In this Part, the use of evolution by God is discussed. An interesting aspect of the creation of physical life is whether or not evolution was used. Almost all scientists say "yes". Latter-day Saints, though, are divided about that question. Let's look at the creation as depicted in the Bible.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (Genesis 1:27)
Notice that verse doesn't tell *how* God created man, only that He created him. A problem that many LDS have is that because they believe the creation of the earth happened before death entered the world, evolution could not have been used by God as a tool in that creation, since evolution requires death. They thus conclude that evolution is a false concept and is not part of God's plan. I also believe that the creation of the earth, including the Garden of Eden episode, happened before death existed, because my interpretation of the scriptures tells me that is so, and the concept of the Fall of Adam makes no sense without death entering the world after Adam and Eve partook of the fruit. But, at this point I depart from many LDS because I believe in evolution. So, how do I solve this paradox of an immortal creation and evolution? By not making the mistake that many LDS make in placing evolution at the wrong point in the time-line of creation.
Here is the sequence of events according to my understanding of the scriptures.
- God created a physical world that had no death. This world included the Garden of Eden.
- Adam and Eve were placed in the garden and were thus immortal.
- Adam and Eve partook of the fruit, and the world became mortal, i.e. the Fall of Adam occurred, a fall from immortality to mortality.
So, how could evolution play a part in this? Obviously, not at the beginning when God created the physical but immortal world. Let's look at that sequence again. When did the earth become mortal? After Adam and Eve partook of the fruit. So, when could God have used evolution as a tool? After Adam and Eve partook of the fruit. From that viewpoint, based on my speculation about evolution, here is a new sequence of events.
- God created a physical world that had no death. This world included the Garden of Eden.
- Adam and Eve were placed in the garden and were thus immortal.
- Adam and Eve partook of the fruit, and the immortal world was replaced by a mortal world, i.e. the Fall of Adam occurred, a fall from immortality to mortality.
- The process of the world becoming mortal was not instantaneous. It took millions of years in earth time for God to create the mortal world via the natural laws that govern the mortal world, and God used evolution as one of his tools in creating the mortal world.
Does this mean that Adam and Eve had to wait millions of years for the mortal earth and their mortal bodies to be created? Not if "immortal earth" time was different than "mortal earth" time. The millions of years in mortal time could have been but a few minutes or so in immortal time.
I totally agree that evolution requires death. Evolution takes the genes of two successful lifeforms to produce another. However without death the life forms with the older genes would mate with the newer life forms and evolution would take a backwards step. So nature found a way to eliminate the older life forms - provide limited lifespans. This was the older gene pool is naturally removed from the planet so evolution and advancement can occur.
ReplyDeleteAllen,
ReplyDeleteI read your essay on evolution and biblical accounts of the creation. You present some interesting ideas to consider such as your explanation for the presence of pre-adamic hominids.
Do you think that the mortal fallen earth is a different world from the one Adam and Eve were on in the Garden of Eden, or is it the same orb? The fact that Brigham Young said that the earth was whisked away out of the presence of God after the Fall would support your assertion that the Fall took a long time, long enough for entities to supposedly evolve. I believe that God's throne is at the center of our galaxy - our earth is located in the third spiral arm (Orion Cygnus Arm) which is very far from the center of our galaxy - a long way to travel, in other words.
The idea that Adam and Eve's immortal bodies were replaced by mortal bodies is a bit unusual, although it is consistent with the idea that our bodies progress from mortal to immortal, and not the other way around. Perhaps, as you say, a new body was required because one cannot move from immortality to mortality.
I have a major problem with the notion that God used evolution to create Adam's body. Evolution, by definition, involves natural selection and random mutation in the genome. I believe God uses natural selection, as in the case of the dinosaurs, but God could not have relied on random mutations. Random mutations introduces the probability of numerous outcomes. With the creation of man, there was one and only one possible outcome that would satisfy "created in the image of God."
Here is the upshot: God must not have used evolution to create Adam's body because he did not leave man's creation to chance. If we preclude random events from the God-evolution story of creation then we are not talking about evolution anymore; it is something different. Perhaps LDS evolutionists need to give it a new name like neo-evolutionism.
Thoughts?
BTW, I accept that evolution occurs within species, but am unable to accept common descent.
Hi Dave,
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting my blog and for reading my essay. Before I address your specific comments, I'd like to express a philosophy of reading the scriptures that has helped me a lot in trying to understand passages that are typically interpreted to refer to the creation of the earth.
One of the LDS General Authorities said something similar to the following paraphrase in my words:
We do religion and let the scientists do science.
To me that is a significant statement. The purpose of the church is to help us as children of
God live in such a way that we can return and be with him. The purpose of the church is not to delve into scientific explanations of things.
That statement places a separation between the spiritual and physical parts of our lives. What does this mean in terms of our reading the scriptures? Here is how I apply that statement to my study of the scriptures.
The Lord, through the scriptures and through modern prophets, teaches the WHY of things but doesn't teach the HOW. To get the HOW we must turn to science. Thus, religion and science both have a place in our lives, but they are separate. This leads to the two hats that I wear and have spoken of in other posts.
So, why in Genesis did the Lord describe the creation of the earth? Why does Genesis go into the flood story and describe a flood that would take over two billion cubic miles of water? Why does the story of the flood involve a small boat of limited capacity to carry animals? If we think of those things in terms of the HOW we will get mixed up in a silly comparison of science and religion. Those who want to keep their faith in God are forced to either reject science in favor of religion, or think of their religion in terms of magical miracles instead of a God who works through natural law.
So, here is the value to me of the creation and flood stories in the context of the WHY.
In Moses 1:39 we learn that God's purpose in everything, literally everything, is for our growth, our immortality through the resurrection, and our gaining Eternal Life through the Atonement. I keep that in mind whenever I read the scriptures and in everything else I do in the church.
To me, God revealed the creation of the earth in terms the Hebrews could understand. He certainly didn't describe creation in terms of science like we have today. Why? Why did He do that? Because, I believe, He wanted the Hebrews to understand that He created the world and gave it to them. He wanted them to have faith in Him and to worship Him as their God and creator. He wasn't giving them a lecture in science. He was giving them a basis for their faith. Similarly, in the flood story He wanted them to have a lesson in faith and in obedience. He wanted them to understand that faith and obedience are necessary if they are to be saved through the Atonement.
In summary, I study religion to understand the WHY of God, and I study science to understand the HOW of God.
This detour into the WHY and HOW was larger than I had expected, so I'll put my remarks about your comment into another post.
Now, Dave, let me comment on your remarks.
ReplyDelete"Do you think that the mortal fallen earth is a different world from the one Adam and Eve were on in the Garden of Eden, or is it the same orb?"
Our mortal world is one of death, while the world containing the Garden of Eden was a world without death. In that sense they are different worlds. Concerning their orbit around the sun? I don't know. I don't think that question was in the minds of the Hebrews who read about the creation in Genesis. That is a HOW question not a WHY question. Recognizing, though, the change from an immortal but physical world to a mortal and physical world is important, because it is the basis of the Fall of Adam and a need for the Atonement. That change needs to be in the WHY story of the creation, but we must be careful that we don't get caught up in HOW details.
"I believe that God's throne is at the center of our galaxy - our earth is located in the third spiral arm (Orion Cygnus Arm) which is very far from the center of our galaxy"
That is an interesting statement. I'm curious, Dave, why you would place God in our galaxy since our galaxy is just one of billions in the cosmos. I've always assumed that God created all of the cosmos.
"I have a major problem with the notion that God used evolution to create Adam's body. Evolution, by definition, involves natural selection and random mutation in the genome."
I remember reading a statement by a LDS evolutionist that evolution doesn't involve chance. I don't remember, though, who made that statement. Perhaps someone who understands evolution better than I do will jump in and clarify this for us.
"With the creation of man, there was one and only one possible outcome that would satisfy 'created in the image of God.'"
Yes, God's overall goal was to create a body for his spirit children that was in His image. That goal doesn't imply that along the way God could not have created other plant and animal lifeforms. The cosmos is a big place. We have already detected over 300 exoplanets, and there are probably billions more planets in the cosmos. Most of those planets probably don't have intelligent life in the image of God, but a few of them probably do (we know that one of them does).
"Here is the upshot: God must not have used evolution to create Adam's body because he did not leave man's creation to chance. If we preclude random events from the God-evolution story of creation then we are not talking about evolution anymore; it is something different."
Again, I confess to being ignorant about evolution, but it seems to me that genetic mutations aren't all random mutations. They include mutations caused by temperature and humidity changes, changes in UV radiation, changes from impacts from asteroids, etc. Even changes that occur from one generation to the next for no apparent reason may not be random. We need a geneticist to comment on that. In addition, I think that natural selection would put a bias on mutations such that the end result was not random.
A final comment on evolution.
ReplyDeleteI read the scriptures and the writings and sermons of our General Authorities as WHY writings. I read them to help me become a better disciple of Jesus Christ.
I accept evolution as the best answer, so far, for HOW questions. Perhaps something better will come along in the future to answer HOW questions.
In the meantime I follow the counsel of the General Authority who said we do religion and let the scientists do science. I wear my two hats, as appropriate, and I am willing to give both the Lord and scientists more time to bring science and religion together. I probably won't be alive when the Millennium begins, but I hope I am here as a resurrected person during that time. I look forward to the merging of science and religion into one system, and to the Savior's completion of all things as he returns them to the Father.
Natural Selection is often considered the basic mechanism by which mutations spread. However, genetic drift is another important mechanism. Jared discusses this in his blog.
ReplyDelete