What more is needed to convince us that man, both in spirit and in body, is the image and likeness of God and that God Himself is in the form of a man? For I, the Lord God, had not caused it to rain upon the face of the earth. In The Book of Mormon: Jacob Through Words of Mormon, To Learn with Joy, ed. 4:25[emphasis added]). He was speaking as the mouthpiece of God, and his solemn declaration was for all time and for all people. Adam, our first progenitor, the first man, was, like Christ, a preexistent spirit, and like Christ he took upon him an appropriate body, the body of a man, and so became a living soul. The doctrine of the preexistencerevealed so plainly, particularly in latter dayspours a wonderful flood of light upon the otherwise mysterious problem of mans origin. When Evenson and Jeffery published Mormonism and Evolution: The Authoritative LDS Statements, initially in 2006, they also included the 1910 PQT entry, but gave it the title "First Presidency Instructions to the Priesthood: 'Origin of Man,' 1910" (see here). That man was made in the image of Christ is positively stated in the book of Moses: And I, God, said unto mine Only Begotten, which was with me from the beginning, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and it was so.. As a result, there is disagreement as to what constitutes the Church's "official" position or even if there is a clear-cut position. More than 700 years before Moses was shown the things pertaining to this earth, another great prophet, known to us as the brother of Jared, was similarly favored by the Lord. See this page in the original 1992 publication. There are several theories as to the origin of the Book of Mormon. The latest inquiry of this kind that has reached us is in relation to the origin of man. And I, the Lord God, had created all the children of men; and not yet a man to till the ground; for in heaven created I them, and there was not yet flesh upon the earth, neither in the water, neither in the air; But, I, the Lord God, spake, and there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. 13:2429). Perhaps because these claims embrace the main doctrinal issues relevant to the condition of man, the description of the actual creation process does not receive much attention from the general membership of the Church or from the authorities. 1980, pp. 1112. And the veil was taken from off the eyes of the brother of Jared, and he saw the finger of the Lord; and it was as the finger of a man, like unto flesh and blood; and the brother of Jared fell down before the Lord, for he was struck with fear. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, basing its belief on divine revelation, ancient and modern, proclaims man to be the direct and lineal offspring of Deity. Show References Endnotes 150-Year Drama: A Personal View of Our History, Ensign, Apr. After the earth was prepared for habitation by man, the physical body of Adam was created. For example, one scriptural description of creation says, "the Gods organized the earth to bring forth …every thing that creepeth upon the earth after its kind" (Abr. A restatement of the original attitude of the Church relative to this matter is all that will be attempted here. In me shall all mankind have life, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they shall become my sons and my daughters. It shows that man, as a spirit, was begotten and born of heavenly parents and reared to maturity in the eternal mansions of the Father, prior to coming upon the earth in a temporal body to undergo an experience in mortality. These, however, are the theories of men. True it is that the body of man enters upon its career as a tiny germ embryo, which becomes an infant, quickened at a certain stage by the spirit whose tabernacle it is, and the child, after being born, develops into a man. Inquiries arise from time to time respecting the attitude of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints upon questions which, though not vital from a doctrinal standpoint, are closely connected with the fundamental principles of salvation. I am the Father and the Son. In the midst of these controversies, the First Presidency issued the following in 1909, which expresses the Churchs doctrinal position on these matters. Its prime concern is to affirm that humans were created as spirits by and in the image of God, which determined their form and nature long before they became earthly organisms. And he answered: Nay; Lord, show thyself unto me. It was extracted by Elder Franklin D. Richards, who was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, from a much longer history the Prophet Joseph Smith began in 1838. HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS Period I. And never have I showed myself unto man whom I have created, for never has man believed in me as thou hast.