I don't agree with the premise that the church takes no stance. That simply isn't so. President Benson named Darwin as one of the anti-Christs. President Joseph Fielding Smith wrote an enormous and excellent book about the topic called "Man His Origin and Destiny." I am an engineer and consider myself somewhat "scientific" however I see no conflict at all here. Evolution is a theory, based on surmise and storytelling, not actual observations of our world. It is promoted to push a world-view adverse to belief in God and against the ideas of human dignity. If this whole thing is the result of a series of happy little accidents and survival of the fittest, then murder would be a net good for society. Thankfully, its not, so it's not!
Dan BradshawMay 21, 2024
I would refer to a book, Earth in the Beginning, by Eric Skousen. Very good science against evolution. Yes, there may have been natural selection and adaptation, but no evolving into different kinds. Also, the series, Is Genesis History?, puts a whole lot of serious doubt into evolution and the age of the earth.
MattMay 21, 2024
If the Lord created us through evolution, so be it - He can do all things. However, 13 years of public education, and 8 years of higher education has failed to show me sufficient evidence for macro evolution. In fact, from what I have seen, those who tout this view have way more faith than I do. I just can't make that leap - and they take many leaps of faith. There is some good, solid evidence to the contrary, as I later discovered, but it l doesn't always make it past the academic filters which protect the narrative (not the truth). I've seen this narrative protection in progress in my own courses, a kind of circular reasoning.
Dan ShewellMay 20, 2024
This theory of evolution-- and it is a theory, it's not provable science--appeared on the world scene roughly at the same time as the Restored Gospel was beginning to gain a foothold. It is, in my opinion the blackest of lies from the deepest pit of Hell carefully introduced among the world's elite to deceive and to discredit God. Elder McConkie said as much in his landmark address, the Seven Deadly Heresies".
I'm no scientist but I know enough to assert that mankind, the children of God, did not at any time or in any sense "evolve" from lower life forms.
All life was commanded at creation to multiply "after its own kind", not to morph from one kind to another. In sacred places we hear that fact stated over and over.
Ronald BarnesMay 20, 2024
I have no problem accepting both evolution and religion. To evolutionist I say, nothing about evolution makes it necessary to exclude a supreme being. To the religionist I say, nothing about creation excludes God from using evolution to help bring it about. While I believe in evolution, I realize that it is just a theory and not a fact. It will not become a fact until scientists can change one type of life form into another type of life form.
Steve DoneganMay 20, 2024
While studying at the University of Nebraska I found science books published by BYU. In one was a forward by the then current president of the university. In it he wrote that as far as evolution was concerned, he had only the opinion that evolution may happen, but the first humans on earth were Adam and Eve. I agree with him wholeheartedly.
Jackson PembertonMay 20, 2024
I am surprised that Peterson makes no mention of Darwin's doubts about his theory. He was especially concerned about the large gap in the evolutionary tree where hundreds of species seem to all appear at once with no transitional evidence. He was deeply moved by the eye saying that it seemed an impossible thing to create by pure random mutations.
David DuncanMay 20, 2024
Neo-Darwinism is bankrupt. Even honest Darwinists realize the more we learn about life, the further we get from Darwinist explanations. Even Charles Darwin knew of the holes in his theory, he just expected them to be filled as research progressed. The opposite has happened. Natural selection? Sure, we can observe that. Speciation? The few times it seems to have happened looks more like de-evolution than evolution. And at the genus level, evolution looks utterly out of the question. The Discovery Institute is a good place to get info on evolution from a faithful perspective. Intelligent Design is a scientific theory that is quite compatible with creationism, the Bible, and the Pearl of Great Price. (see discovery.org/id and evolution.news)
Ben JonesMay 20, 2024
As a member of the LDS Faith, I have no problem with the age of the universe. If God is eternal, as we and all Christians believe, and eternity is a very long time, we should not be at all surprised that the Earth and the Universe appears to be very old. The Genesis account describes a sequence of events, with the idea that things were done in a certain order. Even the concept of "survival of the fittest" implies an intelligence deciding what works. And at what point does intelligence begin to change the destiny of creation? Just look at Man. He is not content to let evolution mindlessly go on. He farms, he selectively breeds, he develops technology to control his environment and beat the odds...
Comments | Return to Story
BillMay 30, 2024
I don't agree with the premise that the church takes no stance. That simply isn't so. President Benson named Darwin as one of the anti-Christs. President Joseph Fielding Smith wrote an enormous and excellent book about the topic called "Man His Origin and Destiny." I am an engineer and consider myself somewhat "scientific" however I see no conflict at all here. Evolution is a theory, based on surmise and storytelling, not actual observations of our world. It is promoted to push a world-view adverse to belief in God and against the ideas of human dignity. If this whole thing is the result of a series of happy little accidents and survival of the fittest, then murder would be a net good for society. Thankfully, its not, so it's not!
Dan BradshawMay 21, 2024
I would refer to a book, Earth in the Beginning, by Eric Skousen. Very good science against evolution. Yes, there may have been natural selection and adaptation, but no evolving into different kinds. Also, the series, Is Genesis History?, puts a whole lot of serious doubt into evolution and the age of the earth.
MattMay 21, 2024
If the Lord created us through evolution, so be it - He can do all things. However, 13 years of public education, and 8 years of higher education has failed to show me sufficient evidence for macro evolution. In fact, from what I have seen, those who tout this view have way more faith than I do. I just can't make that leap - and they take many leaps of faith. There is some good, solid evidence to the contrary, as I later discovered, but it l doesn't always make it past the academic filters which protect the narrative (not the truth). I've seen this narrative protection in progress in my own courses, a kind of circular reasoning.
Dan ShewellMay 20, 2024
This theory of evolution-- and it is a theory, it's not provable science--appeared on the world scene roughly at the same time as the Restored Gospel was beginning to gain a foothold. It is, in my opinion the blackest of lies from the deepest pit of Hell carefully introduced among the world's elite to deceive and to discredit God. Elder McConkie said as much in his landmark address, the Seven Deadly Heresies". I'm no scientist but I know enough to assert that mankind, the children of God, did not at any time or in any sense "evolve" from lower life forms. All life was commanded at creation to multiply "after its own kind", not to morph from one kind to another. In sacred places we hear that fact stated over and over.
Ronald BarnesMay 20, 2024
I have no problem accepting both evolution and religion. To evolutionist I say, nothing about evolution makes it necessary to exclude a supreme being. To the religionist I say, nothing about creation excludes God from using evolution to help bring it about. While I believe in evolution, I realize that it is just a theory and not a fact. It will not become a fact until scientists can change one type of life form into another type of life form.
Steve DoneganMay 20, 2024
While studying at the University of Nebraska I found science books published by BYU. In one was a forward by the then current president of the university. In it he wrote that as far as evolution was concerned, he had only the opinion that evolution may happen, but the first humans on earth were Adam and Eve. I agree with him wholeheartedly.
Jackson PembertonMay 20, 2024
I am surprised that Peterson makes no mention of Darwin's doubts about his theory. He was especially concerned about the large gap in the evolutionary tree where hundreds of species seem to all appear at once with no transitional evidence. He was deeply moved by the eye saying that it seemed an impossible thing to create by pure random mutations.
David DuncanMay 20, 2024
Neo-Darwinism is bankrupt. Even honest Darwinists realize the more we learn about life, the further we get from Darwinist explanations. Even Charles Darwin knew of the holes in his theory, he just expected them to be filled as research progressed. The opposite has happened. Natural selection? Sure, we can observe that. Speciation? The few times it seems to have happened looks more like de-evolution than evolution. And at the genus level, evolution looks utterly out of the question. The Discovery Institute is a good place to get info on evolution from a faithful perspective. Intelligent Design is a scientific theory that is quite compatible with creationism, the Bible, and the Pearl of Great Price. (see discovery.org/id and evolution.news)
Ben JonesMay 20, 2024
As a member of the LDS Faith, I have no problem with the age of the universe. If God is eternal, as we and all Christians believe, and eternity is a very long time, we should not be at all surprised that the Earth and the Universe appears to be very old. The Genesis account describes a sequence of events, with the idea that things were done in a certain order. Even the concept of "survival of the fittest" implies an intelligence deciding what works. And at what point does intelligence begin to change the destiny of creation? Just look at Man. He is not content to let evolution mindlessly go on. He farms, he selectively breeds, he develops technology to control his environment and beat the odds...
ADD A COMMENT