre student when it came to Physical Science. It’s likely that my class at BYU touched on this, but was I listening? Was I even present that day?
To answer your questions though (and those of Kim/Jane, who are actually the same person and possibly a troll, I’m not sure):
1. How does your above state belief in creation inform/contradict/coincide with your belief in evolution?
I firmly believe that Adam was the first man on the earth, and that he did not evolve, he was formed. But while believing in this idea of a Creation, I also acknowledge that science has brought us to a point where the idea of evolution in some form cannot be denied. To dispute the data that speaks of macro evolution among species seems naive to me. If one takes the idea that God and Christ formed the earth and all things upon it, as well as man, from spirit matter that already existed, could this not be seen as a form of evolution? Through the power of God we were taken from one form, to the next. It is possible that this process we have defined as evolution also describes, in some way, the act of taking spirit matter and forming it into the physical matter we study today.
Overall I think the central facet in my beliefs regarding creationism/evolution are that we have a purpose here on earth, that we did not evolve by chance. God has a purpose for me, and for you, and He placed our first parents here, in his likeness, so that we could have the chance to come and fulfill that purpose. We, as humans, like to try to have all of the answers and to understand the how/what/why/where of all things. Sometimes I think God has no intention of explaining certain things to us, and that we must work to figure out what knowledge we consider essential and what isn’t. I don’t consider an understanding of evolution and how it might have figured into the creation to be one of those areas of life, and so I will be happy to live knowing the “why” but not the “how”.
2. What does the church say about evolution?
The Church has no official stance on evolution, only on the Creation itself. (Of course those who see Creation and Evolution as strictly opposed would likely struggle to see how their could be a stance on one without the other!) Over time there have been a few official statements made, all which preach the same thing (below was issued in 1925):
“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, basing its belief on divine revelation, ancient and modern, declares man to be the direct and lineal offspring of Deity…. Man is the child of God, formed in the divine image and endowed with divine attributes”
When the issue of organic evolution became a hot topic among Church members in 1931 the Church issued the following statement:
“Upon the fundamental doctrines of the Church we are all agreed. Our mission is to bear the message of the restored gospel to the world. Leave geology, biology, archaeology, and anthropology, no one of which has to do with the salvation of the souls of mankind, to scientific research, while we magnify our calling in the realm of the Church…”
3. Do they oppose it being taught in schools as other religions do?
Because they have never issued a statement either way regarding evolution I’ve never heard anything that would lead me to believe the Church has fought against evolution being taught in schools.
4. How old do I believe the earth to be? (From commenter Kim/Jane, below)
First, I’ve got to say I laughed out loud at this “don’t link me to something” nonsense. How in the world do you think I’m forming all of my opinions? As I said above I am no scientist, I scraped by in my science classes all through school. I link for two reasons, the first because I’ve read through the information found therein and decided that the beliefs of the author line up with my own, and also because I simply don’t have time to write up comprehensive to all questions. This response alone has taken me 30 minutes to write, and I receive many just like it between That Wife and Formspring on a weekly basis. Although I’m sure it would be nice for readers to see a pure synthesis of my beliefs on every topic (whether to learn from those beliefs or attack me because of them), it’s simply not possible. Sometimes, if you want to know what I think, you’re going to have to settle for a link.
To answer your question though.. I have no opinion. It simply does not matter to me how old the earth is. I think that the verity of dating using radioactive clocks has proved over time to have significant merit, so if I were forced to choose a side I think I would land with those who believe that the earth is billions of years old.
Though it seems from your questions that you won’t like it Kim/Jane, I’ll leave you with a quote:
“On the other hand, to limit and insist upon the whole of life and death to this side of Adam’s advent to the earth, some six or eight thousand years ago, as proposed by some, is to fly in the face of the facts so indisputably brought to light by the researcher of science in modern times, and this as set forth by men of the highest type in the intellectual and moral world; not inferior men, or men of sensual and devilish temperament, but men who must be accounted as among the noblest and most self-sacrificing of the sons of men – of the type whence must come the noblest sons of God, since ‘the glory of God is intelligence’ (D&C 93:36); and that too the glory of man.
“These searchers after truth are of that class. To pay attention to and give reasonable credence to their research and findings is to link the church of God with the highest increase of human thought and effort. On that side lies development, on the other lies contraction. It is on the former side that research work is going on and will continue to go on, future investigation and discoveries will continue on that side, nothing will retard them, and nothing will develop on the other side. One leads to narrow sectarianism, the other keeps the open spirit of a world movement with which our New Dispensation began. As between them which is to be our choice?” [Brigham H. Roberts, The Truth, the Way, the Life: An Elementary Treatise on Theology, 1930 (republished in 1994), pg. 363-364.]”
I liked to this article written on a Mormon blog a few weeks ago, and although it’s very long I think for those who would like to hear from other LDS members who believe that one can believe in creationism and acknowledge evolution at the same time: http://bycommonconsent.com/2010/01/13/we-should-be-mormons/
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February 28th, 2010 on 6:16 pm
Sorry, forgot my other question: how old do you believe the earth to be? About 6,000 years old, as is consistent with creationist belief? Or billions of years old, as supported by the evidence of evolution?
An actual, if short answer would be great, if you don’t mind (instead of a link to mormon wikipedia, for instance). Thank you!
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February 28th, 2010 on 6:28 pm
I’m confused, as well. I don’t believe that a belief in biblical creationism can be reconciled with an understanding of the scientific evidence for evolution. Could you explain in your words how those two concepts relate?
Do you believe in a young or old earth? (Billions of years old, or a few thousand.)
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February 28th, 2010 on 8:26 pm
Jenna, thanks for the response and the quote from the LDS scholar. I don’t think it’s fair to characterize your readers’ requests to hear YOUR thoughts on something as “nonsense”. After all, it is YOUR blog. But of course, being so, it’s also your right to supplant your posts with quotes/links from LDS authorities rather than spend the time to give your own personal interpretation of them.
Fair enough, then. If there’s something you don’t feel knowledgeable enough about to discuss, it’s perfectly reasonable to just say so (which is what you did). Likewise, if there’s something about which you simply don’t have an opinion (such as is the case here), it’s perfectly within your rights to decline to further discussion of it.
If you ARE interested to learn more about the process of evolution, I’d be happy to suggest some great resources (easy reading, though, because I’m certainly no Physical Science buff, either!). I didn’t know much about it myself at all, until curiousity kicked in a few years back.
BTW, I’m not a troll, sorry for the confusion. I since I prefer to remain anonymous online, I randomly pick names when I comment. (“Anonymous” is boring) I’ll stick with Kim from here on out, though!
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Jenna Reply:
February 28th, 2010 at 8:30 pm
Kim,
I think Formspring has made me hypersensitive to trolling. I thought your questions seemed very genuine, but a friend and I couldn’t agree on whether you were baiting or genuinely curious. Glad to know it was the latter, and I look forward to hearing from you more in the future. Now that I know you are a genuine person I won’t be classifying your requests as nonsense from now on. [Note to self: Must quite Formspring if it's going to turn me into something I don't want to be!]
If you do have resources, I’d love to have you share them, both for myself and others who might be interested.
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February 28th, 2010 on 8:26 pm
I think Jenna answered this very well. I believe that animals and other living things have evolved. Changing climate conditions, the physical environment where a species lives, and all the many other factors – thinking rationally – would over great periods of time cause a species change and adapt. Which creatures/every creature? I don’t know.
As for humans, I believe we were created in God’s image. Does that mean that humans – again, over the great periods of time – haven’t changed one iota? Not necessarily. The living conditions, diet, climates, mixing of different ethnities all contribute to human change over the great spans of time. I’m sure we are – in small ways – different from those even just a few hundred years ago because of our vastly different living conditions. But we were created in God’s image – our bodies are basically and fundamentally the same as when He created Adam.
I’ve always been one that didn’t buy into the whole religion vs science debate – as if they are completely independant of one another and you can only choose one side. My religious beliefs mesh – for the most part – very well with scientific data. What I don’t understand and/or what science doesn’t answer (because BTW, science doesn’t answer EV-ER-Y-THING) is where my faith in God as our Creator comes in.
It sounds cliche – - but when I look at our vast planet and all the creations on it and especially when I ponder the intricate workings of our own body, I cannot fathom that it just happened without a Master Creator behind it all.
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February 28th, 2010 on 8:32 pm
I did fairly well in my science classes (and scraped by in my writing classes
), and for me the scientific evidence of evolution is just too strong to not accept it wholeheartedly. However, I see no reason that evolution couldn’t be the mechanism by which God created the world and everything in it (to go along with your idea that a “day” in Genesis isn’t necessarily what we think of as a day).
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Katy Reply:
February 28th, 2010 at 8:44 pm
“evolution… the mechanism by which God created the world and everything in it ”
This also states well what I’m trying to say (actually states it better!). If you believe as I do that God is our Creator, then all that has happened on the Earth is part of His design and plan for us. For a religious person such as myself, science is the way we discover how God has done what He has done and better understand the world created for us. Science seen in this light enriches my faith in God, not diminishes it.
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February 28th, 2010 on 8:44 pm
i agree!
a former stake president of the stake i grew up in taught physics and astronomy at the local community college (as well as doing physics demonstrations at a nearby theme park, appearing on regis & kathy lee–years ago, and having his own “mad scientist” science show for kids on pbs), and i recall him saying that he felt eveything he saw and learned in his field testified of a higher being, and strengthened his testimony of the gospel.
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February 28th, 2010 on 8:48 pm
katy,
i’m trying to use my phone for commenting and it’s not working so well! my last attempt to reply to this comment of yours insted replied to jenna’s post. in short, i agree! =)
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February 28th, 2010 on 8:58 pm
Katy: I agree: science certainly doesn’t answer everything. But the beauty of scientific research and inquiry is that it tries to. Science encourages us to search for answers to these really big, really interesting questions (like, “where did we come from”, “how old are we”, etc.). Science teaches us never to be satisfied with not knowing; it’s the ultimate testament to the power of human curiousity.
You said you believe “our bodies are basically and fundamentally the same as when He created Adam” and that your faith in god substitutes what you don’t understand about the world.
In fact, science has given us a very clear understanding of the physical world, particularly concerning the question of our origins – and it actually points to vast changes in the human body, over incredible amounts of time: The fossil record demonstrates our development as a species, over billions of years. Sequencing of the human genome shows that we descended from the same common ancestor as chimpanzees. There are so many fascinating books and lectures about evolutionary development (again, I’m happy to suggest resources!) that can make a science geek out of pretty much anyone.
Upon reading the research articles or watching the lectures, you may dismiss scientific findings as untrue – that’s certainly your intellectual prerogative. I just wanted to let you know that if you’re interested, there’s a huge accumulation of knowledge out there for the taking, which can and does provide answers to these questions.
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February 28th, 2010 on 10:55 pm
This is another beautiful post, Jenna, and I admire the way you answer comments so intelligently and thoroughly!
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March 1st, 2010 on 7:56 am
Reading your views on creation (and evolution) I thought you might love to read more about the views of Dr. Hugh Ross http://www.reasons.org/ an astrophysicist who believes the universe and its evolution are evidence that point directly to a divine creator.
I went to see him speak when he visited UF with a close friend of mine who thought I would find him interesting. We are both scientists but I am an atheist and she is a Christian. While my own beliefs remained the same, it was refreshing to see so many who believe in creation able to reconcile scientific facts into their faith. His views strongly align with much of what you’ve talked about in this post and in your comments answering questions – I think you would really find his writings interesting and faith-confirming.
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March 1st, 2010 on 8:17 am
You might also be interested in Dr. Francis Collins’ book “The Language of God.” Dr. Collins is now the head of the National Institutes of Health (I think) and was formerly director of the Human Genome Project; he’s also an evangelical Christian, and makes what I think is a very compelling case for a view that synthesizes science and religion.
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March 1st, 2010 on 11:04 am
You asked for other people’s beliefs on creation. So here are mine.
Like you, I believe in the same order of creation (light/dark, sun/moon/stars, sea/land, etc).
As far as other worlds go, I am not saying it isn’t possible. I just don’t think there is enough biblical evidence to support this. And it’s honestly something I don’t think much about, seeing as I’m on this earth and not another one.
Evolution? I was brought up to believe that it was all bunk. Now that I’m an adult, I am not sure what I believe on this. Again, I don’t think that it matters to my faith. The important thing is that there was a supreme Creator. The means which were used to create don’t seem too monumental.
I have to disagree with the creation of all things spiritually before physically. Using as Adam (man) as an example, Genesis 2:6 says that God formed man, then breathed His spirit into him. Physical creation then spiritual creation.
Our beliefs also differ when it comes to interpreting the meaning of being created in God’s image. I do not believe that God has a physical body. Neither does the Holy Spirit. So to say that we were created in the image of God, to me means that we were created with a mind to reason, and with the ability to love and worship and live in community. As God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are three-persons-in-one, and all fellowship with one another in absolute love, so we were created to fellowship with each other and our Creator God.
Despite our differing beliefs, I think the most important part where we agree, is in the fact that our creation and the creation of this world was intentional. The purposeful act of a Divine Creator. To see this world around us, to understand in a small way the complexity of our bodies, to know that this was not a mistake; how can we feel anything but that our God loves us!
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