Since the time that Joseph Smith made the foregoing statement [denying creation ex nihilo in the King Follett Discourse], it has become common knowledge that matter and energy cannot be created nor destroyed. Their forms may be changed, but they cannot be put out of existence. Prominent theologians, philosophers and scientists throughout the past one hundred years have confirmed the teachings of Joseph the Prophet; thus, as the Lord told the Prophet, “The elements are eternal” (Doctrine and Covenants 93:35). The following quotations attest the truthfulness of these facts:
The view of the Prophet on this subject of creation is abundantly sustained by men of learning subsequent to his time. The Rev. Baden Powell, of Oxford University, for instance, writing for Kitto’s Cyclopaedia of Biblical Literature, says: “The meaning of this word (create) has been commonly associated with the idea of ‘making out of nothing.’ But when we come to inquire more precisely into the subject, we can of course satisfy ourselves as to the meaning only from an examination of the original phrase.” The learned professor then proceeds to say that three distinct Hebrew verbs are in different places employed with reference to the same divine act, and may be translated, respectively, “create,” “make,” “form or fashion.” “Now,” continues the Professor, “though each of these has its shade of distinction, yet the best critics understand them as so nearly synonymous that, at least in regard to the idea of making out of nothing, little or no foundation for that doctrine can be obtained from the first of these words.” And, of course, if no foundation for the doctrine can be obtained from the first of these words—viz., the verb translated “create,” then the chances are still less for there being any foundation for the doctrine of creation from nothing in the verb translated, “made,” “formed,” or “fashioned.”
Professor Powell further says: “The idea of ‘creation’, as meaning absolutely ‘making out of nothing,’ or calling into existence that which did not exist before, in the strictest sense of the term, is not a doctrine of scripture; but it has been held by many on the grounds of natural theology, as enhancing the ideas we form of the divine power, and more especially since the contrary must imply the belief in the eternity and self existence of matter . . . “
The philosophers with equal emphasis sustain the contention of the Prophet. Herbert Spencer, in his First Principle, (1860), said: “There was once universally current, a notion that things could vanish into absolute nothing, or arise out of absolute nothing . . . The current theology, in its teachings respecting the beginning and end of the world, is clearly pervaded by it . . . The gradual accumulation of experiences, has tended slowly to reverse this conviction; until now, the doctrine that matter is indestructible has become a commonplace. All the apparent proofs that something can come of nothing, a wider knowledge has one by one cancelled . . .”
Fiske follows Spencer, of course, in his Cosmic Philosophy sums up the matter in these words. “It is now unconceivable that a particle of matter should either come into existence, or lapse into-non-existence” (Doctrine and Covenants 131:7).
During the early part of this century, the concept of the conservation of matter and the conservation of energy, i.e., that neither matter nor energy can be created nor destroyed, was taught universally throughout the schools of our land. But as a result of the wonderful experiments and studies made by such brilliant scientists as Madame Curie, De. Steinmetz, Dr. Rutherford, Dr. Soddy, and others, an enlarged understanding of matter and energy was given to the world. These scientists discovered that matter could be transferred into energy and energy into matter; and yet they maintain that the sum total of matter and energy in the universe remains constant. Although matter and energy may be transferred into one another, yet no new matter is brought into existence out of nothing and the same holds true in regard to energy. The atomic bomb, in which a very small amount of matter was transferred into energy, is the outstanding example of the culmination of the scientists’ efforts to transfer matter into energy.
God not only created the heavens and the earth out of matter which had always been in existence but He also organized or created His spiritual creations out of eternal spirit matter. In the words of the Prophet: “There is no such things as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes” (Doctrine and Covenants 131:7). (Milton R. Hunter, Pearl of Great Price Commentary [Salt Lake City: Stevens and Wallis, Inc., 1948], 83-84, comment in square bracket added for clarification)
Further Reading