In this article, the distinguished planetary scientist John S. Lewis discusses several aspects of the creation stories in scripture for the purpose of distinguishing anachronistic modern reinterpretations from the content of the original vision.
| Presented at: | 2013 Interpreter Symposium on Science & Mormonism: Cosmos, Earth & Man Saturday, November 9, 2013 https://interpreterfoundation.org/conferences/2013-symposium-science-mormonism-cosmos-earth-man/ |
| Article Reprint: | “Science & Mormonism Series 1: Cosmos, Earth, and Man: The Scale of Creation in Space and Time”, The Interpreter Foundation, December 16, 2019 https://interpreterfoundation.org/reprint-sm1-8-the-scale-of-creation-in-space-and-time/ |
| Conference Proceedings: | Cosmos, Earth, and Man at https://interpreterfoundation.org/books/science-and-mormonism-cosmos-earth-and-man/ |
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Among the significant revelations about the creation of our earth received by Joseph Smith are the affirmation in D&C 76 and in Moses 1 that our earth is just one out of innumerable worlds created and populated by God. The possibility of such a cosmos was not widely supported by the scientists of the 1830s. The clarification in Moses 1 that the Genesis Chapter One account is focused on our earth only detaches that episode from the Big Bang and lets us compare Genesis One to what scientists have discovered about our planet’s formation. A documented statement by Joseph that the earth was formed out of several globes is consistent with current theories of the solar system being formed with a hundred or so smaller planets thst collided and merged into the current planets. It is also consistent with the theory that the last such collision formed our moon. The earth was developed by the same process as many other inhabited worlds across our galaxy and universe. That means that narratives that do not see the earth as undergoing the same process as billions of other worlds and claiming it is unique are inconsistent with revelation.
When Satan and his hosts were cast down to earth they carried with them-Death (as part of their eternal punishment, being denied Eternal Life.
They existed outside the (Eden Structure) Satan was introduced into the Garden on condition that Death could not be impacted by all the Gardens creations but that he could introduce them to choice which could bring consequences of Death in which sin or transgression would cause them to be removed from the Garden into world where Satan and his hosts existed alongside Death where Adam and Eve would now become subject to Death in a Probational state. Along with Bro Lewis’s statement of timeframes in relation to Alma 40:10 that “time” is only measured to man (God is not time constrained) but rather controls. In closing agreeable to Bro Lewis, terrible lizards , ie Dinosaurs existed before mankind, for had they existed during mankind they would had interfered with the agency of man and the pursuit of happiness and frustrated the Plan of Salvation. This also proves that Death was introduced to the earth when Satan and his hosts were cast down because Dinosaurs “died” as geology tells us. The only pre Adamites were Satan and his host as spirit men and women although there were other creatures such as dinosaurs. as for the creation process all is agreeable to Bro Lewis in that all stellar matter was illuminated by the Light of Christ and by the same power distinguished them. He also moved objects into their respective orbits agreeable to the Sun’s radiance and the earth’s atmospheres. In closing. The earth did not receive it’s water from crashing meteorites but thought the command of God to shift or the attraction of hydrogen and oxygen molecules to come together agreeable to the goodwill and pleasure of God in all atmospheres and land matter, both on and below. To much more to mention here, all agreeable to Joseph Smith and Bro Lewis