OT 3: The Creation

We are back in Moses this week for the story of the Creation. Genesis includes a version of the Creation, but the one revealed to Joseph Smith is the full account of the vision God gave to Moses about the Creation.
Moses was commanded to write (and preserve, I assume) what the Lord says and shows to him. But he was also told that his book would be tampered with.

And in a day when the children of men shall esteem my words as naught and take many of them from the book which thou shalt write, behold, I will raise up another like unto thee; and they shall be had again among the children of men—among as many as shall believe. (Moses 1:41)

Differences between Moses and Genesis

This is not to say that the account in Genesis is not extremely valuable, but there are significant differences.

• Moses' account describes an interaction with Jehovah, a conversation between two beings, "face to face." The account in Genesis is simply a pronouncement or story without a hint as to it's author.
• The account in Moses is wider in scope--we learn that God has more than just this world and, in fact, God has created "worlds without number." At least they cannot be numbered by man, but "all things are numbered unto me, for they are mine and I know them." (Moses 1:35) Why can't we number them? We certainly have a lot of computing power at our service in this day and age for counting sheer numbers, but of course, we can't number what we can't see. And we certainly, even with the Hubble telescope, cannot see all of God's creations. Although we can see lots of stars and far away galaxies, the ability to see planets is in its infancy.
• Another thing we learn from Moses' account is that earths "pass away" and other earths come into creation. God's work is eternal: "there is no end to my works, neither to my words." (verse 38)
• Moses' God weeps; the God of Genesis seems dispassionate
• In Moses we find the purpose of the Creation; it's not clearly revealed in Genesis.

Why Is the Creation Story So Important?

For many years I've pondered on the importance of the Creation story. Why is it so important that it's included in the temple endowment ceremony? That's a lot of time spent recounting the Creation, so the Lord must want us to think about it and gain strength from it.
I definitely have not plumbed the depths of this question, but I believe the Creation story teaches us the importance of:

• Understanding the nature, work and purposes of God 
• Planning: God created everything spiritually before he created them physically. Maybe the mortal equivalent is called planning or envisioning.
• Order: God created the earth in the proper order, building the foundation first, with higher levels of complexity afterwards.
• Work and of Rest: The Lord worked for six creative periods, and then he rested on the seventh day and hallowed it. The example of taking time to rest and renew on the Sabbath is a basic, foundational teaching. Even God did it and set the example. Must be pretty important.
• Creativity and Beauty: The Lord beautifies the earth and makes everything so interesting. These are divine qualities and President Uchtdorf spoke in General Conference about this and the Church made an awesome Mormon Message of out it, too.
• Acknowledgment of Good Work: Eight times in Moses 2, the Lord declares his work to be good: "and I, God, saw that all things which I had made were good." Maybe it's alright to declare our good works good, too. And those of our children.
• How important we are. Heavenly Father and Jesus put a lot of work into this earth to be our home.
• Who we are. We are created in His image, male and female. We are the culmination of creation and even grander than the most exquisite, beautiful and amazing plant or animal.

All Things Bear Record of Christ

We also learn that God created the Earth by the power of His Only Begotten. And that everything has been created to bear record of Jehovah.(Moses 6:63)

"And behold, all things have their likeness, and all things are created and made to bear record of me, both things which are temporal, and things which are spiritual; things which are in the heavens above, and things which are on the earth, and things which are in the earth, and things which are under the earth, both above and beneath: all things bear record of me."

I could definitely ponder this more. I once heard a talk on BYU TV about this very subject, but haven't been able to locate it again. If anyone can give me a clue, let me know!

We are Created in the Image of God

Moses (and Enoch, as recorded in Moses 6,7) learn that we are created in God's image. We Mormons take that literally. In Moses 2 we read:

26 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.

 27 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.

God Loves Us and Weeps for Us

Moses 7 contains one of the most tender accounts of how much our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us. In this account, it is Enoch who is having the grand vision. As he views all of the inhabitants of the earth, and the residue who will not be taken up with ZION, he is shown how Satan's power is bringing darkness and spiritual bondage to God's children. Then Enoch sees God weeping and he's amazed.
 
28 And it came to pass that the God of heaven looked upon the residue of the people, and he wept; and Enoch bore record of it, saying: How is it that the heavens weep, and shed forth their tears as the rain upon the mountains?
29 And Enoch said unto the Lord: How is it that thou canst weep, seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity?

And then the Lord explains what we all need to know and feel in our hearts:

32 The Lord said unto Enoch: Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto them their knowledge, in the day I created them; and in the Garden of Eden, gave I unto man his agency;
37 But behold, their sins shall be upon the heads of their fathers; Satan shall be their father, and misery shall be their doom; and the whole heavens shall weep over them, even all the workmanship of mine hands; wherefore should not the heavens weep, seeing these shall suffer?

I had the distinct honor to be set apart as a missionary in the MTC by the president of the MTC. In that blessing, I was told that Heavenly Father had rejoiced with me in my times of happiness and success, and wept with me during my times of sorrow and loss. That is the only part of the blessing I remember because it amazed me and showed me just how much tender loving care the Lord has for each of his children. I'm no Enoch or Moses. I'm just an ordinary, rank and file person. But even still, the Lord is walking with me. Good to know!

An Epiphany about Laughter

I've always wondered why we're commanded to keep our laughter in check. I've come to wonder if maybe it's because so many of us laugh at the distress of others. (So many reality shows exploit people for laughs by setting them up with hidden cameras and distressful situations. Although I don't watch these shows, I know I've been guilty of laughing at another's painful experience.)

Satan laughs, too! Check this out:
"And he beheld Satan; and he had a great chain in his hand, and it veiled the whole face of the earth with darkness; and he [Satan] looked up and laughed, and his angels rejoiced."
Satan laughs and the Lord weeps.
What do you laugh at? And what effect does that have on your spirit? It's something to think about.

Dominion Over the Earth

After God created man, He gave us "dominion over all the earth."
"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." (Moses 2:26)
Dominion means "ruling power, authority or control." So what does God expect us to do with this dominion? This stewardship? He creates an amazing planet for us and obviously puts the stamp of divinity on everything He makes. We're told that everything in creation bears witness of Jesus Christ in some way. So how does this knowledge impact our behavior?
We live in a culture that is fairly wicked (I think most of us would agree with me on that point.) And I don't think our prevailing culture teaches us to be good stewards of the earth. I'm no great example, but I am taking baby steps to do my bit.
(WARNING: Sister Jenson is about to express a viewpoint which is counter-culture, but one she feels is supported by scripture, so don't freak out.) For one, I eat much less meat. Call me crazy, but I feel better and younger as a result. And I feel a level of peace that I never had before. I believe the current scale of meat production around the world exacerbates poverty (grain is fed to cattle etc, grain prices go up and the poor suffer the most). If you're interested in where I began to think about this issue, you may want to ponder D&C 49:19-21 and the footnotes to see where they lead you.
For all of you carnivores out there, I don't judge you. I was a serious carnivore for the first 4 decades of my life. But now that we've dealt with cancer in our family, we all feel we're better off without it. Pass the lentils!!! :-)

Creativity & Beauty

Part of what makes life enjoyable is using our creativity and appreciating the beauty around us. President Uchtdorf gave a talk on this (see Happiness, Your Heritage below as well as the video Create). Creating something that didn't exist before is using our divine power. Hopefully, we find ways to use that power to serve and uplift others. For the past 2 1/2 years I've been writing a book for kids entitled Good Pictures, Bad Pictures: Porn-proofing Today's Young Kids. My hope is that this work of creativity will help parents protect their kids from people who are misusing their own powers of creativity. Thankfully, I have an artist friend who worked with me to bring artistry to my words. My next door neighbors served as our models, so a lot of people got involved in this creative endeavor!

Pausing to cultivate and appreciate the beauty of nature really renews me and helps me deal with the mess of mortality (like dealing with insurance claims, getting dental work done...you get the pictures). I suppose God could have set us up in a boring world, but he didn't. The beauty of this world testifies of its Divine Creator. Our family loves to watch the Planet Earth and the Life series both produced by the BBC and I highly recommend them.
How do the beauties of nature strengthen you? How does knowing more about the Creation story help you to live a happier and more Christ-like life? Leave a comment and share your thoughts!

Videos
The Creation: Elder Nelson explains the various stages of the Creation of this earth
Discussions of the Old Testament: The Creation: Genesis 1. A roundtable discussion with BYU Professors of Ancient Scripture.
Create Mormon Message: Elder Uchtdorf
God's Greatest Creation Mormon Message
The Great Visions of the Pearl of Great Price: A must-see Education Week talk by gospel author and scholar S. Michael Wilcox
Some "I'm a Mormon" videos from creative saints
Robot Fanatic, Illustrator, Mormon
Artist, Mother of 3, Mormon

Articles

In All Things: An article in BYU's Life Science magazine on the amazing and intricate balances maintained by life on earth as a witness of the Creator's skills.
Happiness, Your Heritage: Elder Uchtdorf discusses how the Spirit can help you enjoy your divine attributes of creativity.