The Creation

The Creation of the Earth was an essential part of God's Plan of Salvation. This Earth was created as a special school and testing place where we, God’s children, could come to gain a physical body of flesh and bone like Heavenly Father’s so that we could gain experience and exercise our freedom of choice to become like him. The Creation, therefore, was an act of love. Heavenly Father's primary purposes in the creation of this Earth were:

1. to provide physical bodies for his children;
2. to provide them soul-stretching experience and crucial knowledge to launch them into eternal life;
3. to test them to see if they, by faith and without coercion, would keep his commandments by their own choice.

The Creation was accomplished by Jesus Christ

Heavenly Father was the architect of the Creation, but Jesus Christ fulfilled Heavenly Father’s plan for the creation of the Earth and the universe. 1

• “Under the direction of His Father, He [Jesus Christ] was the creator of the earth. ‘All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.’” 2
• The Prophet Joseph Smith gave this testimony about Jesus Christ as the Creator of the Earth and all the heavens: “…by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God.” 3

The Creation was proposed in the the Council of the Gods

In a premortal “Council of the Gods, the following declaration was made:

‘We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell; and we will prove theme herewith [with this experience on Earth], to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them.’” 4

Thus, the Creation was instituted by Heavenly Father, who, in concert with Jesus Christ and others that had attained to godlike qualities, provided that his spirit children would come to this Earth to receive bodies of flesh and bone and be tested for inheritance in future kingdoms of glory.

Man is the Creation's crowning achievement

As the crowning achievement in the creation process, God created man—meaning mankind, both man and woman--in his image, which was also the image of his Only Begotten Son. Moses gives this account:

“And I, God, said unto mine Only Begotten, which was with me from the beginning: Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; …And I, God, created man in mine own image, in the image of mine Only Begotten created I him; male and female created I them.” 5

The creation of Adam and Eve is not a fable, as some would have us believe. They were the first parents of the human race. Adam was “the first man of all men.” 6

The Creation is not at odds with science

Heavenly Father has only revealed a simple outline of the Creation. Nevertheless, many theories have come and gone in an effort to reconstruct the Creation's process and timeline. Doubtless, there will be many more theories that attempt to explain the Creation story that is both complicated and beyond man's limited imagination.

That the Earth may contain evidence of ancient life forms does not negate the fact that, in the Creation process, Heavenly Father created Adam and Eve to be our first parents. They did not emerge from a lower life form. Heavenly Father created Adam and Eve in his image and in the image of his Only Begotten Son 7 and placed them on Earth to propagate the human family.

An apostle, Marion G. Romney, said,

“I am not a scientist. I do not profess to know anything but Jesus Christ, and him crucified, and the principles of his gospel. If, however, there are some things in the strata of the earth indicating there were men before Adam, they were not the ancestors of Adam.” 8

As God reveals more and more truth about the Creation, we will discover that there is no conflict between science and religion.

Questions about 'The Creation.'

• For what three primary purposes did Heavenly Father plan the Creation?
• If Heavenly Father was the architect of the Creation, who accomplished it?
• Besides this world what else has Jesus Christ created?
• Who proposed the creation of this world, and in what setting was the Creation proposed?
• Who is the Creation's crowning achievement?
• Is the story of Adam and Eve a fable? Who was Adam and Eve's progenitor, and in whose image were they created?
• Is the scriptural account of the Creation complete?
• Can and will the scriptural account of the Creation exist without conflicting with science?
• If there are things in the strata of the Earth that indicate ancient humanlike beings, were they the ancestors of Adam?

References for 'The Creation'

1. (Mosiah 3:8; Moses 2:1) – And he shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and his mother shall be called Mary. (Mosiah 3:8)
2. (John 1:3; see also "The Living Christ") – All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
3. (D&C 76:24)
4. (Abraham 3:24-25; see also True to the Faith, p. 45) – And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell; And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them.
5. (Moses 2:26-27)
6. (Moses 1:34)
7. (Genesis 1:26-27; Moses 2:26-27) – And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them (Genesis 1:26-27). And I, God, said unto mine Only Begotten, which was with me from the beginning: Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and it was so. And I, God, said: Let them have dominion over the fishes of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. And I, God, created man in mine own image, in the image of mine Only Begotten created I him; male and female created I them. (Moses 2:26-27)
8. (Conference Report, April 1953, Afternoon Meeting, p.123)