Evolution, secularism, and Lehi's vision of the Tree of Life

Last night, as I drove around with two of my three rambunctious boys who watched church DVDs in the car while their mom had a moment to herself on Mother's Day, I was listening to "Lehi's Dream and Nephi's Vision as Used by Church Leaders". The talk was given Saturday, May 11th, at the 40th annual Sidney B. Sperry symposium by Mary Jane Woodger, who is a member of BYU's Church History and Doctrine department.

What a great talk it was! Practically every application of that scripture was considered, outlined, and summarized. Ms. Woodger reviewed many important statements by latter-day prophets on the vision.

I love Lehi's vision of the Tree of Life because everywhere you look, you can find an application for it. It's a painting for the mind and the soul and a guidepost on our way back to live eternally with our Father in Heaven.

My interest in Lehi's vision is amplified whenever a I see an article online that purports to shoot holes in the beliefs of those of us who believe in God.

A great example of a hubris-filled article, The Whys of Religion vs. Evolution, was written by evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne, a University of Chicago professor of ecology and evolution. He has made part of his life's career debunking religion, particularly creationism and the alternate framework of Intelligent Design.

Professor Coyne's work is one of many fulfillments of Lehi's vision of the Tree of Life. That it mentions evolutionary "trees of life" is ironic given the symbolism in Lehi's vision of the true Tree of Life (Christ, the Creator).

As if he were standing in one of the windows of the great and spacious building, Professor Coyne confidently states:

“If you live in a society that is dysfunctional and unhealthy, where people are doing better than you, you need solace from somewhere. You get it from religion,” said Jerry Coyne. “The thing that blocks acceptance of evolution in America is religion.” Coyne's talk, sponsored by the Harvard Museum of Natural History, was part of its “Evolution Matters” lecture series.

Coyne further concludes:

Despite this evidence, many Americans refuse to believe in evolution because they hold tightly to religious beliefs, most of which are taught in childhood well before young people learn of evolution, Coyne said. Three-quarters of Americans profess an absolute belief in God, and 63 percent believe in angels. 

The problem with evolution from a religious point of view, Coyne said, is that it doesn’t just assail religious views of human origin, it also erodes the religious underpinnings of the idea that humans are somehow special, that our lives have purpose and meaning, and that we need to be moral. 

... 

The answer, Coyne said, is to address society’s ills so Americans live in a more secure and level society.

This is a prime example of Lehi's vision in reality.

Additionally, it closely parallels the account of an encounter Alma had with a man named Korihor, who also distributed secular teachings as "truth". We read in Alma 30:

 16 Ye look forward and say that ye see a remission of your sins. But behold, it is the effect of a frenzied mind; and this derangement of your minds comes because of the traditions of your fathers, which lead you away into a belief of things which are not so.
 17 And many more such things did he say unto them, telling them that there could be no atonement made for the sins of men, but every man fared in this life according to the management of the creature; therefore every man prospered according to his genius, and that every man conquered according to his strength; and whatsoever a man did was no crime.
 18 And thus he did preach unto them, leading away the hearts of many, causing them to lift up their heads in their wickedness, yea, leading away many women, and also men, to commit whoredoms—telling them that when a man was dead, that was the end thereof.
...
24 Ye say that this people is a free people. Behold, I say they are in bondage. Ye say that those ancient prophecies are true. Behold, I say that ye do not know that they are true.
 25 Ye say that this people is a guilty and a fallen people, because of the transgression of a parent. Behold, I say that a child is not guilty because of its parents. [Today: "It's evolution!"]
...
 27 And thus ye lead away this people after the foolish traditions of your fathers, and according to your own desires; and ye keep them down, even as it were in bondage...

While you read the rest of that story to find out what happened to Korihor (and Nehor and Sherem before him), I will go tend to my rambunctious boys.

LDS Online Scripture Study Resources

This post actually serves two purposes: I'm using it to write a talk for giving at church this Sunday, and I'm writing it for those who need a comprehensive guide to how to get started using LDS online scripture study resources.

Image via Wikipedia

A few years back, I had a strong desire to re-read the Book of Mormon. I got a copy of the book that missionaries typically hand out to people, the one with the navy blue softcover, and, using a highlighter and a pencil, wrote many notes in the margins and highlighted at least one verse on every page. My intent was to then use this as a master copy for marking up additional copies to hand out to acquaintances on trains, in airports, or people I knew personally who would enjoy reading a copy of the book "annotated" by someone who believes its message.

That study effort inspired me to create my blog, so I could create positive exposure to people searching for Book of Mormon keywords online.

When the Church began to publish study tools like the ones I'm about to describe, I saw it as an opportunity to move my master copy notes to a new, permanent, online home, and thus make this process even easier. I "rejoiced exceedingly". :)

Let's start with a look at the Study Notebook.

Study Notebook

Image via Wikipedia

For those used to paper scriptures, the Study Notebook (notebook.lds.org) supplements, or even can replace, the notes you take in a physical notebook, in your scripture margins, or both. It's up to you how you combine and use everything. The online Study Notebook is simply another tool for helping you better understand the scriptures.

The Study Notebook is also secure. All of your information is "scrambled" or "encrypted" when it travels to and from the LDS.org servers and absolutely nothing is stored on your machine's hard drive. Just like all our membership and temple records, all your notes and journal entries will be stored, securely and confidentially, on the Church's computer systems. Nobody else online will see what you've written or highlighted or bookmarked. It's for you alone to have a permanent record for yourself of your progress and discoveries.

To use the Study Notebook, you need to first log in at LDS.org on your computer at home, at work, or at the library.

To log in, your Membership Number is required. Just ask your ward clerk for that number and, from the Sign In page, click the Register for an LDS Account link. Fill in your details, click the link in the confirmation email that is sent to your email account, and then go back to LDS.org to sign in with your new username and password.

The Share and Save bar that now appears at the bottom of the screen allows you to highlight, annotate content, write notes, and save media from any scripture, magazine article, conference address, or lesson on LDS.org. You may add tags and specify a notebook to save them to. You may then arrange them in the Study Notebook application to prepare lessons and talks, keep a journal, or to study the gospel.

To start, just browse to any Ensign article or scripture you wish to highlight, tag, or take notes on. A great example is Elder D. Todd Christofferson's excellent article "How to Study the Book of Mormon". Select text in the article or scripture with your cursor or use the buttons in the Share and Save bar for other media.



Once you've selected some text, a menu will pop up offering different highlighting colors, and button for underlining text, and an Add Note/Tag link. Clicking these will do the functions they describe, coloring or underlining the selected text, or adding a note.

In the Add Note dialog, you can choose a specific notebook, or create a brand new notebook just for this topic. For example, if the scripture is about charity, you could create a charity notebook to make notes about charity, in its own little notebook online, wherever you feel inspired to do so.

Also in the Add Note dialog, you can write tags or keywords to describe the theme of the note you're writing. This comes in handy later when you want to browse your notes based on topics as you remember them.

If you make a mistake and want to delete a notebook, just click the little trash can icon and it's gone.

On the Share and Save bar, you can click Share to share the item via email or social media.

You can also click Bookmark to save the article in LDS.org so you can easily return to it later.

If, while reading, you feel inspired to make a Journal Entry, there's a button for that, too, complete with tagging and notebook selection.

Sometimes you'll want to turn off highlighting and note-taking editors to better focus your reading , you won't be presented with the highlighting options. Just uncheck the Study Mode checkbox and those highlighting features will be temporarily disabled.

Reviewing the Study Notebook

When you're ready to review your notes all in one place, just click the Open Notebook link on the Share and Save bar at the bottom of the page.

On the page that appears, down the left you will see a list of your no
tebooks, types of study activities (bookmarks, highlights, journal entries), and a list of tags you've created. The numbers next to types and tags indicate how many of each you've made.

In the content area of the Study Notebook has summary list with text excerpts of all the study items you've created. Clicking a study item makes it display in full in the big content area to the right. Here you can edit, save, print, or delete the full item even further.

Anytime you need help, just click the Help link at the bottom right of the Study Notebook and you'll get a list of guided tutorials.

Mobile Devices

The Church has produced a suite of mobile device applications so that you can study anywhere and at any time. The Study Notebook features mentioned above are mostly available via the Gospel Library app. All highlights, cross-references, and tags you create using the Gospel Library app will synchronize with the notebook.lds.org site and vice versa.


At mobile.lds.org you will find the following apps:

• Bible Videos - Read about Jesus and His teachings, explore biblical environments, watch scripture-based videos and photo slideshows, and discover interesting facts about biblical accounts. Bible videos are available only on Apple's mobile devices, such as the iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad.
• Gospel Library - Download and study the scriptures, general conference addresses, Sunday manuals, and other Church content. Gospel Library allows you to search, bookmark, annotate, link, and highlight content. The Gospel Library app is currently available for Android, Apple, Blackberry, and webOS devices.
• Mormon Channel - Listen to Mormon Channel, the Church's 24-hour-a-day audio station featuring gospel-oriented programs, music, and interviews, as well as scriptures, general conference, and Church magazines. The Mormon Channel app is available for Android, Apple, Blackberry, and webOS.
• LDS Tools - Download ward and stake directory information to your phone, as well as scheduled ward events from the Church's new calendaring system. You can use the LDS Tools app on Android, Apple, and Blackberry devices.
• Scripture Mastery - This app, available for Apple devices only at this time, will help you memorize scripture mastery verses as well as the Articles of Faith.
• LDS Youth - Get the latest content from youth.lds.org on your Android and Apple mobile devices.
• LDS Music - Browse and search the Hymns and Children's Songbook, view the words and sheet music, and listen to hymns and songs on your Apple devices.
• Ensign - Browse a tablet edition of the November 2011 Ensign on Android and Apple devices.

Scriptures

Of course, we can't forget the old standby online scriptures at scriptures.lds.org, which have been on LDS.org since at least 2002. The electronic text and audio recordings of the scriptures are now available at LDS.org and for mobile devices in many languages and are in process in many others. In addition to online reading and listening, you can also download and use the audio, ePub, and PDF files offline. The Church’s latest online scriptures site also facilitates easy sharing of passages and personal notes with others via e-mail and social media tools. The scriptures at LDS.org are currently available in 21 languages; mobile device applications are available in approximately 10 languages, depending on the platform.

The LDS Scripture Citation Index at scriptures.byu.edu, and which is also available for mobile devices, is my absolute favorite way of searching for quotes from prophets about certain passages of scripture. Developed by two BYU teachers, this tool allows you to select a verse of scripture and then see a list of all the times it has been referred to, directly or indirectly, in every written speech known to the Church.

For example, suppose you want to know who has cited 1 Nephi 3:7 in general conference. Click on the Book of Mormon link at the left side of the screen and scroll down to 1 Nephi 3; there you’ll find the answer.

Conference Talks

It has been fun watching the development of the availability of conference talks at LDS.org. When the conference section of LDS.org first came online, it used to be that you'd have to wait a week or more for speeches to be posted. But now, through the Church's streamlining of the translation and publication process, you can get the text and multimedia of conference talks on the same day they are given, often during the following session. I highly recommend much use of conference.lds.org in preparation of talks and lessons...as well as catching up on the talks you missed when you fell asleep on Conference weekend.

Blogs and Social Media

I hope that you actively seek out these resources as you study and share the scriptures with your friends online. Also consider using traditional blogs, like I am doing here, as a way to publicly convey your feelings about various scriptures. Blogs can be a powerful means of transmitting and testifying of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon. Through conversations you'll have on your blog posts with your readers, you'll be able to clarify doctrine and resolve doubts and misconceptions about our faith. Some will be cantankerous and will not be convinced or persuaded. That is okay. At least they're being exposed to what we really believe, and that is enough. The Lord will do the rest when that person is ready to soften his or her heart.

Getting Started

The Church has published a series of Getting Started guides. Post any questions in the comments below and I will do my best to answer them.

Wise Men Still Seek Him

The Book of Mormon brings calm assurances

Criticisms and Responses: A "Burning in the Bosom"? What's That?

There are various primary criticisms that tend to be hurled at the Book of Mormon, but which have been addressed many times. One need only use Google to dredge them up, but similarly, Google can be used to find the counter-arguments. More people ought to do the latter when they see the former. This is the last article in a series of posts to represent my responses to those criticisms.   

Criticism: Getting a "testimony" or a "burning in the bosom" about the Book of Mormon or even the Bible goes directly against the Bible. 1 John 4:1 says "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." Besides, isn't "burning" something people do in Hell?


Response: Isn't it contradictory to say "do not ask God for an answer about scripture from His Spirit when you should just take it at face value" only to then quote a scripture which explicitly commands us to "test the spirits to see whether they are from God"? I don't follow this logic. And why would 1 John 4:1 conflict with James 1:5-6 and other scriptures which say "ask and ye shall receive" and "knock and it shall be opened to you"? Which doctrine, then, is true? Do we ask God for spiritual wisdom, or dare we not? If God is love, why would He reprimand His children for asking a question? Do we only ask Him for temporal knowledge and blessings and not spiritual knowledge and blessings?


Rather than accuse the Mormons of inventing what anti-Mormons consider to be Satanic-sounding "burning in the bosom" language, they should check the Bible first, particularly Luke 24:15-32.

Not every instance of "burning" in scripture is symbolic of or originates from Satan. If that were true, then the "burning bush" and "pillar of fire" stories of the Book of Exodus certainly need some revision or re-translation. Same with Elijah's duel with the priests of Baal and his miracle of calling down fire to consume the altar. Oh, and Elijah's chariot of fire would certainly be Satanic. Who ever heard of a flying chariot of fire carrying someone to heaven?


Do you see what I mean? Anything can be twisted to make it sound strange or wrong, even when it isn't.


I invite you to accept Moroni's simple promise.

Moroni 10:3-5

 3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

 4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

 5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

Criticisms and Responses: DNA Evidence

There are various primary criticisms that tend to be hurled at the Book of Mormon, but which have been addressed many times. One need only use Google to dredge them up, but similarly, Google can be used to find the counter-arguments. More people ought to do the latter when they see the former. This series of posts represents my responses to those criticisms.   


Criticism: DNA evidence conclusively shows that claims by Mormons that Lamanites are descendants of Israel are false.


Response: Inconclusive at best. Read all your opposition's research, then synthesize with your own research and form your conclusion. Start with Book of Mormon: Criticism - DNA and then go to DNA and the Book of Mormon for even more.

Criticisms and Responses: The Hill Cumorah's Location

There are various primary criticisms that tend to be hurled at the Book of Mormon, but which have been addressed many times. One need only use Google to dredge them up, but similarly, Google can be used to find the counter-arguments. More people ought to do the latter when they see the former. This series of posts represents my responses to those criticisms.   


Criticism: If the evidence points to Mesoamerica as the location of Book of Mormon history, then the final battle at the Hill Cumorah couldn't have happened in the state of New York. It's too far away!

Response: That one, in retrospect, has baffled some LDS folks as well. When the theory of pan-American Nephite and Lamanite societies persisted, it made perfect sense that the battle and where Moroni buried the plates were one and the same. One thing that didn't make sense was the the manner in which Moroni had wandered after the Nephite genocide. He was a Nephite and the Lamanites killed every Nephite they saw, so he naturally had to "get outta Dodge" indefinitely. Why, then, would he risk a) returning to the battle site and being killed before even having a chance to bury the plates and b) having the plates discovered and destroyed by Lamanites (who, the Book of Mormon states, had a keen interest in erasing Nephite claims to their territories, and thus the very records from Nephite history, just as pharaohs did to each other in Egypt).

That pan-American theory wasn't held by everyone, though. We do have an editorial in the Times and Seasons, from the pen of Joseph Smith:

Central America, or Guatimala [the whole of what we now call Central America was then known as Guatemala], is situated north of the Isthmus of Darien [Panama] and once embraced several hundred miles of territory from north to south. The city of Zarahemla, burnt at the crucifixion of the Savior, and rebuilt afterwards, stood upon this land.

When the Mesoamerican model was proposed by Mormon scholars in the latter half of the 20th century, it started to make more sense. One very strong clue is that there are multiple descriptions in the Book of Mormon of travels between areas near the battlefield hill Cumorah (a.k.a. Ramah) that are decidedly Mesoamerican in context and do not support a 3,000 mile detour north to present-day New York and back. Rather, those on-foot journeys happen in a matter of a few days.

So, it seems more likely that Moroni really "got outta Dodge" by going so far north, and that is consistent with his own description of having to wander "whithersoever I can for the safety of mine own life" because the Lamanites "put to death every Nephite that will not deny the Christ". It also makes sense in terms of God seeing far enough ahead to know that the plates would lay completely undiscovered and undisturbed in an area so relatively sparsely populated for so long until Europeans began to homestead there.

Another clue, when you read more closely, is that Moroni never actually claims to have returned to the battle site, nor does he claim to be burying the final plates in a hill called Cumorah. He just says he's "sealing up these records" (Moroni 10:2). However, Moroni's father, Mormon, does hide his set of plates and other records in the hill Cumorah near the battlefield Cumorah (Mormon 6:6). Because Mormon, before he dies, says he hid all the records "save it were these few plates which I gave unto my son Moroni", there is no evidence to suggest that Moroni's set of final plates, the ones he would turn over to Joseph over 1400 years later were hid in the same hill. Those are all interpretations that were overlaid on that narrative by those of us reading it in _our_ day.  We members of the LDS Church and other commentators gave the name "Cumorah" to the hill where Joseph found the plates under our own assumption that it was the very same Cumorah, near the battlefield, in which Mormon had hid his records. Moroni never wrote that his own hiding place was called "Cumorah", nor claimed to have buried it in the same place as the battle.

This, of course, is a common misunderstanding about the book by "Witnessers". Newcomers to the Book of Mormon (especially those who've never actually read it) can't be blamed for repeating it since it is difficult sometimes, even for faithful and knowlegable members of the church, to separate LDS lore from what our texts actually say. And it all fits perfectly with Hugh Nibley's pointed analysis and observation that people love to attack the Book of Mormon by first attributing to it something that it does not actually say, then attacking those points.

For more extensive commentary and analysis on the Cumorah subject, see

• Were There Two Cumorahs? by Sidney B. Sperry
• The Final Battle for Cumorah by John E. Clark

Criticisms and Responses: Gold and other metals

There are various primary criticisms that tend to be hurled at the Book of Mormon, but which have been addressed many times. One need only use Google to dredge them up, but similarly, Google can be used to find the counter-arguments. More people ought to do the latter when they see the former. This series of posts represents my responses to those criticisms.  


Criticism: Pre-Columbian Americans didn't have or use gold or other precious metals.

Response: Simply untrue. Excavations at Zaculeu, and many other sites, have turned up metalwork. Also found at Zaculeu was tumbaga, which is a gold/copper alloy that, when worked into thin sheets, almost perfectly matches the description of the metal the gold plates were made of and is excellent for engraving and was, in fact, used extensively in pre-Columbian America for making religious objects meant to be preserved for ages.

Given that none of this knowledge was available to him at the time, is it just Joseph Smith's lucky guess that Moroni would use tumbaga-like metal plates, made of non-corrosive and microbe-resistant metal with a low melting point that is easily pounded and shaped into thin, foil-like leaves for engraving?

Criticisms and Responses: Swords, Honey Bees, Elephants, Horses, and Silk

There are various primary criticisms that tend to be hurled at the Book of Mormon, but which have been addressed many times. One need only use Google to dredge them up, but similarly, Google can be used to find the counter-arguments. More people ought to do the latter when they see the former. This series of posts represents my responses to those criticisms. 


Criticism: Where are the swords? And, honey bees (Jaredite "deseret") weren't found in the Americas until Europeans brought them! Where are the elephants? Where were the horses?  Silk from silkworms...no such thing then in the Americas either!

Response: In the Popol Vuh, their god, Tohil, reminds the warriors of wasps and bumblebees they could put inside gourds and use to surprise their enemies by breaking the gourds full of bees and wasps on their enemies shields and swords, thus angering the bees (who would think that the enemy was the person whose sword just broke their gourd) and driving their enemies away.

Read more at Plants and Animals in the Book of Mormon: Possible Solutions to Apparent Problems

Criticisms and Responses: Fortified Cities in Mesoamerica

There are various primary criticisms that tend to be hurled at the Book of Mormon, but which have been addressed many times. One need only use Google to dredge them up, but similarly, Google can be used to find the counter-arguments. More people ought to do the latter when they see the former. This series of postss represent my responses to those criticisms.

Criticism: Where are the fortified cities?

Response: I've seen several fortified cities, well, the ruins of them anyways. Just go on any Mexican (see: Becan) or Guatemalan ruins tour and you'll see plenty of fortifications, or what is left of them.

For example, I visited the ruins of Zacaleu, which dates back to between AD 250–600 and is just outside of Huehuetenango in Guatemala. The very first thing that impressed me about it was the defensive earthworks in the form of a gigantic moat dug around the entire complex. It was definitely not a natural formation for that area and it would have been a formidable obstacle to invaders. The entire site was also once fortified with walls. It was so impenetrable that it caused Spanish conquistador Gonzalo de Alvarado y Chávez to need to lay siege to it for months, having to wait for its occupants to starve to death.

Bishop Las Casas, when in Mesoamerica, reported in his Apologéitca Historia that he saw "towns enclosed by very deep moats...with marvelous buildings of stone masonry of which I saw many." In that one statement, he described both the earthworks AND the masonry (which inevitably involves some kind of cement).

The Popol Vuh describes the palisades, much like what we find in the Book of Mormon:

...having talked together, they built a wall at the edge of the town and enclosed it with boards and thorns. Then they made figures in the form of men, and put them in rows on the wall, armed them with shields and arrows and adorned them, putting metal crowns on their heads. These they put on the simple wooden figures, they adorned them with the metal which they had taken from the tribes on the road and with them they decorated the figures.

They made a moat around the town, and then they asked advice of Tohil [their god]: 'Shall they kill us? Shall they overcome us?' their hearts said to Tohil [prayer for revelatory guidance before a battle being a common theme of the Book of Mormon]. 

See The Popol Vuh, pg. 157.