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According to the conception of geologists the earth passed through ages of preparation, to us unmeasured

and immeasurable, during which countless generations of plants and animals existed in great variety and

profusion and gave in part the very substance of their bodies to help form certain strata which are stillexistent as such.

Geologists say that these very simple forms of plant and animal bodies were succeeded by others more

complicated; and in the indestructible record of the rocks they read the story of advancing life from the

simple to the more complex, from the single-celled protozoan to the highest animals, from the marinealgae to the advanced types of flowering plant -- to the apple-tree, the rose, and the oak.

What a fascinating story is inscribed upon the stony pages of the earths crust!

This record of Adam and his posterity is the only scriptural account we have of the appearance of man

upon this earth. But we have also a vast and ever-increasing volume of knowledge concerning man, his

early habits and customs, his industries and works of art, his tools and implements, about which such

scriptures as we have thus far received are entirely silent. Let us not try to wrest the scriptures in an

attempt to explain away what we cannot explain.

The opening chapters of Genesis, and scriptures related thereto, were never intended as a textbook ofgeology, archaeology, earth-science or man-science. Holy Scripture will endure, while the conceptions of

men change with new discoveries. We do not show reverence for the scriptures when we misapply them

through faulty interpretation. [James E. Talmage, The Earth and Man, address delivered in the Salt

Lake Tabernacle, Aug. 9, 1931, and published by the Church under direction of the First Presidency].

Whatever the subject may be, the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ may be elaborated upon without

fear of anyones objecting, and the teacher can be free to express his honest conviction regarding it,whether that subject be in geology, the history of the world, the millions of years that it took to prepare

the physical world, whether it be in engineering, literature, art -- any principles of the gospel may be

briefly or extensively touched upon for the anchoring of the student who is seeking to know the truth.[David O. McKay, Gospel Ideals -- Lifes Surest Anchor, address delivered at BYU, Oct. 30, 1956.]

We should take advantage of all these great discoveries, the accumulated wisdom of ages, and give to ourchildren the benefit of every branch of useful knowledge, to prepare them to step forward and efficiently do

their part in the great work. [Brigham Young,Journal of Discourses, vol. 9, pg. 369, August 31, 1862].

It is hard to get the people to believe that God is a scientific character, that He lives by science or strict law,that by this He is, and by law he was made what He is; and will remain to all eternity because of His faithfuladherence to law. It is a most difficult thing to make the people believe that every art and science and allwisdom comes from Him, and that He is their Author. [Brigham Young, JD vol. 13, pg 302, November 13,1870].

In these respects we differ from the Christian world, for our religion will not clash with or contradict the factsof science in any particular. [Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 14, pg. 116, May 14, 1871].

As a teacher, and as an individual passionate about science and every other kind of knowledge (even though

my field is English, I love life-long learner. I know that I will never find all of the truths, and I recognize thatI may embrace some ideas that I later reject as they are proven wrong through empirical methods. But evenwith the impossibility of acquiring all information and testing it, I have so much fun looking, thinking andlearning. Yes, I use the spirit to accelerate my learning and cognition, but I remind myself that HeavenlyFather wants me to go to work and get my hands dirty. The academic study methods I use objectiveobservations, an open and inquisitive mind, and a flexible cognitive framework in no way work against thisspirit, but on the other hand, the spirit will not do the testing for me either.


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As I teach writing, reading, and critical thinking to students now, I am awarethrough their countenancewhen I step on a landmine that marks the margins of tolerance, of the unknown and frightening. With mystudents, I have grown to love seeing through eyes and mind of the great thinkers in the world and in thechurch. We designed this advanced writing and reading course to help students see that questioning ourassumptions, thinking critically, and analyzing our biases are healthy activities both spiritually andintellectually. Our Heavenly Father is not a fan of ignorance, nor does He want knowledge and truth to be

frightening. On the contrary, he desires our own enlightenment.Thankfully, the Lord encourages this inquisition and reasoning, and far from being frightening, the

glory of God is intelligence (Doctrine and Covenants 93). He defines light and truth as knowledge ofthings as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come (), and we are actually encouraged to find thiswherever can (see the Thirteenth Article of Faith, for example). While the knowledge of things that theLord refers to clearly has spiritual, Plan of Salvation, interpretations, the word seems intentionally openendedand all encompassing, referring perhaps to numerous domains such as social, cognitive, engineering, andcomputer sciences (things as they are); geology, physics, astrophysics, biologyeven evolutionandastrophysics (things as they were); and quantum, philosophical, politicaldemocrats includedcomputer,and cognitive sciences (things as they are to come). You linguists can try parsing that sentence. If wecompare these domains of knowledge to the disciplines physics, I am only at the level of the tiny quarks ofquantum mechanics, and we still have to move through time and space to the macro-world of Newtonian

physics scene through the view of the dying Hubble Telescope. I completely left out the humanities lest youjudge me too liberal.The reason I receive so much joy in learning about these domains of knowledge is because they

reveal the work of The Creator. However, I did not mature to the point where I could handle all this on myown. In my both random and focused studies, I needed permission from respected teachers and authoritiesincluding one of my favorite people, Henry Eyring. I did not forget the President nor the B. although heis one of my favorites as well. No, I am referring to his father the world famous scientist, Henry Eyring(Google him and read the book about him written by his grandson who works currently for BYU-Idaho).

This great LDS scientist, scholar, and thinker has opened my world view and changed the way I viewknowledge and science. Not only was he world famous in theoretical chemistry, among the ranks of AlbertEinstien and Neils Bohr, but he was church famous as well. He so effectively reconciled faith and science thathe was recruited by the church to use his brilliant mind and skill combined with his fame to help the churchunderstand science and to advocate the church and Christianity to the world and the scientific community.

His courage and legacy has inspired and guided my pursuit of secular knowledge in the context of my beliefs.While the church has no official stand on evolution or the age of the earth, Eyring made clear in

counsels and correspondence with the Quorum of the Twelve and President David OMcKay that thisscientific knowledge in no way conflicts with Gospel doctrine. He also responded kindly and in detail toquestions from the enormous amounts of fan mail he received from inquisitive members. In one suchresponse documented by Steven Heath {{143 Heath,Steven H. 1982}} of Southern Utah University:

I was trained as a mining engineer so that the evidence seems to me to point toward an age of theearth between four and five billion years and to the existence of pre-Adamic man. I dont think thatit is reasonable to explain the observed geological formations on the theory that they were movedfrom some other worlds. I have no difficulty reconciling myself to the idea of life before Adam andto a great age of the earth. Our scriptural accounts are brief and dont seem to me to rule out thesepossibilities. The scriptural emphasis is on Gods dealings with Adam and his descendants and the

treatment of pre-Adamic history is sketchy, no doubt for a good reason.It seems, to me, clear that the Lord used the Prophet Joseph to restore His Gospel. This is

the important thing for me. Just how He runs the world, Im Obliged to leave up to him. All I can dois find out how he does it by every means available.18 {{143 Heath,Steven H. 1982}}

Henry Eyring consciously clarifies that he is not speaking for the church here with his pronouns I andme, and I do not share this passage as a form of evidence for any claim or position other than the story ofthis scholar and saint, respected by scientist and Apostles and Prophets alike, professed both a firm testimonyof the Gospel and clear reasoned arguments for science. While not all Apostles nor saints agreed with him,


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his example clearly shows that these scientific truths should not be frightening nor should an LDS memberfeel a need to reject them in order to remain in good standing with the church.

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