LESSON 3 - The Creation

THE AGE OF THE EARTH

One of the most important LDS discussions regarding the age of the earth and attendant issues, occurred during 1930-31, with Joseph Fielding Smith on one side of the question, and B. H. Roberts and James E. Talmage (a professional geologist) on the other. B. H. Roberts had been working for some time on his magnum opus (The Truth, The Way, The Life), and wanted to see it published before his life came to a close. Before it was published, however, he wanted approval from the leading quorums of the Church.

His manuscript was reviewed by a reading committee from the Twelve, and they cited some 37 “points of doctrine in question.“ Among these were the questions of the age of the earth, and whether man had been on the earth prior to Adam (pre-Adamites). Changes were recommended, but Roberts refused to alter the manuscript, and even added additional information to support his views.

Joseph Fielding Smith chose to publicly criticize Roberts’ views, and the matter became a serious issue behind closed doors at Church headquarters. James E. Talmage, because of his experience as a scientist, was naturally drawn into the discussion as well.

After months of sometimes acrimonious debate, the First President finally counseled the brethren that no good would come from a further discussion of this question as the Lord had not yet seen fit to reveal all the details of the creation of this earth and life upon it. The one thing that could be stated with certainty was, "Adam is the primal parent of our race,” (First Presidency Message, 1931).

Joseph Fielding Smith was correct in his statement to the Twelve when he said, "The Latter-day Saints are not bound to receive the theories of men when they do not accord with the word of the Lord to them." (Sessions & Oberg, eds. The Search for Harmony: Essays on Science and Mormonism, page 97).

Brigham Young was also in the right when he stated:

You take, for instance, our geologists, and they tell us that this earth has been in existence for thousands and millions of years. They think, and they have good reason for their faith, that their researches and investigations enable them to demonstrate that this earth has been in existence as long as they assert it has. . . . In these respects we differ from the Christian world, for our religion will not clash with or contradict the facts of science in any particular. You may take geology, for instance, and it is true science; not that I would say for a moment that all the conclusions and deductions of its professors are true, but its leading principles are; they are facts--they are eternal; and to assert that the Lord made the earth out of nothing is preposterous and impossible. . . . How long it's been organized is not for me to say, and I do not care anything about it. As to the Bible account of the creation we may say that the Lord gave it to Moses. If we understood the process of creation there would be no mystery about it, it would be all reasonable and plain, for there is no mystery except to the ignorant. (Discourses of Brigham Young, pp. 258-259).

Several years ago, a devout life-long member of the Church told me that he was convinced that the reason there is apparent conflict between the scientific record and the scriptural record is that science does not understand how the Lord created the earth. He then went on to explain that this earth was created when God took pieces from other planets and put them all together to form a new world. This accounts for the dinosaurs and other fossil records which are more than 6000 years old. (Yes, this really happened to me)

Statements like this (and others less ridiculous, but every bit as uninformed) do a great disservice to the Church. Brigham Young made two important points in the above statement:

1) We, as Latter-day Saints, differ from the rest of the world in our acceptance of scientific theory. We believe that science and religion are eternally interconnected, and that they will eventually be in complete harmony, once all has been revealed. Some have even referred to God as the Greatest Scientist.

2) At present, we are all ignorant, so it might be wise to keep an open mind and look for ways to reconcile scientific theory with religion, rather than throwing out one or the other.

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Regarding the comments in D&C 77 that seem to indicate that the life of this earth would be 7000 years, an interesting explanation can be found at:

http://mormanity.blogspot.com/2004/08/dc-77-and-age-of-earth.html

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THE SABBATH

Gen 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Gen 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

2:2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

It seems to me that there is something significant going on here that we often miss. When God completed the work of the sixth day, He examined what he had been doing and saw that it was good. In other words, He “put a wrap on it.” He was done with the work of the six days of creation, and before moving on to the seventh day of rest, He put a mental barrier between the work week and the Sabbath day.

I believe that this is intended as a pattern for all of us. As we prepare for the Sabbath day, we can look at the preceding work week, and whether it was “good,” or perhaps not as good as we may have wished, we should set it aside - we are done with it and should do our best not to allow the concerns of the six days to carry over into the seventh.

This is obviously easier said than done, but if we can, with practice, learn to do this, I am confident that our Sabbath days will be more wholly devoted to the things of God, and become a great blessing in our lives - a true day of rest.