LDS Quotes on Creation
“This may raise the ridiculous idea that the Fall took God by surprise and upset His plan, or else — more ridiculously still — that God planned the whole thing for conditions which, He well knew, were never going to be realised. In fact, of course, God saw the crucifixion in the act of creating the first nebula.”
“The most phenomenal occurrences of all time and eternity—the most amazing wonders, the most astounding, awesome developments—are the most common and widely recognized. They include: I am; you are; we are. Is there anything greater than those ordinary realities?
“In light of what is, nothing else should surprise us. It should be easy to believe that with God all things are possible.
“The healing of the withered hand is not nearly as amazing as the existence of the hand in the first place. If it exists, it follows that it can certainly be fixed when it is broken. The greater event is not in its healing but in its creation. More phenomenal than resurrection is birth. The greater wonder is not that life, having once existed, could come again but that it ever exists at all. More amazing than raising the dead is that we live at all. A silent heart that beats again is not nearly as amazing as the heart that beats within your breast right now.”
“It is difficult for mortal minds to comprehend the majesty of the Creation. It is much easier for us to think about good things to eat or fun things to do. But I would like to stretch our minds to think of things beyond our easy grasp. The creation of man and woman was wondrous and great. So was the creation of the earth as their mortal dwelling place.”
“Though we cannot understand “the meaning of all things,” we do “know that God loveth his children” because He has said, “Behold, this is my work and my glory-to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Heavenly Father is able to accomplish these two great goals-the immortality and eternal life of man-because He is a God of creation and compassion. Creating and being compassionate are two objectives that contribute to our Heavenly Father’s perfect happiness. Creating and being compassionate are two activities that we as His spirit children can and should emulate.”
| "Happiness, Your Heritage", Ensign, Nov 2008, 117–20
“A child is an adult spirit in a newly born body, a body capable of growing and maturing according to the providence of Him whose spirit children we all are.”
| “The Salvation of Little Children”
“The Creation, great as it is, is not an end in itself but a means to an end. We come to the earth for a brief period of time, endure our tests and trials, and prepare to move onward and upward to a glorious homecoming. Our thoughts and deeds while here will surely be more purposeful if we understand God’s plan and are thankful for and obedient to His commandments. As beneficiaries of the divine Creation, what shall we do? We should care for the earth, be wise stewards over it, and preserve it for future generations. And we are to love and care for one another. We are to be creators in our own right—builders of an individual faith in God, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and faith in His Church. We are to build families and be sealed in holy temples. We are to build the Church and kingdom of God upon the earth. We are to prepare for our own divine destiny—glory, immortality, and eternal lives. These supernal blessings can all be ours, through our faithfulness.”
. . . the earth and its heaven shall, after passing away through death, be renewed again in immortality. This earth is living and must die, but since it keeps the law it shall be restored through the resurrection by which it shall become celestialized and the above of celestial beings. The next verse of this revelation explains this as follows: [D&C 29:24-25]
“So we see that the Lord intends to save, not only the earth and the heavens, not only man who dwells upon the earth, but all things which he has created. The animals, the fishes of the sea, the fowls of the air, as well as man, are to be recreated, or renewed, through the resurrection, for they too are living souls.” (President Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, Oct. 1928, pp. 99-100; see also D&C 88:17-19, 25-26.)
| Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual, p. 62
“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.”
“I testify that the earth and all life upon it are of divine origin. The Creation did not happen by chance. It did not come ex nihilo (out of nothing). And human minds and hands able to build buildings or create computers are not accidental. It is God who made us and not we ourselves. We are His people! The Creation itself testifies of a Creator. We cannot disregard the divine in the Creation. Without our grateful awareness of God’s hand in the Creation, we would be just as oblivious to our provider as are goldfish swimming in a bowl. With deep gratitude, we echo the words of the Psalmist, who said, “O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.”
“Six days is a mere term, but it matters not whether it took six days, six months, six years, or six thousand years. The creation occupied certain periods of time. We are not authorized to say what the duration of these days was, whether Moses penned these words as we have them, or whether the translators of the Bible have given the words their intended meaning. However, God created the world. God brought forth material out of which he formed this little terra firma upon which we roam. How long had this material been in existence? Forever and forever, in some shape, in some condition.”
| Discourses of Brigham Young, sel. John A. Widtsoe, p. 100
“I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, on the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts, the rest are details.”
“Is it reasonable to suppose that something immortal just suddenly began in time?”
“Under his forming hands a creature grew,
Manlike, but different sex, so lovely fair,
That what seem’d fair in all the world, seem’d now
Mean, or in her summ’d up, in her contain’d,
And in her looks, which from that time infus’d
Sweetness into my heart, unfelt before.”
| Paradise Lost, 253; book 8, lines 470–75.
“Years ago a scientist named A. Cressy Morrison tried to dispel the notion that the earth was created by pure chance. In his book, Man Does Not Stand Alone, he itemized a number of factors that, had they been different, would have made life impossible on the world. If the earth’s crust were 10 feet thicker, there would be no oxygen, or if the oceans had been a few feet deeper, oxygen and carbon monoxide would have been absorbed. If it were not tilted at 23 degrees, we would have had no seasons and water vapor would have moved to the poles. If the moon were closer, tides would have been so enormous that lowlands would be submerged. The planet’s atmosphere is just thick enough to let in the solar rays needed for vegetation, but not enough to kill life. Essential elements exist in just the right proportions for life, he wrote, citing many other factors that argue against a haphazard creation.”
| Church News, June 15, 1996, p. 16
To all within the sound of my voice who may have doubts, I repeat the words given Thomas as he felt the wounded hands of the Lord: “Be not faithless, but believing.” Believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the greatest figure of time and eternity. Believe that his matchless life reached back before the world was formed. Believe that he was the Creator of the earth on which we live. Believe that he was Jehovah of the Old Testament, that he was the Messiah of the New Testament, that he died and was resurrected, that he visited these western continents and taught the people here, that he ushered in this final gospel dispensation, and that he lives, the living Son of the living God, our Savior and our Redeemer.
| Conference Report October 1978
If we speak of faith in the abstract, it is the power of God by which the worlds are and were made, and is a gift of God to those who believe and obey his commandments.
| Journal of Discourses, 8:259
“The earth did not come by chance nor by accident. It is the result of a creation that is based on purpose, on agency, on choice. It accords with laws which were in force long before the plan was every laid down. All of it has order; all of it was planned for us. The beauty and precision of the universe, the endless variety of plant and animal life—all testify of a plan and a creator.”
| The Earth Shall Teach Thee, 12.
“The whole visible creation, as it now exists, is the effect of faith. It was faith by which it was framed, and it is by the power of faith that it continues in its organized form, and by which the planets move round their orbits and sparkle forth their glory.”
| Lectures on Faith, 72-73
“I have looked at majestic mountains rising high against the blue sky and thought of Jesus, the Creator of heaven and earth. I have stood on the sand of an island in the Pacific and watched the dawn rise like thunder – a ball of gold surrounded by clouds of pink and white and purple – and thought of Jesus, the Word by whom all things were made and without whom was not anything made that was made. I have seen a beautiful child – bright-eyed, innocent, loving and trusting – and marveled at the majesty and miracle of creation. What then shall we do with Jesus who is called Christ? This earth is his creation. When we make it ugly, we offend him. Our bodies are the work of our Creator. When we abuse them, we abuse him.”
| “What Shall I Do Then With Jesus Which Is Called Christ?” Ensign, December 1983, p. 4
“The sacred books kept in the archives of eternity are to be opened in the great judgment day, and compared with the records kept on the earth; and then, if it is found that things have been done by the authority and commandment of the Most High, in relation to the dead, and the same things are found to be recorded both on earth and in heaven, such sacred books will be opened and read before the assembled universe in the day of judgment, and will be sanctioned by Him who sits on the throne and deals out justice and mercy to all of his creation.”
| Journal of Discourses
The earth will abide its creation, and will be counted worthy of receiving the blessings designed for it, and will ultimately roll back into the presence of God who formed it and established its mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms. These will all be retained upon the earth, come forth in the resurrection, and abide for ever and for ever.
| Journal of Discourses, 8:8
“In other words, that Jesus Christ, under the direction of His Father, was the organizer and builder of this world; that out of the elements that existed in space, He, the great Master, compounded, produced and materialized this substantial world upon which you and I live; that we are indebted to Him, and to our Father in heaven, for this life that we are enjoying, the bodies that we have, the beautiful world that we inhabit. We sometimes wonder where our heaven will be, that is, the people of the world wonder. We Latter-day Saints have no reason to doubt where our heaven will be, for the Lord has made known to us, that this splendid world that has been provided for us will ultimately be redeemed, having obeyed the laws of its being, and become celestialized, the home of celestial beings; so that if we shall ever come into heaven, or heavenly conditions, it will be, ultimately, upon this redeemed world. Jesus Christ has been the organizer and the builder of it, possessed with power to do all that.”
| Conference Report, April 1914
“This is the terror: to have emerged from nothing, to have a name, consciousness of self, deep inner feelings, an excruciating inner yearning for life, and self-expression – and with all this yet to die. It seems like a hoax.”
“Things upon the earth, so far as they have not been perverted by wickedness, are typical of things in heaven. Heaven was the prototype of this beautiful creation when it came from the hand of the Creator, and was pronounced ‘good.’”
| Journal of Discourses 23:175.
“In Mormon theology there is no place for immateralism; i.e. for a God, spirits and angels that are not material. Spirit is only a refined form of matter. It is beyond the mind of man to conceive of an immaterial thing. On the other hand, Joseph Smith did not teach that the kind of tangible matter, which impresses our mortal senses, is the kind of matter which is associated with heavenly beings. The distinction between the matter known to man and the spirit matter is very great; but no greater than is the difference between the matter of the known elements and that of the universal ether which forms one of the accepted dogmas of science.”
| Excerpt From: John A. Widtsoe. “Joseph Smith as Scientist.” iBooks.