Some of you will recognize the abbreviated quote in the subject line as a statement in Bruce R. McConkie's _Mormon Doctrine_.

Since 2008, there has been a frequently-visited Wikipedia page titled "Mormon Views on Evolution":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormon_views_on_evolution

Lately, the page has been visited about 40 times each day.

The page does a fantastic job of pointing out that LDS prophets and apostles have made declarations about biological evolution (or "the origin of man") many times, and have uniformly insisted that:

+ Adam was the first man
+ Men were made in god's image
+ Evolution is not a topic members need to analyze or debate (see the quotes that begin "Leave Geology, Biology, Archaeology, and Anthropology..." and "I tell them I am not concerned with organic evolution")

In addition, the LDS Bible Dictionary says:

"Latter-day revelation teaches that there was no death on this earth for any forms of life before the fall of Adam. Indeed, death entered the world as a direct result of the fall (2 Nephi 2:22; Moses 6:48)."

I had professors at BYU who took great pains to find "space" within LDS doctrine for the facts that support evolution. Well, when you read all the general authority quotes on evolution in one place, it becomes obvious that Bruce R. McConkie was exactly right. There is no compatibility, and well-read, true-believing Mormons who want to accept evolution cannot do so without strenuous (and embarrassing) mental gymnastics.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/05/2014 10:40AM by cytokine.

cytokine Wrote:
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> + Evolution is not a topic members need to analyze
> or debate

This is taken very seriously. Any time I've tried to talk about Evolution to a TBM, I get, "Don't even go there with me. I'm not talking about that."

You're shut down instantly.

I heard "I think it's an insult to God to say we came from Chimpanzees." From a30 year old TBM in 2013.

I hope lots of TBM's stumbled upon that quote, because if they're well-read, they know defenses like that are buffoonery.

Hearing people on your own side mount extremely poor defenses can cause self-questioning (e.g., the "FAIR" effect).

He meant it was an insult to his high opinion of himself.

That's a signal that evolution is a topic we *should* bring up a lot with TBM's. For the well-educated ones, the conflict between the scientific evidence and what God's anointed have said should be a serious source of dissonance.

Sad but true. I'm taking an anthropology class at this moment and decided to share with my TBM DH how our skin color is a process of natural selection and such and not a result of a curse or blessing as some religious people think. I guess I made the mistake of quoting this Christensen guy to make my point. He didn't want nothing to do with me after that.

"the truths of revealed religion" is an interesting phrase. Does that mean ANY religion that claims to be revealed, like Islam?