Doctrine, Truth, and the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection

stephenstrent7
Sep 14
8 min read

Where Science Meets the Doctrine and Covenants, for the Come Follow Me lesson September 15-21; Doctrine and Covenants 102-105

We are told in Doctrine and Covenants 102:23, which are the minutes from the organization of the first high council, on February 17, 1834: “In case of difficulty respecting doctrine or principle, if there is not a sufficiency written to make the case clear to the minds of the council, the president may inquire and obtain the mind of the Lord by revelation.”

Doctrine and Covenants 88:77-79 teaches us that, “…I give unto you a commandment that you shall teach one another the doctrine of the kingdom. Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand; Of things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms…”

One of the most exciting and unique doctrines of the Church is found in Doctrine and Covenants 93:29: “Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be.” Another of our doctrines is Article of Faith 8: “We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.”

Perhaps the best example of where the Bible was not translated correctly, and our “fear” toward God “is taught by the precept of men” (Isiah 29:13), is Ephesians 1:3-6. We are told in in that scripture, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” The word “predestinated” in these verses is a philosophy of men that has crept into the scriptures, from the translators of the King James Bible, who were Calvinists and believed in the false doctrine of predestination. According to Bible Hub, the Greek word προορίσας (proorisas) should, more correctly, be translated as “foreordained”, which is the doctrine we are taught in the Church.

The full scripture in Isaiah 29:13-14 states, “Wherefore the Lord said, 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.”

We are the happy beneficiaries of that marvelous work and wonder that has been restored in these latter days. We are told in Doctrine and Covenants 121:33, “As well might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri river in its decreed course, or to turn it up stream, as to hinder the Almighty from pouring down knowledge from heaven upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints”.

One of my favorite talks of all time is the one given by President Russell M. Nelson at the April 2018 General Conference where he was sustained as president of the Church and prophet, seer, and revelator. He stated, “One of the things the Spirit has repeatedly impressed upon my mind since my new calling as President of the Church is how willing the Lord is to reveal His mind and will. The privilege of receiving revelation is one of the greatest gifts of God to His children.”¹

He also stated, “How can we find answers to questions that perplex us? ...what will your seeking open for you? What wisdom do you lack? What do you feel an urgent need to know or understand? Follow the example of the Prophet Joseph. Find a quiet place where you can regularly go. Humble yourself before God. Pour out your heart to your Heavenly Father. Turn to Him for answers and for comfort.”²

President Nelson assured us, “Does God really want to speak to you? Yes! …I urge you to stretch beyond your current spiritual ability to receive personal revelation…Oh, there is so much more that your Father in Heaven wants you to know…If we are to have any hope of sifting through the myriad of voices and the philosophies of men that attack truth, we must learn to receive revelation…Our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, will perform some of His mightiest works between now and when He comes again…My beloved brothers and sisters, I plead with you to increase your spiritual capacity to receive revelation…With Moroni, I exhort you on this Easter Sabbath to “come unto Christ, and lay hold upon every good gift,” beginning with the gift of the Holy Ghost, which gift can and will change your life.”³

In that Easter talk, President Nelson also stated, “…I know that good inspiration is based upon good information…Doctrine and Covenants 9:7-9 states, “Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me. But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right. But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong; therefore, you cannot write that which is sacred save it be given you from me.”⁴

As I write my weekly essays, I gather a huge amount of what I consider to be pertinent information concerning the scripture I choose to discuss. I make the choice of scripture and the relevant material a matter of, at least, daily prayer. Then I take that huge amount of information (often running to thirty or forty pages) and prayerfully analyze each concept, each sentence, each word; using the directions given in Doctrine and Covenants 9; to determine what text to present as a finished product.

To give those of you who don’t already know how old I am, something of an idea; in the fall semester of 1970, ten months after I had returned from my mission, I began attending classes and participating in research in the brand-new John A. Widtsoe Life Sciences Building. Then in May 2015, that grand, not-so-old, 184,000 square-foot building, where I had grown up as a young scientist, was demolished. The life sciences at BYU had far outgrown it, and it was replaced by a new 265,000 square-foot Life Sciences Building, which was dedicated on April 14, 2015. Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles presided over the dedication and gave the dedicatory prayer.⁵

In his speech before the dedicatory prayer, Elder Nelson reemphasized what has been taught by Church leaders for over one hundred fifty years: that truth will never conflict with truth. According to the Church News, “He emphasized that any perceived conflict between science and religion stems from incomplete knowledge, and that both scientific and divinely revealed truths are part of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” He was quoted as saying, “This university is committed to search for truth, and teach the truth…All truth is part of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Whether truth comes from a scientific laboratory or by revelation from the Lord, it is compatible.”⁶

On August 31, 1873, in the Bowery at Paris, Idaho, President Brigham Young stated, “The Gospel of life and salvation that we have embraced in our faith, and that we profess to carry out in our lives, incorporates all truth…The Gospel that I have embraced comprehends all truth…It is all the truth of heaven, the truth of God…the law by which worlds were, are, and will be brought into existence, and pass from one degree or one state of being to another, pertaining to the exaltation of intelligence from the lowest to the highest state.”⁷

Elder Nelson continued his 2015 speech, “During his life, John A. Widtsoe did as much as any contemporary to establish the link between science and the gospel…With unparalleled spiritual and intellectual prowess and energy, he sought to erase the artificial distinction between scientific and religious truth. For him, science and religion were inextricably united.”⁸

During his life, John A. Widtsoe stated, “Such a doctrine eliminates any conflict between science and religion. Every statement must be tested for its truth. If found to be true, it is incorporated into the gospel structure [doctrine][. If found to be false, it is rejected and forgotten. That places factual knowledge high and inferences or theories much lower. Latter-day Saints must be certain of the truth they accept. To be ever searching for truth, and of course practicing it, is the real business of Latter-day Saints.”⁹

Elder Widtsoe had this to say about evolution, “Be it remembered that science is ever changing. A scientific theory is a proposal that links together a few known facts; as new facts are discovered, the theory is constantly under revision. The law of evolution is a fact: all living organisms are subject to change. The theory of evolution, on the other hand, which is the attempted explanation of the process, is constantly being altered. The theory accepted in our youth has been virtually discarded; the theory of today is a modification and expansion of yesterday’s theories. [In Elder Widtsoe’s time, Darwinian Evolution had been replaced by Neo-Darwinism, which incorporated the added benefit of genetic knowledge, completely missing from the original theory.] When we know more about evolution, we will be able to better judge its truth. The truth of the gospel is eternal; it does not change. That which is true in science is a part of the gospel.”¹⁰

Today, the volume of knowledge that we possess concerning biological processes, including our knowledge of the truths associated with organic evolution is several orders of magnitude beyond what Elder Widtsoe knew in his lifetime. He died twenty years before the first gene was sequenced. To date, millions of different, individual, extant and extinct plant and animal genomes, each with over 20,000 genes, have been sequenced. The data derived from this sequencing work has proven, without question, the inter-relatedness of all life on earth. The evidence for descent and natural selection is literally billions of times stronger today than when Elder Widtsoe made his 1943 statement: “When we know more about evolution, we will be able to better judge its truth”. Today, we can judge the truthfulness of the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection at that billion-fold level over what Elder Widtsoe was able to judge.

Elder Nelson said that the faculty and students of Brigham Young University are “committed to search for truth, and teach the truth”. I entered BYU in the fall of 1966 with the stated goal of disproving the Theory of Evolution. My studies at that marvelous seat of learning, and all of my research since then, have convinced the skeptical me that the data, the truth, overwhelmingly support the veracity of that theory. As a three-time BYU alumnus (two BS degrees and an MS), one of my pursuits in life has been to follow the example of Elder Widtsoe: to always seek the truth and to “erase the artificial distinction between scientific and religious truth”. It is my goal to demonstrate all the many ways in which “science and religion were inextricably united”.

Trent Dee Stephens, PhD

trentdeestephens.com

stephenstrent7@gmail.com

References

1. Nelson, Russell M. Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives, April 2018 General Conference

2. Ibid

3. Ibid

4. Ibid

5. Church News, April 14, 2015, Elder Nelson dedicates Life Sciences Building: ‘There is no conflict between science and religion’; thechurchnews.com/2015/4/14/23212914/elder-nelson-dedicates-life-sciences-building-there-is-no-conflict-between-science-and-religion

6. Ibid

7. Young, Brigham, Journal of Discourses 16:160, 1873

8. Church News, 2015