Genesis 6:8-22

Noah is told to build the ark in this chapter and he is given specific instructions by the Lord. There are reasons why the Lord is destroying every "flesh" because the earth was filled with violence and "all flesh" was corrupt before Him. Those two reasons are given in verses 12 and 13. I think the Lord has plenty of reason to destroy it all again in our days but he made a covenant that He will not do that until the end comes and it will not be with water this time. Many people discredit the story of the ark but we believe in it and our church may end up standing alone on this one day. The Council of Christian Churches has decided I believe in 1941 in Chicago that this story is as much a fantasy to teach good principles as it is the stories o tell kids that start with "once upon a time." But there are many Christian researchers out there that work hard to show us how it was all possible.

I am not going to use the time here to prove that 16,000 varieties of animals could have been gathered, or even answer the question "How did the Kangaroo hopped his way from Australia to where Noah was?" - well, that is easy so I will: the earth was not divided in continents the way it is today. The Kangaroo may be eating outside of Noah's house all day as far as I am concerned. But there are many amazing questions that can be answered, even questions we don't think about like how fish and plant survived, and how they managed animal waste, how the fed them properly, and such, how they were gathered. It is amazing and if one believes in God one can easily see the possibilities here.

There is no question in my mind that the Lord can do anything He wants, even instruct animals to do this and that so Noah did not have to do all the work one does at the zoo today. The good thing about this story is that, such like the story of the sea parting so people could cross to the other side stepping on dry land, it shows the power of God and it sifts the unbeliever from the believer. This is a story not less mind boggling and prone to be questioned than the reality of the Book of Mormon or the fact that Jesus brought to life a man that was dead for four days already. We either believe in God and His miracles or we don't. If we don't we can pray and get answers from Him. Too many choose to just ignore Him and it is a sad day in the life of a person when that happens. Even those who are praying always, reading scriptures and serving God's children now and then forget that God is there and stupid things. The world calls for open minds and so does the Lord.

What is in this story of building an ark this long and this wide and putting animals inside? What is practical for me today in the fact that the Lord got tired of all creatures and not just men? I think the more important thing it not just the fact that the Lord does get fed up with us, that eventually he may get ticked off of our games, but that he loved his creation so much that He decided to clean the house. He chose this man because according to the scripture Noah "was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God." There is always someone good in the midst of all the filth and the trash we see around us in this world. When Noah was born Adam was still alive. Adam probably knew what was going on and was very saddened by his posterity. He remembered the garden of Eden. He probably regretted the way he handled things and went back to God after his death, prior to the flood, wondering why this and why that. Eve who was so happy with the birth of this and that child probably cried bitter tears when she saw so many of his descendants who were giants, who were men of renown, to the things they were doing. She probably cried many times to see her daughters being promiscuous as they became that the Lord would decide to wipe out everyone, good and bad in one flood except Noah and his wife, and his three sons with their wives: 8 people in total.

What I learn is that even the Lord had to evaluate what was going on around and take some action. We must do the same. We can surely look at our life and see the mess that it is and start gathering only the good things in one place and cause a flood to get rid of all that is corrupt and violent that is in our heart, in our life. We get baptized and that is a flood but every week we can bring those waters back upon us through the Sacrament. Every week we can make an auto analysis and and inventory of all that is bad in our life and all that is good and keep what is good in a big place in our heart and let the Lord cleanse everything around us.

The idea of a weekly flood is not the only thing that comes to my mind. Noah did not do all that in one day and it was not easy. We can only imagine the people mocking him for building an vessel that big in the middle of nowhere. He had very good sons because they helped him in this endeavor. I don't think they invited others to help because there would be no reward for them. The craftsmanship necessary had to be in them or the Lord helped them learn fast. In any case they had to use their hands to make this all possible. We too expect the Lord to save us from a flood of filth and temptations but too often are not willing to build the ark and patch every single opening with pitch, inside and out. We must meditate on this, and think if we really do what it takes to have the peace and protection we expect in our lives.

It is easy to discredit some stories in the scriptures for our own convenience, so we can continue the same us from day to day. But we know better and we must give these scriptures a chance to teach and mold us. Let's try that today. It is very easy to see the evils in our life, but if we concentrate we will see the goodness within. Why not make a list like Noah made of the living creatures he was going to protect and work on keeping the good things in us alive and pray that the Lord bring forth a flood for us, a flood of forgiveness and love, a flood of the power of the atonement and peace like only He can give us peace. Then in the midst of the storms of life we too will be safe like Noah and his children were... and we too will make a covenant with the Lord to serve him with a new heart as we all should.

Genesis 6:1-7

Genesis 6:1-7
This is the introduction to the story of the flood. I am not sure of the genetic conditions of the children of Adam and Eve were (remember that the brothers and sisters were intermarrying and although we know that is illegal nowadays they did not have an option. After a while it was among cousins (something we have in the family) and then the thing got less "weird" as we think of it today. The Lord had to come up with races and I think at that time too there were good and bad people because the decisions of the children of Adam and Eve were based on moral agency just like today. The Lord did not have a people he forced into righteousness and will never have. He can send prophets and he can show himself to some people, but he will not force them to be sons of God or sons of the world.

So, in these verses we read about the sons of God taking for "wives" the "daughters of men." We must always be careful with that work because even in Portuguese we say "woman" for "wife" and that could be the case. The Lord got very upset with this trend because these good guys were seeing that the daughters of men (worldly women in my opinion) were "fair" (in our words - hot!) and it says there that the guys were actually giants and the children of these unions were the "mighty men which were of old, men of renown."

The problem with this very tall guys is that they became very bad indeed. Verse 5 says that the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his (man's) mind were only evil continually. I think there are lots of people like this in our days. They imagine all sorts of garbage and put those things in the internet and we bump into those things sometimes, it defiles our minds, and then we have to forget those images. Some people search for them, as if they needed more temptation and then they complain that Satan do not leave alone. We must not be like these people of that past, the mighty man of renown who were doing anything that came to their minds. That is how people act today. We must stay away from what they offer so we are not tempted to become like them. Moral agency does not mean to anything your imagination can come up with. There is good and bad in this world. There is no neutrality. We must choose that which is right and be "the children of God" not the "children of men."

Verses 6 and 7 shows us a God that we don't think of too often. In Lost in Space, the series of the 60's, Dr. Smith becomes like a God all silver and he has all the knowledge of the Universe, but that god envisioned by the directors of the series, I remember well, was without feeling. That is how too many people envision Heavenly Father. To them he is so up there above us in knowledge and feelings that he does not have emotions. I think in their minds it helps him be so forgiving because nothing makes him sad or angry. Those are probably feelings associated with this life only. We learn that there is eternal joy out there. So, no one will ever be sad again and that is heaven. Well, read this:

"6 And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
7 And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and best, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them."

I don't think the Lord has to repent of anything and I think there is a problem of translation here. In Numbers 23:19 it says:

"19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should brepent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?"

So, the fact that he repented of creating man does not mean what we understand of repentance. It is more like regret, sadness, as he "grieves" at his heart. Can you see God sad? I can see Him sad right here! I can see that he has a heart and it hurts when he sees the debauchery and the lack of morals of our generation, all that people are doing in secret places and in the open specially regarding chastity which was the case that made the Lord bring in the flood and pour down fire from heaven on places like Sodom and Gomorra: man with woman, man with man, woman with woman, child molestation, bestiality, you name it. People do what comes to their imagination and if it is not in their imagination they will go see porn videos and learn about more evil things to do and there is no end. They will read about these things to have an "open mind" and they will listen people talk about these things as if they were normal. They will not only "open the mind" they will open it to all sorts of garbage and close it to that which is holy and pure, chaste and acceptable to the Lord. They try to legalize their filth and they hurt God right in the heart, cause him pain and sadness.

I see God angry, I see Him wanting to destroy everything down below. The lack of gratitude and the disrespect is everywhere and we to certain levels contribute to His pain. We must realize that Heavenly Father is a person, not a clown or a puff of smoke or the product of men's imagination to scare us so we don't have a lot of fun. He is there and one day we will see Him face to face and understand all this, how we got a certain job, why we got hurt or why we have everything we want or nothing in this life. Bu until then, let's remember that Heavenly Father is a father, a man who wants us happy and will work with us until we get that eternal happiness He so wishes we accept in this life.

Genesis 5:1-32

This is one of those chapters that I usually don't like because it is just "this guy lived so many years and begat that guy, and that guy lives these many years and begat the other guy" and so on. It seems not like much to learn on this. Let's see what is going on though. Moses wrote it for a reason beyond making the connection between the Hebrews and Adam. This little Genealogy is actually an introduction to Noah's story. The flood was a fact by the time Moses is writing this and many civilizations accounted for it. He is introducing us to the family of mankind before the flood. Seth, the guy that looked just like Adam, was born when Adam was 130 years old (we saw that yesterday.) Adam dies in this chapter here, at age 930.

Do you remember when the Lord told him that the day he ate of the fruit he would surely die and the snake told Eve it was not true? Peter said:

"But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." 2 Peter 3:8

In the Book of Abraham we read this explanation of facsimile number 1 by the Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr.:

"Kolob, signifying the first creation, nearest to the celestial, or the residence of God. First in government, the last pertaining to the measurement of time. The measurement according to celestial time, which celestial time signifies one day to a cubit. One day in Kolob is equal to a thousand years according to the measurement of this earth, which is called by the Egyptians Jah-oh-eh."

So, if one day for the Lord is 1,000 for us, then Adam died at about 10:30 p.m. of the day he ate of that fruit in a 24 hour day count starting the day the moment he ate of it (if we were in Kolob.) They don't say when Eve actually died but since the last son of Adam that we hear about was Seth (and they probably had more but Seth was very important) then we know Eve was around at least until after 3 a.m. The Lord was not telling a lie. Adam died the day he ate of the fruit.

But that is not the only interesting thing we learn. By the time Adam died Noah had already been born in preparation for the flood. Adam survived all these direct descendants: Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch (this is the Enoch we talk about whose city was Zion and they are with God), Methuselah, Lamech, Noah (well, he died when Noah was young and we can tell the exact age of Noah if we want to.)

The way Moses did it is by overlapping the age and the birth and death of the patriarchs. He tells that one patriarch had a child (the other patriarch) at a certain age and then tells when the father of that child died. This makes a perfect overlapping and we can tell with certainty that the flood happened in the year 1656 from the time Adam's years start counting. When I was in my mission I decided to make a chart and a family tree for these guys and it was fun to see all this.

As for one the one who lived the longest, it was not Adam of course, it was the son of Enoch (who stayed behind when Zion and all were taken up to the sky): Methuselah - he lived to be 969 years old. He is important because according to the Prophet Joseph Smith, this guy and Abraham were the ones who found the planet Kolob. Kolob is proof that of the whole Universe and beyond, God resides not too far from us. It also proves that the creation was talking about our known Universe, actually our sun and moon and the stars we see. This earth is bound to be the celestial residence of all the gods generated by the generations of Adam through the atonement, through us following the rules and reaping the blessings of obedience.

I think what is good for us is to know that the promises of the Lord are sure even the bad stuff like "you will surely die" if you eat of the fruit that is the middle of the garden of your life. It is also true that this whole world and the stars and the seasons, will bring people here and take them back to the dust one day, like it did with the patriarchs before and after the flood, like it does with the ones we love and the strangers out there. It is true that we have a purpose, that this is a special planet among many, and that our life, as long as it seems, is but minutes to the Lord. All that matters so much to us daily in the end is easy for the Lord to forgive, forget and make it right. Like they say, in the end it is going to be OK, no matter how hard things look like. If we but learned this lesson alone we would be a lot happier. I think the Lord sent prophets and patriarchs to this earth from the beginning so we would never forget that truth: that we are here that we may have joy, that we may also have immortality and life eternal.

Genesis 4:24-31

This is the sixth day of creation. It encompasses the creation of animals in general and of man. The woman was probably created in this phase too, but that is discussed on the next chapter. I think the creation of Eve was on that day because the record will go back into a summary of the whole creation and tell in detail how Adam came to be, and how he named the animals and was alone and the Gods do their work with the rib and all that. But that could have taken some time. I am not sure and it does not matter. What happens here and what it is said is what we should reflect upon and see how it applies to us.

Before I go on about the creation of the animals and DNA stuff, let me just remind to all that Adam named the animals. That said, we cannot in any manner believe that the first man was a cave man. He was not illiterate, he was not conversed with God, he was not stupid. Adam was noble and intelligent, a prophet of God, a man who knew more than we usually think of him. To him was given power over all creatures and we are dominant in this planet not by accident, but by a divine command. The Bible as incomplete as it is talks some about him because it is what Moses wrote here (at least the first five books are attributed to him) but don't think that Moses did not have at his disposal books that were once considered sacred and existed that we no longer have available either because they were not preserved or because they were not included in the Bible to start with. Remember that what we read was carefully selected in the 4th century and some books like the book of Enoch was left out. If Adam was intelligent enough to name the animals, why would he not keep records of his own life experience and the revelations from God to him? Good question right? Because it makes sense! You will not find writings of the first man on the walls of a cave but in scrolls, and that man was Adam.

It says here that the Gods said "let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind." I think the wording is important. It says that the earth would bring forth living creatures of different kinds. And through the whole description of the creation in the Bible we see that the animals, plants, birds, and fish were controlled closely by DNA so they would not mix. Each one would produce and multiply within their own boundaries. Life sprang from life and no accident brought them to existence.

Biology teachers bend to evolutionism all the time in which the theory is that life springs spontaneously of nothing. Bio-genesis which was predominant before evolutionism explains that life comes from life only. Pasteur proved that and in Biology college classes. Biology classes now, ironically, have the same teachers say that life comes from nothing. In an article by Bert Thompson, PhD. (an apologist of the Bible), he quotes Nobel Prize winner George Walt who made a very good point:

"As for spontaneous generation, it continued to find acceptance until finally disposed of by the work of Louis Pasteur—it is a curious thing that until quite recently professors of biology habitually told this story as part of their introductions of students to biology. They would finish this account glowing with the conviction that they had given a telling demonstration of the overthrow of mystical notion by clean, scientific experimentation. Their students were usually so bemused as to forget to ask the professor how he accounted for the origin of life. This would have been an embarrassing question, because there are only two possibilities: either life arose by spontaneous generation, which the professor had just refuted; or it arose by supernatural creation, which he probably regarded as anti-scientific (1972, p. 187)."

There are many things students don't ask their biology teachers. A theory that is flawed from the very beginning is taught as law where law actually is found in bio-genesis only. Unfortunately I will not discuss the whole thing about the two. Dr. Bert states it very well when he quotes the verses of life coming from life:

"Other passages throughout Scripture (e.g., Leviticus 11:13-19) continue to stress that life comes only from life, and that “of its kind.” The law of bio-genesis states exactly that. This fundamental law of science is the basis for all that we do in biology and biology-related fields—from hybridization research to genetic engineering. Scientists and non-scientists alike recognize the truthfulness of this law, which knows no exceptions. Ask any farmer what he expects to get when he plants wheat seeds, and he will tell you he expects to reap wheat—not corn, or tomatoes."

The greatest contradiction I find is the fact that Pasteur proved that the alchemists were wrong, that what mythology had taught until then was a lie, and that life comes only from life and not spontaneously and then they all (the stupid teachers) start teaching of big bang and butterflies and elephants coming up by accident in an evolutionary process that is not a bit less ridiculous than mythology itself. Natural selection, species going away with time, yes, beings growing extra fingers, fangs, and wings spontaneously even in a trillion years... yeah right! Here is a little thing about Pasteur that we should all know:

Louis Pasteur is considered the founder of microbiology and a chief contributor to modern medicine. Louis was a chemist; and even though he had no medical degree, he made a major impact on saving lives through his work with microbes (tiny organisms). He was born in 1822 in Dole, France and grew up in Arbois. His early teachers thought that Louis was not fit for advanced studies, he was slow yet methodical and persistent. He was also a good artist. Louis became a professor at different schools and went on to research. He worked with organic crystals and fermentation but for our study it is his opposition to Spontaneous Generation that matters in this study. Even though it was controversial, Louis took on the question of whether spontaneous generation (life from non-life) or biogenesis (life comes from life) was true.

Louis decided to repeat the experiments of Redi and Spellanzani and create his own to answer objections of critics. When he was asked if he believed in evolution, he said, “no.” Pasteur questioned the theory of evolution, because Darwin did not base his ideas on experimental proof. Louis said, “Do not put forward anything that you cannot prove by experimentation.” Among other things we got from him what we call now Pasteurization : Louis discovered that heating foods such as wine, beer or milk to 135 degrees F. destroyed the dangerous microbes without ruining the flavor. He studied why the silkworms in France were affected by diseases and how they were transmitted. This led to the basic rules of sterilization which revolutionized medicine. Contagious Diseases: Louis discovered three bacteria: staphylococcus, streptococcus and pneumococcus. He developed vaccines against chicken cholera, anthrax, swine erysipelas, and rabies. Pasteur died in 1895 (the year my grandfather was born!) and is considered to be one of the greatest scientists of all time. Rene Vallery Radot, Pasteur's son-in-law said that absolute faith in God and in eternity were feelings which filled Louis Pasteur's whole life.

To think that life sprung beautifully from the hands of Gods that create them all over the universe is a beautiful vision. To know that I am noble and the greatest creation of the universe is even better. Man was the last creation... actually women (they say that after created man God leaned that something went wrong and then made it right and created the woman... I guess it is right... the experience made the creation perfect!) So, here we are with a huge variety of species of insects, animals, fish, birds, microorganisms and all. Some became extinct. Some with stronger genes survived and the weaklings of their kind are long gone. But for sure, nothing came from nothing.

I think the same is with what we do with our life. We will not be complete out of nothing. We have the basis of life, what our parents gave us in their own imperfection, and our experiences growing up and what we made of ourselves cannot be out of chance. A great person does not suddenly happen. A good brother or sister is not an accident and good parents do not just happen. We can also copycat the Gods and use what we have to crate something beautiful, have a life of service and use all the Jesus taught to make our life something we can look back and say that it was good. The creation process took a long time and there were earthquakes and toxic rain but in the end a lot of good things came from that. Our life is full of things that happen left and right and Christ's atonement teaches us that we can get all these good and bad experiences and move forward with new hope everyday, that we can indeed create something beautiful out of our own life experience. It is a matter of faith in what He says, in his mission, in his promise of mercy and forgiveness, hope that there is a place in the eternities where all this will mean a lot and at the same time not much, and charity which is the pure love of Christ, that makes us like God, extending a helping hand to those in need, forgetting our selves and in the process fining ourselves.

The creation was huge and so is our life. We minimize our vision when we think of ourselves only and that is the greatest challenge in this life. The moment we expend we can do great things. Let's think about this. Let's create something good, a life that can be celebrated in the end. Creationism preaches perfection came by accident. That is as diabolic as anything that can be said to take people out of the true straight and narrow path to perfection. We should not live our lives and expect that by accident we will produce anything beautiful. It takes years to perfect the art of sculpting to come up with something like the Pieta. It takes a lifetime and a lot of wrinkles to become a Mother Theresa of Calcutta. We must live life purposely and not let it just happen. We can create someone beautiful in every aspect if we stop believing in big bangs and go back to God. If we act for ourselves instead of being acted upon as we are taught in LDS doctrine we can make our life something we can look back and truly say, as God said here: it was good.

Genesis 1:20-23

This description goes along with what science to a certain point gets it right: that life comes from the sea or from water first. Also, according to today's knowledge of what they think the dinosaurs were (more like birds than lizards) it was birds that came along with the fish, not lizards. Moses mention "great whales" which in those days was a way to indicate huge creatures of the ocean.

Some Darwinist people at BYU claim that Darwin never said that men came from apes, but that we all have common origins. We have to be careful as to how far we will go after that concept though. Moses is not saying how animals and men were created, only that they were and had a purpose. So, science can try to play a part for our intellect and try to explain something there. We just have to be careful not to think that theories are laws. There are times that science get it right and times when it does not. To this day we call Darwin's ideas a "theory" and as such it does not have any more weight than what was taught before in school if we are to argue what is proven or not, than what the Bible says. The school system that forces us to recite that theory should let us recite the other too (if in fact we are to consider the Creation not truth but theory.) Instead, they removed teaching creationism totally from schools and push Darwinism (theory, not law, not certainty) down everyone's throat.

I think the agreat reason one would distort Darwin's theory of evolution to say that we indeed came from apes and that is a fact, is to say that Adam never existed. If the story of Adam were not true, then all that we read in Genesis would be a myth, a legend like the Romans and Greeks had. If that were true then Jesus would be an impostor because he and his disciples preached atonement, that Jesus was rescuing us from the fall of Adam. Darwin did reject God at one point in his life, but it was because of the death of his mother, and not because he thought he knew more than the Bible.

So, here we are: maybe natural selection exists. We do believe that men can go from walking standing to walking curved, from knowing how to make pyramids to beggars and illiterate. We believe in language being corrupt and going nonexistent at all - the opposite of evolution. Natural selection makes sense and maybe the creatures that are being mentioned in this first phase of creation, some of them, are long gone. Maybe a meteor did hit the planet and it went through the ice age and all that. Moses is not writing this to give a scientific description of how the planet came about, but as an introduction to the creation of men and that we are not an accident of a big bang - that we have a purpose, that there is a God, and that it all starts with a plan. Our world is not an accident, the fish, birds and animals, and the plants, oceans, and rivers are not accidents. This is an introduction to the message that we are part of a huge plan of exaltation.

I think that this is also a testimony that there is life out there, that like they say in Contact, "if we were the only ones in the universe it would be an awful waste of space." The chances that other "accidents" like this one happened are smaller than the chances that evolved (exalted) creatures work constantly and make life possible here and there. The US National Academy of Science published a booklet preaching evolution as if it was not a theory anymore but I found a nice refute to all their claims in this article for those who have time and want to read it:

Refute to N.S.A.

I loved this idea that I found in the internet too: a museum of the creation process with dinosaur exhibits and all. They explore the creation as told in the Bible and I think it is amazing!!! I plan to visit this place one day. Here goes:

The Creation Museum

But what is the practical thing for me with the creation of fish and fowl? The Lord created them and said: "be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth." He also said that God saw that it was good (he is always giving his opinion on the matter... I like it!) This is the first time that "be fruitful and multiply" appears in the Bible. This is usually connected with procreation and the animals follow the natural laws and are obedient to God unlike humans who, as they listen to Satan, use that power for leisure and profit (pornography) and perversions of all kinds (incests, same-sex, animals, etc.) We must understand that we think sentient life is only human, that a cat or a dog cannot "obey" God, that rocks and river cannot "obey" God and such. But on the contrary to that thought, the Bible says that all creatures were praising God in Revelations and other prophets that did see animals worshiping God. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that the Earth is a living thing and obeys the laws applied to "her." The earth had its "baptism" during the flood which happened around a moment of ripened sin on its surface. The "death and resurrection" of the earth will happen eventually and we believe it will receive its paradisaical glory as in one of the articles of faith. The Lord "commanded" the waves and the wind and they "obeyed." Let's not fool ourselves. All around us there are creatures and elements that obey and unless we learn to do that, we may be considered not fit for the kingdom.

The difference between the elements, the animals and such and us is that we have the same structure and conscience of the Gods. We are bound to be Gods if we learn to give in to Heavenly Father's will. If we can show Him that He can trust us we can be endowed with His powers and create and make worlds without end. He wants to "recruit" us to this process but we are busy sometimes watching TV shows. That is OK as long as we know which way we are going and if we must choose between home teaching, missionary work, family history, and some worldly activity, we will choose the divine.

Maybe creationism, or the concept of the creation is hard for some of us to imagine but evolutionism should be hard to believe too - that is a theory of chances, ours is a theory of knowledge, of people that witnessed the process from God, the words of prophets. I have seen miracles enough in my life to believe that there is a God and I would rather believe that a man like Moses, Abraham, or Joseph Smith knows better about the creation that a kid that went to school and speaks pretty knows more than them. In the end, evolutionism does not create atheism but paganism... in the end, it is all part of the devil's work in this world to turn us into animals with brains to disobey so we can do things contrary to our divine nature.

I think the application of this part of the creation process for me is that I must be fruitful and that does not have to be procreate more, but be fruitful in doing more things that bless my life and that of other people. We can be more productive and more obedient and like the fish, enjoy peace, and like the birds... fly high.

Genesis 1:14-19

Let's see what the Lord is doing here: day and night, seasons, days and years, the sun and the moon - sounds to me that the Gods are making sure that the planet is rotating around the sun properly and that the moon is rotating around the planet properly. Now we have days, months, years, spring, summer, fall, and winter. We also have the tides. He makes sure the atmosphere is clear and there are not too many clouds so the stars can be seen (they will be used for guidance and directions and for romance.) He reemphasizes the importance of the sun and the moon: to rule the day and night and to divide light from darkness. The Gods are making sure that time will pass for us. It is the introduction of that clock ticking which is not a problem for them, just for us. Can you imagine time not being of essence? Can you imagine moving back and forth in time if needed? In this galaxy, in this planet, time was to pass in measurements of seconds, minutes, hours, days, years, centuries, etc... and we would have a time appointed to be here. The rotations of these elements is very important, the distances between moon and earth, and sun and earth, of utmost importance because in short time man would be introduced and then fall and then time will start ticking.

This is the last part of the macro-creation process. So far the Gods were concentrating on the body of the planet itself and its position and rotation in the Universe. It was about light and darkness and also about earth and water, vegetation in general, waters above and below, big things. These things all provided and environment for life as we know to exist on earth. Now fish, birds and animals will be introduced and then man. l think this part here is interesting in particular because now there are places that are cold and places that are warm and no one to experience that. There is wind and rain and humidity in different levels of variation depending on the location and 365 days will make a year for our little planet. I mentioned at work before how I would like to live in Venus where one day takes 365 of our days to pass (something like that.) I would do a lot more in one day at work and then with the family! But then, short days are great!

This is the fourth day of creation and although there is silence in the sense that there is no animal, there is thunder and lightning and rain. There are tornadoes and volcanoes and such. I bet there are earthquakes too. The land is positioning itself and roots are making sure the ground is firm. I wonder what kinds of plants existed then that do not exist anymore. I wonder also how long this really took. As people calculate the age of the rocks and some fossils they find things that are really old. I know that the matter used to make this planet came from space and thus it does not bother me that they can reach billions of years way before Adam. One day for God is 1,000 years for us but maybe this process, this counting of "day and night" is the counting of the Gods. Who knows. 6,000 years of creations still is not long enough to have dinosaurs show up and die. I wonder what the explanation is for them. Considering the planet did not come from zero matter but it is matter organized maybe there is some explanation there. If we are to recycle why not the Gods?

I just love to imagine the creation in the terms of creation and not accident because it shows that Heavenly Father cares for us. He is going through the trouble of making a beautiful place for us to live. From the very beginning it has been about doing something for someone else. He knows all that will go on here and in his infinite wisdom he still continues the process of creation. I keep saying that I want fire from heaven to come down and stop this mess that we are in, but there are so many good people around too. It took a long time to create this earth. I don't think Heavenly Father is out to destroy, but to glorify and that is why regardless of this mess in our days he keeps the fire from heaven from coming dow. There are people that spend their lives trying to save the planet. We in our minimal way try to recycle and save it somehow. There are people that try to save species in extinction. There are people trying to save souls (missionaries), to save the hungry children (volunteers of all religions) and so on. Some are building more structures for more people to live, some are teaching, some are protecting us. There are parents trying to make their children productive and good people in society. There is always someone doing something for someone else, building, not destroying, either because they are being paid or because they simply care. My point is: we must find things to do to contribute to our little world and be builders not the guys driving the truck with the wrecking ball: help friends, family, church, etc. We cannot just take from this planet, or just wait to be served.

I think the importance of this fourth day of creation is that the world is turning and the days, the seasons, and the years are passing. We cannot escape the time to pass and the clock is ticking for all of us. We will all depart from here and our memories will go with us. Let's make sure that they will be good memories and that we don't waste the time of our probation as it says in the Book of Mormon. There is also a time for everything under the sun, as it says in Ecclesiastes, and we must make sure we don't panic just because it is time to war - because there will be time for peace. There is a time to sew and a time to gather the fruits of what was planted. There is a time to be sad and a time to be happy. We must experience many things but all of this shall pass and each will grow according to his or her own experience. Today maybe a bad day but tomorrow we can make it a good day. For some people their days here are short, for some too long. For the lonely, or the one who is not busy in a good cause, the clock moves very slowly, for the popular and those surrounded by friends and family, very fast indeed. Some people are wasting their time in things of this world that destroy and some are trying to build something, to improve themselves, to make sure there are more good people around.

We should make sure that our days are filled with service and that we think of others. There is so much to be done and yet Satan gives us so much entertainment we waste day after day after day. Let's make sure we get up and do something useful. I feel time passing by me like the wind. I know that our hearts can stop at any time. We have no idea how many years were appointed to us and even then, stupid people can cause our death because of their bad choices, and we can decrease those days by what we eat and our lifestyle.

There is so much that can make our time here shorter that I could not write about. Sometimes I just want to go because I am tired of the stupidity around me, but then, we have a mission, all of us, and we must help Heavenly Father in his mission to provide immortality and eternal life to all. We must stay here as long as we can and make sure we use our time to improve our life and those of the people around us. This is not the gospel of the coward or the lazy but the brave and the productive.

Every day is a challenge, life here is not easy, but we must move on and there will be a day and a night and what we do in between is always important, it defines us, it shapes us, it will have consequences good and bad. Jesus provides the atonement so the days don't just accumulate guilt and condemnation.

Because the Lord is so merciful and the atonement is sufficient to make up for our failure to use the day the way we should, every morning we get a new opportunity and we get a blank page to write anything we want: today I exercised, I prayed, I read scriptures, I went to work, I read a book, I helped a friend or a stranger, I visited or called a relative, I checked my email, I made a sculpture, I shared the gospel, etc, etc, etc. What should we write on this page we got today? Will it be productive? Will there be any time not used for something good? The world is turning, a season is passing, a year is half gone. Let's make sure we take the opportunity Christ gave us today to start over and do better then we did yesterday, and tomorrow let's plan to do better than we accomplish today. And we will see that it was morning and night, and it will be another day, and we may say, like the Lord, that it was good.