Old Testament Lesson #3 The Creation

(Moses 1:27-42; 2-3)

THE HARMONY OF THE CREATION ACCOUNTS

There are three scriptural accounts of the Creation:  Genesis 1-2, Moses 2-3 and Abraham 4-5.  The same sequence takes place in all three.  (A fourth account of the creation, in the temple ceremony, puts the days in a different order, and Elder Bruce R. McConkie said the reason for that is obvious to any student of the gospel.  Except for me.  If you know, put it in a comment at the bottom!)  Moses and Abraham verify the truth of the King James Version, as well as clarifying it with additional information.  Some examples follow:

• Although Genesis uses the singular word "God" as the Creator of the earth, it switches to plural, letting us know it may have been a committee of gods. "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness"(Genesis 1:26).  In addition to revealing the story of the pre-earth existence and the plan of salvation, the Book of Moses gives a preface that clarifies who the Creators were.  "And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Moses, saying: Behold, I reveal unto you concerning this heaven, and this earth; write the words which I speak. I am the Beginning and the End, the Almighty God; by mine Only Begotten I created these things; yea, in the beginning I created the heaven, and the earth upon which thou standest" (Moses 2:1).  Abraham uses the plural all the way through: "And they went down at the beginning, and they, that is the Gods, organized and formed the heavens and the earth." (Abraham 4:1).
• Moses and Abraham both make it clear that the earth was not created from nothing; rather it was organized from existing matter.  "They, that is the Gods, organized and formed the heavens and the earth" (Abraham 4:1).
• Abraham and Moses emphasize that the creation was done by the power of God's word.
• While Genesis reads that each day was pronounced "good" by God, Moses reads that each day God said that all He had created so far was good, and Abraham reads, "The Gods saw that they were obeyed" (Abraham 4:10), giving us an interesting insight into what it is to be "good."
• Abraham uses the word "times" rather than "days."
• All three state that there was a plan first, a spiritual creation before the physical.  (See Gen. 2:5, Moses 3:5, Abr. 5:5.)

CREATIVITY IS A DIVINE CHARACTERISTIC

General Relief Society President Mary Ellen Smoot taught, "Creation is one of the characteristics that defines God.  He takes matter without form and molds it into stars, planets, and solar systems...Brothers and sisters, we are children of God.  Shouldn't we be about our Father's business?  Shouldn't we be creators as well?...The raw materials of creation are all around us.  President David O. McKay taught: 'Sculptors of life are we, with our uncarved souls before us...' Do we prize the gifts, talents, and choice spirits that God has given us?  Do we share the creations of our hearts, minds, and hands with others?"

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf said that creating contributes to our Heavenly Father's perfect happiness, and can increase our happiness as well. "The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul...Creation means bringing into existence something that did not exist before--colorful gardens, harmonious homes, family memories, flowing laughter...Try to see how many smiles you can create, write a letter of appreciation, learn a new skill, identify a space and beautify it...The more you trust and rely upon the Spirit, the greater your capacity to create.  That is your opportunity in this life and your destiny in the life to come...Trust and rely on the Spirit.  As you take the normal opportunities of your daily life and create something of beauty and helpfulness, you improve not only the world around you but also the world within you."

When we realize from the scriptural accounts that creating is reorganizing what we find or what we have into something better, we can see that every day, as we work to build the Kingdom of God, to raise our families, or to better the world around us by doing our daily work, we can be on a creating committee with Deity.  God has guided all good creations, and continues to do so, co-creating the Bible, the printing press, the lightbulb, the Internet, an effective Primary lesson, each individual infant, a spiritual home environment, a beautiful fireworks display, an inspiring Girl's Camp.  He guides us in how to create a spiritual giant out of a 12-year-old girl or an effective missionary out of a 19-year-old boy.  The account of the creation of the world teaches us that God's abilities are limitless.

FOLLOWING THE PATTERN OF THE CREATION
Despite the overwhelming disadvantage of functioning during the Great Apostacy, the translation of the King James Version of the Bible (see my previous blog entry), was successful because it followed a pattern similar to that used in the creation of the world.  We can use the same pattern for creating on a day-to-day basis:

1. Remember that Heavenly Father is able to create anything by the power of His word. (See Jacob 4:8-10.)  Stay worthy of the Gift of the Holy Ghost and He can counsel you as to what to create and how.  A feeling of great enthusiasm and drive for a project is how the Spirit often manifests itself, as it did to King James.  Relentless nagging thoughts about the importance of a particular work that you normally wouldn't want to do can also indicate a prompting of the Spirit.
2. With this divine guidance, make a plan and carefully evaluate it.  Spiritual creation always comes first.
3. Use a committee if appropriate and possible.  King James enlisted 47 great men, and sought the insight and aid of any learned man in the country of England.
4. Trust in the Lord and follow through on the inspiration given to you.  Don't hesitate or be afraid.  Knowing you have never done it before, thinking it is beyond your ability, or realizing you don't know how, are all irrelevant because "[you] can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth [you]" (Philip. 4:13).
5. Pause to evaluate along the way, and seek the opinions of others.  After every segment of God's creation, he paused and said his work was "good."  Every chapter of the King James Bible was translated by multiple people and reviewed by multiple committees to make sure it was the very best it could be.
6. At the end of the creation, God looked it over and pronounced it "very good."  The King James translators wrote a lovely dedication to their work, which follows the title page of the Bible.  When you reach the outcome of your inspired project, stop, look it over, and rejoice in it.  Whether it is a home repair, a musical performance, a Primary lesson, or a conversation with a new friend, go over in your mind what went well, and thank Heavenly Father for allowing you to jointly create with Him.  This will make you more likely to succeed the next time. 

Sources:  Mary Ellen Smoot, Ensign, May 2000; Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Ensign, November 2008.

The Amazing King James Translation

THE CREATION OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE

Did you know that in the 1300s, British farmers would pay a wagonload of hay to rent a hand-written English copy of the Bible for one hour, or to purchase just a few sheets of the manuscript? (1)  So great was their hunger for the gospel light that many were willing to do this, even knowing that if they were caught reading they might be burned at the stake with their Bible manuscripts hanging about their necks!  This first English translation of the Bible was done by John Wycliffe, with the aid of some associates. 

John Wycliffe

John Wycliffe saw that the leaders of the Church of England were not following the teachings of the Bible and were leading the common people astray. He felt the people deserved to be able to read the truth for themselves. The church leaders, on the other hand, said it was as dangerous to let a layperson read the scriptures, as it would be to give a toddler a knife and allow him to cut his own bread. So Wycliffe was imprisoned as a heretic for five years. He worked himself to death on his manuscript, and died December 31, 1382. The church authorities later dug up his bones, burned them, and scattered them in the river, feeling sorry at having missed their chance to execute him. (2)

William Tyndale

A hundred years later, William Tyndale also wanted to give the common people a Bible they could read for themselves.  Almost all of Wycliffe's Bibles had been burned, some of them with people attached, and England had returned to the same state it had been in previously.  The church leaders were the only ones who could read the Bible, and they didn't follow it.  In fact, the Bishop of Gloucester surveyed 311 church leaders in his diocese and found that 168 of the 311 did not know all Ten Commandments, 31 couldn't tell him where the commandments came from, and 40 not only couldn't repeat the Lord's Prayer, they didn't even know who had said it.  By now, Gutenberg had invented the printing press and published the Latin Vulgate Bible on it.  The invention of the printing press dramatically lowered the cost of books, making them available to a broader portion of the population.  Tyndale translated the Bible into the common vernacular, something that he hoped any plow boy could read and understand.  He had to leave England and do his work in Germany to preserve his life.  He smuggled his Bibles back into England.  People had an insatiable craving for these books, even knowing that they might be hunted down, excommunicated, imprisoned, tortured, or even burned at the stake for possessing them.  Tyndale himself was finally betrayed by one of his closest friends, and was executed October 6, 1536, by being strangled and then burned.  His final words were, "Lord, open the King of England's eyes!"

His prayer was answered.  Henry VIII's new wife Anne Boelyn liked the idea of an English Bible, and gradually the notion became more popular until several different English versions of the Bible were circulating through several monacharies.

Anne Boelyn

THE KING JAMES TRANSLATION

In 1603, James, the King of Scotland, also became King of England.  King James loved the Bible, and himself had translated parts of it into English.  In every letter he wrote, he quoted scripture.  The suggestion was made to him that the present Bible translations had too many mistakes to teach the truth well and it should be retranslated.

King James

King James loved the idea!  He was so excited about it that he immediately drew up a detailed plan about how the work could be accomplished.  He carefully selected men from all different walks of life and religions, all of whom were the most honorable, knowledgeable, and Christ-like people he could find.  They were great and good men who had spent their lives trying to bring people to Christ in various ways in their own denominations.

47 men organized into six groups did the translation at the three great colleges, Westminster, Cambridge, and Oxford.  James was not a rich king and really couldn't afford to pay them much, so the colleges donated room and board for the translators.  Each group took a section of the Bible.  Each man in each group translated each chapter, then they compared and combined their translations.  Each book was then sent to the five other committees for their review.  Any learned man in the country of England could be called upon to assist.  The bishops of the land were instructed to inform their congregants of the project and solicit help from any who felt they had some special linguistic knowledge.  The translators worked diligently and carefully to find, not just the most accurate translation, but the one that carried the deepest meaning in the most beautiful way.  For example, the 23rd Psalm could have been translated, "The Lord is my shepherd, therefore I lack nothing."  Instead they chose the beautiful phrase we have all come to love:  "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want."

The King James Version was the first Bible translation to have a table of contents, a map of the Holy Land, chapters and verses, and summaries of the chapters.  It took eight years for the 47 men to complete the work, and several of them had died before 1611 when it was done.

Quoting a scholar of the Bible, Geddes MacGregor:  "[The King James Translation] has been in life and death the guide of a billion hearts and minds.  It has taught, consoled, enlightened, civilized and disciplined millions who have read little else.  It has...astonished the learned, and formed the characters of those who have led."

181 years after the KJV was first printed, Alexander Geddes, a Roman Catholic Priest and translator, wrote, "If accuracy, fidelity, and the strictest attention to the letter of the text, be supposed to constitute the qualities of an excellent version, this of all versions, must, in general, be accounted the most excellent.  Every sentence, every word, every syllable, every letter and point, seem to have been weighed with the nicest exactitude; and expressed...with the greatest precision." (3)

For a nice 3-minute video by the Church on the William Tyndale, go to either Mormon Messages on YouTube, or the Church's website and search for the video "The Blessings of Scripture."  I apologize for not being able to link it directly.

For another great article on the King James Bible go to the August 2011 Ensign.

Sources: 
(1) Robert J. Matthews, "A Bible! A Bible!" Ensign, January 1987;
(2) Lenet H. Read, "How the Bible Came to Be: Part 7," Ensign, August 1982;
(3) Dr. Laurence M. Vance, A Brief History of the King James Bible, excerpts found at http://www.av1611.org/kjv/kjvhist.html;