How do we as Latter-day Saints explain the existence of dinosaurs? When we break it down, we are left scratching our heads. On one hand, our scriptures teach that there was no death on the earth prior to the fall of Adam. Lehi stated:

"And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever" (2 Nephi 2:22).​

Yet science has demonstrated through the fossil record and carbon dating that millions of dinosaurs and other extinct species lived and died on this earth for well over two hundred million years before the fall of Adam ever occurred. Does that mean that the scientific methods of dating these fossils are unreliable or inaccurate? Probably not. According to LDS Geologist Bart Kowalis:

"In my profession I teach and study geology. I have specialized in the study of Earth’s architecture (structural geology) and in understanding the ages of rocks and minerals…. During the past few years, my research has focused on determining the ages of rocks and minerals. In 1983 I established a laboratory at Brigham Young University dedicated to [understanding the ages of rocks and minerals], and during the past decade I have used isotopic dating techniques numerous times, such as to obtain more precise ages for dinosaur bones found in Utah and Colorado…. In all of my studies, I have found no reason to doubt the reliability of the methods used. I believe that the ages obtained by these methods—often registering in millions or hundreds of millions of years—reflect events that happened on this world since its creation. The principles that govern isotopic decay and the use of this decay for determining ages are as well established, accepted, and understood as are the laws of motion and the law of gravity. These ideas cannot be dismissed as mere scientific nonsense, unless we are willing to throw out the whole of science itself."[1]

If these scientific methods of dating are in fact reliable, then the dinosaur remains that we have uncovered today are indeed much older than just 6,000 years. But if there was no death before the Fall of Adam, how did they get here?

A common response to this question by Latter-day Saints is that the Lord created our earth out of other planets that were already in existence. Or in other words, according to Joseph Smith, “This earth was organized or formed out of other planets which were broke up and remodeled and made into the one on which we live.”[2]

​​Because of this statement from Joseph Smith, many Latter-day Saints have wondered if our dinosaur fossils actually originated from other planets and were simply placed here during the creation process. However, a careful reading of Joseph Smith’s statement shows that older planets were “broke[n] up and remodeled” before their materials ever made their way to our earth. If these planets were indeed “broke[n] up and remodeled” as Joseph Smith taught, wouldn’t their dinosaur fossils be broken up and remodeled in the process as well? In addition to this problem, Dr. Erik Skousen, an LDS scientist, points out that there is other evidence that suggests our dinosaur fossils did not arrive on our earth via this process:

"From [Joseph Smith’s] statement, some have suggested that the earth’s fossilized life forms are remnants from these older planets and have nothing to do with anything that ever lived on this earth, anciently or now. However, this idea presents us with several problems.

"First of all, the crust of the earth is ultra-thin. It is, relative to the bulk of the earth itself, extremely fragile and carefully constructed. If fossils from broken-up planets are part of the crust, why are they on and within this thin surface rather than somewhere deep within the body of the earth? Were these other-planet fossils deliberately placed on the surface [by God]? For what purpose? How would this help us understand the work of the Gods in preparing our earth for modern life?

"In fact, this idea is immediately rejected by anyone who has any significant first-hand acquaintance with the rock record itself. Why? Because the rock record is so carefully ordered. We might accept a jumble of fossils scattered at random throughout the crust as coming from older planets. But the facts of fossil placement are just the opposite. There is a very carefully established sequence in the earth’s strata. Would the family of the Gods deliberately put fossils from older planets in and on the earth in a carefully ordered pattern just to baffle and mislead us concerning their origin?

"That simply doesn’t make any sense. As the Lord declared to Job, among the many witnesses of his handiwork were 'the foundations of the earth' (Job 38:4). The prophet Alma, speaking to the anti-Christ, Korihor, proclaimed, 'All things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it' (Alma 30:44). And to Enoch the Lord declared that 'all things bear record of me,' including things 'on' and 'in' and 'under' the earth (Moses 6:63).

​"Obviously, then, the earth’s crust is not a deliberate or haphazard reassembly of planetary remnants, but bears a clearly legible record of the handiwork of the Gods as they prepared the newly-born earth so that it could ultimately sustain modern life."[3]

We ask again, if our scientific methods of dating are accurate, and if there was no death before the Fall, and if it is unlikely that our dinosaur fossils came from other planets, how do we explain the existence of dinosaurs?

Three Phases of Creation

To answer this question, we first need to make a brief point about the creation process. In his book, Earth in the Beginning, Dr. Eric Skousen demonstrates through the scriptures, and confirms with science, that the earth’s creation process was divided into three separate phases: a spiritual creation, a physical creation, and the final phase of placing life on earth.

In Earth in the Beginning, Dr. Skousen argues that, for the most part, our three creation accounts (Moses, Abraham, and the endowment) each fall into one of these three creation phases. In short, Moses 2 describes the first phase of creation, which was the earth’s spirit creation. The book of Abraham picks up where this spiritual creation left off and describes the second phase of creation, which was the earth’s physical creation. Finally, the endowment, as well as Moses 3, describe the third and final phase of creation, including the placing of life on the earth. In other words, the three creation accounts we have are different because they are describing different phases of the earth’s creation.

​For those who are interested in the full explanation and references for these three creation phases, I will refer you to the book itself. However, below is a brief overview of Dr. Skousen’s findings.
​
​That Moses 2 is describing the earth’s spirit creation was made clear by the Lord, who said:

I, the Lord God created all things, of which I have spoken [referencing Moses chapter 2], spiritually, before they were naturally [or physically created] upon the face of the earth (Moses 3:5).

The physical phase of the creation is recorded in the book of Abraham. What is interesting about the Abraham account is that it never mentions plants or animal life as actually being placed on the earth. As we shall see, these forms of life will be placed on the earth in the third phase of creation. Instead, the Abraham account states that the earth was simply prepared to receive the various life forms we find today.[4] For example, on day three of the Abraham account, it states:

And the Gods said: Let us prepare the earth to bring forth grass…. And the Gods organized the earth to bring forth grass (Abraham 4:11-12; emphasis added).

Notice that the earth does not receive grass during day three of the Abraham account. Rather, the earth is prepared to bring forth grass at a later date. This later date will occur in the third phase of creation, which is given to us in the endowment and in Moses chapter 3. And this trend is the same for all forms of animal life as well:

And the Gods said: Let us prepare the waters to bring forth abundantly the moving creatures that have life…. And the Gods prepared the waters that they might bring forth great whales, and every living creature that moveth (Abraham 4:20; emphasis added).

And the Gods organized the earth to bring forth the beasts after their kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after its kind (Abraham 4:25; emphasis added).

And so it goes. During this second phase of creation, the earth never actually receives the plant and animal life forms currently found on this earth. Rather, it is prepared to bring them forth at a later date. The Abraham account is always future tense.

​In the third phase of creation however, the phase where life is placed on the earth, the earth actually receives its plant and animal life. Matter unorganized, therefore, is simply describing a physical earth that is in the third and final phase of creation; still unprepared to sustain life as we know it today. During this third and final phase of the creation, the earth is finally organized to sustain all life forms that we see on the earth today. Once this organization has occurred, plants, animals, and mankind (Adam and Eve) are placed upon the earth. This is where Moses 3 picks up and where we learn about the Fall.

​So how does all of this relate to dinosaurs?

The questions regarding dinosaurs are all answered by understanding the scientific details of phase two of the creation process (or the book of Abraham account). According to Earth in the Beginning, there is strong evidence that suggests there was in fact death occurring on the earth prior to the arrival of Adam and Eve. If true, this would mean that dinosaurs and other extinct life forms lived and died for hundreds of millions of years during phase two of the creation process. Remember, we do not know how long each “day” of creation lasted. President Brigham Young stated that the term day, as it appears in the context of the creation accounts, “is a mere term, [and] it matters not whether it took six days, six months, six years, or six thousand years. The creation occupied certain periods of time. We are not authorized to say what the duration of these days was.”[5] Thus, it is possible that millions of years could have occurred on each day of creation.

​​​On this note, Dr. Skousen asks:

"[Doesn’t] a lengthy preparation of the physical earth for modern life [i.e. millions and millions of years] seem truly unnecessary? Why not have the earth born ready-made to support modern life? The answer to this question is probably the same as the question: Why not have each human being come into the world fully formed as an adult? To answer one is to answer the other. There are purposes, not all revealed nor understood, for the gradual development and maturation of a planet. These explanations are undoubtedly as complex as the incompletely understood purposes for our gradual development, learning and experiences as offspring of God."[6]

Therefore, it is quite likely that dinosaurs did in fact live and die for millions of years during this second phase of creation, and their remains were instrumental in preparing the earth to, one day, sustain the many life forms that we find today. Of this process, Dr. Skousen stated:

"The dinosaurs, along with many other extinct life forms, were members of the earth’s preparatory ecological system…. These organisms chemically enhanced the atmosphere and oceans, laid down the fuel and mineral deposits, and did much more to develop the crust of the earth into what it is today. During this [second] creation [phase], the first parents of different preparatory life forms [including dinosaurs], were transplanted to the earth as needed. At times they were removed or allowed to die out, sometimes in great numbers and in a very short time interval."[7]

These various life forms were instrumental in preparing the newly-created physical earth to sustain the life forms we find today. According to the popular LDS website FAIR, “There is overwhelming archaeological evidence of death having occurred on the earth for many millions of years. For example, oil deposits are formed from the decomposed remains of ancient plants and animals.”[8]

These oil deposits, for example, are a direct result of this second creation phase. This means that the earth, during the second creation phase, was able to sustain some forms of life, such as dinosaurs and other extinct species that we have discovered, just none of the life forms that currently live on the earth today.

​But doesn’t this theory contradict the scriptures which say that there was no death on the earth prior to the Fall? Let us return to Lehi’s statement and see if the above explanation from Earth in the Beginning contradicts this particular scripture:

And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever (2 Nephi 2:22).

Notice that Lehi does not say that there was no death on the earth prior to the Garden of Eden. What he said was, by the time Adam and Eve arrived in the Garden of Eden, there was no death on the earth; and unless Adam transgressed, “all things which were created [or brought to the earth during the third and final phase of creation] must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created” (2 Nephi 2:22).

It seems plausible then, that death existed on our earth sometime before the Garden of Eden was created for Adam and Eve. Elder James E. Talmage also held this view. According to Elder Talmage, our earth was home to many “plants and animals…[that] lived and died, age after age, while the earth was yet unfit for human habitation.”[9]

​What is more, the concept of no death before the Fall is not an official doctrine of the Church. Elder James E. Talmage made this clear when he said, “That there was no death upon the earth prior to Adam’s Fall is likewise declared to be no doctrine of the Church.”[10]

​The Earth is Sanctified

​​The key to reconciling the likelihood that death was found on the earth prior to the Garden of Eden with the doctrine that there was no death during the Garden of Eden period, is Abraham 5. After the Lord finished the second phase of creation (which concluded when the dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures went extinct), Abraham tells us that the Lord “sanctified” the earth (Abraham 5:3). Once the earth was sanctified, it was then elevated to a state where there was no more death. Dr. Skousen stated:

“During the seventh [day in the Abraham account], and before the earth was sanctified, the last living remnants of these preparatory organisms [including dinosaurs] were removed from the earth. However, the dead, processed and fossilized remains were not removed since this would have robbed the earth of her crustal wealth and defeated the very purpose for which the preparatory life had lived and died.”[11]

Once the earth was sanctified on day seven of the Abraham account, the third and final phase the creation process began (reference the endowment and Moses 3), This third phase of creation was when all of the various forms of plant and animal life that we find here on earth today were placed upon the sanctified earth. Once placed upon the earth, they were in a sanctified state and could have lived forever. This was the state that Adam found them in when he arrived in the Garden of Eden. And had Adam not partaken of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, each of these various life forms would have “remained in the same state” that they were in when they were originally placed in the Garden of Eden by the Lord during the third phase of creation (2 Nephi 2:22).

What about Pre-Adamites?

While this explanation seems satisfactory enough to explain the existence of dinosaurs, how do we explain pre-Adamites? After all, the scriptures teach that Adam was “the first man” (Moses 3:7), and yet most scientists believe that there have been humans who have lived on this earth, dating back to at least one million years, and possibly even longer than that.

​LDS scholar William Dargan asked:​

“Were all the man-like beings before Adam just animals? If so, some of them seem to have been amazingly intelligent and quite proficient at behaving like men. Yet, although their abilities seem to exceed those of the most advanced apes, there is little question that they were not highly civilized socially or culturally. There is no evidence whatsoever that they had even a rudimentary knowledge of even the most basic Gospel principles. What, then, are we to make of them?”[12]

After asking this question, Dargan, then offered an interesting theory as a possible explanation for this mystery, which he called “The Theory of the Spirits who Plea-Bargained.” While we are ultimately not sure if this theory is true, I personally think it carries enough weight to at least consider. In his own words, here is Dargan’s explanation of the plea-bargain theory:​

"What possible purpose could there be for pre-Adamites, if they did not have the Gospel? Certain scriptures (notably D&C 45:54 & 76:72) have been thought by some students to refer, at least in part, to a large group of pre-mortal spirits who, perhaps fearing – after much consideration and counseling – that they weren’t going to do so well on their earth-exam if presented with the full Gospel, 'plea-bargained,' in effect, that, if they could live and die without being exposed to either celestial or civilized law – either on earth or in the post-mortal spirit world – they could receive an inheritance in a portion of the Terrestrial Kingdom (coming forth in the 'Afternoon of the First Resurrection') that would be 'tolerable' for them (of course they would have to be able to abide Terrestrial laws and standards).

​Under this plan, they could not achieve Celestial Glory, but neither would they be consigned to the Telestial Kingdom. Joseph Smith may have been referring to them when he spoke of 'the heathen of ages that never had hope' (Times & Seasons, 4:82-83, Feb 1843). Prof. Hyrum Andrus has spoken of this subject, saying: 'Little has been revealed concerning the program of salvation which is given to those who die and are redeemed without celestial law…They are destined to come forth in the first resurrection…But in general their place in eternity will be the terrestrial kingdom of glory…Presumably they must be taught (in the spirit world) concerning Christ and the requirements of terrestrial salvation' (Principles of Perfection, p. 496).

"A sheltered earth life, precluding exposure to civilized law, would seem to require a rather primitive existence. We know of such cultures in recorded history, but if this pre-mortal group was large enough, it might have required more area and time than could be found in the past 6,000 years. Before Gospel knowledge was delivered to the world through Adam would perhaps be the ideal time for large numbers of such individuals to live their lives.

"Although the theory of 'plea-bargainers' poses some doctrinal questions that have no satisfactory answers at this point, it seems to some students of the scriptures to be fairly sound. If true, it would provide reasonable rationale for believing that actual pre-Adamic men (and not just advanced anthropoid apes that were uncomfortably similar to humans) lived on this earth before recorded history."[13]

Could Dargin be onto something here? As it turns out, there have been some general authorities who believed as much. For example, Elder Orson Hyde stated, “The world was peopled before the days of Adam, as much so as it was before the days of Noah.”[14] If true, the plea-bargain theory is one of the better explanations to account for these individuals.

Regardless of whether this plea-bargain theory carries any weight or not, it should at least open our minds to the possibility that there are explanations that can reconcile any differences there seem to be between science and religion, even if we do not have those explanations in front of us at the present time. After all, science and religion, according to James E. Talmage, “cannot be fundamentally opposed; one cannot contradict the other; though man’s interpretation of either may be at fault.”[15] Similarly, President Russell M. Nelson stated, “Whether truth comes from a scientific laboratory or by revelation from the Lord, it is compatible…. Conflict only arises from an incomplete knowledge of either science or religion, or both.”[16]

And while we don’t have all the answers to these questions now, the day will come when the Lord “shall reveal all things” including, “things of the earth, by which it was made, and the purpose and the end thereof” (D&C 101:32-33). Until then, we walk by faith.

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Notes:

[1] Kowalis, “Things of the Earth,” Brigham Young Magazine, (Winter 2000-2001), p. 38, located at: https://magazine.byu.edu/article/things-of-the-earth/ (emphasis added).

[2] Words of Joseph Smith, p. 60.

[3] Skousen, Earth in the Beginning, p. 96-97.

[4] “[Abraham] reports that the physical earth was prepared to receive and sustain modern life forms. But he doesn’t tell us specifically how it was done” (Skousen, Earth in the Beginning, p. 92).

[5] Journal of Discourses, p. 231.

[6] Skousen, Earth in the Beginning, p. 92.

[7] Skousen, Earth in the Beginning, p. 313.

[8] “Mormonism and science/Death before the Fall,” Fair Mormon Answers, (03/18/2014), located at: http://en.fairmormon.org/Mormonism_and_science/Death_before_the_Fall

[9] Talmage, “The Earth and Man,” address delivered in the Salt Lake Tabernacle Sunday, Aug. 9, 1931, and printed in the Deseret News, Nov. 21, 1931.

[10] James E. Talmage Journals, Vol. 29, p. 42 (April 7, 1931).

[11] Skousen, Earth in the Beginning, p. 313.

[12] Dargan, “Were there Men Before Adam and Other Hard Questions,” Meridian Magazine, April 2, 2014, located at: https://latterdaysaintmag.com/article-1-14154/

[13] Dargan, “Were there Men Before Adam and Other Hard Questions,” Meridian Magazine, April 2, 2014, located at: https://latterdaysaintmag.com/article-1-14154/

[14] Journal of Discourses, 2:79.

[15] Talmage, Juvenile Instructor, Dec 1965, pp. 474-77.

​​[16] https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/russell-m-nelson/the-tie-between-science-and-religion/