CREATION

Reason 38

Creation:  The actions of God through which He brought man and the physical world into existence. God existed before the world, and He produced the universe from nothing (Genesis 1:1-2). As the sovereign, self-existing God, He also rules over His creation (Psalm 47:7-9). The Illustrated Bible Dictionary, George W. Knight, p81

     Psalm 90:2
Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

The LDS church teaches that God created this world out of existing matter. This is not a Christian teaching. God formed the World out of nothing. Any teaching different than this is certainly not giving God the credit He deserves and is lowering His Sovereignty. He did not take matter and form the world as LDS doctrine and the temple ceremony teach.

     D&C 93:29
Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be.

     Pearl of Great Price, Abraham 3:21-22
I dwell in the midst of them all; I now, therefore, have come down unto thee to declare unto thee the works which my hands have made, wherein my wisdom excelleth them all, for I rule in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath, in all wisdom and prudence, over all the intelligences thine eyes have seen from the beginning; I came down in the beginning in the midst of all the intelligences thou hast seen. Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones;

     Approaching Mormons in Love, p 35-39
Creation. Mormons do not believe in an original creation as found in the Bible. They teach that matter is "eternal." They do not believe that God created the world but teach that it was just organized out of existing matter. They say God called together the gods and sat in grand council to bring forth the world and that it was "organized" into being. They believe that Christ, who was the first-born spirit child of God, had the main responsibility for organizing the world but was aided by Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Peter, James, John, Joseph Smith, and many other "noble and great" ones while in the spirit world.


Intelligence.  The LDS Church teaches that everything first existed as spirit elements (including man) which they call "intelligence." They teach that this "spirit element" is eternal, and therefore never had a beginning. As a spirit element, man had a conscious existence where he knew the laws, good and evil, love and hate, truth and error. They do not say how long man existed in this state, but they believe it was a long time. The Church says that all knowledge of this first existence was wiped away when this "spirit element" entered the second stage knows as the "spirit world," so this is the reason no one remembers being in that state. (I don't understand how they know about this "intelligence" since no one remembers it - and no hint of such a condition is found in the Bible or The Book of Mormon.)


The Spirit World.....It is interesting to note that Mormons teach that in the spirit world, man and Jesus were of the same order of being, of the same race, nature and essence. They say that Jesus was the firstborn spirit child of the God of this universe and that every man or woman is as much deity as Jesus Christ, because all are spirit-born children of God. They also teach that Satan was one of the spirit-born children of God, thus making Jesus and Satan spiritual brothers.


Man Reaps on Earth what he Sowed in the Preexistence. Mormons teach that while man was in the spirit world, he went through a time of testing. If a person was obedient and valiant in the spirit world, he was assured of being born into a good family who lived in a powerful nation. If he was very good, he would be born into a white Mormon family. If he was less valiant, he would be born with darker skin, and the least valiant would be born with black skin.....(Moses 5:16-41; 7:8, 12, 22; Abraham 1:20-27).  lds.org/scriptures/pgp

My unanswered question was:

Since the Bible clearly states God formed the world out of nothing, then why does the LDS church insist He created the world from existing matter?

I was initially devastated when I received this answer that I cannot believe in LDS teachings that contradict the Bible, yet overjoyed to find the truth that I am putting all my faith in the Bible and the Bible alone! No other book even comes close to earning my Faith!!!