Question and Answer:  How Old is the Earth?

Question and Answer
How Long Was a Day of Creation?
Essential Resources for Parents
Church Education System Resources
All Things Denote There Is a God
School of Abraham Resources
Books by LDS Authors
 


And now, my sons, I speak unto you these things for your profit and learning; for there is a God, and he hath created all things, both the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are, both things to act and things to be acted upon.  (2 Ne. 2: 14 )

Q.  "I'm not sure when the world began. Can you point me to a reasonable resource?  I'm trying to make sense of dinosaurs, "pre-history" and how to present it to my kids, but I don't know what sources are best." ~ Amber

A.  "I don't know that there is "one best source" or one best way to present everything, since we just have not yet been told exactly how everything happened. I actually present a number of views to my sons, and tell them I do not know exactly which one is right, but that there are, in my opinion, a few non-negotiable essentials, such as:

  • God was in charge and He did create us.
  • Human beings were specifically created in God's express image.
  • We do not have to assume ex nihilo creation as do other Christians, in fact we should not, and we have no reason to insist that the entire universe was created at the same time as the earth which we inhabit.
  • We also need to remember that secular scientists assume that the earth was always the same, processes always taking place at the same rate, etc., and we cannot agree with that assumption, for we know that the world changed dramatically at the time of the Fall, and again at the time of the Flood, and possibly even after that, since the dividing into continents was placed after the date of the Flood in the scriptures.

"Other than these, when it comes to dates and ages and et cetera, I tell my boys that I simply do not yet know. My preference is to take on faith what the scriptures say and draw what seems like reasonable conclusions from that, but until more is revealed, we just don't know. I figure it's good to get my children used to uncertainty at an early age.

"The Scriptures cannot have a "year" in the way we think of years, because they were compiled before the Savior was born. Uncounted numbers of people have tried to estimate how many years the Creation and/or the Fall actually were before the birth of Christ, but the figures vary quite a bit, and the truth is, we just don't know.

"The Ensigns in which the Old Testament timelines were run have some estimates. So does the Bible dictionary, under "Chronology." The Institute manuals that cover the Old Testament have some estimates, as well, but I think it is significant that we don't have strong doctrinal teachings such as: "The Fall happened in year 3662 BC," or something similar . We just don't know.

"Really, I think that the dates so far back don't really matter. I spun my wheels for a long time at first, before really feeling, in a quiet time in the temple, that the sequence mattered more than the dates. I think I read about 20 books and articles trying to determine just when Joseph/ Moses/ Exodus all happened, and I got about 10 different answers. I did go with date estimates, using the later dates, but I
finally just decided to make a page where I didn't put dates, and we put our timeline figures from before the Tower of Babel on this page. Then we just picked a Tower of Babel date from one of the Church timelines, and went from there.

"My standard response to my kids, when they begin with all these questions that I don't see we have many answers for, is to just ask them--what do we as a people, and you as an individual, need to be doing to qualify for continued revelation that might answer those questions? Are we being totally faithful, and totally studying all the resources we already have? When we can say that we are, I believe we'll be allowed more revelation, perhaps answering some of the pesky questions. Until we can say we are, then we have plenty of work to do to prepare.

"I'd say read a lot of things. Read some of the secular viewpoint, you can't really avoid it totally anyway, read some of the Christian Creationist view, read some of the Intelligent Design view, there are a few things around by LDS authors, read that, and point out good and bad points as you go, and tell your kids how wonderful it will be when the Lord reveals more." ~~ Michelle Duker ~~

Elder John A. Widtsoe, who was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, said: “The earth came into being by the will and power of God. . . . Chance is ruled out. Latter-day Saints believe that the earth and the heavens and the manifold operations within the universe are products of intelligent action, of the mind of God” (Evidences and Reconciliations, arr. G. Homer Durham, [1960], 150).

 

How Long Was a Day of Creation?

President Brigham Young, discussing the six days of creation, said that 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 [1971], 100; see also Alma 40:8)

Elder Bruce R. McConkie taught that a day, in the Creation accounts, “is a specified time period; it is an age, an eon, a division of eternity; it is the time between two identifiable events. And each day, of whatever length, has the duration needed for its purposes. . . .

“There is no revealed recitation specifying that each of the ‘six days’ involved in the Creation was of the same duration” (“Christ and the Creation,” Ensign, June 1982, 11).
 

Essential Resources for Parents

These three highly recommended articles are from Doctrines of Salvation, Volume 1, by Joseph Fielding Smith, comp. Bruce R. McConkie:

Gospel Classics: The Origin of Man, by the First Presidency of the Church
From Improvement Era, Nov. 1909, 75–81.

The Caravan Moves On,  Bruce R. McConkie, Ensign, Nov. 1984, 82

Christ and the Creation, by Bruce R. McConkie, Ensign 1982.
 

Church Education System Resources

Institute Manual:  Genesis 1-3

  • The Creation

  • When Was "In the Beginning"?

  • How Old is the Earth?

  • Who Created the Earth?

  • What Does the Word Create Mean?

  • Why Was the Spirit “Moving” upon the Earth Which Was “without Form and Void”?

  • What Is the “Firmament” and What Are the Two “Waters”?

  • “Let Us Make Man in Our Image”

  • Is the Genesis Account a Record of the Spiritual Creation?

  • Adam Was the “First Flesh” upon the Earth

  • Points to Ponder
     

Chronological Table:  Days of the Early Patriarchs

Account of the Creation in the Book of Moses

Old Testament Chronology Chart (.pdf chart)

Gospel Dispensations (.pdf chart)

Online Gospel Principles Manual

Online Scripture Readers for Children -- Old Testament

My Answer to Evolution, New Era, May 2004, 36
 

 


All Things Denote There Is a God
 (See 2 Nephi 2:14)

An all-wise Creator has structured all the creations of his hands in such a way, not only to call attention to himself as the Maker, Preserver, and Upholder of all things, but to bear record of the nature and kind of Being he is. The mere fact that all things are, that fact standing alone, establishes that there is a Supreme Being; and the orderliness and system which prevails in the universe is a sufficient witness that the Creator is almighty, knows all things, and has made man, his crowning creature, as the natural heir of all his goodness (Bruce R. McConkie, Promised Messiah:  The First Coming of Christ).
 



School of Abraham Resources
 

Gospel Principles for Young Children (lesson #5, The Creation) 

The Storied Scriptures, Pearl of Great Price

  • Worlds Without Number (Moses 1:25-39)

  • Pre-Earth Life (Abraham 3:22-28)

  • The Creation Planned (Abraham 4:1-31; 5:1-3)

  • Spiritual Creation (Moses 3:4-7)

  • Physical Creation (Moses 2:1-31; 3:1-3)

  • Garden of Eden (Moses 3:8-10; 15-25)

The World Before Christ, an LDS Perspective

Study Guide on the Proclamation on the Family

The Teaching Emphasis for the Church Educational System
 

Books by LDS Authors
These books are available at www.gospelink.com. 
Click links to see Tables of Contents.

Creation
by Frank B. Salisbury

Evidences and Reconciliations
by John A. Widtsoe

In Search of Truth: Comments on the Gospel and Modern Thought
by John A. Widtsoe

Man, His Origin and Destiny
by Joseph Fielding Smith

Of Heaven and Earth: Reconciling Scientific Thought with LDS Theology
by David Clark

Reflections of a Scientist
by Henry Eyring

Scientific Aspects of Mormonism
by Nels L. Nelson

Joseph Smith as Scientist
by John A. Widtsoe

 

 


Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:

But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. (Isaiah 42: 5 and 43:1)


 

 

 

 

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