"A personal, though well-considered, opinion"

In the April 2012 general conference, Russell M. Nelson named several amazing attributes of the human body and called them "wondrous gifts from God." He then added this warning:

"Some people erroneously think that these marvelous physical attributes happened by chance or resulted from a big bang somewhere." (Ensign, May 2012.)

When I mentioned this earlier on my blog, Jared* (from LDS Science Review) commented: "It seems to me that Elder Nelson's statements about the Big Bang, when measured against Elder Christofferson's conference talk, and the talk by J. Reuben Clark on which it draws, constitute personal opinion."

I count Jared* as a friend. My very first blog post was published by him on his blog. The two of us have traded many comments over the years on various LDS blogs. I know him to be a careful and considerate blogger who almost always has his facts straight. But, in my opinion, he might be wrong this time. I offer three reasons for that opinion:

1.

I believe Elder Christofferson quoted those portions of President Clark's talk that were relevant to the point he, Christofferson, wanted to make:

"Speaking of members of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, he [J. Reuben Clark] stated:

" ' [We] should [bear] in mind that some of the General Authorities have had assigned to them a special calling; they possess a special gift; they are sustained as prophets, seers, and revelators, which gives them a special spiritual endowment in connection with their teaching of the people. They have the right, the power, and authority to declare the mind and will of God to his people, subject to the over-all power and authority of the President of the Church.' " (Ensign, May 2012.)

President Clark, as quoted by Elder Christofferson, doesn't appear to me to be saying that apostolic remarks in general conference might be personal opinion. In fact, as quoted by Christofferson, Clark seems to me to be saying that the First Presidency and Twelve (the prophets, seers, and revelators) are the Church's opinion setters and the rest of us should look to them:

" ' They have the right, the power, and authority to declare the mind and will of God to his people.... Others of the General Authorities are not given this special spiritual endowment and authority covering their teaching; they have a resulting limitation, and the resulting limitation upon their power and authority in teaching applies to every other officer and member of the Church.' " (Ensign, May 2012.)

My opinion about this is based on President Clark as quoted by Elder Christofferson.

2.

Elder Christofferson did say there are times when a statement made by a Church leader might represent  "a personal, though well-considered, opinion." But I believe we should carefully read all of that sentence, not just those six words:

"At the same time it should be remembered that not every statement made by a Church leader, past or present, necessarily constitutes doctrine. It is commonly understood in the Church that a statement made by one leader on a single occasion often represents a personal, though well-considered, opinion, not meant to be official or binding for the whole Church." (Ensign, May 2012.)

Yes, Elder Nelson's big bang remark is "a statement made by one leader." But no, it was not made "on a single occasion." On at least four occasions linked on LDS.org, the Church has published big bang remarks made by Elder Nelson: 1987, 1988, 2011, and 2012.

3.

I believe his big bang comment is closely related to and derived from other scriptural doctrines preached by Elder Nelson, doctrines also preached by other apostles and prophets. So let's talk now about what the big bang is and how Elder Nelson perceives the beginning of things without it.

In his book, Science, Religion, and Mormon Cosmology (1999, University of Illinois Press), scientist Erich Robert Paul explained the big bang in these words:

"Present-day twentieth-century astrophysics now asserts that the universe began originally in a big bang, prior to which there was simply nothing (at least we can never know of anything prior to this singular event)." (p.166.)

As I understand it then, big bang theory says the entire natural universe had a beginning, before which there was nothing. All things (meaning all things science knows about) came into existence as a result of this big bang.

By contrast, Russell M. Nelson believes and teaches that "Christ is the Creator of all things." (Helaman 14:12.) He finds additional support for this in the Bible, where the Apostle John speaks of Christ as the Word and says: "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made." (John 1:3.) To Elder Nelson, all things exist because of Christ, not because of the big bang.

Now let's look again at his April 2012 general conference talk and note that Elder Nelson quoted King Benjamin: "Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth." (Mosiah 4:9.) According to Elder Nelson, our scriptures say GOD (not the big bang) created all things. And Elder Nelson is merely the most recent of many apostles and prophets who have used scripture to teach that GOD created all things.

Conclusion

The way I see it, Elder Nelson's big bang remark is more apostolic interpretation of scripture and less an impromptu statement "made by one leader on a single occasion."

But none of this should be taken to mean that I think Elder Nelson's general conference remark about the big bang constitutes an official statement of doctrine. I don't believe that. Nor do I believe it was meant to be binding on every Church member.

I do feel very strongly that we might all benefit from the words of a Pharisee named Gamaliel who counseled moderation when criticizing apostles, "lest haply ye be found even to fight against God." (Acts 5:39.)

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Are we just looking at the LDS faith or trying to redefine it?

The LDS faith is defined by the Church in its standard works and in the teachings of living apostles and prophets, beginning with the life and Atonement of Jesus Christ and continuing on through all matters addressed by them in official settings.

The Church is built on the foundation of apostles and prophets. (See Eph. 2:19–20; 4:11–14). They have divine authority. By revelation they direct the Church and maintain doctrinal purity. Mankind is free to accept or reject the gospel as taught by the prophets and apostles. Those who listen to and follow the counsel of living prophets and apostles will not go astray. The teachings of apostles and prophets provide an anchor of eternal truth. (See Preach My Gospel, 33, 36, 75.)

A capable scientist without apostolic keys

Steven L. Peck is associate professor of biology at Brigham Young University where he teaches the history and philosophy of biology and bioethics.

He is the author of "Crawling Out of the Primordial Soup: A Step toward the Emergence of an LDS Theology Compatible with Organic Evolution." (Dialogue 43, no.1, Spring 2010).

He blogs at By Common Consent, and runs a Faith/Science blog, The Mormon Organon, where he extols the virtues of mixing theology and Darwinian evolution. The subtitle of his blog is "A BYU Biology Professor Looks at Science and the LDS Faith." However, in a recent blog post he goes beyond looking at the LDS faith and attempts to redefine it by promoting evolution and the big bang to the status of science revelations from God promised as part of the restoration:

"Suspicions about evolution and climate change have created an atmosphere where two of science’s most strongly supported investigations are dismissed. To do that, you have to dismiss science itself. Really....

"We [now] understand so much more of how the universe works. From the genetic fabric of life and its ability to change, to the fine scale structure of galaxy on temporal scales from the Big Bang to the unfolding of galactic motion and spatial scales from the size that gives us the structure of the atom (the Higgs Boson!) to the dark matter megastructures that make up 84% of the universe....

"Science is a gift. Do not so easily dismiss the power of its findings in order to fuel your political and economic agendas. It will come back to haunt you. And you are missing some of the revelations promised as part of the restoration."

God's authorized servants

If evolution and the big bang were "revelations" from God, those ideas wouldn't be rejected by God's authorized servants. One of those authorized servants is Russell M. Nelson. Before being called as an apostle, he was an internationally renowned heart surgeon and medical researcher. In the April 2012 general conference, Elder Nelson extolled various organs of the human body as wondrous gifts from God and gave this warning:

"Some people erroneously think that these marvelous physical attributes happened by chance or resulted from a big bang somewhere." (Ensign, May 2012.)

That is a very concise denunciation of both evolution and the big bang.

Speaking to missionaries in 2011

During an October 2011 trip to Africa, Elder Nelson spoke to the missionaries in Kenya and talked about the miracles of the human body.

“Your nature is divine because you have divinity within you,” Elder Nelson said. “[Heavenly Father] created you.” He contrasted his belief with scientists who believe that humans are a result of chance or that creation came about through the Big Bang theory. “As a medical scientist, I know that is not true,” he said. “Every organ in the body is so well designed and so marvelous in its function and its ability to heal itself and repair itself and take care of itself.” (Church News, Nov. 15, 2011.)

A quarter century ago

In 1987, Russell M. Nelson gave a devotional address at BYU. In 1988, the talk was published in the Ensign as "The Magnificence of Man." In it, Elder Nelson said:

"Some ... have deduced that, because of certain similarities between different forms of life, there has been an organic evolution from one form to another. Many of these have concluded that the universe began as a 'big bang' that eventually resulted in the creation of our planet and life upon it. To me, such theories are unbelievable!...

"It is incumbent upon each informed and spiritually attuned person to help overcome such foolishness of men who would deny divine creation or think that man simply evolved." (Ensign, Jan. 1988.)

Conclusion

In light of his talks in 1987 and 2011, it should be obvious that Elder Nelson's April 2012 general conference comment was not just a last-minute, off-the-cuff remark.

Okay. It is true that Steven Peck didn't name Russell Nelson in his blog post. But he did mention evolution and the big bang and said those who reject such strongly supported science "are missing some of the revelations promised as part of the restoration." If that is true, Russell M. Nelson has been preaching against two scientific revelations from God. That is an absurd accusation and it will most assuredly come back to haunt Steven L. Peck.

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David H. Bailey: Creationism, technology and intellectual consistency

In his recent blog post, David H. Bailey somewhat mockingly claims:

"If one does not accept old-age geology or evolution, then to be consistent one should wear a bracelet instructing emergency medical personnel not to utilize electronic or MRI equipment when treating you, because such devices, based as they are on quantum mechanics, are presumably not reliable."

Bailey's comment illustrates what happens when someone completely rejects all supernatural information sources. Let's consider, for example, whether a person like Russell M. Nelson should be required to wear one of Bailey's ridiculous bracelets.

Before being called as an apostle, Russell Nelson was an internationally renowned heart surgeon and medical researcher. He performed open-heart surgery on Spencer W. Kimball a short time before Kimball became Church President.

Russell Nelson's belief regarding organic evolution is very clear:

"Some ... have deduced that, because of certain similarities between different forms of life, there has been a natural selection of the species, or organic evolution from one form to another....

"To me, such theories are unbelievable!...

"It is incumbent upon each informed and spiritually attuned person to help overcome such foolishness of men who would deny divine creation or think that man simply evolved. By the Spirit, we perceive the truer and more believable wisdom of God." (Ensign, Jan. 1988.)

Russell Nelson does not accept evolution. So, is David Bailey really sure that Russell Nelson shouldn't be allowed to trust electronic or MRI medical equipment? How can Bailey be so sure about this?

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