Science and the Church of Jesus Christ/Creation and related issues

The creation of the earth and related issues


Creation and related issues


Doctrine & Covenants 77:6 refers to "this earth during the seven thousand years of its continuance"

Summary: Do Latter-day Saints believe that the Earth is only 6,000 years old? Why does Doctrine and Covenants section 77 say that the history of the earth covers only seven thousand years?

Death before the Fall

Summary: Does LDS doctrine hold that there was no death before the Fall of Adam?

Did Adam and Eve really exist

Summary: Do Latter-day Saints believe that Adam and Eve were real?

Evolution

Summary: How does the Church reconcile the theory of evolution with the story of Adam?

Fall of Adam and Eve

Summary: If it was God's plan for Eve to eat the fruit, then why did God forbid it? Why did God not simply create Adam and Eve as mortals?

Global or local Flood

Summary: How do we deal with the fact that there is no scientific evidence of a worldwide flood? How can the scriptures and prophets teach of a worldwide flood, when this contradicts the evidence? The biodiversity of plants and animals on the earth could not have occurred within the span of a few thousand years. Did the continents separate during the flood of Noah? Doctrine and Covenants 133:23–24 seems to imply that they did. How do we reconcile this to scientific fact? Didn't Brigham Young, John Taylor and Orson Pratt teach that the Flood was the baptism of the Earth?

Age of the Earth

Summary: The Bible dictionary says the Earth is 7,000 years old. Doctrine & Covenants say the 7 seals of the Earth represent 1,000 years. Yet scientific dating places the appearance of modern humans well before 4,000 BC. Can you explain the contradiction, if there is one?
    • Question: Was Brigham Young a "young earth creationist"?—
      Brief Summary: Critics try to portray Brigham Young as a "young earth creationist" (YEC). This is someone who believes the earth was created in the recent past, usually 6-7,000 years ago, based upon a literal and fundamentalist reading of Genesis. They hope that by making Brigham appear uninformed about scientific matters, they can challenge his status as a prophet. (Click here for full article)
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Creatio ex nihilo / Creation out of nothing

Summary: Mainstream Christianity teaches that God created the universe from nothing (ex nihilo), while Mormons teach that God organized the universe from pre-existing matter. The LDS God is therefore claimed to be "less powerful" than the God of mainstream Christianity, or "unbiblical."

Death before the fall of Adam

Summary: The Church teaches that there was no death prior to the fall of Adam, and that after the Fall that Adam and Eve became mortal and subject to death. Does LDS doctrine hold that there was no death on the entire earth before the Fall of Adam?

Dinosaurs

Summary: My seminary class has questions regarding the dinosaurs. They seem to be stuck on "where" and "when." How do they fit into the creation story presented by the scriptures?

Evolution (official statements)

Summary: What is the Church's stance on the theory of organic evolution?

Noah's flood

Summary: Modern scientific knowledge regarding the diversity of species, language and evidence of continuous human habitation does not support the Biblical story that a global flood wiped out most life as recently as 4,400 years ago. Some claim that LDS scriptures require Mormons to believe in a global flood, and that if LDS doctrine or leaders are fallible in their statements concerning the flood, then they must be wrong about other Church doctrines as well. If Noah's Flood was not global, how do we account for Joseph Smith's claim that the Garden of Eden was located in Missouri?

Peleg

Summary: Isn't it true that before the flood all the continents were all one land mass, since the Bible says that the earth was "divided in the days of Peleg."

Pre-Adamites

Summary: I am preparing to teach a Sunday School lesson on the creation, and surely the students will bring up the evidence of creatures that looked a lot like man, who lived and made tools, painted paintings, etc., all before what could be the existence of Adam. How do we answer who they were? Are they like animals? We clearly have evidence that they have lived here on this planet.

Procreation before the Fall

Summary: Did procreation exist before the Fall of Adam?

Unofficial primary sources on evolution

Summary: This page collects the text of various statements about evolution made by a variety of Church leaders and members. These are unofficial statements, but serve to show the variety of opinions that have been expressed on the topic.
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