Creation Accounts Creation Accounts by F. Kent Nielsen Latter-day Saints have, in addition to the biblical Genesis, two modern restorations of ancient scriptural accounts of the Creation in the Book of Moses and the Book of Abraham. Related authoritative information also appears in the Book of Mormon , the Doctrine and Covenants, and the LDS temple ceremony . Drawing on this wealth of creation literature, Latter-day Saints understand that Jesus Christ , acting under the direction of God the Father , created this and other worlds to make possible the immortality and eternal life of human beings who already existed as spirit children of the Father. Furthermore, these accounts describe an active role for God's spirit children in the Creation and include a more detailed version of the origins of evil. The frequent occurrence of creation accounts in LDS scriptures and sacred ceremonies reflects a pattern of the ancient world generally, and ancient Israel in particular, where the Creation was regularly recited or reenacted.
Creation plays a central theological role in the Book of Mormon.
Later revelations make it clear that mankind's spirit creation had taken place long before the events described in any of the accounts of the earth's creation. The Abrahamic account is distinctive among creation accounts. A significant feature of this revealed account is that both the space and the materials for the earth explicitly existed before its creation. Within this context of the divine assembly, or Council in Heaven, Abraham's account of the Creation proceeds, generally following the structural outline of Genesis. It is so rendered throughout Abraham's account.