How do we as Latter-day Saints explain the existence of dinosaurs? When we break it down, we are left scratching our heads. For example, our scriptures teach that there was no death on the earth prior to the fall of Adam. For example, Father Lehi stated:
And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever (2 Ne. 2:22).
Yet science has demonstrated through the fossil record and carbon dating that millions of dinosaurs and other extinct species lived and died on this earth for well over one hundred million years before the fall of Adam ever occurred (approximately 6,000 years ago). Does that mean that these scientific methods of dating are unreliable or inaccurate? Probably not. According to LDS Geologist Bart Kowalis:
In my profession I teach and study geology. I have specialized in the study of Earth’s architecture (structural geology) and in understanding the ages of rocks and minerals…. During the past few years, my research has focused on determining the ages of rocks and minerals. In 1983 I established a laboratory at Brigham Young University dedicated to [understanding the ages of rocks and minerals], and during the past decade I have used isotopic dating techniques numerous times, such as to obtain more precise ages for dinosaur bones found in Utah and Colorado…. In all of my studies, I have found no reason to doubt the reliability of the methods used. I believe that the ages obtained by these methods—often registering in millions or hundreds of millions of years—reflect events that happened on this world since its creation. The principles that govern isotopic decay and the use of this decay for determining ages are as well established, accepted, and understood as are the laws of motion and the law of gravity. These ideas cannot be dismissed as mere scientific nonsense, unless we are willing to throw out the whole of science itself.[1]
If these scientific methods of dating are in fact reliable, then the dinosaur remains we have uncovered today are indeed much older than just 6,000 years. But if there was no death before the fall of Adam, how did they get here?
A favorite response to this question by Latter-day Saints is that the Lord created our earth out of other worlds that were already in existence. Or in other words, according to Joseph Smith,
This earth was organized or formed out of other planets which were broke up and remodeled and made into the one on which we live.[2]
Because of this statement made by Joseph Smith, many Latter-day Saints have wondered if our dinosaur fossils actually originated from older earths, and were simply placed here during the creation process. However, a careful reading of Joseph Smith’s statement shows that older worlds were “broke[n] up and remodeled” before their materials ever made their way to our earth. If these older earth’s were indeed “broke[n] up and remodeled” as Joseph Smith taught, wouldn’t their dinosaur fossils be broken up and remodeled in the process? In addition to this problem, there is even further evidence that suggests our dinosaur fossils did not arrive on our earth via this process. In the words of LDS scientist Eric Skousen,
From [Joseph Smith’s]
statement, some have suggested that the earth’s fossilized life forms are
remnants from these older planets and have nothing to do with anything that
ever lived on this earth, anciently or now.
However, this idea presents us with several problems.
First of all, the crust
of the earth is ultra-thin. It is,
relative to the bulk of the earth itself, extremely fragile and carefully
constructed. If fossils from broken-up
planets are part of the crust, why are they on and within this thin surface
rather than somewhere deep within the body of the earth? Were these other-planet fossils deliberately placed on the surface [by
God]? For what purpose? How would this help us understand the work of
the Gods in preparing our earth for modern life?
In fact, this idea is
immediately rejected by anyone who has any significant first-hand acquaintance
with the rock record itself. Why? Because the rock record is so carefully
ordered. We might accept a jumble of
fossils scattered at random throughout the crust as coming from older
planets. But the facts of fossil placement
are just the opposite. There is a very carefully established sequence in the
earth’s strata. Would the family of the Gods deliberately put fossils from older planets in and on the earth in
a carefully ordered pattern just to baffle and mislead us concerning their
origin?
That simply doesn’t
make any sense. As the Lord declared to
Job, among the many witnesses of his handiwork were “the foundations of the
earth” (Job 38:4). The prophet Alma, speaking to the anti-Christ, Korihor,
proclaimed, “All things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it” (Alma
30:44). And to Enoch the Lord declared
that “all things bear record of me,”
including things “on” and “in” and “under” the earth (Moses 6:63).
Obviously, then, the
earth’s crust is not a deliberate or haphazard reassembly of planetary
remnants, but bears a clearly legible record of the handiwork of the Gods as
they prepared the newly-born earth so that it could ultimately sustain modern life.
We ask again, if our scientific methods of dating
are accurate, and if there was no death before the fall, and if it is unlikely
that our dinosaur fossils came from older worlds, how do we explain the
existence of dinosaurs?
In a previous article entitled, “The Three CreationAccounts,” I presented the reader with another difficult question that I had
been asking myself for years, which was: Why are each of our three creation
accounts (Moses/Genesis, Abraham, and the endowment) so different from one
another? How different are they? For starters, in the books of Moses and Abraham, light appears on day-1 of
the creation;[3]
however, in the endowment, light appears on day-3. And this is just one of the many differences
we find when we compare each account.
I first noticed this discrepancy while on my mission in
Washington D.C. Trying to reconcile the differences in my mind, I came to
the following conclusion: the endowment was given to Joseph Smith by
revelation,[4] so
that must be the most correct, and most reliable account we have.
It
goes without saying that if all three accounts were given by revelation, then
each account is true accurate and true. But how? Did light appear on day-1 (Moses), or on day-3
(endowment)? Was plant life placed on
the earth on day-3 (Moses) or on day-4 (endowment)?
These were the questions I began asking myself. Determined to find answers, I starting asking
the smartest people I knew. I first asked my bishop—a man who had previously been able to
successfully answer all of my other gospel questions (many of which were also
extremely difficult)—but unfortunately, he
did not know. I then asked my mission president,
a man well versed in all aspects of gospel doctrine, but he did not
know. I then asked a General Authority—one
of the Seventy who spoke to our mission during my stay in Washington D.C.—and he did not know. I even made an
appointment with the temple president of the Washington D.C. temple, but
unfortunately he did not know the answer either.
I then realized that if I was ever going to find answers to
this difficult question, I would have to find them myself. The day I got
home from my mission I started studying. I bought many books and studied
many articles written by the most learned LDS scholars and General Authorities
we have had in the church—all in an attempt
to find an answer to my difficult question.
Finally it happened. Not only did I find a book that
touched upon this very topic, but I found that the explanation given was more
than just satisfactory. In fact, it was extremely convincing and made
perfect sense.
As I read
further into this book, I was pleased to find that it also answered many
additional questions that I had had. One
of which, was how to explain the existence of dinosaurs. And as I found, these two questions were very
closely related. To answer one is to answer the other.
The book that I am referring to is, Earth in the Beginning, by Dr. Eric Skousen. In this book, Dr. Skousen, an LDS scientist, demonstrates through the scriptures (and backs it up with science), that the earth’s creation process was divided into three separate phases.
For the most part, according to Earth in the Beginning, our three creation accounts (Moses/Genesis, Abraham, and the endowment) each fall into one of these three creation phases. In short, Moses chapter 2 describes the first phase of creation, which was the earth’s spirit creation. The book of Abraham picks up where this spirit creation left off and describes the second phase of creation, which was the earth’s physical creation. Finally, the endowment, as well as Moses chapter 3, describe the third and final phase of creation, including the finishing touches of the earth’s physical creation and the placing of life on the earth. In other words, the three creation accounts we have are different because they are describing different phases of the earth’s creation.[5]
For those who are interested in the full explanation and references for these three creation phases, I will refer you to the book itself. However, here is a brief overview of Dr. Skousen’s findings:
That Moses chapter 2 is describing the earth’s spirit creation was made clear by the Lord, who said:
The book that I am referring to is, Earth in the Beginning, by Dr. Eric Skousen. In this book, Dr. Skousen, an LDS scientist, demonstrates through the scriptures (and backs it up with science), that the earth’s creation process was divided into three separate phases.
 |
| Earth in the Beginning By Dr. Eric Skousen |
For the most part, according to Earth in the Beginning, our three creation accounts (Moses/Genesis, Abraham, and the endowment) each fall into one of these three creation phases. In short, Moses chapter 2 describes the first phase of creation, which was the earth’s spirit creation. The book of Abraham picks up where this spirit creation left off and describes the second phase of creation, which was the earth’s physical creation. Finally, the endowment, as well as Moses chapter 3, describe the third and final phase of creation, including the finishing touches of the earth’s physical creation and the placing of life on the earth. In other words, the three creation accounts we have are different because they are describing different phases of the earth’s creation.[5]
For those who are interested in the full explanation and references for these three creation phases, I will refer you to the book itself. However, here is a brief overview of Dr. Skousen’s findings:
That Moses chapter 2 is describing the earth’s spirit creation was made clear by the Lord, who said:
I, the Lord God created all things, of which I have spoken [see
Moses chapter 2], spiritually, before they were naturally [or physically
created] upon the face of the earth (Moses 3:5).
What about the physical creation? Where is that
recorded? The physical phase of the creation is recorded in the book of
Abraham. What is interesting about the Abraham account is that it never mentions
plants or animal life as actually being placed on the earth. As we shall see,
these forms of life will be placed on the earth in the third phase of creation.
Instead, the Abraham account states that the earth was simply prepared to receive the various life
forms we find today.[6] For example, on day three of the Abraham
account, it states:
And
the Gods said: Let us prepare the earth to
bring forth grass…. And the Gods organized the earth to
bring forth grass (Abr. 4:11-12; emphasis added).
Notice that the earth does not receive grass during day
three of the Abraham account. Rather, the earth is prepared to bring forth
grass at a later date. This later date will occur in the third phase of
creation, which is given to us in the endowment and in Moses chapter 3. And
this trend is the same for all forms of animal life as well:
And the Gods said: Let
us prepare
the waters to bring forth abundantly the moving creatures that have life….
And the Gods prepared the waters that they might bring forth great whales, and
every living creature that moveth (Abr. 4:20; emphasis added).
And the Gods organized the earth to bring forth
the beasts after their kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that
creepeth upon the earth after its kind (Abr. 4:25; emphasis
added).
And so it goes.
During this second phase of creation, the earth never actually receives
the plant and animal life forms currently found on this earth. Rather, it is prepared to bring them forth at
a later date. The Abraham account is always future tense.
In the third phase of creation, however, the earth
actually receives these various life forms. The matter unorganized, or in other
words, the physical earth that is still unprepared to sustain life, is finally organized
to sustain all life forms that we see on the earth today. Once this
organization has occurred, plants, animals, and mankind (Adam and Eve) are
placed upon the earth. This is where Moses
chapter 3 picks up and where we learn about Adam and Eve.
So
how does all of this relate to dinosaurs?
 |
| T-Rex as portrayed in Jurassic Park (1993) |
[Doesn’t] a lengthy
preparation of the physical earth for modern life [i.e. millions and millions
of years] seem truly unnecessary? Why not have the earth born ready-made to
support modern life? The answer to this question is probably the same as the
question: Why not have each human being come into the world fully formed as an
adult? To answer one is to answer the other.
There are purposes, not all revealed nor understood, for the gradual
development and maturation of a planet.
These explanations are undoubtedly as complex as the incompletely
understood purposes for our gradual
development, learning and experiences as offspring of God.[8]
Therefore, it is quite possible that dinosaurs did
in fact live and die for millions and millions of years during this second
phase of creation. And their remains were instrumental in preparing the earth to,
one day, sustain the many life forms that we find today. Of this process, Dr. Skousen stated,
The dinosaurs, along with
many other extinct life forms, were members of the earth’s preparatory
ecological system…. These organisms chemically enhanced the atmosphere and
oceans, laid down the fuel and mineral deposits, and did much more to develop
the crust of the earth into what it is today.
During this [second]
creation [phase], the first parents of different preparatory life forms
[including dinosaurs], were transplanted to the earth as needed. At times they were removed or allowed to die
out, sometimes in great numbers and in a very short time interval.[9]
These life forms
were instrumental in preparing the newly-born physical earth to sustain the
life forms we find today. According to
the popular LDS website FAIR,
There is overwhelming archaeological evidence of death having occurred on
the earth for many millions of years. For example, oil deposits are formed from
the decomposed remains of ancient plants and animals.[10]
These oil deposits, for example, are a direct result
of this second creation phase. This means that the earth, during the second
creation phase, was able to sustain some
forms of life, such as dinosaurs and other extinct species that we have
discovered, just none of the life forms that currently live on the earth today.
So does this mean that there was in fact death on
the earth prior to the fall? Let us
return to Lehi’s statement and see if the above explanation from Earth in the Beginning contradicts this
particular scripture:
And now, behold, if
Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained
in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in
the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have
remained forever (2 Ne. 2:22).
Notice that Lehi does not say that there was no
death on the earth prior to the Garden of Eden.
What he said was that by the time Adam and Eve arrived in the Garden of
Eden, there was no death on the earth; and unless Adam transgressed, “all
things which were created [or brought to the earth during the third and final phase
of creation] must have remained in the same state in which they were after they
were created” (2 Ne. 2:22).
So is it really possible that death existed on our
earth sometime before the Garden of Eden was created for Adam and Eve? Elder James E. Talmage believed so. According to him, our earth was home to many
“plants and animals…[that] lived and died, age after age, while the earth was
yet unfit for human habitation.”[11] After
all, the concept of no death before the fall is not an official doctrine of the
Church. For example, Elder James E.
Talmage stated,
That there was no death
upon the earth prior to Adam’s fall is likewise declared to be no doctrine of
the Church.[12]
The key to
reconciling this death found on the earth with our understanding of the Garden
of Eden is Abraham chapter 5. After the
Lord finished the second phase of creation (after the dinosaurs and other
extinct creatures had lived and died for millions and millions of years), Abraham
tells us that the Lord “sanctified” the earth (Abr. 5:3). Once this occurred
and the earth was sanctified, it was then elevated to a state where there was
no more death. Dr. Skousen stated,
During the seventh [day
in the Abraham account], and before the earth was sanctified, the last living
remnants of these preparatory organisms [including dinosaurs] were removed from
the earth. However, the dead, processed and fossilized remains were not removed
since this would have robbed the earth of her crustal wealth and defeated the
very purpose for which the preparatory life had lived and died.[13]
Once the earth
was sanctified on day seven of the Abraham account, the third and final phase the
creation process began (reference endowment), and all the various forms of
plant and animal life that we find here on earth today were placed upon the
sanctified earth. This was the state Adam found them when he arrived in the
Garden of Eden. And had Adam not
partaken of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, each of these
various life forms would have “remained in the same state” that they were in when they were
originally placed in the Garden of Eden by the Lord (2
Ne. 2:22).
To purchase a copy of Dr. Eric Skousen's Earth in the Beginning from Amazon.com, click on the following link:
To purchase a copy of Dr. Eric Skousen's Earth in the Beginning from Amazon.com, click on the following link:
Notes:
[1] Kowalis, “Things of the Earth,” Brigham Young Magazine, (Winter
2000-2001), p. 38.
[2] Words of Joseph Smith, p. 60
[3] Moses
2:3-5; Abr. 4:3-5.
[4] Elder Franklin D. Richards of
the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said, “A Masonic Lodge...was established in
Nauvoo and Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Willard Richards, John Taylor, Lorenzo
Snow, Orson Hyde, F.D. Richards, and about 1000 others in all became
Masons. Joseph, the Prophet, was aware that there were some things about
Masonry which had come down from the beginning and he desired to know what they
were, hence the lodge. The Masons admitted some keys of knowledge
appertaining to Masonry were lost. Joseph enquired of the Lord concerning
the matter and He revealed to the Prophet true Masonry, as we have it in our
temples” (Larson, A Ministry of Meetings: The Apostolic Diaries of Rudger
Clawson, p. 42).
[5] Note that these
three phases are each divided into seven days, or more accurately, seven
unknown periods of time. (Journal of Discourses, p. 231).
[6] “[Abraham] reports that the
physical earth was prepared to
receive and sustain modern life forms.
But he doesn’t tell us specifically how
it was done” (Skousen, Earth in the
Beginning, p. 92).
[7] Journal
of Discourses,
p. 231.
[8] Skousen, Earth in the Beginning, p. 92.
[9] Skousen, Earth in the Beginning, p. 313.
[10] “Mormonism and science/Deathbefore the Fall,” Fair Mormon Answers, (03/18/2014).
[11] Talmage, “The Earth and Man,”
address delivered in the Salt Lake Tabernacle Sunday, Aug. 9, 1931, and printed
in the Deseret News, Nov.
21, 1931.
[12] James E. Talmage Journals, Vol. 29, p. 42 (April 7, 1931).
[13] Skousen, Earth in the Beginning, p. 313.