Major Scientific Breakthrough

Friday, December 8, 2006

Donna has become very interested in whales lately.

"That's a humpback whale", she proudly announced. An advertisement on TV had just flashed a quick shot of a tail rising briefly from the water.

"Cool. How can you tell?"

"I've been reading a lot about them lately. I can tell almost any kind of whale just by looking at the tail."

"Freaking awesome. That's way cooler than my skill of knowing what year a Honda Civic was built by looking at its tail lights."

"Did you know that whales used to live on land? Like, two-hundred-million years ago? Scientist figure they probably walked on all fours, like an alligator. Well, except they were mammals", she boasted.

"I didn't know that. Not specifically. I do think that pretty much all life started out in a tepid pool in Africa or something and evolved from there. So a blue whale on land must have been impressive", I added.

"I don't think ALL life evolved from a single-celled organism. I think ANIMALS evolved but that people were placed here. I believe in the Adam and Eve story though I think it is possible that humans were built by God using evolution", she testified.

"You can't believe in evolution of species AND biblical creation. The Garden of Eden account says there was no death before six or seven-thousand years ago. Evolution isn't possible without a cycle of death, predators, a need to propagate and improve the species in the face of threats."

"I'm not sure that I think Adam and Eve left the garden only six-thousand years ago."

"Well, that's certainly what most Bible-believing Christians teach and it's what the Mormon church teaches too."

"Where?", she snapped.

"Doctrine and Covenants, Section 77 is pretty clear about it. Joseph Smith and Brigham Young preached it very specifically."

"Hmm. I'll have to look into that."

This exchange seemed to have genuinely put her off her guard. I really don't think she has ever really been faced with so obvious a collusion of faith and reality.

I can only hope she does look into it. There is no middle ground in creationism. It is an important and central doctrine in Mormonism. The temple ceremony depends on it as does the entire pre-mortal existence doctrine.

It is not as easy a thing to shelve as, say, the evolution of the Word of Wisdom.

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Filed under: Donna | Mormonism | Science

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