When I read this scripture it changed my life...
11. Verily thus sayeth the lord, seek ye out the learned and the wise. For in them is the secret, for in as much as thou learnest from them, ye shall find eternal life.
It is given unto the teachers of teachers and the professors with doctorates to know the mysteries of heave. 1Paul 1:11-12
Ever since the moment I read that scripture I have tried to do just that. My mind is never satisfied, and most the time when I find an answer to a questions it only causes me to ask more questions. I used to try and study the scriptures and pray to my heavenly father, but now I just ask smart people what they think.
For example... if the atonement is infinite and eternal, and it is, then does that mean the people on the other worlds, past present or future, are reading in there scriptures about earth where the savior Jesus Christ was born atoned for their sins? Well I have never found anyone smart enough to answer that question for me.
I have found the answers to some of my unanswerable questions in books that smart people wrote. When I will need to know some thing and I search and search books by people with genius reputations until I find what I am looking for.
Well for those of you that have never heard that scripture before or have been trying to look it up for the last five minutes, I made it up. It is not real. However this is how I have been acting. I have been trying to find my knowledge in all the wrong places.
What I am about to write may be perceived by those who are learned to be immature or a view taken from an uneducated position. (Those of you that do know me know that I am in fact not formally educated. But also know I am very very well informed on what ever I choose to voice an opinion about.) But let me share the scripture with you that leads me to say; no one should care if you think Im immature because this is what the Lord himself has said.
4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 18:4
As with all of my post that some may find to be controversial, I do not claim to know everything and most importantly I make no claim that I am even able to practice what I preach just the way that I preach it. All I can say is at times I am trying my best to follow my own direction. This is going to be a story of a lesson that I was taught today while running a dozer and pondering some conversations that I have had during the past couple days. I also want to point out that I really really like all the people that are involved in this story, so if any of them read it don’t get offended. Just think about the above scripture.
For the last little while we have been in an area at work where the government has required us to have a paleontologist to monitor our work. One day my dozer broke down and I had time to sit and talk to one of them while I waited for parts to arrive. Turns out not only was she a scientist but also a returned missionary. This made me wonder how she would reconcile the differences between the scriptures and science concerning the origination of the planet and humans. We had a long conversation. It is not my intent to argue with all you smart people how evolution and creation can work together. It is however my intent to share with you what I have learned about my own dealings with my God while I was discussing the subject.
The first thing that was said by her when I asked her the question was that “God has to operate within the laws of science.” This is a statement that I have heard since I was just a little kid. It is something that I have accepted for a long time. I mean really... it is something that you hear all the time. And when ever someone talks about evolution it is the first line that you hear. So the whole time we worked within that premises. The next statement is always “what, you think that the two cannot work together?” So we also worked with in that premises. (I have to admit, I am intimidated by those who are educated and also I don’t want to look like I don’t have an open mind so what I said my not have represented my full belief at the time.)
Her points were:
- There is a reason that God used evolution to accomplish his goal.
- The whole purpose of evolution was to create man as the goal.
- There is so much fossil evidence of so many extinct creatures.
- Evolution stopped when Adam was finally achieved, because there was no longer a need for anything to Evolve.
- Science’s only working theory is evolution.
- In Abraham it don’t call the days of creation days, it call them “time”. So each step could have been billions of years.
My points were very provocative to her, most of them caused her to change what she had said to the points that I listed above. Some of them she told me she just didn’t have an answer for. We discussed the matter for awhile. I came home and talked to my wife and told her how impressed I was with this scientist, and was very interested in her way of thinking. I started to buy into her way of thinking. After a few hours I started to find peace in the matter. Then my wife said something about the conversation to my in-laws, and in unison they asked “what, you think that the two can’t work together.” I said some things I think, and my father-in-law thought it best to end of conversation.
Then today I was at work early in the morning and thinking about the subject again. As I was pondering the matter (pondering is said to be one of the truest forms of prayer), a thought came to my mind. “I should be careful of the things I start telling God that he cannot do.” For example, “God must work within the laws of science.” This may or may not be true. Through history there have been a few people that have seen and talked with either God or Jesus Christ, and I cannot recall in one of the written account that it was relayed that the source of Gods power is his knowledge of the laws of science. I am not saying that knowledge is not one of his strong suits. But what is the source of his power? Does God have the power to create the earth and everything in it in 6 days? Or does he not have that power, and only enough power to organize it all in 4.5 billion years?
...for he rebelled against me, saying, Give me thine honor, which is my power; and also a third part of the hosts of heaven turned he away from me because of their agency;
D&C 29:36
1 And I, the Lord God, spake unto Moses, saying: That Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying—Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor.
Moses 4:1
When my mind had caught upon these two concepts another scripture sunk into my head. I couldn’t quite quote it just right then, but I remembered enough to find it on my Ipod touch. Something about “having a form or godliness but denying the power there of”? So I looked it up. When you read these verses you might notice that I have them mixed up a bit. This is a pet peeve of mine because people always do this kinda thing to make the bible mean what they want it to mean at that very moment. And if it weren’t for two things I would not do this myself right now. ONE, this is how they came to my mind while pondering, I think I might have been guided in that direction. TWO, I have read the whole chapter and the one before and after and I don’t think that it changes the context of the verses at all.
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, [and] proud... Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth... Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away... But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them.
2 Timothy 3:1-14
Knowing of whom thou hast learned them.... For far too long I have been learning of men. Trusting in things of science. I have been looking for answers in the writings of uninspired but well meaning people. I have been trusting the words of those who,well; honestly I trust. But that has lead me to try and force MY GOD into a box. Supposedly I am a man of faith, but have been trying to justify my faith through the learning of fallible man. A person that is faithful should be trying filter the learning of man though the truth of faith. Not trying to filter what is already true to fit some idea that makes sense to our minds right now and will be proved wrong later.
I just looked this up. Did you know there are 18 actual LAWS of physical science? Every other thing that a scientist says is just the best knowledge that we have at this point. Do you know how the scientific method works? One comes up with an idea and then try’s to prove it wrong. If they can prove it wrong then they change the idea and start over. The proponents of evolution do it the opposite way. They have the idea of evolution and thousands of ways to prove it wrong, but they are working tirelessly to try and make the damning evidence fit their bad idea.
I have come to an understanding of where I think the lines of Gods power and evolution cross. I feel good about it. But what I feel better about is from now on I will not question the ability of my GOD. He is omnipotent. He is omnipresent. He is omniscient.
My paleo friend made mention that in Abraham it refers to the creation as just time periods, and not days. There is one other way to interrupt the phrasing.
13 And it came to pass that they numbered the days; from the evening until the morning they called night; and it came to pass, from the morning until the evening they called day; and it was the third time.
Abraham 4:13
Now that I am seeing things differently I think this is even clearer than in genesis. In Genesis when it said days, one could say that is by the time reckoning of Kolob’s time. 1day = 1000 years. But here in Abraham it is saying that on earth the sun went up and went down then came back up again for the third time. Leading up to this scripture it said the same thing except for the second and first times. After this scripture the sun came up, went down and back up again for the fourth through the seventh times. Sounds to me more like God did have the power to make everything just the way it is and just as we know it in only six days and then took a well deserved brake on the seventh. I would have been way tired after all that work.
I hope I remember this lesson I was taught. I still wont tell you the way I think our existence was brought about. But you can trust me that all the rebuttals you have, I have already thought of and answered them to my satisfaction. I love my God in heaven, and pray that I can be a more faithful man. I want to trust him above all else so that I can lead my family to exhalation.
0 comments:
Post a Comment