Elder Bruce R. McConkie’s Alternative to Evolution

by Dennis B. Horne 

One could wonder if Elder McConkie might have preferred another stronger title—“The Lord’s Revealed Alternative to the False Theory of Evolution”—for such is how he viewed it. In an Ensign article, he wrote: “The Lord expects us to believe and understand the true doctrine of the Creation—the creation of this earth, of man, and of all forms of life. Indeed, as we shall see, an understanding of the doctrine of creation is essential to salvation. Unless and until we gain a true view of the creation of all things we cannot hope to gain that fulness of eternal reward which otherwise would be ours.”[1]

As he neared the closing years of his life and ministry as an Apostle of the Lord, the three subjects he seemed to give the most attention to in his writings and talks were the creation, the fall, and the atonement of Jesus Christ—what he called “the three pillars of eternity.”

 An Introduction to Elder McConkie[2]

With Elder Bruce R. McConkie having passed away in April 1985, younger generations may not be familiar with him and his works, while older generations may carry some misconceptions.

Born in 1915 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where his father Oscar W. McConkie Sr. was studying law, Bruce largely grew up in Monticello and Salt Lake City, Utah. He served a mission to the Eastern States and then married Amelia Smith (1937), a daughter of President Joseph Fielding Smith, and also served in the military (in Intelligence) during World War II. He studied law at the University of Utah and worked as an attorney both privately and for the city for a few years. Then, changing vocations, he was hired by the Deseret News as a reporter and Church News editorial writer.

These pursuits came to an end with his call to the First Council of Seventy in 1946 at the young age of 31. One of the most memorable items of guidance he received at the time of his call came from President J. Reuben Clark Jr. who counseled him—“Maintain your stability and your orthodoxy and you will be alright.”[3] In 1961 he was called to serve as a mission president in Southern Australia. During 1967-1968, by assignment, he taught theological courses to BYU and CES religious educators and also to adult students at the Institute adjacent to the University of Utah.[4]

With the passing of President David O. McKay in January 1970, Joseph Fielding Smith became the President of the Church. Because of his age (93) and consequent lessening mental acuity, Elder McConkie wrote most of his general conference talks for him.[5]

In July 1972 President Joseph Fielding Smith died.[6] With the new organization of President Harold B. Lee’s First Presidency, a vacancy opened in the Quorum of the Twelve. That August Elder McConkie attended the Mexico City Area Conference where the new First Presidency was sustained for the first time, and also where Elder McConkie gave a powerful address on the gathering of Israel. Of his experience at this conference he later recalled: “When the Brethren read [the names of] the members of the Council of the Twelve for a sustaining vote, eleven names were read, stopping with Marvin J. Ashton. I, however, heard the twelfth name. It was mine. From that day I [knew] I was to fill the vacancy created by the call of Elder Marion G. Romney to serve in the First Presidency.”[7] The secretary to the First Presidency, Frances M. Gibbons, who was taking the proceedings down in shorthand, also heard Bruce’s name spoken as the Twelfth name, and so recorded it.[8]

Having heard his name thus spoken by the Spirit to become the newest Apostle, Elder McConkie desired further assurance. Seeking such, on September 29 he went to the Seventies room in the Salt Lake Temple and asked the Lord for confirmation. In answer he received a spiritual manifestation that he was indeed called to the Twelve; that he was foreordained to that high office; that one reason for the call was to honor his father Oscar, and that his father had interceded in his behalf in a council held on the other side of the veil. With this assurance given, general conference was almost upon him, and he continued preparations. He later recorded the following about his call experience:   

When I got out in the hall [my secretary] said, “President Harold B. Lee is on your telephone.” I came down to my office and answered the phone and he said, “This is Harold B. Lee. Will you please come down to my office.” I went down and he put his arms around me and said, “The Lord and the Brethren have just called you to fill the vacancy in the Council of the Twelve.” I said, “I know it, President Lee. This is no surprise to me. I have known it for some time.”

In spite of my prior knowledge it was a great emotional shock and he said to me, “Tell me about it,” and I told him of my experience in Mexico City and in the temple the previous Friday. He said, “I am glad the Lord is confirming my inspiration.” We sat and talked for about half an hour. He told me that he had known for three months that I was to fill the vacancy and that he had had the matter reconfirmed the previous Sunday when he spent an hour in the Holy of Holies discussing the matter with the Lord. He told me he had argued with the Lord about the matter. Then he said, “No, I better say I counseled with the Lord about the matter and that the Lord made it very plain what he wanted.” In our conversation he also told me that it was what he wanted and that when he presented my name on Tuesday to the First Presidency they were delighted and that when he presented it earlier that day (Wednesday) there was universal approval and pleasure manifest by the Brethren.[9]

In making it plain to President Lee what He wanted, the Lord actually overruled a different name that President Lee had taken to Him for confirmation. The sermon Elder McConkie had given to the saints at the Mexico City Area Conference was so inspired that when he had finished speaking, “President Marion G. Romney whispered to President Harold B. Lee, ‘How are you going to keep Bruce out of the Twelve now?’ This, just after Bruce gave his sermon on the gathering of Israel.”[10]

According to Elder McConkie’s son Joseph Fielding McConkie, “Later, Bruce's brother Oscar reminded Bruce of the story about Heber J. Grant indicating to Melvin J. Ballard that he had wanted to choose someone else [Richard W. Young] and the Lord told him no. Elder Ballard had been hurt to learn that he was not the prophet's choice. ‘Didn't that hurt your feelings?’ Oscar asked. ‘Are you kidding?’ Dad responded. ‘I would much rather know I was the Lord's choice!’”[11] When Elder McConkie visited with President Romney about his call to the Twelve, President Romney told him, “I have known since you delivered that funeral sermon at your Father-in-law’s funeral that you were to be the new member of the Council of the Twelve.”[12]  

Talks and Writings that Negatively Reference Organic Evolution

Elder McConkie was a prodigious writer with many volumes of gospel commentary and explanation to his credit; many doctrinal articles also. These writings gave him lasting and wide-spread influence in the Church beyond that of most general authorities.

Elder McConkie’s first published literary effort was a three volume compilation of the writings of President Joseph Fielding Smith titled Doctrines of Salvation that appeared in the mid-1950s. This work has had enormous influence on many Church leaders, educators, and members. In 2001 the First Presidency gave church employees (for Christmas) a Church Correlation-approved volume entitled, Selections from Doctrines of Salvation: Sermons and Writings of Joseph Fielding Smith. It contains material opposing the theory of evolution that was taught or written by President Smith and assembled by Elder McConkie (57-87), though the book was formally published by the Church.

His first major personal work, Mormon Doctrine, (now out of print) contains a long exposition of the theory of evolution as contrasted with the gospel, some of it very strongly worded. As his son Joseph Fielding McConkie wrote, this and other like writings did not please certain readers: “Nothing made Bruce McConkie less popular in the academic community than his open objection to the theory of evolution as an answer to the question of man's origin. . . .  As a preacher of the gospel, he felt obligated to question the tenets of evolution and did so, knowing he would be labeled a bigot for having done so.”[13] With the first edition appearing in 1958 and the second in 1966, Mormon Doctrine deservedly became one of the most read and influential latter-day saint theological works of the second half of the twentieth century. Elder Spencer W. Kimball was assigned to oversee Elder McConkie’s revisions for the second edition and he changed none of them, including leaving intact Elder McConkie’s article on evolution that he had made only the slightest changes to.

Because of certain material contained in a biography of President David O. McKay, many have concluded that Elder McConkie published his revised second edition of Mormon Doctrine over the objection of President McKay.[14] This is not correct and was really more the agenda of the authors of the McKay biography than reality.[15]

In a 2017 interview, Elder McConkie’s youngest brother Oscar W. McConkie Jr. (deceased), recited the true facts of the situation: “When I determined to retire from Kirton and McConkie [the Church’s law firm], I was in my 85th year. I went to the First Presidency meeting to advise the First Presidency. As always, President Monson was kind to me and praised my lawyering. This was at a time when a book had been published about President David O. McKay in which it was falsely stated that Bruce had republished his book Mormon Doctrine without President McKay’s consent. President Monson went out of his way to say, so that it would be in the recorded minutes of the First Presidency, ‘Bruce and I got President McKay’s permission to republish Bruce’s Mormon Doctrine.’ This is President Monson.”[16]

Elder McConkie also wrote about evolution conflicting with the scriptures in his Doctrinal New Testament Commentary (3:95-96); again in his The Promised Messiah (62), and in his last (so-far) published volume A New Witness for the Articles of Faith (99). Then-Elder Dallin H. Oaks shared his opinion of it: “I read choice books a few pages at a time, so I can savor them and think about their implications. Proceeding in that manner, I have just finished reading A New Witness for the Articles of Faith. This is undoubtedly the most profound and inspirational doctrinal book I have ever read. It has and will have a great influence on my thinking and my ministry.”[17]

Throughout the 1970s Elder McConkie served on the three-apostle Scriptures Publications Committee, responsible for preparing a (then) new latter-day saint edition of the Bible and study aids for all the standard works. Along with writing the summary headings for all chapters and sections of the scriptures, he also had significant influence on a revised Bible Dictionary that reflected his doctrinal views on the creation and the fall of Adam. All these study aids were approved by the senior Brethren. They have received little change since.

He spoke to the subject in BYU devotional addresses and in general conference messages. His two major BYU addresses that referenced the falsity of evolution were “The Three Pillars of Eternity,” and “The Seven Deadly Heresies” (both early 1980s). (The “Heresies” talk was delivered so strongly that Elder McConkie was asked to revise a little wording before BYU published it.) He also talked about evolution in contradiction to the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon with Church Educational System instructors in his superlative speech, “The Bible: A Sealed Book” given in August 1984.

Elder McConkie spoke about the fall of man as taught in the revelations, as contrasted with evolution, in his October 1984 general conference talk, “The Caravan Moves On”; also in a book chapter titled “Eve and the Fall,”[18] and again in an Ensign article, written at the request of the First Presidency, called “Christ and the Creation” (more is noted about this item below).

He also emphasized the doctrine of the fall of Adam in his last (April 1985) famous general conference address, “The Purifying Power of Gethsemane,” given just a couple of weeks before his passing. Among other doctrines taught in this classic masterpiece of truth and testimony, he declared:

As we read, ponder, and pray, there will come into our minds a view of the three gardens of God—the Garden of Eden, the Garden of Gethsemane, and the Garden of the Empty Tomb where Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene.

In Eden we will see all things created in a paradisiacal state—without death, without procreation, without probationary experiences.

We will come to know that such a creation, now unknown to man, was the only way to provide for the Fall.

We will then see Adam and Eve, the first man and the first woman, step down from their state of immortal and paradisiacal glory to become the first mortal flesh on earth.

Mortality, including as it does procreation and death, will enter the world. And because of transgression a probationary estate of trial and testing will begin. . . .

Thus, Creation is father to the Fall; and by the Fall came mortality and death; and by Christ came immortality and eternal life.

If there had been no fall of Adam, by which cometh death, there could have been no atonement of Christ, by which cometh life.

 These words beautifully summarize what Elder McConkie had long taught about the creation and the fall (and therefore evolution) during his ministry. He concluded his message with a powerful testimony of Jesus Christ that moved all who heard it.

Prophetic Praise of Elder McConkie’s Gospel Knowledge and Teachings

Because of criticism that has been leveled at Elder McConkie’s teachings by certain parties (about evolution and the origin of man or most anything else), we ask these rhetorical questions: did he know what he was talking about? Were his explanations of scripture predominantly correct and inspired? His critics say “no”—but what have his Apostolic associates—his fellow prophets, seers, and revelators—indicated? Would they not be the best judges of his competence and teachings?

We begin with Elder Spencer W. Kimball, who wrote the following in his journal for November 4, 1952, the occasion being a missionary class held during a tour of Central America: “The missionary class having been given to me on Sat, it was given to Pres. McConkie this morning and the missionaries asked questions. My companion is clear in his explanations, concise, well read, and has a great memory. The missionaries were entranced as I was.”[19] As President of the Church, Bro. Kimball called upon Elder McConkie to help him with general conference talks. “[I asked] Jeff Holland and Bruce McConkie and [Neal] Maxwell for help in preparing conference talks. It is a great help to get their thoughts and suggestions on some of the subjects I plan to talk about.”[20]

President Ezra Taft Benson shared his feelings at Elder McConkie’s funeral: “I loved to hear him preach the gospel. I loved to read his scholarly writings.” . . . “It was his tower of strength and inspired insight that so richly blessed the entire Church.” . . . “Often when a doctrinal question came before the First Presidency and the Twelve, Elder McConkie was asked to quote the scripture, or to comment on the matter.” . . . “Bruce R. McConkie was filled with the Spirit. Like Nephi, it was not the man that had such power, but ‘the spirit of the Lord which was in him’ (2 Nephi 1:27). Elder McConkie provided the entire Church with an example of gospel scholarship. He could teach the gospel with ease, because he first understood the gospel.”[21]

We also have on record the assessments of more recent prophets and apostles, including Presidents Russell M. Nelson and Dallin H. Oaks. In a Church News article, “President Nelson reflected on the support he received from other members of the quorum when he was called to serve among them. He spoke of Elder Bruce R. McConkie in particular. ‘Occasionally, I would have an idea I wanted to discuss or had a question. I would knock on his door, and he was always gracious, always warmly welcoming. When I could see this was an opportunity to learn from him, I would ask him to put his remarks on pause for a minute while I called Elder Oaks and asked him to come up so we could converse with Elder McConkie together. That was a rare privilege.’”[22]

In President Nelson’s authorized biography is this similar reminiscence: “Reflecting upon the life of that spiritual giant, who had served for nearly four decades as a General Authority, Elder Nelson said, ‘Elder Bruce R. McConkie was a great friend. His door was always open to me, and I frequently imposed upon his graciousness, asking him questions that possibly only he could answer.’ Pondering the fact that Elder McConkie had been diagnosed with terminal cancer more than a year before his death, Elder Nelson said, ‘I look upon the extra year of life that he was granted as a period for the training of Elder Dallin H. Oaks and me. We are greatly in his debt and miss him very much.’”[23]

In his own authorized biography, President Oaks mentions sharing a choice moment with Elder McConkie, whom he had asked to review a temple dedication address. When Elder McConkie finished, they visited about it. “Then he enthusiastically and fervently clapped me on the shoulders with his huge hands . . . grinned his big grin and said, ‘But the best thing about this talk is that it shows the direction you are taking. It is a genuinely doctrinal talk. It is apostolic!’ I was so pleased at this comment about my talk as I do wish to understand and expound doctrine, and there is no living Apostle whom I respect more in that sphere than Bruce R. McConkie. I told him I wanted to be one who preaches doctrine.”[24]

Such are some publicly stated measures of the gospel knowledge of this special witness of the Lord, but there are others of even greater acclaim. Oscar W. McConkie Jr. related the following incidents:

One of the Regional Representatives with me [when serving] was my close associate Dallin Oaks. Dallin was called to the Twelve. We had been Regional Representatives all this time, so I said to Dallin (one time as we were coming home from Provo) that the Lord had great things in store for him. That it wasn’t just to be President of the University [BYU]. The Lord had given him this great mind; that what the Lord wanted out of him and his great mind was to become a great gospel scholar. . . . Dallin Oaks said to me, “My greatest desire in life is to become another Bruce McConkie.” . . . And Dallin said to me, “Oscar, it’s like walking from Salt Lake City to New York.” And then he brightened up and said, now this is the young apostle, “However, I already feel I am up to the top of Parley’s Canyon.” I do believe that Dallin Oaks has become one of the great gospel scholars. He is a perfect illustration of how the Lord works and gives us the leadership we ought to be having.[25]

President Boyd K. Packer agreed with President Oaks about Elder McConkie’s incomparable gospel knowledge. Again from Oscar McConkie—“I learned the gospel from Bruce R. McConkie. [And] I’ll say this, that I’ve heard Boyd Packer say the same thing.” [Mark McConkie comment during interview:] “Boyd Packer said that to the family.”[26]

And finally:

For the record I’ll tell you this story. When Bruce died, Boyd Packer was just very bereft. He went to the head of BYU Religious Education, Bob Matthews, and he said, “why did the Lord take Bruce?; we needed him so much.” And Matthews said, “I’ll tell you why He took him, he took him to teach.” “Well of course He took him to teach, but why couldn’t He take somebody else to teach? Why did He have to have Bruce to teach?” And Matthews said, to the President of the Quorum of the Twelve, “I’ll tell you who he is teaching; he is teaching dead general authorities, who were righteous good men and could move the kingdom along—but in order to be exalted they have to understand the gospel.” That is Bob Matthews saying that to Boyd Packer, to which Boyd Packer replied, “That’s a very interesting observation.”[27]

Such are the articulated thoughts and feelings concerning Elder McConkie’s gospel knowledge from fairly contemporary Church leaders; they are remarkable indeed. Critics may dismiss such glowing praise but they cannot deny it was given and by whom.

Doctrinal Revelation

As for himself, Elder McConkie sometimes sought to convey to receptive and faithful believers how he gained his mastery of the meaning of scripture, hoping they would do likewise. The below several quotations make the point:

Those who study, ponder, and pray about the scriptures, seeking to understand their deep and hidden meanings, receive from time to time great outpourings of light and knowledge from the Holy Spirit.[28]

It is the practice of the Lord to give added knowledge to those upon whose hearts the true meanings and intents of the scriptures have been impressed. Many great doctrinal revelations come to those who preach from the scriptures. When they are in tune with the Infinite, the Lord lets them know, first, the full and complete meaning of the scriptures they are expounding, and then he ofttimes expands their views so that new truths flood in upon them, and they learn added things that those who do not follow such a course can never know.[29]

I would hope that . . . [others] have had the same experience that has been mine on many occasions. In the spirit of prayer, while reading and pondering the holy word, new views, added concepts, truths theretofore unknown, have suddenly dawned upon me.  Doctrines that were dim and hidden and little known, have, in an instant, been shown forth with a marvelous clarity and in wondrous beauty.[30]

I have spent many hours poring over and pondering the scriptures. In seeking to learn the doctrines of salvation, I have studied, weighed, and compared what the various prophets have said about the same subjects. Time and again, after much praying and pondering about a given point, new and added concepts have burst upon me, showing deep and hidden truths that I had never before known.[31]

[Written in August 1984 to the First Presidency and Twelve:] Incident to my recent illness, and the realization that all of us will soon meet our Maker and be called upon to give an account of our stewardship, I had some spiritual experiences that caused me to know that my life was being spared to preach the gospel and write about the doctrines of salvation. It is the spiritual impressions I then received that caused me to have such deep concern over the matter of declaring doctrine and writing doctrinal books.[32]

All of this does not mean that Elder McConkie never made a doctrinal error or wrote something that later proved wrong. Such (usually minor) limitations have been the fate of every prophet, apostle, and gospel scholar. “I suppose that Joseph Smith excepted,” wrote Elder McConkie, “There isn’t anyone who hasn’t slipped and erred on some doctrinal point or another. All of us are in the learning process.”[33] Yet uncommon imperfections do not mean we should discount or disbelieve Church leaders’ teachings. On the contrary, we should gratefully study them to deepen our own understanding of the scriptures and gospel doctrines. The closer we can come to Elder McConkie’s (and other apostles’) standard of gospel study, lofty that it is, the better off we will be and the more eternal truths we will know. To a group of religious educators he explained:

I imagine that the people who lived in the City of Enoch, [the people] who lived among the Nephites during their golden era, when they had the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon which, of course, we do not have and apparently will not [have] until the Millennium; presumptively will not. I suppose that people like that knew so much more about the gospel and its doctrines than we know that there is no comparison. And the obvious thing about it is that they did know more because they were living better, and hence could have the revelations of the Spirit and you really do not comprehend and know the gospel except in and through and by and because of the revelations of the Spirit. You can know about the gospel, some principles, by intellectual study, but you do not actually know and comprehend what their meaning really is until the Spirit whispers to you and assures you what they mean.[34]

Such thinking brings us to Elder McConkie’s alternative to evolution; doctrine regarding the creation and the fall which, as noted, he believed to be elucidated on the untranslated plates of the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon (the great vision of the Brother of Jared; see Ether 3 and 4).

An Alternative to Evolution

As we study and ponder these matters some will accept and rejoice, but others will not. So declared Elder McConkie: “As of now, the world is not ready to receive these truths [found on the sealed portion]. For one thing, these added doctrines will completely destroy the whole theory of organic evolution as it is now almost universally taught in the halls of academia. . . . And sadly, there are those who, if forced to make a choice at this time, would select Darwin over Deity.”[35] (Remember that the below statements are not official pronouncements of the Church.)

Elder McConkie wrote:

The creative process never varies. All things—worlds without number, the masses of men that on them are, and all the forms of life that are pleased to dwell on their surface—all things are always created in the same way. The same laws always govern and apply. Every earth is formed by the same laws and the same powers used in prior creations. Men are always made in the image of their Maker; always it is a matter of organizing physical element to form a mortal tenement for an eternal spirit being. And always, in all worlds, plants and animals, fowl and fish, creeping things and man—always, all of these, are made in the image of their resurrected and immortal progenitors. What was done on this earth is exactly and precisely what had been done on endless millions of earths in eons past.[36]

As to the third day: the earth and seas were divided so as to create dry land wherein herbs and grass and trees might grow. The earth so provided was prepared to bring these things forth, and then—and this is one of the specifics of creation we do know and can understand—the Creators (the Gods) took seeds, seeds prepared on other earths, and planted them in the pleasant soil of this earth. All things were so arranged that these seeds would bring forth after their kind and in their own likeness; and the fruit and seeds so produced would in turn provide other seeds, which would also bring forth fruit and seed after their kind and in their likeness and in no other way. There was to be no evolution, no change of species, no variation from the eternal pattern, a pattern found elsewhere but made to operate here. . . .

On the fifth and sixth days, involving as they do (on the fifth) the creation of fish and fowl, and (on the sixth) the bringing forth of living creatures, cattle, creeping things, beasts, and animals of every sort—all commanded to multiply and fill the waters and the earth after their own kind—as to all these things we can see the need for many Creators. As with the planting of seeds of every sort, so with fowl, fish, and animal life—the originals came from other earths. This enabled the creative processes found elsewhere to continue here, every form of life duplicating its own specie and none other.[37]

As heretofore indicated, the procedure for providing bodies for the spirits of men was the pattern for providing bodies for the spirits of fish, fowl, creeping things, and animals—all began their lives here on earth as the offspring of their resurrected counterparts who in preexistence had been the progenitors of their spirits. This is the true doctrine of creation and of course negates the theories of men as to how life came into being. This is also the reason for the repetitious statements in the revealed account that all things would bring forth after their own kind and in no other way. There is no change from one specie to another.[38]

Such was to be the “only” seed they could bring forth; every form of plant life was to remain “the same” as the parent plant. Nothing that grows out of the earth could change to another type or kind or species of life. It could only bring forth “after his own kind.” Within its kind or sphere there might be changes, modifications, and improvements—new varieties of wheat or roses or grass—but beyond the bounds of their own “kind” no life was empowered to go.[39]

In an interview (from 1984) with one of his (now deceased) sons, Elder McConkie responded to these thoughtful inquiries, providing (figuratively) delicious meat to one who could digest more than milk without choking and knew true pearls for their supernal worth:

Question: During the creation, how were animals placed upon the earth?

Answer: This, unfortunately, is something few members of the Church understand. It has nothing whatsoever to do with evolution. Animals were placed upon the earth in the same way Adam and Eve were: they were born of resurrected parents. A [pair of] resurrected cow[s], for instance, came from an earth which has already passed through what we now experience, and through the normal birth  processes had offspring.[40]

Question: In your article, “Christ and the Creation,” you speak of the “seeds planted by the creators.”[41] To what do you refer?

Answer: When they, the creators, that is all the noble and great ones [see Abraham 3:22-23] who helped Elohim, Jehovah and Michael in the creation, when they helped they literally planted seeds. This we understand from both the temple account and the Pearl of Great Price accounts of the creation. Where did they get the seeds? From another sphere, from which they brought them. This means that the same kinds of animals and vegetables exist on all other worlds. The seeds came from some other planet, or planets. The same thing is true of horses, elephants and all animals. But this is so far beyond the saints that we don’t preach it. It means some resurrected elephants came and had offspring. Afterwards came the fall of Adam. All this is had in the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon. That’s why we don’t have the sealed portion. We’re trying to be kind to all the evolutionists at the BYU, hoping that if given time and opportunity, they will repent and believe the gospel. For political reasons we don’t tell them more.[42]

As for alleged theistic (God-directed) evolution, Elder McConkie clarified:

The time is long past when members of the Church should try to make the gospel accounts, say, of the creation, or, of the origin of man, fit the current scientific theories in the same fields. The gospel truths are the revealed and eternal standard. They are secure and absolute. If slivers of the theories of men accord with them, well and good. If whole forests of the postulates of the speculators do not accord, so be it. It is the gospel standard that governs. All things are to be measured against what the Author of Truth has said on whatever point is involved. If he says, for instance, that animals did not die until Adam fell, that issue is settled, and the theories of men must be made to accord with this eternal verity.[43]

When confronted with canonized scripture—pure revelation—that conflicts with the theories and philosophies of men, some evolutionists insist that they be given all the answers as substitute or they will not believe. This has been the case in the past and will be again. Elder McConkie readily admitted: “The fact of the matter is, there are more things I do not know than I do know, and all I try to talk about is what I do know and you can just get off no end in questions that you wish you knew the answer to.”[44] Further, “We cannot comprehend the creation. We do not know how Gods began to be, where element came from, and how there is an endless immensity spreading out from us in all directions. We simply do not know how life comes into being. So be it. The fact is that all things exist; that suffices us for the present.”[45] And finally, “As we go forward in our analysis it must also be with the understanding that we do not know all things in the realm of revealed religion. All things have not been revealed, and in our present finite circumstances we could not comprehend them if they were. We do not know and cannot comprehend how Gods and matter and life first came into being. Suffice it to say, they exist; we are; and created things were created.”[46]

Conclusion

Having humbly acknowledged that all things have not yet been made known, Elder McConkie still insisted that many sublime things had indeed been revealed and he would not back down from his position despite all opposing views and criticism, stating: “The fact that many things have not yet been revealed by the Lord or discovered by scientific research is not the issue. We have the promise that when the Lord comes he will reveal all things—'Things which have passed, and hidden things which no man knew, things of the earth, by which it was made, and the purpose and the end thereof’ (D&C 101:33)—all things shall be revealed in due course. But this does not excuse us from believing what has been revealed, slight as it may be in some instances. Nor does this excuse us from rejecting false theories which conflict with revealed truth, . . .”[47]

Of his alternative to evolution, Elder McConkie declared: “New views and broader concepts burst upon us when we ponder and pray about that which has already been given in plainness. And as we do this, from it all, we seem to feel a confirming witness of the Holy Spirit that our general concepts accord with the mind and will of Him with whose plan and arrangements we are dealing.”[48]

[1] “Christ and the Creation,” Ensign, June 1982.
[2] For detailed information on the life of Elder McConkie, see Dennis B. Horne, Bruce R. McConkie: Highlights from His Life and Teachings (Roy, Utah: Eborn Books, 2000) and Joseph Fielding McConkie, The Bruce R. McConkie Story: Reflections of a Son (Salt Lake City; Deseret Book, 2003).
[3] “Remarks of Joseph F. McConkie,” April 23, 1985; as quoted in Amelia Smith McConkie: Remembrances for Her Family, comp. & ed. Mary McConkie Donoho (North Salt Lake; Privately Published, 2007), 494.
[4] See the Church Archives online digital audio recordings (permissions needed) for some of these class lecture recordings. To a group of BYU religious educators, Elder McConkie said: “I think that some of the persecution of this [our] day is a little different and a little more insidious than when they tarred and feathered the prophet. The difficulty in this day is some of it in the intellectual field, is it not? You get persecuted intellectually. Somebody says to you, ‘Ah, you antique fossil, you do not believe in these modern theories that we have proved, which are evolution.’ You get more than one kind of persecution. You get some of this mental, or intellectual persecution which maybe is a little harder to bear and leads more people astray than when they were out tarring and feathering people” (“Salvation – Sons of God,” unpublished transcript of BYU Summer School religious educators class, 1967, 14-15).
[5] I learned this fact from extended McConkie family members. Spencer W. Kimball also wrote about it in his journal, November 4, 1971: “Let me here say that President Smith’s sermons these days are excellent, the material of a life-time of collection put into his own words and forcefulness with some help from Brother McConkie, his son-in-law. They are forceful and spirited and well-given.” Two of their talks, given but a year apart, even have the same title: President Smith’s “I Know that My Redeemer Liveth,” and Elder McConkie’s “I Know that My Redeemer Lives.” Of course, once President Smith had approved and read the words, they became his and were published as such to the Church.
[6] Virtually all of the below information related to Elder McConkie’s call to the Quorum of the Twelve can be found in Dennis B. Horne, I Know He Lives: How 13 Special Witnesses Came to Know Jesus Christ (Springville, UT; Cedar Fort Inc., 2017), chapter 5, pages 69-93; and that book’s unofficial second volume, Dennis B. Horne, Special Witnesses of Jesus Christ: They Know He Lives (Salt Lake City: Eborn Books, 2024), chapter 12, pages 243-75.
[7] Donoho, Amelia Smith McConkie, 494.
[8] See Oscar W. McConkie Jr., And the Oscar Goes To…: Glimpses from the Life of Oscar W. McConkie Jr., as Told by Himself (Salt Lake City; privately published, 2015), 14.
[9] Donoho, Amelia Smith McConkie, 496.
[10] Oscar McConkie Jr., And the Oscar Goes To, 14.
[11] Joseph Fielding McConkie, The Bruce R. McConkie Story, 328.
[12] Oscar McConkie Jr., And the Oscar Goes To, 15, and Donoho, Amelia Smith McConkie, 496.
[13] Joseph Fielding McConkie, The Bruce R. McConkie Story, 298-99.
[14] See Gregory A. Prince & Wm. Robert Wright, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2005), 49-53. This book contains a one-sided negatively biased review of the Mormon Doctrine episode. The authors did not bother to consult either my biography of Elder McConkie nor Joseph Fielding McConkie’s to obtain a well-rounded overview.
[15] For further information, see: https://www.fromthedesk.org/bruce-r-mcconkie-mormon-doctrine/
[16] Oscar W. McConkie Jr. interview (by Mark L. McConkie) June 26, 2017; Church Archives; 1:20:02 mins in; transcription by Dennis B. Horne. This incident also shared in Oscar McConkie Jr., And the Oscar Goes To, 102.
[17] Joseph Fielding McConkie, The Bruce R. McConkie Story, 390. This note was shared with Bruce’s wife Amelia.
[18] Bruce R. McConkie, “Eve and the Fall,” in Woman (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1980), 57-68.
[19] Spencer W. Kimball Journal under date given; Church Archives;
[20] Spencer W. Kimball Journal, 9/20/78; I fixed some poor wording in the first sentence so it would agree with the second.
[21] Ezra Taft Benson’s remarks, “Funeral of Elder Bruce R. McConkie,” April 22, 1985, 2-3. Transcript in author’s possession.
[22] Gerry Avant, “President Nelson reflects on being an Apostle of the Lord, discusses possible announcement of 3 new apostles,” Church News, Sept. 30, 2015.
[23] Spencer J. Condie, Russell M. Nelson: Father, Surgeon, Apostle (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2003), 194.
[24] Richard E. Turley Jr., In the Hands of the Lord: The Life of Dallin H. Oaks (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2021), 186.
[25] Oscar W. McConkie Jr. interview, 2017, 1:10:08.
[26] Oscar W. McConkie Jr. interview, 2017, 1:44:20. See also Horne, Special Witnesses of Jesus Christ: They Know He Lives (Salt Lake City: Eborn Books, 2024), chapter 12.
[27] Oscar W. McConkie Jr. interview, 2017, 1:34:31. Oscar also said this: “My older brother Bruce is a genius. Just flat, in my judgement, my brother Bruce is the single best doctrinal writer that the good Lord raised up in this dispensation, excepting the Prophet Joseph only (to give you an idea about how I feel about Bruce). He was brilliant” (20:08).
[28] Bruce R. McConkie, “Address, Regional Representatives Seminar,” April 2, 1982; as quoted in Mark L. McConkie, comp., Doctrines of the Restoration: Sermons & Writings of Bruce R. McConkie (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1989), 238.
[29] Joseph Fiending McConkie, The Bruce R. McConkie Story, 301-02.
[30] Mark L. McConkie, Doctrines of the Restoration, 243-44.
[31] Bruce R McConkie, “Come, Hear the Voice of the Lord,” Ensign, December, 1985, as quoted in Mark L. McConkie, Doctrines of the Restoration, 255-56.
[32] Joseph Fiending McConkie, The Bruce R. McConkie Story, 390.
[33] Personal correspondence, Bruce R. McConkie to Walter M. Horne, October 2, 1974, 2; original letter in possession of the author.
[34] “Salvation – Sons of God,” unpublished transcript of BYU Summer School religious educators class, 1967, 17-18.
[35] Bruce R. McConkie, “The Bible: A Sealed Book,” Supplement, A Symposium on the New Testament, 1984. This used to be a seminary teacher preservice recommended reading in company with many other superb talks.
[36] As quoted in Bruce R. McConkie, These Three: Elohim, Jehovah, Michael, chapter “The Creators.” This book is anticipated to be published in 2025. These Three: Elohim, Jehovah, Michael, is the most doctrinally advanced yet sound and stable theological work I have ever read. It may indeed be that some of its doctrinal exposition reflects some of the truths found on the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon plates.
[37] Bruce R. McConkie, These Three: Elohim, Jehovah, Michael, chapter “The Creators.”
[38] Bruce R. McConkie, These Three: Elohim, Jehovah, Michael, chapter “Providing the Plan of Salvation.”
[39] Bruce R. McConkie, All Things: Their Creation, Fall, and Redemption, chapter 7, “Creating Paradisiacal Life.” This book is anticipated to be published in 2025 along with These Three, or in 2026, as circumstances permit.
[40] As quoted in Mark L. McConkie Journal, November 1, 1984; transcription in author’s possession. Quotations also anticipated to be footnotes in All Things: Their Creation, Fall, and Redemption, whenever it is published.
[41] See Ensign, June, 1982.
[42] Mark L. McConkie Journal, March 12, 1984; transcription in author’s possession. Also anticipated to be a footnote in All Things: Their Creation, Fall, and Redemption when published.
[43] Bruce R. McConkie, All Things: Their Creation, Fall and Redemption, “Preface.” President Dallin H. Oaks agreed with Elder McConkie on the current impossibility of reconciling evolution with the gospel, telling an inquirer, “Because our knowledge of the truths of the gospel is still evolving with continuing revelation, and because the ‘truths’ of science are also very dynamic, I am skeptical about bringing them together at present, though I know that they will each be gloriously consistent when all truths are known” (Turley, In the Hands of the Lord: The Life of Dallin H. Oaks, 338).
[44] Bruce R. McConkie, “Salvation – Sons of God,” unpublished transcript of BYU Summer School religious educators class, 1967, 17.
[45] Bruce R. McConkie, These Three: Elohim, Jehovah, Michael, chapter 4, “Providing the Plan of Salvation.”
[46] Bruce R. McConkie, All Things: Their Creation, Fall and Redemption, “Preface.”
[47] Bruce R. McConkie, All Things: Their Creation, Fall and Redemption, “Preface.”
[48] Bruce R. McConkie, All Things: Their Creation, Fall and Redemption, “Preface.”