San Diego California Stake Fireside on the Creation
Sunday 2006-03-12 19:00
Mission Valley Building RS room
Presenter: Vincent Broman

| Outline Handout, with references and scriptures
| Introduction
| | 1831 Joseph Smith records Book of Moses and Charles Darwin embarks on HMS Beagle
| | Me and my qualifications 
| | | I am a popularizer not an expert
| | | Degree and career are in Applied Mathematics
| | | Avocations are Ancient History and Philosophy
| | | Gifts are understanding causes and origins of things
| | | No longer Bishop of a Ward, so you can disagree with me without feeling disloyal
| | Purposes of talk
| | | clear ideas for understanding issues
| | | counsel against dead ends and dangerous mistakes
| | | open the way to knowledge of all truth
| | Life questions, not all answered at church
| | | Where do our bodies come from?
| | | How did the variety of life on earth come about?
| | | How are we different from all other animals?
| | | Why are we so similar to apes in appearance and behavior?
| | | Am I just a naked ape?
| | | Does Evolution dispose of God as an unnecessary hypothesis?
| | Some issues are argued in court cases and funny papers and school boards
      Doonesbury cartoon and antibiotic-resistant bacteria
| Visible Design and Teleology versus Chance
| | Alma 30:44b Alma's argument from design for Korihor
| | Paley on finding a watch in the desert
| | Good adaptation and complexity both suggest design instead of chance
| | Darwin's brilliancy was an explanation for complex adaption, without a Designer.
| | Intelligent Design people think complexity still proves Design.
| Doctrine
| | We have revelation, including four major creation accounts, others listed in the handout
      Solutions to all problems already revealed? Only for Adam
| | First Presidency statements in the "Evolution and the Origin of Man" packet from BYU
| | | Man was created in God's image, physically and spiritually
| | | Adam was the first man, the first of our race, our primal parent
| | | | Race is not species
| | | Man is literal offspring of Deity, with Godlike reason (and a navel!)
| | | | Pre-adamites? perhaps, but not classified as "human", not Adam's ancestors.
| | | The Church has no hostility to real science
| | 1931 debates before the HJGrant FP+12
| | | Read FP verdict in EOM: no doctrine, GAs leave it alone
| | | Many LDS incorrectly think the Church is against evolution in general
| | | When doctrine not set, reasonable people can have differing opinions
| | DC 121:26,28,31,33 Knowledge to be poured out, not mysterious or forbidden
| | Some issues can be settled just from the scriptures.
| | | Are we animals? Can man have a spirit (be a rational soul) if he is an animal?
| | | | Moses 3:7,9,19 Animals have spirits
| | | | DC 77:3 Animals have a salvation
| | | | Would we want to be
| | | | | as loving and loyal as a dog?
| | | | | as faithful and monogamous as a mallard duck?
| | | | | as motherly and protective as a hen or bear?
| | | | | as hard-working and public spirited as an ant or honey bee?
| | | | | as enthusiastic and sensitive as a chimpanzee?
| Earth is Old, billions not thousands of years old
| | The only grounds for a young earth is one particular interpretation of Gen 1.
| | Fossils are not leftovers from recycled planets, early earth molten.
| | Fossils are not just laid down during Noah's Flood, no time.
| | Hard to argue all dating methods are completely wrong
| | | Individual dates arguable, but they generally hang together
| | | Order of strata gives sequence
| | | Annual layers: tree rings, ice sheet, varves, coral growth
| | | Radioisotope dating is confirmed by counting layers
| | Yes, there was there death before the fall
Q/A break
| What is evolution?
| | Evolution is not eternal progression. That is individual. Not Progress either.
| | It is generally the idea that species of living things change over time
| | Alternatives:
| | | Neo-Darwinism is the only evolutionary theory widely used. Summary:
| | | | Genetic variations arise
| | | | | Normal recombination
| | | | | Genetic drift
| | | | | | white and black moths
| | | | | Mutation
| | | | | | polydactyl cats on Hemingway's island
| | | | | Horizontal gene transfer
| | | | | | bird flu
| | | | | Genetic engineering
| | | | | | frankenfoods
| | | | | | uplift
| | | | | Not from acquired characteristics
| | | | Species change gradually
| | | | | No transforming individuals
| | | | | Populations exist, but not Platonic ideals like "kinds"
| | | | | Fossil evidence is rather against gradual change
| | | | | Punctuated equilibrium is gradual, just invisibly so.
| | | | Species can split or branch or else go extinct
| | | | | caused by isolation and changes in environment
| | | | Common descent of all living things from simple origin
| | | | | Like descent of humans from Adam and Eve
| | | | | No Chain of Being or evolutionary "ladder"
| | | | | Missing links exist for some transitions, but close enough to connect the dots?
| | | | Direction of change determined by natural selection of the fittest
| | | | | Breeders do artificial selection of stock, but natural selection is enforced only by nature.
| | | | | The fittest in a Malthusian struggle are the best adapted both to survive and to reproduce.
| | | | | Fitness is not just survival -- it is inheritable characteristics that tend to help survival and reproduction in a certain environment.
| | | Original Darwinism had 2 problems
| | | | It lacked Mendelian genetics
| | | | It accepted Lamarck's inheritance of acquired characteristics
| | | Asa Grey promoted theistic Darwinism, or God-guided evolution
| | | Some cladists are contented agnostics
| | | Inherent or emergent teleology -- no idea how it works
| | | Uplift: extraterrestrial visitors who terraform and garden this planet
| | | Supernaturalists, including young-earth creationists
Q/A break
| Atheistic belief
| | Naturalism and lack of a Designer is a PREMISE of the argument, not a conclusion.
| | Darwinism permits one to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist
| | Dawkins: why believe in Darwinism, KSU prof: designer excluded by naturalism, Bethel
| | No design or plan, no teleology
| Natural explanations
| | Quotes on science requiring naturalistic explanations
      Only Darwinism need apply, it needs no evidence to prove it.
| | Need for lawful explanations, the goals being insight and predictions
| | | Orthodox God and ex nihilo creation are supernatural.
| | | Example of God did it non-explanations
	Whatever happened, God made it that way.
	He works in mysterious ways that cannot be predicted
	Having all power, he might do anything
| | Miraculous creation
      Very difficult for this concept to function as an effective scientific theory
      in guiding research toward discoveries.
| Natural and supernatural
| | DC 88:21,25,34-39,42-43 Lawfulness of God and all kingdoms, no escape
| | DC 131:7-8 Spirit is matter
| | Do we believe in naturalism?
| | | Yes, unlike most Christians
| | | God, angels, spirits, heaven are part of the natural world. e.g. first vision.
| | Arthur C Clarke's 3rd law (1961) "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
| | Miracles are lawful, only the law is not yet known, e.g.
| | | Radiation treatment of cancer
| | | Michelsson-Morley experiment finds no ether wind
| | | Orbit of Mars before Newton, or Uranus before Neptune discovered
| | | Carbolic acid disinfection before understanding of germ theory of disease
| | Miracles inexplicable as a breaking of natural law
| | | R Stark: Science was invented only by Christians, because of their belief in a rational creator.
| | Scientists look for violations of their laws; these help us find truer and more general laws than we have now.
| Conflict over evolution is predominantly theological
| | What kinds of Deity do natural history facts rule out?
| | | Voltaire's Dr. Pangloss and the best of all possible worlds
| | | If a creator should perfectly fit creatures to their way of life, then imperfections imply no creation.
| | | | Nature seems to be full of bungles, odd arrangements, funny solutions.
| | | Could natural selection be designed by a loving God?
        It is wasteful and cruel.
        Darwin was grossed out by the Ichneumon wasp, parasitic on living larvae.
| | Independent creation
| | | Homology
| | | | Picture of pentadactyl limbs in man, mole, bat, whale, etc. Denton p49
| | | | Parts not designed from scratch, but reused with modifications
| | | Does the universal DNA code disprove creation, which wouldn't reuse one code?
| | | Could Linnaean classification be possible if independent?
| | | Galapagos island species are like those in S. America, Cape Verde island species like those in Africa.
| | | Perhaps the Creator thinks in terms of creating ecosystems more than individual species.
| Species change
| | Plants and animals propagate not according to their "kind" but only according to their parents
| | Humans adapt by culture and learning, using reason and language.
| | Still to be determined how much evolution actually happened and often life was created or intentionally altered
| Descent
| | Horse transitional series is bushy, not a sequence
| | Descent is not visible in the fossil record, just inferred from similarity
| | Human predecessors are many, some are no longer believed to be our ancestors.
| Selection
| | Altruism not favored by natural selection
| | | Exists in humans
| | | Unsure whether it exists in animals
| Culture Wars
| | Arguing over who is right instead of what is right
      Arm wrestle of Creationists vs. Evolutionists,
      Critics of Darwin are always labeled "fundamentalists". not so.
| | Who gets to teach how the world came about, who we are, the meaning of life?
| | Some say facts are the province of Science, values, of Religion
| | | Is that so we can ignore religion and values, as being irrational, relative, and personal?
| | | What about religions that make fact claims, like Christianity?
| | Evolution "only a theory"?
| | | Facts are publicly observed events.
| | | Hypotheses are ideas proposed for testing.
| | | Theories are general ideas that explain many facts and observations.
| | | Examples of theories: Newtonian gravitation, germs causing disease, multiple Kennedy assassins, ancient origin of the Book of Mormon.
| | | Evolutionists must be willing to admit that they do not have a completely adequate theory.
| | A ruling paradigm shifts only after a crisis
| | Theories are replaced only by better theories
| Consequences
| | Superstition and ignorance of basic facts among church members makes us less credible, weakens our testimony to the world.
| | Future revelation on these subjects depends on our readiness to receive it.
| | Atheism is a greater threat to the mission of the Church than evangelical competition is.
| Summary
| | Adam was literally an offspring of Deity.
| | God, angels, spirits, miracles are natural.
| | Lack of a Creator/Designer is a premise of Neo-Darwinism, not a scientific conclusion.
| | Common Descent is not visible in the fossil evidence, just inferred from a lack of Creator.
| | We do not know how much evolution by natural selection happened.
| | Whoever our relatives may be, we still have Reason, Language, Spiritual Gifts, and Repentance.
Q/A break at end