On Creation

The 3 most popular theories for the origin of the world are: Atheists’ non-creation and Christians’ Old-earth (God created the world over a long period of time) and Young-earth (God created the world in 6 days and it's only a few thousand years old). Mine is a 4th theory that combines the strong points of both Christian theories and could satisfy some of atheists’ complaints. It is based off of some of the information Professor Hugh Nibley of BYU gave in his lectures about the temple.


I believe—without deviating from scripture—in a different view of the creation—one that I see few discuss or even consider. The fundamental difference is that I believe that the idea of an “ex-nilio” (from nothing) creation was not the original meaning intended by the word 'creation' in the scriptures (that it wasn’t even considered by the ancient Hebrews or early Christians—and only adopted after they accepted Greek philosophy); but rather that matter, spirit, and intelligence are all coeternal with God. Removing the forced “ex-nilio” connotation allows for more flexible theories.

I view eternity not as timeLESSness, but as without beginning and without end—infinite duration; and that all things (as consistent with the 1st law of thermodynamics)—matter/energy can neither be created nor destroyed (fundamentally), but have always existed and always will.

And by creation, it’s meant that God took of this eternal and unorganized matter and created/organized (in the creative sense) the Heavens and the Earth. And thus, by beginning, God meant the beginning of this organization—this new creation. And when God spoke—the matter obeyed the Supreme Being and became even as He commanded.
These creative periods could have taken any length of time—that is irrelevant in this case. They could have been 7,000 years or billions, or 7 actual days as we know them. How could we possibly fathom the methods of an all-powerful God in the creation of such things—whether out of nothing as usually proposed or of unorganized eternal matter as I believe?

This view is also consistent with the findings of science; for when they try to date this material—who knows what state it would have been in when God started forming the Earth, and how His creative works affected the observable age of such things. New molecules forged together would start a new timeline as traced by science. Layers of the Earth could have been made and shaped in violent, drastic ways that our experience and understanding can’t comprehend, etc.

Notably, the 2nd law of thermodynamics, which talks about atrophy and the breakdown of matter, is also consistent with my model. For the natural state of things is chaos and disorder. Things die, decay and break down from greater or heavier to lesser or lighter according to the 2nd law. But, seeing that there is order and creation, there must also be an opposing force which creates, organizes, and maintains order—namely God. This is also observed in science. But even so, we see things (the world, men, lives, matter, etc.) breaking down—corruptible and fallen; and there would be no reversal if there wasn’t a similar force to the creative one which could restore, redeem and atone things back to their original orderly and proper state.

As a final note, God must have some means to (most probably through the same afore mentioned power of atonement) reconstitute things not only to their original state, but to a higher, eternal and incorruptible state of perfection that is free from the destructive force.

I’m sure you can see the implications in this model for sin, death, resurrection, etc. In fact, the way I see it is that before the fall of Adam, he and the Earth were in the presence of God, but once Adam transgressed the law, God’s sustaining influence that kept everything in a perpetual pristine and perfected state left (for He can’t dwell in unholy temples). Without His direct influence and obedience to His will, things fell and the natural order of things began to take affect. Through the Atonement of Christ all men and indeed all of God’s creations will be resurrected, cleansed from all imperfections, renewed and restored back to God’s presence. All things will be saved from the destructive forces of nature—death and men who accept Jesus Christ will also be saved from Hell—spiritual death or separation from God, for being cleansed and perfected through the grace and atoning blood of Christ, we will be perfected in Him and live forever in the presence of God.