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Wilford Woodruff on Prophets and Science
Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Wilford Woodruff contains the following quote in Chapter 19:
Now whatever I might have obtained in the shape of learning, by searching and study respecting the arts and sciences of men, whatever principles I may have imbibed during my scientific researches, yet if the prophet of God should tell me that a certain principle, or theory which I might have learned was not true, I do not care what my ideas might have been, I should consider it my duty, at the suggestion of my file leader to abandon that principle or theory. …(The original and full text of his speech is available here. Thanks to Justin at Mormon Wasp, whose online documenting of the manual helped me find the source.)
I have seen men in the days of Joseph bring up principles, and read and teach, and advocate theories when the prophet would say “it is not right to do so, they are not true.” Those men would still argue, maintain their position, and they would write in defence of their theories when the prophet condemned them, and they would say “we have no faith in your theory, nor in the system you present.”
The very moment a man does that he crosses the path of the servant of God who is set to lead the way to life and salvation. This is one thing that the Elders should carefully avoid. The fact is there are a great many things taught in the building up of this kingdom which seem strange to us, being contrary to our traditions, and are calculated to try men. Brother Joseph used a great many methods of testing the integrity of men, and he taught a great many things which in consequence of tradition required prayer, faith and a testimony from the Lord before they could be believed by many of the Saints. … [bolding added--LDSSR]
Wilford said this in 1857, well before his own presidency. Nevertheless I'll pose this somewhat tongue-in-cheek question: Does this constitute prophetic endorsement of the idea that God put fossils in the ground to test us?
More seriously, I think the question can be answered both yes and no. How you parse it depends on your perspective and assumptions. Here is mine--at least for now. No, God has not intentionally confused us, but neither has he sought to clear such matters up. If there is a test, perhaps it is to see whether we will reject the gospel and the prophets because of associated weaknesses.
7 comments:
Excellent insight, Jared. Are there any other prophets (or pre-prophets, as Woodruff was in this case) who made similar statements? At first I wanted to read this as, "Some of what we teach you is false on purpose" but on second reading I came away with, "Some of what we teach you is confusing and/or disconcerting on purpose." Is that how you read it?
BrianJ,
An additional reading would be "What we teach is true, but some of it may appear to be false and it appears false on purpose."
I think your second reading is more in line with my thinking. Of course I don't know what Wilford thought exactly. I know that Joseph Smith resented traditions and claimed to hold back knowledge because of the negative way it would be received. (And boy, was polygamy negatively received.)
FYI, as far as sciences go, Joseph said phrenology and creation ex nihilo was false, and also contradicted Orson Pratt (I think) about our bodies being re-newed every X number of years.
It is also worth noting that most of the sciences as we know them came after Joseph, or even Wilford.
It is nice to know that the living prophet has let the sciences be sciences...
In your dreams, Stapley — where did you get such an idea?
BrianJ,
Yes, there are "other prophets who made similar statements". See, for example, Jacob 4:14.
I've thought of that scripture before. But I have to say that when I start thinking that God is making (or has made) the evidence of natural history the way it is because that's the way we want it, is when I think I may be on the border of sanity.
Nevertheless, I guess we could also add Isaiah 6:10.
Gary, Jared: Yes, of course I should have thought of those scriptures!
Still, I was reading Woodruff's statement a little differently than how I read those verses. So while the verses you share refer to confounding those who are wicked or stubborn or proud, I read Woodruff's statement as: "...calculated to try [all sorts of] men." Meaning, stumbling blocks will be placed in the path of even those honestly seeking the truth.
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