Holy moly Whitney...You sure ask some great questions. Now, I need to let you know, some of the info I give you will be official chrch doctrine and some will be my opinion. I will do my best to tell you the difference. Also, you need to know that the answers I give you are not necessarily what I would tell a non-member. In all questions, you need to know who your audience is. Like the scriptures say "milk before the meat." Based on what I know about you and judging from some of our previous conversations, I believe you are passed the milk stage on most gospel subjects. Soooooo, with that introduction, let's bend our minds a little and look past the obvious and see if we can deduce some deeper doctrine on these subjects.
eek WhitneyMJ
God made many worlds. But did those worlds have saviors or was there only Jesus and they have scriptures that talk about a savior on another planet called Earth. I know they have the gospel, prophets, priesthood ect. but do they have the same gospel stories or there own stories and saviors ect. Ok, It is indeed true thet Jesus and our Father have created worlds without ends. The Savior is the Savior for this
entire universe. Nowhere in church doctrine is it stated that there are people living on other planets. I believe there are. You probably do. Most scriptural intellectuals do. However, it is not stated in church doctrine.
If there are other people on other planets, they need a savior as well. In my opinion, Jesus did what He did here on many other planets. It certainly makes His sacrifice even
more difficult to comprehend. You will not find any official doctrine on this subject. So, when discussing it with others, make sure you state that it is your opinion, and if they try to state that it is doctrine, ask them their source. If it comes from anywhere other than the Standard Works, or the First Presidency message from the Ensign, let them know that is not official church doctrine. (If you think I say that too much or refer to "official church doctrine" too often, I'm sorry. It is just a habit I've developed since becoming an apologist for the church.)
WhitneyMJ
The world is said to be 6,000 years old, but what about the dinosaur bones they have found here, that are millions of years old. I have a few theories; Ok, basically we have no idea how old the earth is. The general authorities don't really know and have given many different answers concerning this. The main reason 6000 years comes up is because of 6 dispensations. And many assume the millenium will be the last dispensation (and another 1000 years.) The truth is that the earth is much much older than 6000 years. Some church members don't believe dinosaurs existed because they're not spoken of in the Bible. That is just silly and it comes when information one has contradicts what they've been taught. We must have open minds and understand we know hardly anything. Our knowledge is so small concerning all the truth out there. We must be able to be willing to expand our minds and incorporate new truths with old teachings. The Israelites in the Old Testament had this problem. They had to be given such a basic law so that they wouldn't be confused. And then when the Savior didn't meet the ideas and pictures they had in their minds about their new "king", they killed Him rather than accept His teachings and admit that perhaps they had been wrong.
WhitneyMJ
1. It says god took parts of other worlds and put them together to make Earth, and maybe the bones were already on the parts they took over This idea has been perpetuated by W. Cleon Skousen. He has many followers (who are called Skousenites) but I am not one of them. He is famous for taking his own opinions and passing them off as scripture. However, if you come up against a Skousenite, it does no good to try to talk any sense into them. They cling to their beliefs about as strong as a Jehovah's Witness does. It does no good to argue with either.
Here is official church doctrine. God and Jesus Christ took matter yet unorganized and gathered the matter together to create a new world, our Earth. There is no official doctrine about taking parts from other planets. It doesn't matter what it says in the
official History of the Church or
Journal of Discourses. Neither of those are considered canonical. They are great to read when you have studied the church and are extremely solid on all aspects of the church. They certainly should not be read before a mission or before you have a thorough knowledge of the Book of Mormon, Bible, Pearl of Great Price and Doctrine and Covenants. They can be confusing and need to be read prayerfully and with someone who you can talk to about some of the concepts. Or, it is ok not to read them at all. However, Skousen has taken some bits and pieces and put together false teachings. He stated that Adam was taken from another planet to become the first person here. This is
COMPLETELY FALSE!!! But his followers will fight you to try and prove it true. Once you go through the Temple, it is very clear that this is not a true teaching!
WhitneyMJ
2. It says that it took god 7 days to make Earth, but we don't know exacually how long 7 days is to God. Days just represent periods of time. Each day could have been 100,000,000 years for all we know, and thats when the dinosaurs lived and died. Its all just way confusing I'd appreciate a few opinions. This is a great idea you have. Now, this is my opinion and not doctrine, but we all know God's time is not the same as ours. We have no idea how long Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden. Time had no meaning to them at that time. They could have been in there billions of years. God created the world in 6 days. They certainly weren't 24 hour days. Each day could have been 45 million years. I believe dinosaurs existed. I'm not sure how it all worked. But I don't believe God plays tricks and puts remains of an animal that never lived here just to confuse us.
So, you asked for a few opinions, and I gave you a few. You can take them or leave them. But please...ask more questions like this. I LOVE discussing the gospel, even if we don't know all the answers, it's fun to imagine and pool our collective resources. You have a great, inquisitive mind. Don't ever stop asking questions! That is the surest path towards intelligence, along with righteousness!
Great Questions!!!
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