The Creation

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In regard to the teaching of evolution, Pres Joseph F.
Smith said:
“In reaching the conclusion that evolution
would be best left out of discussions in our Church
schools, we are deciding a question of propriety and
are not undertaking to say how much of evolution is
true, or how much is false. The Church itself has no
philosophy about the modus operandi employed by
the Lord in His creation of the world.” The Juvenile
Instructor 46 (April 1911): 208.
WHAT WE DO NOT KNOW:
1. Our Knowledge is Limited to What is
Necessary to Understand the Fall & Atonement
“Our analysis properly begins with the frank
recital that our knowledge about the Creation is
limited. We do not know the how and why and when
of all things. Our finite limitations are such that we
could not comprehend them if they were revealed to
us in all their glory, fulness, and perfection. What has
been revealed is that portion of the Lord's eternal
word which we must believe and understand if we are
to envision the truth about the Fall and the Atonement
and thus become heirs of salvation. This is all we are
obligated to study.
“In a future day the Lord will expect more of
his Saints in this regard than he does of us. ‘When the
Lord shall come, he shall reveal all things,’ our latter-
day revelations tell us—"Things which have passed,
and hidden things which no man knew, things of the
earth, by which it was made, and the purpose and the
end thereof." (D&C 101:32-33.) Pending that
millennial day it is our responsibility to believe and
accept that portion of the truth about the Creation that
has been dispensed to us in our dispensation…
“The fall of Adam and the atonement of Christ
are linked together—inseparably, everlastingly—
never to be parted. They are as much a part of the
same body as are the head and the heart, and each
plays its part in the eternal scheme of things.
“The fall of Adam brought temporal and
spiritual death into the world, and the atonement of
Christ ransomed men from these two deaths by
bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of
man. This makes the Fall as essential a part of the
plan of salvation as the very Atonement itself…
“Now, even as the Atonement grows out of
the Fall, so the Fall grows out of the Creation. If all
things had not been created in the very way in which
they were created, there could have been no fall. If
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created things were to fall they must be created in a
higher state than the state they would be in after the
Fall. To fall is to go downward, or forward, not
upward” (Bruce R. McConkie, Sermons and Writings of Bruce R.
McConkie [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1998], 194).
2. The Nature of Intelligence:
"The Lord made it known to Moses (See
Book of Moses Chap. 3.) and also to Abraham
(Abraham Ch. 3) and it is expressed in several
revelations, that man was in the beginning with
God. In that day, however, man was a spirit
unembodied. The beginning was when the councils
met and the decision was made to create this earth
that the spirits who were intended for this earth,
should come here and partake of the mortal
conditions and receive bodies of flesh and bones.
The doctrine has prevailed that matter was created
out of nothing, but the Lord declares that the
elements are eternal. Matter always did and,
therefore, always will exist, and the spirits of men as
well as their bodies were created out of matter. We
discover in this revelation that the intelligent part of
man was not created, but always existed. There has
been some speculation and articles have been
written attempting to explain just what these
'intelligences' are, or this 'intelligence' is, but it is
futile for us to speculate upon it. We do know that
intelligence was not created or made and cannot be
because the Lord has said it. There are some truths it
is well to leave until the Lord sees fit to reveal the
fulness." (Joseph Fielding Smith, Church History and Modern Revelation,
1:401.)
3. How Long a “Day” Is.
¨ "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. … [See Abraham 3:4.]
"There is no revealed recitation specifying
that each of the 'six days' involved in the Creation
was of the same duration. …
"… Abraham gives a blueprint as it were of
the Creation. He tells the plans of the holy beings
who wrought the creative work. After reciting the
events of the 'six days' he says: 'And thus were their
decisions at the time that they counseled among
themselves to form the heavens and the earth.' (Abr.
5:3.)
"Then he says they performed as they had
planned, which means we can, by merely changing
the verb tenses and without doing violence to the
sense and meaning, also consider the Abrahamic
account as one of the actual creation." (McConkie, "Christ
and the Creation," p. 11.)
4. When “The Beginning” Was:
"In the beginning God created the heaven and
the earth. And the earth was without form, and void;
and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the
Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."
(Gen. 1:1-2).
“Any question as to when that beginning was
is largely futile because [it is] unanswerable. In the
first place we have no time unit by which to measure
back through the ages to the time at which, so far as
the earth is concerned, time began.
“Years are as inadequate in any attempted
survey of the stages of earth development as are miles
to the astronomer who would span the distances of
interstellar space. He speaks in terms of light-years,
such unit being the distance traversed by a ray of light
speeding on at the rate of approximately 186,000
miles per second throughout a year.
Secondly, we are without information as to
what stage of earth development is indicated by "the
beginning." And what is a beginning in nature? At
best it is but a new start in advance of what had
passed up to that point of time; and every beginning is
an ending of what went immediately before, even as
every consummation is a commencement of
something greater, higher, and therefore superior to
the past.
To the thoughtful mind there can be no
confusion of the beginning spoken of in the opening
verse of genesis with the advent of man upon the
changing earth; for by the scriptural record itself we
learn of stage after stage, age after age of earth
processes by which eventually this planet became
capable of supporting life -- vegetable, animal and
human in due course.
Whether or not scientists have been able to
see, however dimly, the way by which the earth as an
orb in space was formed, matters little except as a
subject of academic interest. For many years it was
very generally believed that the earth, once formless
and void, passed through stages of cooling of
superheated gas to liquid, thence to the solid state, as
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the Nebular Theory assumed; but this conception
has given way to the later thought that the earth as a
solid spheroid has resulted from the bringing
together of particles once diffused in space -- this
being the basis of the Planetesimal Hypothesis.
But this we know, for both revealed and
discovered truth, that is to say both scripture and
science, so affirm -- that plant life antedated animal
existence and that animals preceded man as tenants
of earth...
The oldest, that is to say the earliest, rocks
thus far identified in land masses reveal the
fossilized remains of once living organisms, plant
and animal. The coal strata, upon which the world of
industry so largely depends, are essentially but
highly compressed and chemically changed
vegetable substance. The whole series of chalk
deposits and many of our deep-sea limestones
contain the skeletal remains of animals. These lived
and died, age after age, while the earth was yet unfit
for human habitation. (Elder James E. Talmage, “The Earth and
Man,” see http://users.bestweb.net/~evolve/Talmage1931.html
WHAT WE DO KNOW
5. The Purpose of Creation
"The whole object of the creation of this
world is to exalt the intelligences that are placed
upon it, that they may live, endure, and increase for
ever and ever" (Brigham Young, Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 57).
6. Prior to Physical/Spiritual Creation was a
Spirit Creation
"There is no account of the creation of man
or other forms of life when they were created as
spirits. There is just the simple statement that they
were so created before the physical creation. The
statements in Moses 3:5 and Genesis 2:5 are
interpolations thrown into the account of the
physical creation, explaining that all things were
first created in the spirit existence in heaven before
they were placed upon this earth." (Joseph Fielding Smith,
Doctrines of Salvation, 1:75–76.)
7. Spirit is Matter.
We . . . state that spirit is a substance; that it is
material, but that it is more pure, elastic and refined
matter than the body; that it existed before the body,
can exist in the body; and will exist separate from
the body, when the body will be mouldering in the
dust; and will in the resurrection, be again united
with it. (Joseph Smith in an editorial in the Times and Seasons, 1 April 1842.
HC 4:575)
8. The Creation Involved Organizing Matter
"Now, the word create came from the word
baurau which does not mean to create out of nothing;
it means to organize; the same as a man would
organize materials and build a ship. Hence, we infer
that God had materials to organize the world out of
chaos—chaotic matter, which is element, and in
which dwells all the glory. Element had an existence
from the time he had. The pure principles of element
are principles which can never be destroyed; they
may be organized and re-organized, but not
destroyed. They had no beginning, and can have no
end." (Smith, Teachings, pp. 350–52.)
9. Intelligence is Eternal (See also DC 93)
“The first principles of man are self-existent
with God. God himself, finding he was in the midst of
spirits and glory, because he was more intelligent,
saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest could
have a privilege to advance like himself.” (Joseph Smith in
King Follett Discourse, Nauvoo, 7 April 1844. HC 6:308, 312, 314)
10. We Knew What We Were Getting Into.
“The organization of the spiritual and
heavenly worlds, and of spiritual and heavenly
beings, was agreeable to the most perfect order and
harmony: their limits and bounds were fixed
irrevocably, and voluntarily subscribed to in their
heavenly estate by themselves, and were by our first
parents subscribed to upon the earth. Hence the
importance of embracing and subscribing to
principles of eternal truth by all men upon the earth
that expect eternal life. (Joseph Smith in remarks upon the death of
James Adams, Nauvoo, 9 October 1843. HC 6:51)
11. A Physical Body is Essential to Salvation.
“We came to this earth that we might have a
body and present it pure before God in the celestial
kingdom. The great principle of happiness consists in
having a body. The devil has no body, and herein is
his punishment. He is pleased when he can obtain the
tabernacle of man, and when cast out by the Savior he
asked to go into the herd of swine, showing that he
would prefer a swine's body to having none. All
beings who have bodies have power over those who
have not. (Joseph Smith, The Words of Joseph Smith, p. 60; standardized)
12. Many Were Involved in the Creative Process
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"It was Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, who,
under the direction of his Father, came down and
organized matter and made this planet. …
"… It is true that Adam helped to form this
earth. He labored with our Savior Jesus Christ. I
have a strong view or conviction that there were
others also who assisted them. Perhaps Noah and
Enoch; and why not Joseph Smith, and those who
were appointed to be rulers before the earth was
formed? …
"… The account of creation in Genesis was
not a spirit creation, but it was in a particular sense,
a spiritual creation. …
"… the account in Genesis one and two, is
the account of the physical creation of the earth and
all upon it, but the creation was not subject to mortal
law until after the fall. It was, therefore, a spiritual
creation and so remained until the fall when it
became temporal, or mortal." (Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines
of Salvation, 1:74–77.)
14. The Situation Was Quite a Bit Different
Before the Fall
“But of the tree of knowledge of good and
evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the time that thou
eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Now I,
Abraham, saw that it was after the Lord’s time,
which was after the time of Kolob; for as yet the
Gods had not appointed unto Adam his reckoning”
(Abr. 5:13).
President Joseph Fielding Smith stated that
in this verse the Lord “revealed to Abraham that
Adam was subject to Kolob’s time before his
transgression.” According to President Brigham
Young, Abraham 5:13 also means that before the
Fall of Adam, the earth was near the very throne of
God. But when the Fall occurred, the earth literally
fell or moved from the physical presence of God to
its present position in our solar system. When all the
effects of the Fall of Adam are finally overcome, the
earth will literally move back into the presence of
God. Here are President Young’s words: “When the
earth was framed and brought into existence and
man was placed upon it, it was near the throne of
our Father in heaven. … But when man fell, the
earth fell into space, and took up its abode in this
planetary system. … This is the glory the earth came
from, and when it is glorified it will return again
unto the presence of the Father, and it will dwell
there, and these intelligent beings that I am looking
at, if they live worthy of it, will dwell upon this
earth (JD 17:143)” (Andrew C. Skinner, cited in “The Book of
Abraham: A Most Remarkable Book,” Ensign, Mar. 1997, 16)

15. “Evolution” in Encyclopedia of Mormonism

Evolution
Author: Evenson, William E.

The position of the Church on the origin of man was

published by the First Presidency in 1909 and stated
again by a different First Presidency 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 (see Appendix,
"Doctrinal Expositions of the First Presidency").

The scriptures tell why man was created, but they do not
tell how, though the Lord has promised that he will tell
that when he comes again (D&C 101:32-33). In 1931,
when there was intense discussion on the issue of
organic evolution, the First Presidency of the Church,
then consisting of Presidents Heber J. Grant, Anthony
W. Ivins, and Charles W. Nibley, addressed all of the
General Authorities of the Church on the matter, and
concluded, 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….

Upon one thing we should all be able to agree, namely,

that Presidents Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder, and
Anthon H. Lund were right when they said: "Adam is
the primal parent of our race" [First Presidency Minutes,
Apr. 7, 1931].

https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Evolution )