Refuting and Correcting BYU’s False Doctrine on the Origin of Man #49 - Elder John A. Widstoe, “The Theories of Men”

(by Dennis B. Horne)

            In this article, Elder Widstoe destroys the attempt made by many scientists to redefine a theory as a fact. Science may have their own reasons for calling theories facts or truths, but they are not acceptable to non-specialists/scientists, who still define theories as theories, and truth as truth. For science to call a theory a fact or truth in order to make it more attractive or palatable to non-scientists is dishonest sophistry. Hence Elder Widstoe’s explanations, especially in regards to the “theory of evolution”:

 

            Thus, the fact of the constancy of composition of any chemical compound led to the inference known as the atomic theory; the fact that an apple falls to the ground, became converted into the theory of gravitation, and the facts of the fossil’s record in the rocks have become the theory of evolution. Such inferences from facts are useful in the further building of science; they are often glorious evidences of the power of the human mind; but they are only inferences of varying degrees of probability of truth approaching only the validity of facts. They are modernized, and truly better, “theories of men,’ but not on a par with the facts of experience.

Refuting and Correcting BYU’s False Doctrine on the Origin of Man #48 - Elder Samuel O. Bennion Attacks the Theory of Evolution

 (by Dennis B. Horne)

            In the first half of the 20^th century Samuel O. Bennion served a lengthy term as a mission president and was then called as a member of the First Council of the Seventy (he died in 1945). He is almost completely unknown (outside of historical circles) to members of the Church today. Yet his influence during his time was significant. He was one who was not going to lay down for the biologists and other scientists of his day that sought to push evolution on everyone. So at a time when the subject was a hot-button issue, he spoke vigorously against it in general conference, of which the below are excerpts from his address:

 

            It is more necessary than it has ever been, it appears to me, that the Latter-day Saints should familiarize themselves with the revelations of God to his people in this day, when doubt and theory are everywhere present, leading so many of the children of men away from God. . . .

Elder LeGrand Richards’ Special Witness of Jesus Christ

[Readers desiring to obtain their own hardback copies of volume one of I Know He Lives: How 13 Special Witnesses Came to Know Jesus Christ can find copies on sale here  Softbound copies can be purchased here, on sale. An ebook (Kindle) edition is available on Amazon here, for cheap. The Amazon page also includes the Introduction and first chapter of volume one for free.]

(by Dennis B. Horne)

  

With all my heart and soul, I know this is the Lord’s work,

that Jesus Christ is the Redeemer of the world, the head of His church,

that Joseph Smith was His prophet.

  

            Of Elder LeGrand Richards, President Gordon B. Hinckley said: “No one who listens to LeGrand Richards has any doubt that he knows that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, that Joseph Smith was and is a prophet, and that the Church is true; and I think there is no more significant contribution that any man can make than to serve as a witness of the Lord with power and conviction and sincerity, and LeGrand Richards does that in a marvelous way.”[1]

Refuting and Correcting BYU’s False Doctrine on the Origin of Man #47 - President George F. Richards’s Essays

(by Dennis B. Horne)

            George F. Richards, father of Elder LeGrand Richards and a past Apostle and President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, wrote some essays in his diary (two are shared below). These are being published as part of his entire diaries by the Church Historian’s Press, a project that I eagerly applaud. For our purposes, these essays contain his views and thoughts on subjects relating to the origin of man. The writing is not the greatest so I did some very slight editing to make a few passages easier to understand. I also included his notes from a lecture he attended given by Elder B. H. Roberts:

 

My First Essay

 

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” Should read, “formed or organized.” God did not create the heaven and the earth out of nothing as many suppose; but the Gods formed, or organized them out of elements which, though they could not with the naked eye be seen, did exist. Always did and always will exist because they are eternal. We have Joseph Smith and the ancient Apostle Paul for authority upon this subject.

Refuting and Correcting BYU’s False Doctrine on the Origin of Man #46 - Elder Charles W. Penrose’s Attempt at Reconciling the Age of the Earth with the Science of His Day

(by Dennis B. Horne)

            We are requested to touch upon a subject that seems to be much misunderstood by many people, including some of the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, even by persons who might be supposed to have correct information. It has been stated and published that “The earth is almost six thousand years old,” and on that theory, some inferences are drawn which are untenable if the premise is incorrect. The question is: are we to understand the assertion as literally true? If so, does not that come in direct opposition with the facts that are looked upon as demonstrated, and with scientific discoveries and rational teachings? The editor of the Millennial Star does not profess to know the precise age of this earth on which we live, but is prepared to state most emphatically that its age is very far in advance of that which is implied in the assertion that has given rise to these remarks.

Refuting and Correcting BYU’s False Doctrine on the Origin of Man #45 - The Second law of Thermodynamics

(by Dennis B. Horne)

Elder George R. Hill III, Formerly of the Seventy, excerpt from “Seek Ye Diligently”:

 

            The theory of evolution as presently taught posits that higher forms of life arose gradually from lower stages of living matter. Inheritable genetic changes in offspring are assumed to be spontaneous rather than the result of arranged or directed forces external to the system.

            This theory conflicts with a basic law of chemistry, the second law of thermodynamics, which states in part that it is not possible for a spontaneous process to produce a system of higher order than the system possessed at the beginning of the change.

Refuting and Correcting BYU’s False Doctrine on the Origin of Man #44 - Eve

(by Dennis B. Horne)

Note: Perhaps I shouldn’t have, but I used some sarcasm to make the point below:

 

            Poor confused Eve: according to BYU evolutionists her mother (or other ancestor) was an animal, evidently some kind of almost human ape or neanderthal, and not her resurrected Heavenly Mother. In Eve’s delusions about her state of existence in the garden of Eden, having partaken of the forbidden fruit and listened to Adam (her husband) prophesy under the power of the Holy Spirit, “heard all these things and was glad”—so she lied and said: “Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient” (Moses 5:10-11). Having got everything wrong, and not understanding that she was a product of organic evolution, “Eve blessed the name of God, and they made all things known unto their sons and their daughters.” I assume from all of this that the BYU biologists (and also the feminists) are ashamed of Eve for not knowing as much as they do about how she was created and lived; after all, she only heard it from God Himself.

President Ezra Taft Benson’s Special Witness of Jesus Christ

[Readers desiring to obtain their own hardback copies of volume one of I Know He Lives: How 13 Special Witnesses Came to Know Jesus Christ can find copies on sale here  Softbound copies can be purchased here, on sale. An ebook (Kindle) edition is available on Amazon here, for cheap. The Amazon page also includes the Introduction and first chapter of volume one for free.]

(by Dennis B. Horne)

  

There have been many in this dispensation who have seen Him.

As one of those special witnesses so called in this day,

I testify to you that He lives.

  

            “I cannot recall a time that I did not believe in Jesus Christ,” President Ezra Taft Benson said. “It seems that the reality of His life, death, and resurrection has always been a part of me. I was reared in a home by faithful parents who earnestly believed in and testified of Christ, for which I am most grateful.”[1] Elder Benson’s father, George T. Benson Jr., the grandson of Apostle Ezra T. Benson, brought a beautiful influence into the Benson home located in the small town of Whitney, Idaho. “When my own father went on a mission, . . .” Elder Benson said, “There came into that home a spirit of missionary work that has never left it, . . .”[2]

 

Refuting and Correcting BYU’s False Doctrine on the Origin of Man #43 - Scripture Study Aids included with the Standard Works

 (by Dennis B. Horne)

             While it is true that the Bible study aids, such as the dictionary, are not canonized scripture,[1] they are still purposely published with the scriptures. I rhetorically ask—would the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve include the (thoroughly revised and corrected) dictionary with the canonized scriptures if they didn’t approve of the doctrine it taught? I think not. I also think it foolish to believe otherwise, as Ben Spackman does. On this question, Elder Boyd K. Packer wrote: “Only the scriptural text itself is recognized as scripture. All the other materials were included to be of help to Church members in their study of the scriptures. . . . All that went into it was read and approved by the Brethren.”[2]

            One sign that solid work was done on the Bible Dictionary is indicated by how few substantial changes were made in it when it was reviewed for the updated 2013 edition of the scriptures. The chapter summary for the verses (2 Nephi 2:22-25) disputed by the biologists only says, “Adam fell that men might be”—but that says everything. The chapter summary for Moses 3 also says a lot: “God created all things spiritually before they were naturally upon the earth—He created man, the first flesh, upon the earth.”

Refuting and Correcting BYU’s False Doctrine on the Origin of Man #42 - An Apostolic Reading Committee Halts Elder B. H. Roberts’s Book Teaching Some False Doctrines

(by Dennis B. Horne) 

            The below are comments given by an internal reading committee made up of members of the Quorum of the Twelve in 1929, regarding questionable doctrinal assertions made in Elder B. H. Roberts’s book manuscript, The Truth, The Way, The Life. These comments, made by the committee in their official responses to their reading of Elder Roberts’s book, are an exceptional example of the work done by these internal Church reading (or early “correlation”-type) committees. Because Elder Roberts would not revise his book in conformity with their wishes, it was not published as originally planned by the Church and desired by Elder Roberts. Then, in the early 1990s, a group of scholars at Brigham Young University reviewed the recently declassified work and its history, and published it with their commentary and the reading committee’s comments as well. Two papers were prepared by the reading committee, one titled, “Doctrinal points questioned by the Committee which read the Manuscript of Elder B. H. Roberts, entitled—The Truth, The Way, The Life.” and the other “List of Points on Doctrine in Question by the Committee in Relation to B.H. Roberts’s Ms.” There were also notes included of a report made by the chairman of the committee, Elder George Albert Smith, to their Quorum President, Rudger Clawson. The committee was made up of George Albert Smith, Joseph Fielding Smith, David O. McKay, Stephen L Richards, and Melvin J. Ballard. For a complete review of this committee’s work, see B. H. Roberts, The Truth, The Way, The Life: An Elementary Treatise on Theology, John W. Welch, ed. (Provo, Utah: BYU Studies, 1994). The following selected items are taken from this publication, the reading committee’s comments on Roberts’s statements coming from the footnotes. Page numbers are given after each excerpt. (See also James B. Allen, “The Story of The Truth, The Way, The Life,” BYU Studies 33, no. 4 [1993], 691-741.)

            Other doctrines are considered and commented on besides evolution and the origin of man, but those were among the main issues that were objected to as Elder Roberts set them forth wrong in his book:

Refuting and Correcting BYU’s False Doctrine on the Origin of Man #41 - A Purpose of Apostles

(by Dennis B. Horne) 

            The below material is presented to help readers decide for themselves if the Lord allows His Prophets and Apostles to continually mislead the church by teaching false doctrine on the origin of man, instead of the true doctrine of the BYU biologists teaching evolution. We must ask ourselves if the doctrine of the origin of man—the origin of Adam and Eve—is to be taught to the Church by the BYU Biology Department and BYUSQ, or if it comes via Church leaders that hold the keys of the Kingdom.

            But first I quote from comments I noticed on the liberal-dissident blog “By Common Consent” when evolution was being discussed:

“With all due respect to Russell Nelson as a human being – I suspect he knows very little (as do most people) about evolutionary biology. His ignorance is most apparent with that “explosion in a printing shop” comment. That’s not an uncommon argument from creationists and ID folks. It makes absolutely no sense and displays a lack of knowledge of the natural and life sciences. Now, it is perfectly fine if Nelson and company want to have those views, but to stand up at the pulpit or pen an article in the Ensign as a leader of the church bears the weight of authority when, frankly, they do not have the authority to speak on those topics.”

President Spencer W. Kimball’s Special Witness of Jesus Christ

[Readers desiring to obtain their own hardback copies of volume one of I Know He Lives: How 13 Special Witnesses Came to Know Jesus Christ can find copies on sale here  Softbound copies can be purchased here, on sale. An ebook (Kindle) edition is available on Amazon here, for cheap. The Amazon page also includes the Introduction and first chapter of volume one for free.]

 (by Dennis B. Horne) 

I want to add to these testimonies of these prophets

my testimony that I know that He lives.

And I know that we may see him.

            “Just the other day one of my brethren came into the office to talk to me intimately and confidentially. After closing the door, he said, ‘Spencer, your father was a prophet. He made a prediction that has literally come to pass, and I want to tell you about it.’ He continued, ‘Your father talked with me. . . . You were just a little boy and you were sitting there, milking the cows, and singing to them as you milked. Your father turned to me and said, ‘brother, that boy, Spencer, is an exceptional boy. He always tries to mind me, whatever I ask him to do. I have dedicated him to be one of the mouthpieces of the Lord—the Lord willing. You will see him some day as a great leader. I have dedicated him to the service of God, and he will become a mighty man in the Church.’”[1] So related Elder Kimball at the beginning of his first General Conference address.

Refuting and Correcting BYU’s False Doctrine on the Origin of Man #40 - President George Q. Cannon on False Theories about the Origin of Man

(by Dennis B. Horne)

            Today, most members don’t understand the marvelous counselor in the First Presidency George Q. Cannon was a hundred and twenty to a hundred and sixty years ago. Historians compare his influence and stature to that of Presidents Heber C. Kimball, J. Rueben Clark, and Gordon B. Hinckley. His list of accomplishments in behalf of the Church is long and distinguished with few to match it. His spiritual and doctrinal qualifications were impressive. For example, speaking to a congregation of young people, President Cannon recorded, “I testified that the Lord Jesus lived, for I had seen Him and heard His voice, and I had heard the voice of the Spirit [Holy Ghost], speaking to me as one man speaketh to another. I had been led to my present position by the revelations of the Lord, for He had pointed out to me the path to pursue. . . . I also testified that under the laying on of my hands those who were dead to all human appearance had been raised to life, and the blind had been restored to sight.” During a meeting of the Quorum of the Twelve, President Cannon declared: “I bore testimony also to the brethren that I had heard the voice of the Spirit of God [Holy Ghost] as a man’s voice.” President Cannon was truly a prophet, seer, and revelator. I suspect his inspired teachings on the creation of man will not be appreciated by BYU biologists, for while science changes, doctrine does not and what was true in President Cannon’s day remains so today and in the century and decades to follow.

Refuting and Correcting BYU’s False Doctrine on the Origin of Man #39 - Spencer W. Kimball on superiority of revelation to science

(by Dennis B. Horne)

            This general conference message by Elder Spencer W. Kimball is highly relevant to this series:

            We live in a marvelous age with developments far beyond the most fantastic prognostications of a quarter century ago. Our communication lines have been extended from Pony Express to fast air service; transportation has been speeded from horse and buggy to globe-encircling jets for the masses, and speeds running into the thousands of miles each hour for the explorers. From the Vikings and Columbus, we come to "Glenn" and the astronauts. Persistent scientists continue to explore land and sea, and now they are out in space. Much learning has been added, but astronauts and rocket riders and telegraphers can little realize how relatively elementary are their movements and discoveries and knowledge. Astronomers have sought knowledge through study but prophets through faith. Astronomers have developed powerful telescopes through which they have seen much, but prophets and seers have had clearer vision at greater distances with precision instruments such as the Liahona and the Urim and Thummim, which have far exceeded the most advanced radar radio, television, or telescopic equipment.

Refuting and Correcting BYU’s False Doctrine on the Origin of Man #38 - President David O. McKay on Evolution

(by Dennis B. Horne) 

            The strings holding up the notion that President McKay believed in evolution are thin and fragile indeed. The two or three hints that evolutionists have promoted to make their case are entirely insufficient. Of course, even if we hypothetically decreed that President McKay was a believer in evolution, which he was not, he would be vastly outnumbered by his Brethren in the leading councils of the Church. The two items below are very relevant and interesting, as is the material reviewed in blog #7:

            President Harold B. Lee [private letter on official Church letterhead stationery, October 2, 1973. This was written a few months before President Lee’s death.]

            I have a few moments to respond to your letter of recent date in which you express some concern about some contradictory information as to the position we should take with regard to the doctrine of evolution. This, as you know, has been long a bone of contention so serious that in the earlier years when Darwin’s theory first was enunciated, a number of professors at the Brigham Young University were released because of their unwillingness to teach the theory and then counter by delivering the true doctrines of the gospel.

Refuting and Correcting BYU’s False Doctrine on the Origin of Man #37 - President George Albert Smith on the Origin of Man

(by Dennis B. Horne)

            As a result of the BYU Modernism controversy, but mainly the scopes monkey trial of evolution vs Biblical creationism, President Smith gave this October 1925 general conference talk:

            Now to this vast audience I could ask that question without hesitation, with the assurance that most of you would say, Why, there were two creations referred to. In the first place God created all these things. He formed the earth that was without form and void. He caused light to appear, he caused the waters to take their place, and the dry land to appear. He created spiritually, everything that dwells upon the earth; and after he had done that, the statement is made that there was not yet man to till the earth. Man in his spiritual condition was not prepared to till the earth, and so God formed his body for him. He prepared his physical being, and then the spirit that had been prepared before was placed in that body and he became a living soul. It seems to me that a splendid opportunity was lost to say to all the world, read the first and second chapters of Genesis carefully, and, to a very may as large degree it will settle any doubt that be in your mind to the possibility of the various forms of life gravitating from one to the other, because we are told, “every tree and every seed bearing fruit after its kind.”

Introduction to Volume 2 - I Know He Lives: How 11 More Special Witnesses Came to Know Jesus Christ

(by Dennis B. Horne)

[Readers desiring to obtain their own hardback copies of volume one of I Know He Lives: How 13 Special Witnesses Came to Know Jesus Christ can find copies on sale here  Softbound copies can be purchased here, on sale. An ebook (Kindle) edition is available on Amazon here, for cheap. The Amazon page also includes the Introduction and first chapter of volume one for free.]

 

My first and primary ordination is to testify of

Christ and to be a special witness of Him.

(Elder Neal L. Andersen[1])

            Special Witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ walk the earth today in both humility and great spiritual power and will do so until the Second Coming. “I certify to you that the 14 men with whom I share the ordination are indeed Apostles. In declaring this, I say no more than the Lord has taught, no more than may be revealed to anyone who seeks with a sincere heart and real intent for an individual witness of the Spirit. These men are true servants of the Lord; give heed to their counsel.”[2] So testified President Boyd K. Packer to the Church assembled in general conference. His words were true then and remain so now and into the future. And they do indeed know something of the future: “There are 15 old men whose very lives are focused on the future. They are called, sustained, and ordained as prophets, seers, and revelators. It is their right to see as seers see; it is their obligation to counsel and to warn.”[3]

Refuting and Correcting BYU’s False Doctrine on the Origin of Man #36 - President Gordon B. Hinckley on Evolution

 (by Dennis B. Horne) 

            Some mistaken writers have tried to hint, or even outright declare, that President Gordon B. Hinckley was in favor of evolution. I trust the below teachings of President Hinckley’s will settle that question in the minds of reasonable people.

 

President Gordon B. Hinckley:

            I believe in evolution, not organic evolution, as it is called, but in the evolution of the mind, the heart, and the soul of man. I believe in improvement.

Refuting and Correcting BYU’s False Doctrine on the Origin of Man #35 - Elder Mark E. Petersen Warns Against Evolution and Teaches Truth about the Origin of Man (Part B)

 (by Dennis B. Horne)

            The below are excerpts from a major address by Elder Mark E. Petersen on the subject of the origin of man and evolution, given to BYU faculty and students in 1973. Readers are encouraged to visit the BYU Speeches website to read the address in its entirety. Elder Petersen was obviously disgusted with the growing evolution cult as it was then (and now) being pushed on college students and church members by atheists, biologists, and others.

 

Elder Mark E. Petersen, “We Believe in God, the Eternal Father”:

            That’s what I’d like to talk about with you tonight: the fatherhood of God. God is literally our Eternal Father. . . . You recall that when he [Paul] spoke to them he said, among other things, that “we are the offspring of God.” That is the very basis of our whole religion. We are the offspring of Almighty God.