Many intellectuals and scientists love sharing the quote which says, “The Church has no official position on the theory of evolution.” The Church has also said they are neutral on the Geography of the Book of Mormon. These statements by the Church don’t say that we have to be neutral about these things. I believe the Church is telling us to search and pray for ourselves. The Church shouldn’t tell us everything as we are accountable for our own intelligence that we learn in this life.
Supposedly those writers at FAIR Mormon use Elder Holland’s statement below as he says, “I do not know the details of what happened on this planet before that” [Adam and Eve], to feel they can tell us all about evolution as they are smarter than the Prophets. This secular society needs to have the faith of the Brethren and end this tremendous amount of time spent in promoting evolution of ape to man and from nothing comes something.
WE DID NOT COME FROM AN APE OF THIS I AM MOST CERTAIN! MAN DID NOT EVOLVE FROM NOTHING! ADAM WAS PLACED ON THE EARTH IN ABOUT 4,000 BC!
The presiding church leaders are unified on doctrinal issues and Joseph Fielding Smith did not stand alone in his quest against evolutionary theories. After becoming Prophet and President of the Church, he said the following in General Conference, October 1970 (italics and underlining are added):
As I ponder the principles of the gospel, I am struck forcibly by the uniform manner in which I and all the Brethren have taught them over the years. The truths of the gospel are everlastingly the same. Like God himself, they are the same yesterday, today and forever. What I have taught and written in the past I would teach and write again under the same circumstances. And what I say of myself should be true for all the Brethren and for all the elders of the Church. We are all called to preach the gospel, to be ministers of Christ, to raise the warning voice, and to “teach one another the doctrine of the kingdom.”
Man, His Origin and Destiny by Joseph Fielding Smith
CONFLICT BETWEEN SCIENCE AND RELIGION—1
IS there a conflict between religion and science? Between the revealed word of the Lord to his prophets and the truth revealed through scientific investigation, there is no conflict. There can be no disagreement wherein truth is arrayed against truth. Could such a thing be possible all things would perish in confusion. There is a conflict existing between revealed truth coming from the Lord to his chosen servants and the false doctrines advocated by men of science. There is also a conflict between false religion and truth revealed through scientific investigation. The time will come when nothing will remain except truth…
As long as men of science ignore the light of truth and have no faith in the Divine Creator, they will search the hard way to find out the works of the Lord and will formulate false theories which may prove both harmful and pernicious in that they will guide their fellows who accept them away from the revealed plan leading to eternal life.
Unfortunately most scientists depend entirely upon their own intelligence and wisdom without a thought of divine aid. It is said repeatedly that scientists do not take God into their reckoning in the search of truth. This is an unfortunate condition, for if they were men of prayer and faith, seeking divine help they would come to the truth more readily and would avoid the many pitfalls of false hypotheses.
The Church, nevertheless, is very grateful to the wonderful men and women who have been benefactors of humanity in a thousand ways, perhaps unconscious of the fact that divine aid has been given them, even if they did not seek it. Such as Harvey, Jenner, Lister, Pasteur, the Curies, Morse, Tesla, Whitney, Farnsworth and thousands of others. It is foolish for one to think, however, that these discoveries and inventions have come to light during the past few centuries because men are more intelligent today than they were in former times. The poetry of the Psalms, the wisdom of Proverbs, the admonition and teachings of the Old Testament prophets, have never been surpassed. The painting and sculpture of the ancients equal or surpass anything produced today. The Damascus steel has been the marvel of the world and thousands of other things known and practiced by the ancients indicate an intelligence of the highest quality. Dr. Robert A. Millikan, who has been deceived by some modern theories, testifies that the ancients were as intelligent as men are today and that there have been billions of people who have lived and died with “as high intelligence” as people manifest today. 3
“If this is true,” it has been said, “why, then, is it that the ancients did not have modern means of travel, of communication, numerous inventions for their convenience, such as we have today?” The answer to this question is, because the time had not come for these inventions and discoveries to be revealed. Let us not forget that the Spirit of the Lord has played a great part in all of the developments that have come to benefit mankind in these latter centuries. Can there be an honest doubt that the ancient seers saw these things in vision? They wrote about them and have predicted their coming; but the Almighty withheld from them these benefits for his own purpose. It is inconsistent to think that the Son of God, who by command of his Father organized the earth on which we stand, who could turn water into wine, raise the dead, give eyesight to the blind, cleanse the lepers, command the elements and have them obey him, and then could not have revealed, had it pleased him, these modern inventions. Nahum without question saw our present means of transportation. 4 John on the Isle of Patmos without doubt saw our airplanes and described them as they are now being used in war. It is revealed in the Book of Mormon that the Brother of Jared saw our day; 5 and the Lord revealed to Enoch the history of this earth and its inhabitants down to the end of time. 6 Isaiah also must have seen these modern conditions when he speaks of the gathering of Israel and that those being gathered would “fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows.” 7 Joel declared that in the last days the Lord would pour out his spirit upon all flesh; and “your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.” 8 We are living in that day.
The reason for all of this great activity which was denied the ancient peoples is that we are living in the day of restitution; a day in which preparation shall be made to bring the earth back again to its primitive glory as it was when the Lord pronounced it good. It is the day spoken of by Peter as a time of “refreshing,” and restitution of all things spoken of by all the prophets. 9 The same that was prophesied of by Paul in his epistle to the Ephesians, that “in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him.” 10
Henry George Bohn, printer and historian, writing of the Origin and Progress of Printing, wrote as follows:
“Nature does not advance by leaps,” says an old proverb; neither does her offspring, Art. All the great boons vouchsafed to man by a munificent providence are of gradual development; and though some may appear to have come upon us suddenly, reflection and inquiry will always show that they have had their previous stages.
Indeed, nothing in this great world which concerns the well-being of man takes place by accident, but is brought forward by divine will, precisely at the moment most suitable to our condition. So it was with astronomy, the mariner’s compass, the steamengine, gas, the electric telegraph, and many other of those blessings which have progressed with civilization. The elements were there and known, but the time had not arrived for their fructification. 11
Daniel in his vision of the last days saw a “time of trouble” such as “never was since there was a nation even to that same time.” He saw the time of the redemption of the righteous, and the day of the resurrection, when the dead should come forth, “some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” It was to come in a day when “many should run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” 12 Who can deny that this day is here? Paul also saw our time and described the conditions accurately as they now are. In writing to Timothy he said:
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy.
Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God;
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. 13
In writing to the members of the Church at Thessaly, Paul also predicted that because men would turn away from the truth the Lord, “Shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” 14
What the prophets predicted has come to pass. Enoch, Moses, Isaiah, Daniel, Peter, Paul, the Jaredite and Nephite prophets, told the story of man’s turning away from God, boasting in his own wisdom and his denial of the truth as truly and clearly by prophecy thousands of years ago, as we see it fulfilled today. We live in an age of materialism; of unbelief in the power of God, and denial of the divine calling of Jesus Christ as the Redeemer of the world and the Only Begotten Son of God in the flesh. This reminds us of the words of Jacob, brother of Nephi:
O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish.
But to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God.
But wo unto the rich, who are rich as to the teachings of the world. For because they are rich they despise the poor, and they persecute the meek, and their hearts are upon their treasures; wherefore, their treasure is their god. And behold, their treasure shall perish with them also.
And wo unto the deaf that will not hear; for they shall perish.
Wo unto the blind that will not see; for they shall perish also.
Wo unto the uncircumcised of heart, for a knowledge of their iniquities shall smite them at the last day.
Wo unto the liar, for he shall be thrust down to hell.
Wo unto the murderer who deliberately killeth, for he shall die.
Wo unto them who commit whoredoms, for they shall be thrust down to hell.
Yea, wo unto those who worship idols, for the devil of all devils delighteth in them.
And in fine, wo unto all those who die in their sins; for they shall return to God, and behold his face, and remain in their sins. 15
There is great divergence between the path traversed by the scientific investigator, who labors without faith in God, and that traveled by those who accept the divine revelations and walk in the light of his revelations. The scientist, searching without divine aid, depending solely on his own research and wisdom, reaches certain conclusions in relation to the origin of things; how worlds come into being and how they are eventually to die, perhaps to disintegrate and be recreated again in one eternal round. These theories are uncertain; they change from time to time, but quite generally scientists all agree that all things must eventually come to an end and then, some of them believe, the recreation will take place again. They like to talk about the “dying sun” 16 and have written volumes about the Universe how it came into being by chance and is subject to the temporal laws which we mortals understand and by which we are governed, and therefore, according to their calculations based on things which they see naturally, they conclude that all things in the Universe are governed by the same mutable laws that bind us to this mundane sphere. The Lord said to Isaiah:
. . . Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. 17
By revelation direct from our Eternal Father, we learn a very different story in relation to the beginning of things and the end thereof. There is a Supreme Ruler in the Universe, the Creator of worlds and all things that are in them. He does not create worlds to be destroyed. They are created to bring to pass his divine purpose for he said his work and glory is, “To bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” 18 Life is not an accident 19 and the human race is not destined to “die and cease to be.” 20 Neither is life “an unimportant by-product . . . off the main line.” 21
Gordon B. Hinckley
―When I was a college student there were many discussions on the question of organic evolution. I took classes in geology and biology and heard the whole story of Darwinism as it was then taught. I wondered about it. I thought much about it. But I did not let it sway me, for I read what the scriptures said about our origins and our relationship to God.‖ (Gordon B. Hinckley, Faith: The Essence of True Religion, p. 18.)
―None of us . . . knows enough. The learning process is an endless process. We must read, we must observe, we must assimilate, and we must ponder that to which we expose our minds. I believe in evolution, not organic evolution, as it is called, but in the evolution of the mind, the heart, and the soul of man. I believe in improvement. I believe in growth.‖ (Gordon B. Hinckley, Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, p. 298.)
