THE BIRTH OF THE EARTH, page 27 Chapter 3 of Mysteries of Creation by Ogden Krau

      Chapter 3

THE BIRTH OF THE EARTH

Something Out of Nothing?

How was our solar system created? Both scientists and religionists have expressed several different views; however, the scientists have probably made more accurate conclusions than most of the modern religionists. The Prophet Joseph Smith explained why:

You ask the learned doctors; why they say the world was made out of nothing; and they will answer, “Doesn’t the Bible say He created the world?” And they infer, from the word create, that it must have been made out of nothing. Now, the word create came from the word baurau which does not mean to create out of nothing; it means to organize; the same as a man would organize materials and build a ship. Hence, we infer that God had materials to organize the world out of chaos–chaotic matter, which is element, and in which dwells all the glory. Element had an existence from the time he had. The pure principles of element are principles which can never be destroyed; they may be organized and re-organized, but not destroyed. They had no beginning, and can have no end. (TPJS, pp. 350-352; DHC 6:309)