Commentary
The Pearl of Great Price, New Testament, multiple First Presidency statements and numerous writings and teachings of the Presidents of the Church all declare that Adam, the first mortal man, was a physical son of God the Father. In fact this doctrine was declared by President Joseph Fielding Smith to be a fundamental doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This doctrine alone completely undermines the philosophies of Darwinian Evolution as far as LDS Church doctrine is concerned. Rather than man being the offspring of lower forms of life, man is in fact the son of the Highest and most Intelligent Being. The book of Luke simply declares while relating the physical genealogy of Adam:
“Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.” [1]
The book of Moses, revealed by direct revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith teaches similarly that:
“And this is the genealogy of the sons of Adam, who was the son of God, with whom God, himself, conversed.” [2]
The Prophet Abraham also knew of this truth. In discussing the physical lineage of those from whom the priesthood was passed in the beginning of this Earth, Abraham taught that Adam was both the “firstborn” and the “first father.”
“[The Priesthood] was conferred upon me from the fathers; it came down from the fathers, from the beginning of time, yea, even from the beginning, or before the foundation of the earth, down to the present time, even the right of the firstborn, or the first man, who is Adam, or first father, through the fathers unto me.” [3]
Firstborn in this passage is lower-case distinguishing Adam, “a son of God” from the Son of God, Jesus Christ. It is clear that Adam was born, “not fashioned from earth like an adobe but begotten by his Father in Heaven” (see reference below). It is also clear that Adam was the first mortal parent, or first father. Adam means first father. First father in this case is also lower case to distinguish Adam, a mortal father, from the immortal First Father or our Father in Heaven. The passage also teaches that Adam was the “first man” meaning of course the first mortal man “from the beginning of time.”Adam is the firstborn signified with a lowercase f and the Savior is the Firstborn with an uppercase F. Adam was born a son of God without death on a paradisiacal earth. The Savior was born the Son of God on this mortal earth—the Only Begotten Son of God in the flesh with the ability to die. Adam being the firstborn means what it says, the firstborn on this earth. He was begotten by the Father into this earth when it was in a paradisiacal state without physical pain, sickness, procreation, or death. Christ being the Firstborn has reference to His being the First One that was begotten as a Spirit Son of our Heavenly Father in the pre-mortal realm. That is separate and different (although related) from His being the Only Begotten in the Flesh. There are four different terms/concepts here with four different meanings:begotten son of God = Adam = his birth onto the paradisiacal earth.Only begotten Son in the Flesh = Jesus Christ = Only person Begotten of the Father into a fallen, flesh-status world (born of a mortal woman)firstborn = Adam = the first person to inherit a tangible body from the Father, as far as this earth is concerned (this is really the same as #1 above)Firstborn = The Savior = the first person to inherit a spirit body from the Father (this is NOT the same as #2 above)The scriptures teach that Adam was a son of God, not a son of pre-human not fully evolved life. While the above scriptures are very clear, President Joseph F. Smith and his counselors taught in a clarifying First Presidency Letter that:
“Our father Adam—that is our earthly father—the progenitor of the human race of man, stands at the head being ‘Michael the Archangel, the Ancient of Days,’ and…was not fashioned from earth like an adobe but begotten by his Father in Heaven.” — President Joseph F. Smith, President Anthon H. Lund, and President Charles W. Penrose. [4] [5]
Additionally, President Smith taught:
We did not spring from spawn. Our spirits existed from the beginning, have existed always, and will continue forever. We did not pass through the ordeals of embodiment in the lesser animals in order to reach the perfection to which we have attained in manhood and womanhood, in the image and likeness of God. God was and is our Father, and his children were begotten in the flesh of his own image and likeness, male and female. [6]
How does this doctrine contradict the teachings of Darwinian evolution?
Some have pictured Adam as the end product of an evolutionary process, the first to be human enough to be declared human. These ideas are discussed in the section on pre-Adamites. This section shows that the father and mother of Adam were not pre-human, but Glorified, Immortal Parents. President Joseph F. Smith taught this doctrine many times as the President of the Church. Additionally, Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, George Albert Smith and Joseph Fielding Smith all taught clearly that God the Father was the literal physical Father of Adam, the first man.
In addition to these many statements made by Presidents of the Church, the 1909 First Presidency Message, entitled “The Origin of Man” and written to challenge the teachings of Darwinism, declares that man is a child of God—both directly as a Spirit son or daughter and lineally through the physical body. Note that man is the direct offspring of Heavenly parentage through the spirit, but we also descend from God through the physical body lineally.
“He took upon him an appropriate body, the body of a man, and so became a ‘living soul.’ . . . All who have inhabited the earth since Adam have taken bodies and become souls in like manner. . . The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, basing its belief on divine revelation, ancient and modern, proclaims man to be the direct and lineal offspring of Deity.” [7] [8]
This simply answers the question of the doctrine of the origin of man as it relates to Darwinian Evolution. Because God is the Father of the human race, He alone can declare the facts relating to the origin of man. Again, the First Presidency declared that we do know the origin of man:
“What was the form of man, in the spirit and in the body, as originally created? In a general way the answer is given in the words chosen as the text of this treatise. ‘God created man in his own image.’ It is more explicitly rendered in the Book of Mormon thus: ‘All men were created in the beginning after mine own image’ [9]. [10]
In making this statement, the Presidency affirmed that it was not announcing anything previously unknown or untaught.
“In presenting the statement that follows, we are not conscious of putting forth anything essentially new . . . A restatement of the original attitude of the Church relative to this matter is all that will be attempted here.” [11]
Clearly, the Church has in the past declared an undeniable position on the Origin of man. Our physical bodies descend from God the Father. These doctrines, as they state eternal truth, have never changed. In reference to the two First Presidency Messages that proclaim man as the literal, physical son of God rather than descending from lower forms of life, President Boyd K. Packer, current President of the Quorum of the Twelve, made this statement in 1988:
“Twice the First Presidency has declared the position of the Church on organic evolution. The first, a statement published in 1909 entitled The Origin of Man was signed by Presidents Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder, and Anthon H. Lund. The other, entitled Mormon View of Evolution, signed by Presidents Heber J. Grant, Anthony W. Ivins, and Charles W. Nibley, was published in 1925. It follows very closely the first statement, indeed quotes directly from it.” [12]
The 1909 Presidency statement was made at the time of the 1909 Darwin Celebration held at Cambridge and the other centennial events celebrating the birth of Charles Darwin. The Heber J. Grant Presidency message, mentioned by President Packer, was a restatement at the time of the Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925.
From the beginning of time the adversary has attempted to deceive the sons and daughters of God, convincing them that they are sons of man rather than of God. Moses was shown in vision the truth of these doctrines in a vision of the entire history of the earth, beginning with the Creation of man [13]. Immediately following his vision, “Satan came tempting him, saying: Moses, son of man, worship me” [14] Moses, having a true knowledge of the Origin of man declared, “I am a son of God, in the similitude of his Only Begotten,” and refused to worship the devil and believe in false doctrine concerning the Origin of man on earth. In the world today we have many teaching the philosophies of men and devils declaring that we are the sons of man rather than the sons of God. These teachings have led to devaluation and cheapening of life. Rather than acting nobly and in accord with divine parentage and heredity many act in a manner fitting for the brute beast. This descent of man has been fostered by the teachings of Charles Darwin, ringing with familiarity to the experience of Moses above. Note the striking contrast of the following conflicting positions on the origin of man.
“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, basing its belief on divine revelation, ancient and modern, proclaims man to be the direct and lineal offspring of Deity.” [15] [16]
“It is only . . . arrogance which made our forefathers declare that they were descended from . . . gods.” [17]
Prophetic Statements
First Presidency
#1
“Our father Adam—that is our earthly father—the progenitor of the human race of man, stands at the head being ‘Michael the Archangel, the Ancient of Days,’ and…was not fashioned from earth like an adobe but begotten by his Father in Heaven.” — President Joseph F. Smith, President Anthon H. Lund, and President Charles W. Penrose. [18] [19]
#2
“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, basing its belief on divine revelation, ancient and modern, proclaims man to be the direct and lineal offspring of Deity.” [20] [21]
#3
“What was the form of man, in the spirit and in the body, as originally created? In a general way the answer is given in the words chosen as the text of this treatise. ‘God created man in his own image.’ It is more explicitly rendered in the Book of Mormon thus: ‘All men were created in the beginning after mine own image’ [22]. [23]
#4
“It is held by some that Adam was not the first man upon this earth, and that the original human being was a development from lower orders of the animal creation. These, however, are the theories of men. The word of the Lord declares that Adam was ‘the first man of all men’ [24], and we are therefore in duty bound to regard him as the primal parent of our race.” [25] [26]
#5
“He took upon him an appropriate body, the body of a man, and so became a ‘living soul.’ . . . All who have inhabited the earth since Adam have taken bodies and become souls in like manner. . . The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, basing its belief on divine revelation, ancient and modern, proclaims man to be the direct and lineal offspring of Deity.” [27] [28]
Joseph Smith
#1
He [Joseph Smith] taught us that God was the great head of human procreation, was really and truly the father of both our spirits and our bodies; that we were but parts of a great whole, mutually and equally dependent upon each other, according to conditions. And in our love of God we show, as do the members of our bodies, a greater love and protection for our head.
You will not forget that the march in science has in many things reversed the world’s thought, changed its “modus” and almost its face, and in fact, exploded the dogmas of outside theology. The keys to all this knowledge were first committed to the Prophet Joseph, as a part of the gospel, for the world’s benefit, for all of which he was derided. He was the first to teach in this age “substantialism,” the eternity of matter, that no part or particle of the great universe could become annihilated or destroyed; that light and life and spirit were one; that all light and heat are the “glory of God,” which is His power, that fills the “immensity of space,” and is the life of all things, and permeates with latent life, and heat, every particle of which all worlds are composed; that light or spirit, and gross matter, are the two first great primary principles of the universe, or of being; that they are self-existent, co-existent, indestructible, and eternal, and from these two elements both our spirits and our bodies were formulated.
He taught that all systems or worlds were in revolution, the lesser around the greater. He taught that all the animal kingdoms would be resurrected, and made us understand that they would remain in the dominion of those who, with creative power, reach out for dominion, through the power of eternal lives. [29]
#2
“If Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and John discovered that God the Father of Jesus Christ had a Father, you may suppose that He had a Father also. Where was there ever a son without a father? And where was there ever a father without first being a son? Whenever did a tree or anything spring into existence without a progenitor? And everything comes in this way. Paul says that which is earthly is in the likeness of that which is heavenly. [30]
Brigham Young
#1
Do you not all know that you are the sons and daughters of the Almighty? If you do not I will inform you this morning that there is not a man or woman on the earth that is not a son or daughter of Adam and Eve. We all belong to the races which have sprung from father Adam and mother Eve; and every son and daughter of Adam and Eve is a son and daughter of that God we serve, who organized this earth and millions of others, and who holds them in existence by law. [31]
#2
Elevation, exaltation and glory are the objects of the Father in peopling this earth with his progeny. Do not be afraid that I say too much when I call his earthly children his progeny. It is supposed by many modern Christians that the Old Testament has become obsolete; they regard it more as a book of history relating more particularly to past ages than to us; but we will quote from it in support of God’s being our Father and our being his progeny. Moses gives us to understand that Adam was created precisely after the image and likeness of his God. [32]
#3
Adam was as conversant with his Father who placed him upon this earth as we are conversant with our earthly parents. The Father frequently came to visit his son Adam, and talked and walked with him; and the children of Adam were more or less acquainted with their Grandfather, and their children were more or less acquainted with their Great-Grandfather; and the things that pertain to God and to heaven were as familiar among mankind, in the first ages of their existence on the earth, as these mountains are to our mountain boys, as our gardens are to our wives and children, or as the road to the Western Ocean is to the experienced traveller. [33]
#4
“We are all the children of Adam and Eve, and they are the offspring of Him who dwells in the heavens, the Highest Intelligence that dwells anywhere that we have any knowledge of.” [34]
#5
If we read the requirements made by Jesus, by the Father, or by any messenger sent from the Heavens to the children of men we shall find nothing that will injure any human being or that will destroy the soul of one of the sons or daughters of Adam and Eve. . . . The world may in vain ask the question, “Who are we?” But the Gospel tells us that we are the sons and daughters of that God whom we serve. Some say, “We are the children of Adam and Eve.” So we are, and they are the children of our Heavenly Father. We are all the children of Adam and Eve, and they and we are the offspring of Him who dwells in the heavens, the highest Intelligence that dwells anywhere that we have any knowledge of. . . . What are His commandments to us? Has He commanded us to build an ark? No. He told Noah to do that for the salvation of those who would go into it; and after he had built it, and had preached righteousness for a long space of time, warning the people of the coming judgments of the Almighty, how many believed his testimony? Only eight souls, and they were members of his own family. All the rest were swept from the face of the earth. This is according to the account given to us in the Old Testament which we believe. I know that there are a great many in the world who are so wise in their own eyes that they are not disposed to believe the account contained in the Bible of the Creation, of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the antediluvian world and other things, but we profess to believe, and we do or should believe these things. [35]
#6
“Thus you may continue and trace the human family back to Adam and Eve, and ask, “are we of the same species with Adam and Eve?” Yes, every person acknowledges this; this comes within the scope of our understanding. But when we arrive at that point, a veil is dropt, and our knowledge is cut off. Were it not so, you could trace back your history to the Father of our spirits in the eternal world. He is a being of the species as ourselves; He lives as we do, except the difference that we are earthly, and He is heavenly. He has been earthly, and is of precisely the same species of being that we are.” [36]
#7
“Numerous are the scriptures which I might bring to bear upon the subject of the personality of God. I shall not take time to quote them on this occasion, but will content myself by quoting two passages in the 1st chapter of Genesis, 26th and 27th verses. ‘And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness. . . . So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.’ I believe that the declaration made in these two scriptures is literally true. God has made His children like Himself to stand erect, and has endowed them with intelligence and power and dominion over all His works and given them the same attributes which He Himself possesses. He created man, as we create our children; for there is no other process of creation in heaven, on the earth, in the earth, or under the earth, or in all the eternities, that is, that were, or that ever will be.” [37]
#8
“Man is the offspring of God…. We are as much the children of this great Being as we are the children of our mortal progenitors. We are flesh of his flesh, bone of his bone, and the same fluid that circulates in our bodies, called blood, once circulated in His veins as it does in ours. As the seeds of grains, vegetables and fruits produce their kind, so man is in the image of God.” [38]
#9
Here let me state to all philosophers of every class upon the earth, When you tell me that father Adam was made as we make adobies from the earth, you tell me what I deem an idle tale. When you tell me that the beasts of the field were produced in that manner, you are speaking idle words devoid of meaning. There is no such thing in all the eternities where the Gods dwell. Mankind are here because they are the offspring of parents who were first brought here from another planet, and power was given them to propagate their species, and they were commanded to multiply and replenish the earth. The offspring of Adam and Eve are commanded to take the rude elements, and, by the knowledge God has given, to convert them into everything required for their life, health, adornment, wealth, comfort, and consolation. Have we the knowledge to do this? We have. Who gave us this knowledge? Our Father who made us; for he is the only wise God, and to him we owe allegiance; to him we owe our lives. He has brought us forth and taught us all we know. We are not indebted to any other power or God for all our great blessings.
1#10
“Adam…was made as you and I are made, and no person was ever made upon any other principle.” [40]
#11
[Adam] helped to make and organize this world. . . . They came here, organized the raw material, and arranged in their order the herbs of the field, the trees, the apple, the peach, the plum, the pear, and every other fruit that is desirable and good for man; the seed was brought from another sphere, and planted in this earth. The thistle, and thorn, the brier, and the obnoxious weed did not appear until after the earth was cursed. When Adam and Eve had eaten of the forbidden fruit, their bodies became mortal from its effects, and therefore their offspring were mortal. When the Virgin Mary conceived the child Jesus, the Father had begotten him in his own likeness. He was not begotten by the Holy Ghost. And who is the Father? He is the first of the human family . . . from the fruits of the earth, the first earthly tabernacles were originated by the Father, and so on in succession. [41]
John Taylor
#1
“All the works of God connected with the world which we inhabit, and with all other worlds, are strictly governed by law…the animal and vegetable creations are governed by certain laws, and are composed of certain elements peculiar to themselves. This applies to man, to the beasts, fowls, fish and creeping things, to the insects and to all animated nature; each one possessing its own distinctive features, each requiring a specific sustenance, each having an organism and faculties governed by prescribed laws to perpetuate its own kind. So accurate is the formation of the various living creatures that an intelligent student of nature can tell by any particular bone of the skeleton of an animal to what class or order it belongs.
These principles do not change, as represented by evolutionists of the Darwinian school, but the primitive organisms of all living beings exist in the same form as when they first received their impress from their Maker. There are, indeed, some very slight exceptions, as for instance, the ass may mix with the mare and produce the mule; but there it ends, the violation of the laws of procreation receives a check, and its operations can go no further. Similar compounds may possibly be made by experimentalists in the vegetable and mineral kingdoms, but the original elements remain the same. Yet this is not the normal, but an abnormal condition with them, as with animals, birds, etc.; and if we take man, he is said to have been made in the image of God, for the simple reason that he is a son of God; and being His son, he is, of course, His offspring, an emanation from God, in whose likeness, we are told, he is made. He did not originate from a chaotic mass of matter, moving or inert, but came forth possessing, in an embryotic state, all the faculties and powers of a God. And when he shall be perfected, and have progressed to maturity, he will be like his Father—a God; being indeed His offspring. As the horse, the ox, the sheep, and every living creature, including man, propagates its own species and perpetuates its own kind, so does God perpetuate His.”[42]
#2
The Bible tells us something in relation to these matters in tracing out genealogies. Who was Seth? He was the son of Adam. Who was Adam? The son of God. In another place we are told that “all we are His offspring”—that is, according to that, we are all the offspring of God. [43]
Lorenzo Snow
#1
God loves his offspring, the human family. His design is not simply to furnish happiness to the few here, called Latter-day Saints. The plan and scheme that he is now carrying out is for universal salvation; not only for the salvation of the Latter-day Saints, but for the salvation of every man and woman on the face of the earth, for those also in the spirit world, and for those who may hereafter come upon the face of the earth. It is for the salvation of every son and daughter of Adam. [44]
Joseph F. Smith
#1
“God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son…cannot be any other than themselves. They cannot be changed; they are from everlasting to everlasting, eternally the same; so it will be with us. We will progress and develop and grow in wisdom and understanding, but our identity can never change. We did not spring from spawn. Our spirits existed from the beginning, have existed always, and will continue forever. We did not pass through the ordeals of embodiment in the lesser animals in order to reach the perfection to which we have attained in manhood and womanhood, in the image and likeness of God. God was and is our Father, and his children were begotten in the flesh of his own image and likeness, male and female. There may have been times when they did not possess the same intelligence that they possessed at other times. There are periods in the history of the world when men have dwindled into ignorance and barbarism, and then there were other times when they have grown in intelligence, developed in understanding, enlarged in spirit and comprehension, approaching nearer to the condition and likeness of their Father and God.” [45]
#2
“Our father Adam—that is our earthly father—the progenitor of the human race of man, stands at the head being ‘Michael the Archangel, the Ancient of Days,’ and…was not fashioned from earth like an adobe but begotten by his Father in Heaven.” — President Joseph F. Smith, President Anthon H. Lund, and President Charles W. Penrose. [46] [47]
#3
“I know that God is a being with body, parts and passions and that His Son, Jesus Christ, grew and developed into manhood the same as you or I, as likewise did God, His Father, grow and develop to the Supreme Being that He now is. Christ the Savior, was born of woman; and God, the Father, was born of woman. Adam, our earthly parent, was also born of woman into this world, the same as Jesus and you and I.” [48]
#4
“We did not spring from spawn. Our spirits existed from the beginning, have existed always, and will continue forever. We did not pass through the ordeals of embodiment in the lesser animals in order to reach the perfection to which we have attained in manhood and womanhood, in the image and likeness of God. God was and is our Father, and his children were begotten in the flesh of his own image and likeness, male and female.” [49]
Note: The following quote may or may not have come from President Joseph F. Smith directly, but it was published in the Priesthood manual when he was President of the Church. Also, it closely aligns with the First Presidency pronouncement given a year earlier:
#5
“Man has descended from God: In fact, he is of the same race as the Gods. His descent has not been from a lower form of life, but from the Highest Form of Life; in other words, man is, in the most literal sense, a child of God. This is not only true of the spirit of man, but of his body also.” [50]
George Albert Smith
Note: This first quote was given by President Smith at the General Conference in October 1925. This immediately followed the Scopes Trial and President Smith’s remarks accompanied the things President Heber J. Grant said in the same conference about William Jennings Bryan. Here is what President Smith taught:
#1
“Man did not come from a lower order of life. I am grateful that in the midst of the confusion of our Father’s children there has been given to the members of this great organization a sure knowledge of the origin of man, that we came from the spirit world where our spirits were begotten by our Father in Heaven, that he formed our first parents from the dust of the earth, and that their spirits were placed in their bodies, and that man came, not as some have believed, not as some have preferred to believe, from some of the lower walks of life, but our ancestors were those beings who lived in the courts of heaven. We came not from some menial order of life, but our ancestor is God our Heavenly Father. I am grateful that we are not laboring under a handicap such as I feel that some men are who feel that they have grown up and evolved from some unknown condition; but, on the contrary, standing as we do, facing the problems of life, believing as we do that we were first created in the image of God.” [51] [52]
#2
“Man is the offspring of God. The Latter-day Saints are believers in the words contained in the Holy Scriptures. We believe that God created the heavens and the earth; and the same God that created the heavens and the earth declared that he made man in his own image; male and female created he them. No matter if scientists and great men of the world shall proclaim that we have evolved from the lower order of animals, the witness of the Spirit to you, my brethren and sisters, is that you are the offspring of the Lord, that the spirits which inhabit your bodies are immortal, and that in due time, if you are faithful, you will go back to the presence of that God who gave you life.” [53]
#3
The Holy Bible contains the advice of our Heavenly Father, and I accept without mental reservation the statements made in Genesis, chapters 1 and 2, that in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth and every living thing that has inhabited the earth, including man.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it. [54]
#4
These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. [55]
#5
This was all a spiritual creation. Then follows the physical creation.
#6
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. [56]
#7
It was in the plan of our Heavenly Father that every living thing that he created should each reproduce after its kind. Adam and Eve were the children of God; they were our first parents, and every human being that has lived upon the earth descended from them. God gave them their agency to decide for themselves in all matters and held them responsible for their conduct. They received their instructions in the Garden of Eden from our Heavenly Father and those teachings were preserved for succeeding generations. [57]
David O. McKay
#1
The second thing from which the world needs to be saved is ignorance of its relationship to God. In their lack of knowledge of the existence of Deity, many men agnostically say, “I don’t know.” Others bombastically say, “There is no God; life came to earth by chance and man was developed through evolutionary processes of ten or fifteen millions or billions, of years.” Paul, James, Cephas, John, and Joseph Smith, and a host of others knew, and so have testified, that we are sons and daughters of our Father in heaven. He is our God, and Jesus Christ came to the world to prove that great truth. From the very beginning He established our relationship with Deity; namely, that we are sons and daughters of God.
Oh, what that truth means to young people, particularly, who, in moments of discouragement, wonder what they are going to do and how they are going to live, to be inspired with the idea that they are truly of divine origin! Being of divine heritage, there is no limit to their achievement. [58]
Joseph Fielding Smith
#1
“GOD: FIRST OF THE HUMAN FAMILY. Let me comment first upon the expression that God is the “first of the human family.” This same doctrine was taught by Joseph Smith. It is a fundamental doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. According to the teachings of Joseph Smith, he beheld the Father and the Son in his glorious vision, and he taught that each had a body of flesh and bones. He also taught that, literally, God is our Father; that men are of the same race—the race called humans; and that God, the Progenitor, or Creator, is the Father of the human race. “In the image of his own body, male and female, created he them, and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created and became living souls in the land upon the footstool of God. It is a doctrine common to the Latter-day Saints, that God, the Great Elohim, is the First, or Creator, of the human family.” [59]
#2
Then what is meant by the “first flesh”? It is simple when you understand it. Adam was the first of all creatures to fall and become flesh, and flesh in this sense means mortality, and all through our scriptures the Lord speaks of this life as flesh, while we are here in the flesh, so Adam became the first flesh. There was no other mortal creature before him, and there was no mortal death until he brought it . . . [60]
#3
“EVOLUTIONISTS REJECT FATHERHOOD OF GOD. The modern world is fulfilling the scriptures which say that in the last days men would be “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” Today the world has discarded the great truth concerning the Fatherhood of God and has turned to fables. It has adopted and is promulgating in textbooks and schools the debasing doctrine that man is not the offspring of God, but a natural development through countless ages from the lowest forms of physical life to his present form and intelligence. Such a doctrine is an insult to our Father in whose Image we were created, and yet in this teaching vast multitudes seem to glory. Paul saw our day and by prophetic vision declared that such conditions would prevail in this dispensation and the Lord should ‘send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness’.” [61]
Harold B. Lee
President Harold B. Lee was a strong supporter of Joseph Fielding Smith’s book Man, His Origin and Destiny. President Lee also taught the following in a First Presidency Message as the President of the Church:
#1
“I was somewhat sorrowed recently to hear someone, a sister who comes from a church family, ask, “What about the pre-Adamic people?” Here was someone who I thought was fully grounded in the faith. I asked, “What about the pre-Adamic people?” She replied, “Well, aren’t there evidences that people preceded the Adamic period of the earth?” I said, “Have you forgotten the scripture that says, ‘And I, the Lord God, formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul, the first flesh upon the earth, the first man also….’ ” [62] I asked, “Do you believe that?” She wondered about the creation because she had read the theories of the scientists, and the question that she was really asking was: How do you reconcile science with religion? The answer must be, If science is not true, you cannot reconcile truth with error.” [63]
Howard W. Hunter
#1
“‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.’ [64] There was a divine plan. For every plan there must have been a planner, and for every creation there must have been a creator. Could the perfect universe emerge without a divine plan? Could it have come about by some mechanical chance? Such thoughts are against the stronger reasoning. Such belief could not be supported in view of the tangible evidence which portrays that there is a supreme being, one who had a divine plan, one who was the Creator and the builder of the universe.
Not only did God plan and create the heavens and the earth, but the plan also included the creation of man. ‘So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.’ [65] Thus we are his creation; we are literally his children, in his image and likeness. This would necessarily include the intellect, which distinguishes man from all other animal life. We are creatures of the flesh as well as the spirit, and the great striving in life is to develop the spirit as well as the physical body. True growth is dependent upon our conscious effort in lifting our awareness above and beyond those things which are physical.” [66]
Darwinist and Neo-Darwinist
Charles Darwin
#1
“It is only . . . arrogance which made our forefathers declare that they were descended from . . . gods.” [67]
“Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin” [68]
Peter Singer
#1
“. . . some opponents of abortion respond that the fetus, unlike the dog or chimpanzee, is made in the image of God, or has an immortal soul. . . . But there is no evidence for these religious claims, and in a society in which we keep the state and religion separate, we should not use them as a basis for the criminal law . . .” [69]
Scripture
Luke 3:38
Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.
Moses 6:22
And this is the genealogy of the sons of Adam, who was the son of God, with whom God, himself, conversed.
D&C 76:24
“That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God.”
Ether, 3:15
“All men were created in the beginning after mine own image.”
Moses 1:6
“And I have a work for thee, Moses, my son; and thou art in the similitude of mine Only Begotten.”
Abraham 1:3
“[The Priesthood] was conferred upon me from the fathers; it came down from the fathers, from the beginning of time, yea, even from the beginning, or before the foundation of the earth, down to the present time, even the right of the firstborn, or the first man, who is Adam, or first father, through the fathers unto me.”
Supporting Statements
Boyd K. Packer
“Twice the First Presidency has declared the position of the Church on organic evolution. The first, a statement published in 1909 entitled The Origin of Man was signed by Presidents Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder, and Anthon H. Lund. The other, entitled Mormon View of Evolution, signed by Presidents Heber J. Grant, Anthony W. Ivins, and Charles W. Nibley, was published in 1925. It follows very closely the first statement, indeed quotes directly from it.” [70]
- ↑ Luke 3:38
- ↑ Moses 6:22
- ↑ Abraham 1:3
- ↑ The First Presidency, Letter to Samuel O. Bennion, February 26, 1912
- ↑ Quoted in Melvin A. Cook and M. Garfield Cook, Science and Mormonism, p. 156.
- ↑ Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine, p. 25
- ↑ First Presidency of the Church, The Origin of Man, Improvement Era, Nov. 1909, 75–81
- ↑ Ensign, February 2002, p. 26
- ↑ Ether, 3:15
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Boyd K. Packer, The Law and the Light, Book of Mormon Symposium, BYU, 30 October 1988
- ↑ Moses 1
- ↑ Moses 1:12
- ↑ First Presidency of the Church, The Origin of Man, Improvement Era, Nov. 1909, 75–81
- ↑ Ensign, February 2002, p. 26
- ↑ Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man, pp. 31-32
- ↑ The First Presidency, Letter to Samuel O. Bennion, February 26, 1912
- ↑ Quoted in Melvin A. Cook and M. Garfield Cook, Science and Mormonism, p. 156.
- ↑ First Presidency of the Church, The Origin of Man, Improvement Era, Nov. 1909, 75–81
- ↑ Ensign, February 2002, p. 26
- ↑ Ether, 3:15
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Moses 1:34
- ↑ First Presidency of the Church, The Origin of Man, Improvement Era, Nov. 1909, 75–81
- ↑ Ensign, February 2002, p. 26
- ↑ First Presidency of the Church, The Origin of Man, Improvement Era, Nov. 1909, 75–81
- ↑ Ensign, February 2002, p. 26
- ↑ Hyrum L. Andrus and Helen Mae Andrus, comps., They Knew the Prophet [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1974], 95
- ↑ Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 373
- ↑ Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 14: 112 – 113
- ↑ Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 10: 192
- ↑ President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 9: 149
- ↑ Brigham Young, Discourses of Brigham Young, p.94
- ↑ Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 13: 312
- ↑ Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 4:217-218
- ↑ Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 11:122-123
- ↑ Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 9:283
- ↑ Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 7: 285-286
- ↑ Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 3:319
- ↑ President Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 1: 51
- ↑ John Taylor, Mediation and Atonement, pp. 163-165
- ↑ John Taylor, Object Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 26: 33 – 34
- ↑ Lorenzo Snow, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 14: 309
- ↑ Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine, p. 25
- ↑ The First Presidency, Letter to Samuel O. Bennion, February 26, 1912
- ↑ Quoted in Melvin A. Cook and M. Garfield Cook, Science and Mormonism, p. 156.
- ↑ Joseph F. Smith, Deseret Evening News, December 27, 1913, Sec. III, p. 7
- ↑ Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine, p. 25
- ↑ Course of Study For Priests, 1910, under the subject, “The Creation of Man”
- ↑ George Albert Smith, Conference Reports, October 1925, p. 33.
- ↑ George Albert Smith, The Teachings of George Albert Smith, 14
- ↑ George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1905, p. 61.
- ↑ Genesis 1:27, 28.
- ↑ Genesis 2:4, 5.
- ↑ Genesis 2:7.
- ↑ President George Albert Smith, Conference Report, April 1945, Third Day—Morning Meeting 135.
- ↑ “The World Needs to Be Saved from Dominating Animal Instincts,” Instructor 97:181-82, June 1962
- ↑ Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, volume 1, p. 102.
- ↑ Joseph Fielding Smith, Seek Ye Earnestly [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1970], 281.
- ↑ Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 1:143.
- ↑ Moses 3:7.
- ↑ Harold B. Lee, “First Presidency Message: Find the Answers in the Scriptures,” Ensign, Dec. 1972, 2.
- ↑ Genesis 1:1.
- ↑ Genesis 1:27.
- ↑ Howard W. Hunter, Conference Report, October 1968, Afternoon Meeting 139
- ↑ Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man, pp. 31-32
- ↑ Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man p. 405
- ↑ Peter Singer, Dept. of Bioethics, Princeton University, “Abortion, the dividing lines,” Herald Sun, August 25, 2007
- ↑ Boyd K. Packer, The Law and the Light, Book of Mormon Symposium, BYU, 30 October 1988
