{"id":3911,"date":"2002-06-10T13:31:25","date_gmt":"2002-06-10T20:31:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ourthoughts.ca\/?p=3911"},"modified":"2019-07-14T13:34:52","modified_gmt":"2019-07-14T20:34:52","slug":"a-ball-of-mud-or-a-sea-of-mud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ourthoughts.ca\/2002\/06\/10\/a-ball-of-mud-or-a-sea-of-mud\/","title":{"rendered":"A Ball of Mud or a Sea of Mud?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A critical perspective of the popular LDS view of organic evolution.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the existence of little modern\nrevelation in support of the Orthodox Christian view of the creation of Adam,\nmany members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, hereunto\nreferred to as \u201cmembers\u201d or \u201cLatter-day Saints\u201d, still accept this view as a\nbasic tenet of the LDS faith. Moreover, because a similar lack of revelation\nexists explicitly proclaiming evolution as the means by which Adam was created,\nmany members interpret this as a denouncement of evolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This creates a belief system based on\nhand-me-down assumptions rather than one built on revealed truth or solid\nscientific evidence, and a people who base its beliefs on assumptions are\ncarrying out a very dangerous activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The purpose of this paper is to show the\nfallacy of accepting the literal interpretation of Gen 2:7[1]<\/a>\nas the only way Adam was created despite the lack of revealed truth supporting\nthis. I will also outline how the doctrine of evolution is just as possible as\nthe creationist explanation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the Dust of the Ground<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The most popular statement I receive when\nLatter-day Saints find out I believe in evolution is, \u201cI cannot accept that we\nhave evolved from apes.\u201d I do not find how anyone can view this as preposterous\nat all. From a scientific standpoint, it makes complete sense. What I find\npreposterous is the assumption that rather than take an established scientific\ntheory such as evolution, many Latter-day Saints are more comfortable with God\ntaking a lump of clay, moulding it into the shape of a man, blowing into the\nclay nostrils and then somehow transforming the clay magically into a human\nbeing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am of the firm opinion that this verse is\nfigurative. King Benjamin taught that all of us have been \u201ccreated of the dust\nof the earth\u201d[2]<\/a>,\nbut we all know that this is not the case. As mentioned by the First Presidency\nin 1909, \u201cthe body of man enters upon its career as a tiny germ or embryo,\nwhich becomes an infant, quickened at a certain stage by the spirit whose\ntabernacle it is, and the child, after being born, develops into a man.\u201d[3]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can Latter-day Saints reconcile one\noccurrence of this phrase as being literal and yet the other as being\nfigurative?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interestingly enough, the same First\nPresidency statement goes on to say \u201cthere is nothing\u2026to indicate that the\noriginal man, the first of our race, began life as anything less than a man, or\nless than the human germ or embryo that becomes a man.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is the dust of the earth less than a man,\nor less than the embryo that becomes a man? According to section 93 of the\nDoctrine and Covenants, the dust of the earth is what makes up the embryo that\nbecomes the man. In Gen 2:7, the word \u201cdust\u201d is accompanied by a footnote. One\nof the scriptures in this footnote compares the word \u201celements\u201d with the word\n\u201cdust\u201d saying, \u201cthe elements are the tabernacle of God; yea, man is the\ntabernacle of God…\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This suggests then that Adam was not\nliterally formed from the dust of the earth, but was formed by the same\nelements that make up the earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Theories of Man<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is held by some that Adam was not the\nfirst man upon this earth, and that the original human being was a development\nfrom lower orders of the animal creation. These, however, are the theories\nof men<\/em>.\u201d[5]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is another favourite defence for\nLatter-day Saints who do not understand the creation of Adam. They quickly\npoint out that the First Presidency[6]<\/a>\nlabels evolutionism as a theory of man, and thus is equated with being false. However,\na theory of man is not always false. Does gravity then not exist because it is\na theory of man? Was Einstein mistaken on the Theory of Relativity? Is the\nwave-particle duality of light an incorrect principle because quantum physics\nis but a theory of man? Was Christopher Columbus mistaken in his theory of the\nearth being round? Does the earth not revolve around the sun as a theory of Nicolas Copernicus once suggested?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, I do not believe that because something\nis a theory of men that it is automatically false. I believe what it means is\nthat it is automatically unproven. As long as something is unproven, it is then\npossible to be correct, and until it is proven. To automatically say it is\nwrong based on tradition only shows one\u2019s ignorance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then How?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

So, then if creationism as it is taught in\northodox Christianity isn\u2019t how God formed man, is evolution the only way? In\nshort, I do not know. God has not revealed the modus operandi that He used to\ncreate Adam[7]<\/a>;\nwe only know that He created him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I do not say that creationism is wrong and\nthat evolutionism is right. Creationism seems right because that is what is in\nthe scriptures and evolution seems right because it is more easily proven. Yet,\nwhy can it not be both? Why can it not be that God used and controlled\nevolutionary processes to create Adam, to manipulate the elements \u2013 the dust of\nthe earth \u2013 over time (days to Him really). Why can it not be that He used\ncomplex processes to create a complex being?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In closing, I feel it appropriate to contemplate\nthe words of President Spencer W. Kimball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Creators breathed into their nostrils\nthe breath of life and man and woman became living souls. We don’t know exactly\nhow their coming into this world happened, and when we’re able to understand it\nthe Lord will tell us[8]<\/a>.\u201d
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/a> Gen 2:7 \u201cAnd the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and\nbreathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[2]<\/a> Mosiah 2:25 \u201c\u2026Ye cannot say that ye are even as much as the dust of\nthe earth; yet ye were created of the dust of the earth; but behold, it\nbelongeth to him who created you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[3]<\/a> Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder, Anthon H. Lund, Improvement Era<\/em>, Vol. 8, November 1909, No. 1., Editor’s Table: The Origin of Man<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid., emphasis added D&C 93: 35 (33-35)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[5]<\/a> Actually, they more specifically reference Joseph F. Smith on this\nquote because they have only ever come across it in the 2000\/2001Teachings of\nthe Presidents of the Church manual and have no idea a First Presidency\nstatement even existed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[6]<\/a> D&C 93: 35 (33-35)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[7]<\/a> \u201cWhether the\nmortal bodies of man evolved in natural processes to present perfection,\nthrough the direction and power of God; whether the first parents of our\ngenerations, Adam and Eve, were transplanted from another sphere, with immortal\ntabernacles, which became corrupted through sin and the partaking of natural\nfoods, in the process of time; whether they were born here in mortality, as\nother mortals have been, are questions not fully answered in the revealed word\nof God.\u201d (Improvement Era, Vol. 13, April 1910, No. 5(70), Priesthood Quorum’s\nTable)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[8]<\/a> Ensign<\/em>, March 1976, The Blessings and Responsibilities of Womanhood<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A critical perspective of the popular LDS view of organic evolution. 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