080.1: The Creation; OT Lesson 3 (Core)

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1. Karl Gee says:

   First, I like the new way of splitting the parts of the lesson.

   Regarding stewardship… I feel like, ideally, one of the major roles of a prophet is to warn us when irresponsible stewardship is going to backfire. I really want to hear more of this… For now, here is one great talk on the subject by a general authority:
   http://ulaw.tv/videos/religion-faith-and-the-environment—marcus-nash/0_93udac8v

   I am sure this Deseret News article doesn’t settle the issue, but I think it does free people up a bit if they have felt bound by the anti-evolution statements of some Church leaders “No Definitive LDS Stance on Evolution, Study Finds”:
   http://www.deseretnews.com/article/635188399/No-definitive-LDS-stance-on-evolution-study-finds.html?pg=all

   I was open to evolution growing up because my Dad was pretty open-minded. As a missionary, when I was a little overzealous in following the General Authorities (blissfully unware of their disagreements on this subject), I read one of those anti evolution quotes and really felt bound to revise my position to something more in line with the creation story. I remained open to animal evolution, but worried I could not be faithful and embrace human evolution.

   Shortly after my mission, though, I was really moved by what I was learning about evolution in my anthropology class. I felt really ENLIGHTENED, it was almost a spiritual experience. But I still didn’t quite know what to do with those strongly worded quotes. I knew my Stake President taught organic chemistry or something so I asked him about his take. He assured me that I didn’t need to be reluctant to learn about it. And still being careful not to sway me too much, he said, “I believe that God created the earth and everything in it, including us; and if he did it by evolution that wouldn’t hurt my faith any.” I found this to be a very liberating way to look at it. And I haven’t felt the need to wrestle with it since then. Which is a good thing, because the evidence is overwhelming.

   Speaking of which – Joseph Smith told us what we should do when we have overwhelming evidence of a piece of truth:

   “… Mormonism is truth, in other words the doctrine of the Latter-day Saints, is truth. … The first and fundamental principle of our holy religion is, that we believe that we have a right to embrace all, and every item of truth, without limitation or without being circumscribed or prohibited by the creeds or superstitious notions of men, or by the dominations of one another, when that truth is clearly demonstrated to our minds, and we have the highest degree of evidence of the same.”
   (Teachings of the Presidents of the Church – Joseph Smith, Chapter 22)

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2. Nikki says:

   The Church Newsroom has some great companion pieces for this topic, regarding our responsibilities as stewards of creation: http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/environmental-stewardship-conservation.
   I will be reading it in its entirety to my class.

   This statement seems to be more or less directly taken from an address, also linked to from the above, by Elder Marcus B. Nash, entitled “RIghteous Dominion and Compassion for the Earth.” I”m printing it out and highlighting the Church’s efforts in this arena, and reading from it if there is time.

   Just the titles of the links given from the Newsroom statement are instructive. Great resource.

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3. Janet K. Cook says:

   I’ve been enjoying your podcasts and use them as a substitute for the class since I’m currently the Nursery Leader.
   I was a little taken aback by your reactions to Elder Nelson’s comments. I did not take them as being anti-evolution but as being pro-guided evolution. I,too, find it hard to believe that things could just happen, but have always, even before joining the Church, felt God nudged things along Or as you suggested, told the universe to ‘make it so’ and it did. That was my take on Elder Nelson’s talk, too.
   Thanks for your helpful podcasts, Janet

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   • Jared Anderson says:

     Janet,

     Thanks for the comment. I will need to revisit Nelson’s talk as it relates to evolution. I was using his talk as an example of explicit pushback against the Big Bang, not evolution per se.

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4. Ros lucy says:

   It’s interesting in the new editions of the bible dictionary, the part about Adam and blood is omitted – interesting eh?

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