McConkie Insights

I often think I have to write a long, polished post, and that often prevents me from doing so... but here are a couple quick insights to share—neither long nor polished.

At work I'm proofreading some old speeches given by Elder Bruce R. McConkie, a former Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ. It's been interesting to glean some perspective from such a gospel scholar. Two quick notes to share:

1. In the talk I'm now reading (or now avoiding reading by posting this blog), he's discussing the issue of salvation by grace vs. salvation by works. As I read his description of it, it struck me through some of his wording that a key problem in this debate is often our terminology. In reality, it's not a question of grace vs. works. Grace is involved in salvation in both camps. Without the grace of Jesus Christ, neither the workers nor the believers claim salvation. In both doctrines, grace is the core concept.

The question, really is one of faith vs. works—or more accurately, faith alone vs. faith and works. To me that's an important distinction. Those who frame the debate as between grace and works set up a false accusation that those who appeal to works are denying the grace of Christ. But those who argue for the importance of works still hold to grace. The real question in this debate is not whether we are saved by grace, the question is how do we access that grace—through faith and works together or through faith alone.

2. Another subject addressed in these talks has been evolution. I have begun to believe over recent years that evolution is likely the tool God used to create the earth. It makes sense in a lot of ways, and I've become quite comfortable with that idea, almost advocating it at times in my conversations with others. But Elder McConkie pointed out a conflict with that idea that I had once heard but about which I had forgotten in my growing acceptance of evolution.

This conflict is spelled out in 2 Nephi 2, specifically in verse 22. In this chapter, Lehi discusses Adam's fall and its consequences, stating in verse 22 that if Adam had not fallen "all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end." This, coupled with other scriptural statements, indicate that Adam's fall brought death—as well as birth—into the world.

An Edenic existence—a paradise wherein there was no birth, no sickness, and no death—causes trouble with my "evolution as God's creative tool" theory. How can life evolve if there is no birth or death? Evolution depends on birth and death over generations and eons. Without birth, death, and a lot of time, the idea of evolution crumbles to nothing.

So I'm back to the drawing board on my understanding of how God created the earth. I still have an open mind to evolution; the evidence in favor of evolution as a biologic principle is too overwhelming to dismiss entirely. But how evolution and divine creation and scriptural writings mesh is still a mystery to me. And I'm ok with that. There are a lot of things about this life that I've begun to realize I won't understand until the next life.


Speaking of evolution: Two other recent ideas that have caused me to ponder this:

1. I read last week a quote by George Gallup, the famous U.S. pollster, who said "I could prove God statistically. Take the human body alone—the chances that all the functions of an individual would just happen is a statistical monstrosity."

2. At a dinosaur museum last week I saw a presentation about the theory that a giant meteorite caused global destruction and precipitated death of all—or nearly all—life, wiping out the dinosaurs as well as much smaller living things. After that presentation, it struck me that if that is true and if evolution is a true idea, life on earth would have had to evolve from nothing—or almost nothing—into complex organisms twice in the earth's history.

These two ideas again persuade me to reject a godless evolution. I simply cannot believe that through happenstance something as complex as the human body could evolve—even once. And for complex life forms to evolve by chance twice on the same planet seems preposterous to me. What are the chances?

A God-driven evolution, however, seems very likely. If God directed evolution and used it as His tool, I can readily accept it... but first we have to resolve how that fits with the paradise of the Garden of Eden.