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Mormon Cosmogony:

Scientific and Scriptural Creation Accounts

UES Gospel Study Group

Brent J. Belnap

OUR PLACE IN THE

UNIVERSE

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-wheel making 10,000

revolutions a minute. Man is a sick fly taking a

dizzy ride on it. Religion is the theory that the wheel

H. L. Mencken, 20th Century social critic and

freethinker

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LATTER-DAY COSMOLOGY

AND COSMOGONY

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worlds without number have I created; and I also created

them for mine own purpose; and by the Son I created them,

which is mine Only Begotten. . . . For behold, there are many

worlds that have passed away by the word of my power. And

there are many that now stand, and in-numerable are they unto

man; but all things are numbered unto me, for they are mine and

I know them. . . . The heavens, they are many, and they cannot

be numbered unto man; but they are numbered unto me, for they

are mine. And as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens

thereof even so shall another come; and there is no end to my

works, neither to my words. For behold, this is my work and my

glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life

Moses 1:33, 35, 37-39

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faith we understand that the worlds were

framed by the word of God, so that things which are

Hebrews 11:3

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which has power, dominion, and authority over all

things: by it they exist, by it they are upheld, by it

they are changed, or by it they remain, agreeably to

the will of God. Without it, there is no power, and

without power there could be no creation, nor

Lectures on Faith, 1:24

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wonder, majesty and glory: Angels move from place to place by virtue of

this power it is by reason of it that they are enabled to descend from

heaven to earth; . . . 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: . . . As faith, then, is the principle by

which the heavenly hosts perform their works, and by which they enjoy all

their felicity, we might expect to find it set forth in a revelation from God as

the principle upon which his creatures, here below, must act, in order, to

obtain the felicities enjoyed by the saints in the eternal world, and that when

God would undertake to raise up men for the enjoyment of himself, he would

teach them the necessity of living by faith, and the impossibility there was of

their enjoying the blessedness of eternity without it, seeing that all the

blessings of eternity are the effects of faith.

Lectures on Faith, 7:4-6

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been worlds like this, and . . . there never will be a

time when there will not be worlds organized and

Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 8:81

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into existence, and undergoing changes and passing

through the same experience we are passing through.

. . . and every earth, and the people thereof, in their

turn and time, receive all that we receive, and pass

Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 14:71-72

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baptized with water, will be baptized by fire and the

Holy Ghost, and by-and-by will be prepared for the

Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 8:83

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scale of the universe, does not desire to keep pace

with it? . . . O man, remember the future destiny and

glory of the earth, and secure thine everlasting

inheritance upon the same, that when it shall be

glorious, thou shalt

Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, 1:333-34

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kingdoms; for there is no space in

the which there is no kingdom; and there is no kingdom in which there is no space, either

a greater or a lesser kingdom. And unto every kingdom is given a law; and unto every

law there are certain bounds also and conditions. All beings who abide not in

those conditions are not justified. . . . He comprehendeth all things, and all things are

before him, and all things are round about him; and he is above all things, and in all

things, and is through all things, and is round about all things; and all things are by him,

and of him, even God, forever and ever. And . . . he hath given a law unto all things, by

which they move in their times and their seasons; And their courses are fixed, even the

courses of the heavens and the earth, which comprehend the earth and all the planets.

And they give light to each other in their times and in their seasons, in their minutes, in

their hours, in their days, in their weeks, in their months, in their years all these

are one year with God, but not with man. The earth rolls upon her wings, and

the sun giveth his light by day, and the moon giveth her light by night, and the stars also

give their light, as they roll upon their wings in their glory, in the midst of the power of

God. Unto what shall I liken these kingdoms, that ye may understand? Behold, all these

are kingdoms, and any man who hath seen any or the least of these hath seen God

moving

Doctrine and Covenants 88:36-39, 41-47

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corruptible thing, both of man, or of the

beasts of the field, or of the fowls of the heavens, or

of the fish of the sea, that dwells upon all the face of

the earth, shall be consumed; And also that of

element shall melt with fervent heat; and all things

shall become new, that my knowledge and glory

may dwell upon all the

Doctrine and Covenants 101:24-25

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day when the

Lord shall come, he shall reveal all things Things

which have passed, and hidden things which no man

knew, things of the earth, by which it was made, and

the purpose and the end thereof Things most

precious, things that are above, and things that are

beneath, things that are in the earth, and upon the

Doctrine and Covenants 101:32-34

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hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have

entered into the heart of man, the things which God

hath prepared

1 Corinthians 2:9

COSMOGONY:

CREATION ACCOUNTS

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Quran, Sura 51:48

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creatio ex nihilo

creatio ex materia

ex nihilo nihil fit

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made by him; men were made by

him; all things were made by him, and through him,

and of him. . . . Man was also in the beginning with

God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was

not created or made, neither indeed can be. . . . The

elements are eternal, and spirit and element,

inseparably connected, receive a fulness

Doctrine and Covenants 93:10, 29, 33

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Genesis 1-2 Creation Account

Day 1: heaven, earth, waters, light/darkness

Day 2: firmament divided from waters

Day 3: waters, dry land, vegetation

Day 4: lights in firmament: sun/moon/stars

Day 5: sea creatures, fowls

Day 6: cattle, creeping things, beasts, mankind

Day 7: Sabbath

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Temple Creation Account

organize world

Day 2: divide seas and earth

Day 3: divide light from darkness

Day 4: all manner of vegetation

Day 5: all manner of life: beasts, fowl, fishes,

insects, and all other forms of animal life

the Garden of Eden

Day 7: rest from labors for a season

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Science Creation Account

Big Bang

Basic Particles

Expansion

Star Formation

Galaxy Formation

Group, Cluster Formation

Ultimate fate:Big Freeze?

Big Crunch?

Big Rip?

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Science Creation Account

Earth:

Stellar nursery/presolar nebula

Protoplanetary disk

4.57 billion y/a: Earth formed

4.53 bya: Moon formed giant impact?

Primordial atmosphere/oceans

4 bya: first life may have appeared

3.5 bya: magnetic field established

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