The Creation - Days 2 & 3 - Genesis 1, Moses 2, Abraham 4:6-13

Day 2 - Day 2 is pretty straight forward, basically, the Gods commanded that there be “an expanse in the midst of the waters, and it shall divide the waters from the waters.” There was a division of water on the earth where the firmament emerged and there was also a division of water FROM the earth. The IM explains, “The waters under the firmament are the waters upon the globe itself; those above are not ethereal waters beyond the limited of the terrestrial atmosphere, but the waters which float in the atmosphere, and are separated by it from those upon the earth, the waters which accumulate in clouds, and then bursting their bottles, pour down as rain upon the earth.” This makes me want to know more about the chemical composition of the atmosphere. This dividing of water was called the second day. Day 3 – There is a little bit more to digest when it comes to day 3. Day 3 also deals a lot with water, but mostly on land, as it appears that the earth emerges from the waters. I imagine that this was probably done through volcanic activity. One interesting point is that in Abraham it says, “and the Gods saw that they were obeyed,” and then again “and it was so as they ordered,” indicating that God commanded the elements to move in a certain fashion and they obeyed. People, it seems, are the only beings who disobey God. I don’t think this meant God standing over the earth shaking His fist saying, “you better do it or else,” I think this is just that God commanded the elements to move in a certain fashion and they did it. There’s also a difference between the three accounts where Abraham is the most informative. The main difference is that in Genesis and Moses, the Gods commands “Let the earth bring forth grass,” and herbs and the fruit tree, etc. But In Abraham the Gods say “Let us prepare the earth to bring forth grass,” etc. One is a command for the earth to create plants, the other is a plan for make the soil ready to grow the plants when the time comes. I don’t know why but when I read the command for things to grow, I thought “the soil isn’t ready for that, it just came out as lava only a day ago.” The fact that there is a distinction between growing and preparing the soil to grow is a good analogy for ourselves being prepared to grow spiritually. It takes time and God’s careful, personal care to create a place where the gospel can grow in our hearts. The third interesting point comes from the list of what God is preparing the earth for, seeds and herbs, etc. all “after his kind.” Clearly God works by science which means that evolution is absolutely a real thing, but within certain limits. For example, I watched a documentary where a group of researchers went to an island for several years and measured birds’ beaks. They noticed that after a year of heavy spring rainfall, all the birds had short, stubby beaks, and in years where there was scant rainfall, all the birds had long, pointy beaks. They hypothesized that in years with heavy rain, lots of plants grew and the seeds that the birds ate were very round and fat so they needed the short, stubby beaks to get the leverage needed in order to break the shells of the seeds open enough to eat what was inside. Conversely, in the dry years, the seeds the birds would eat would fall off the tree on to the ground, and sometimes get wedged down in between the rocks. Here’s where the birds with the long, narrow beaks were able to get into the crevices to eat the seeds that way. All this is to say that the birds who survived each year to breed more birds “after his kind” were the ones whose beaks were best suited to the types of seeds available based on the amount of rain the island got each year. In this way evolution plays out in science, but the whole “we came from monkeys” that is counter to the teachings of God. The IM quotes Joseph Smith as teaching, “God had made certain decrees which are fixed and immovable… for instance, the oak of the forest, the fruit of the tree, the herb of the field, all bear a sign that seed hath been planted there; for it is a decree of the Lord that every tree, plant, and herb bearing seed should bring forth of its kind, and cannot come forth after any other law of principle.”