Creation is a crucial idea in LDS thought — we have shifted its meaning to suit a different cosmology, and its meaning remains in flux between the implications of our theology and what the rest of humanity understands. In LDS thought, not only is creation about using pre-existing materials (including us!) to create something new and something better, it is also something that each of us is learning. In this sense, we should cultivate the basic attitude needed to become creators — that of being creative.

The problem most LDS Church members today face, to some degree or another, is that our environment doesn’t see us as creators. Western culture and economics assumes that ‘creation’ is a job, something that you decide to learn how to do, and that values what you ‘create’ only by what products you produce that can be sold — so creativity itself isn’t valued, only the products it produces. In addition, our focus on economics has convinced many that only a few ‘talented’ people are ‘creators’. They believe that creativity is something you are born with, and can’t develop, in contrast to the LDS teaching that each of us have all the attributes of our Parents in embryo.

These assumptions seem in conflict with the gospel idea that we are all training to become creators like our Heavenly Parents. Maybe when we study about the creation we should keep this in mind. What can we learn about being creators — and about being creative — from the creation stories?

 

“By mine Only Begotten I created these things.”

The role of the Savior in the creation is also particular to LDS thought, connected as it is to the idea of the trinity and the nature of God. Here an unidentified LDS poet places the creation in the plan of salvation.

 

Eternity of Matter

by M. T.

Six thousand years ago, we’re told,

Deep Darkness brooded o’er the world;

All matter in confusion ran—

Unorganized, without a plan;

In all the vast expanse around

Naught of created good was found.

But lo! Jehovah’s word goes forth;

Behold, the elements are earth!

Yes from invisibles appear

A sight most beautiful fair;

This glorious earth in order stood,

And God, the Father, call’d it good.

When every thing is formed complete,

When beast and bird in praise unite,

With plants and flowers, spread far and near,

And lofty trees their branches rear;

To rule, direct, and dress the same,

From earth, is framed God’s image—man.

He strew’d a calm, delightful place

With flowers, and fruits of richest taste;

Of all these fruits, did He declare,

Thou mayest freely eat, and share;

All, save one tree, the which, the day

Thou eat’st thereof thou’lt surely die.

Man now enjoyed a paradise,

And oft, with God, talked face to face;

With all he was not satisfied;

But, tempted, ate the fruit-and died.

Thus, death was brought upon us all,

And all things curs’d thro’ Adam’s fall.

But now, what mercy doth appear?

Jesus, the Christ, to earth draws near;

He takes upon him sinful flesh,

Endures the curse of sin and death;

“Just for the unjust”—lo! he dies!

And, thus, the law he satisfies.

This is the glorious gospel plan,

Which brought salvation down to man;

And from the curse of sin restor’d,

The earth and all things to the Lord—

Who will, in His own time, restore

Creation, as it was before.

And, as the Savior burst the tomb,

To flourish in immortal bloom,

So will the resurrection’s power,

To an unchanging state, restore

The elements of which the earth,

From chaos, first was called forth.

1841

 

I am created in the image of God.

The LDS teaching that we are children of God brings with it the teaching that we have His undeveloped attributes, an expanded understanding of the Biblical teaching that we were created in the image of God. Here the LDS poet Josephine Spencer explores these attributes as the image of God.

 

God’s Image

by Josephine Spencer

If “God is love”—as Christ hath said—

It follows then by certain law—

Our every thought of love must draw

The presence of the great Godhead.

Our passions mar the perfect form

Of the Christ-spirit born anew

Within us, when temptation’s storm

And sin’s travail are battled through.

Hate is the curtain which we drape

Across the light that shines as gold—

And Love the tool with which we shape

Our image to the heavenly mould.

1892

 

Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God.

If we also have a Heavenly Mother, as LDS doctrine teaches, then is marriage part of the image we have of God? The teaching that marriage is celestial and sacred takes on new meaning when it is a relationship, or perhaps even an attribute, of God. This poem presents an idealized (in the though of 1851) understanding of what marriage should be.

 

Marriage

by M. Morton

Most sacred bond, celestial tie, cement of kindred minds!

Sweet union, patronized on high, where no harsh bondage binds!

Blest intercourse to heaven-born souls! ’tis their’s alone to prove:

Their names, by heaven’s high lows enrolled, are register’d above.

Sent here to meet by heaven’s blest will, their spirits sweetly blend;

Confiding truth their bosoms fill; their deeds to glory tend.

Thought meeting thought, no jars ensue: each will prevents the sane;

Each motive pure—affection true—no longer are they twain:

“While He, who rules by heaven’s design, the sceptre mildly sways,

She loves, reveres, with thought sublime, and cheerfully obeys.

Each other’s weal or woe they shore, nor know a selfish aim;

They learn to bear, and to forbear, nor e’er unkindly blame.

‘Tis true, a union so divine transcends a mortal’s ken,

Till the pure gospel light refine: faith can discern it then.

This is the power alone can bind on earth, that binds above;

Its precepts pure; its laws refined; its ultimatum, Love!

1851

 

I am responsible for caring for God’s creations.

If a marital relationship is an attribute of God, then what can we say about God’s relationship with the things He has created. Is His care limited to human beings? When we create something, what are our ethical responsibilities  to what we create? Is that different when what we create is a living being? Admiration for God’s creation and how it benefits human beings is a frequent topic of LDS poetry. Here the poet dares to ask “What for?” And whether we have a responsibility for how we treat “the scene.”

 

To Nature

by Guy Coleman

Just walk out into the fields

Where the flowers grow;

Feel the freshness of the air,

Feel the breezes blow.

 

Hear the humming of the bees,

Hear the waterfall,

Hear the twittering of birds,

Hear the woodland call.

 

See the flying clouds above,

See the butterflies.

In the beauty of them all

Nature’s power lies.

 

What for? Don’t you get the thought?

Think again; did you mar the scene, or not?

1915

 

God blessed and sanctified the Sabbath day.

While our clocks and calendar are based on the movements of the earth around the sun, since those were created by God these underlying structures are part of Nature. And Genesis then establishes the Sabbath day as something created by God—the one element of our calendar that is apparently unrelated to any natural phenomenon. Perhaps the week is not part of Nature, but it is part of the structure created by God, so perhaps God has a relationship to it like He does to Nature itself. In the following poem, Henry Naisbitt discusses our obligations to the Sabbath.

 

‘Tis Sabbath Day

by Henry W. Naisbitt

‘Tis Sabbath Day, and Sabbath school,

And happy children gather there,

To honor God’s eternal rule

Of Sabbath rest from worldly care.

 

And when they meet they drink the cup,

And eat the broken bread again,

In mem’ry of one lifted up—

A Savior once on Calv’ry slain.

 

Until He comes to earth again,

As King among His Saints to dwell,

These shall this sacred rite maintain,

‘Gainst all His foes, of earth or hell.

 

He is our Lord, our Savior He,

And we His gospel will revere;

So shall we claim His love and be,

True subjects of His kingdom here.

1880