Columnist David Quinn today commented on Twitter:
Pick your ‘fairy-tale: God created everything, or nothing made everything.
https://twitter.com/DavQuinn/status/1387015353323114497?s=20
David makes a good point that whatever your explanation is for all that exists, it must appeal to something that others consider a fairy-tale. While the list above may initially seem to exhaust all options, one reply to the tweet pointed out another option to which David added a third fairy-tale:
Ok, that is fairy-tale option 3; matter has always existed in some form or another and for no particular reason. It seems much more likely that the something which has always existed is not matter, but a deity.
https://twitter.com/DavQuinn/status/1387025946696372225?s=20
This does now seem to exhaust all options which leaves us with:
- God created everything
- Nothing made everything
- Matter has always existed in some for or another and for no particular reason
Joseph Smith taught number three:
“The elements are eternal” (D&C 93:33). “The spirit of man is not a created being; it existed from eternity, and will exist to eternity. Anything created cannot be eternal; and earth, water, etc., had their existence in an elementary state, from eternity” (Joseph Smith, in HC 3:387).
https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Matter
However it is possible to reduce the options back down to two. To account for all matter we either need:
- Something from nothing
- An infinite regress
Either the elements are eternal or they are not. Pick your fairy-tale…