Getting my feet wet with Moses

Reading time: 4 – 6 minutes

Moses, well not this guy, but the real Moses

While I was home eating lunch today, no one was home and I got the notion to start reading Moses. So I grabbed the IPod Touch and started reading. I got to the second chapter, specifically version 20 (Moses 2:20) .

And I, God, said: Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl which may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

It struck me, that this reads as if God is saying the waters bring forth live creatures – including birds. Now I know the LDS church takes no official position on evolution, it got me thinking – strictly subjectively about this.

I turned to twitter and broadcasted my question, to see if I could get some answers or comments on this.

Quickly I was replied to by LDSGuy, with his thoughts on it. He responded with:

Compare Moses 2:20–23 with Abraham 4:20–23

So I went and checked it out.

20 And the Gods said: Let us prepare the waters to bring forth abundantly the moving creatures that have life; and the fowl, that they may fly above the earth in the open expanse of heaven.
21 And the Gods prepared the waters that they might bring forth great ^awhales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters were to bring forth abundantly after their kind; and every winged fowl after their kind. And the Gods saw that they would be obeyed, and that their plan was good.
22 And the Gods said: We will bless them, and cause them to be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas or ^agreat waters; and cause the fowl to multiply in the earth.
23 And it came to pass that it was from evening until morning that they called night; and it came to pass that it was from morning until evening that they called day; and it was the fifth time.

Which again, seems to me to read the same as Moses.

# LDSguy @HelamansArmy when read in context I’m going to say that its solely talking about the waters being a home to whales et al.
# LDSguy @HelamansArmy its not implying the whales and “moving creature(s)” were created from the ocean.
# LDSguy @HelamansArmy perhaps “prepared the waters that they might bring forth…every living creature” (Abr. 4:21) is in ref. to us being 70% agua?
# LDSguy @HelamansArmy and we need water to survive. on the fifth day God created waters. without water we’d shrivel up & die. all mammals. whales 2
# LDSguy @HelamansArmy like i said, 2 me it reads that the Gods created waters on 5th day. all of them. & w/o it all mammals and birds wld die.

It’s funny, I never had really thought about it that manner. As in reference to animals needing water. I always put the creation in the context of how it would work scientifically, like if the earth was forming – how would it form step by step. The waters would be down the line after the mountains and stuff – but for some reason it escaped me that the waters needed to come before animals (because they need water to survive) – DUH! Though now that I reread the previous verses, grass (plants) are created on the 3rd day – so that kind of blows out my theory and LDSGuys.

At any rate, while I don’t know that it’s ultimately important – knowing the exact meaning and reason behind how the text is written, it sure would be nice to have some knowledge on this subject.

So I’m asking for any input or thoughts on the subject. Does anyone know of anything written on the subject, or know anything on it – please comment on this and let me know!