Age of the Earth - Part III

In an official statement from ten First Presidency and Council of the Twelve we read: “The Creator is an Organizer. God created the earth as an organized sphere; but He certainly did not create, in the sense of bringing into primal existence, the ultimate elements of the materials of which the earth consists, for ‘the elements are eternal’ (D&C 93:33). So also life is eternal, and not created; but life, or the vital force, may be infused into organized matter.”

At the time of Adam’s fall, the earth itself—which originally was in a celestial condition, having been created spiritually in heaven—fell into its present telestial condition. Consequently, sometime after Adam was placed in the garden the earth’s reckoning of time was changed significantly from the same time schedule as that of Kolob to that which it now possesses, and it is implied that such change occurred at the fall (Abraham 5:13).

To change the reckoning of time on a given sphere requires that there be a change in its revolutions, as its schedule of time is determined by the speed of its revolutions. If, as implied, the earth’s reckoning of time was changed significantly, vital alterations would have had to be made concerning its place in the cosmos which may have necessitated a removal of the earth from near Kolob to this present solar system. Nowhere in our solar system do planets have a reckoning of time approaching that of Kolob.

As a consequence, we need to look more closely at the organizing of this earth, and how it was done. Obviously, to organize this sphere with “matter unorganized” would cause such matter to have previously been used or to previously exist. As such, this matter would have been, out of necessity, unequal in its previous existence, or age. Thus, parts of this planet would have come from different areas, which, in turn, would make different parts of the earth older than other parts—or to have undergone a difference in previous use.

Of course, one might ask to what importance is this issue in understanding the Book of Mormon and the Land of Promise. Since Mesoamerican Theorists rely so heavily on scientific understanding of the age of the earth to justify their models, including when the Flood happened (3100 BC) and that South America was not an island. Yet, when we understand the duration and method of the “creation” we begin to understand the world was much different in 600 BC than we might have thought.

In fact, the age of the earth is critical to the understanding of God, and the plan of salvation, for the time periods assigned to creation are clearly set in Moses’ writings, and once understanding them, we have a much better picture of the creation and all that unfolded after, including what animals did and did not exist on the earth as living creatures, that there was no death before the Fall, and that Adam and Eve knew exactly what they were doing to bring about the Father’s Plan—-they were neither misled nor fooled by Satan’s efforts. When we understand the full Plan and how it was brought about, such as organizing this earth rather than spontaneously creating it out of nothing, as science claims, we then get a better understanding of the Land of Promise and where it fit into this overall Plan.