Posts
The Church Has No Official Position on Evolution - New Era
The Church's October 2016 issue of the New Era magazine says the following about evolution:
The Church has no official position on the theory of evolution. Organic evolution, or changes to species’ inherited traits over time, is a matter for scientific study. Nothing has been revealed concerning evolution. Though the details of what happened on earth before Adam and Eve, including how their bodies were created, have not been revealed, our teachings regarding man’s origin are clear and come from revelation.This statement is historic. Although David O. McKay privately indicated that the Church had no position on evolution, I don't recall an explicit 'no position' statement ever appearing in official Church publications. The statement also references the Evolution entry of the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, which contains the following counsel given by Heber J. Grant in 1931:
Before we were born on earth, we were spirit children of heavenly parents, with bodies in their image. God directed the creation of Adam and Eve and placed their spirits in their bodies. We are all descendants of Adam and Eve, our first parents, who were created in God’s image. There were no spirit children of Heavenly Father on the earth before Adam and Eve were created. In addition, “for a time they lived alone in a paradisiacal setting where there was neither human death nor future family.” They fell from that state, and this Fall was an essential part of Heavenly Father’s plan for us to become like Him.
Upon the fundamental doctrines of the Church we are all agreed. Our mission is to bear the message of the restored gospel to the world. Leave geology, biology, archaeology, and anthropology, no one of which has to do with the salvation of the souls of mankind, to scientific research, while we magnify our calling in the realm of the Church….The New Era statement seems to have adopted Grant's approach.
In case you are worried that the statement will settle arguments about the Church and evolution, be at peace. There will still be plenty to bicker and argue about. Some will see the second paragraph as a negation of the first. Others will argue about how both paragraphs can be true at the same time. And so forth.
Nevertheless, from my point of view this is a step forward and I am pleased to add it to the historical record.
5 comments:
My view is that any elaboration on the 2nd paragraph is just as much an exercise in human reasoning as that practiced by any evolutionary biologist.
How does this square with Elder Holland's recent comments where he emphasized that physical death did not enter the world until the fall of Adam? "[T]here was an actual Adam and Eve who fell from an actual Eden, with all the consequences that fall carried with it.
I do not know the details of what happened on this planet before that, but I do know these two were created under the divine hand of God, that for a time they lived alone in a paradisiacal setting where there was neither human death nor future family, and that through a sequence of choices they transgressed a commandment of God which required that they leave their garden setting but which allowed them to have children before facing physical death." How was this not official teaching that the theory of evolution, at least for humans, is not applicable? In other words, I took the talk to be a firm position that for humans evolution did not occur.
Also, R. Gary will take issue with you, I think.
Jeff - Yes, even more so. There's just so little to go on.
eternalsmiely - You make my point; there will be plenty to argue about. If you click through to the original, you will see that Elder Holland's talk is referenced.
As for R. Gary, I don't know what his issue with me would be (in this case). I'm just reporting what appeared in the New Era. I believe he is on a mission now, so I don't expect to see any comment from him. I'm guessing he would agree with your comment.
More generally, I think Church leaders are comfortable with the fact that not everything 'squares.' See for example: Mormon and Modern
I'm not seeing a problem, eternal. The quote you provides says that "for a time" there was no "human death" for the two people *in the garden*, and that when they left, they faced physical death, and that he doesn't know what happened before that.
So all it says is that the two people in the garden didn't die as long as they were there, and that they died after they left. It doesn't say that there was no death for other organisms before Adam and Eve were put in the garden. It doesn't say that there was no death for any biological precursors to their physical bodies. It doesn't say that other living things weren't dying in the garden when they were there. And it doesn't say that organisms didn't die outside the garden.
"And it doesn't say that organisms didn't die outside the garden."
Yes! We have to remember that Adam and Eve were moved to a different realm.
Jack
Post a Comment