Question
Gramps,
My LDS friend who holds the priesthood , accepts the theory of evolution and doesn’t find it incompatible with scripture. I can’t find any information about how the Church views this theory which is now taught in all ofour schools. How does it tie in with the teaching of Adam and Eve? Many Christians now see the creation story as metaphor but how does it work for Mormons given that the ordinances have the literal creation story of Adam and Eve as integral to this?
Liz
Answer
Dear Liz,
Our God is a God of many wonders. How these wonders are accomplished, we don’t always know. We champion the great truth that God created the heavens and the earth, and all things in it (Genesis 1:1). How He might have done so is beyond my understanding. Evolution need not be opposed to faith, as it is entirely possible that He used/uses evolution as a tool in His creation—after all, do not the very winds obey Him?
This is a subject the Church takes no official stance on, and is to be prayed upon by the individual. If your friend has done this and comes to believe in evolution, I would ask him about his views and experience. One person much wiser than me once said:
“Perhaps if we had the full story of the creation of the earth and man told to us in great detail, it would be more of a mystery than the simple few statements that we have contained in the Bible, because of our lack of ability to comprehend. Therefore, for reasons best known to the Lord, He has kept us in darkness. Wait until the Lord speaks, or wait until that day when He shall come, and when we shall be among the privileged either to come up out of our graves and be caught up into the clouds of heaven or shall be living upon the earth likewise to be so translated before Him. Then we shall know all things pertaining to this earth, how it was made, and all things that now as children we are groping for and trying to understand.”
With that being said, we do believe that Adam and Even were real and literal honest-to-goodness people. I want no misunderstanding of that.
Let’s reserve judgment as to the facts concerning the Creation until we know these things for sure.” (Harold B. Lee, Teachings of Harold B. Lee)
Gramps
