Re: Origin of Pre-historic Fossils

"RetroProphet" wrote:
where are all the Mormon scientists who have used their
powers of revelation to overturn the Theory of Evolution?

Not their power, but God's power working through them.

RetroProphet or some of you may have in mind, Setting aside the
second law of thermodynamics, what of the fossils?

John A. Widtsoe:

.... the discovery of the skull of a prehistoric ape with a set of human-like
teeth has overthrown the inference that teeth are always true indications of
the place of a fossil in the evolutionary scale. With respect to this latter
matter, there was pathos in the remark of the famous anthropologist,
Sir Arthur Keith, that "This discovery has destroyed the finer points we
anthropologists depend on for drawing the line between anthropoid and man."
....
Every person must decide for himself, on the basis of the evidence
produced which of these three opinions as to the age of the earth,
before Adam, seems most reasonable to him, whether (1) six days, or
(2) six thousand years, or (3) many millions of years. Clearly it does not
matter to one's daily welfare or ultimate salvation which view he adopts,
except that every Latter-day Saint must seek and cherish truth above all
else.

~~Evidences and Reconciliations (1943), Pgs.142,149

Based on such readings of Dr. John A. Widtsoe, an early Mormon scientist
(Harvard, then Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Goettingen in 1899)
who correctly opposed Evolution for the most part, I am afraid he relied too
much on worldy learning alone and was also wrong at times. Since his time,
the confusion over the origin of man has gotten even worse among the
Mormons and the rest of the world. That is why the Lord God of Israel has
sent us another messenger:

Adam came into the garden with a celestial body, which had been resurrected
from an older earth. He and Eve, one of his wives, along with plants and
animals were brought here by his Father and his Jehovah and planted in a
garden eastward in Eden after the former creation had been made desolate,
saith the Lord, by a mighty convulsion, hence the FOSSILS in the ground,
but we are not descended from them. This occurred only six thousand years
ago. The geologists make a tremendously egregious error in estimating the
age of creation. It would be comparable to saying the city building in
Salt Lake was billions of years old because the stones which comprise
this building are timeless.

~~Received by Art Bulla, Apostle of Jesus Christ

The Holy Ghost bore witness, at 10:44 pm on Dec. 2, 2007, of the
above revelation of Jesus Christ on the fossils, received by the Prophet
Art Bulla. Amen.

8 For as before the flood are they in their hardness of heart and blindness
of mind and their wickedness and abominations which they, even they, the
common man and woman, the majority, practice in that which they think is the
dark in the which they say, "who is the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob, of whom we have heard, but do not believe, that we should fear him?",
even as before the flood, yea in their ignorance of the mysteries, and their
murders, and their fornications, and their lyings, and stealings, and their
mixing with the seed of Cain, the black race, and pride, and unbelief, and
their fossils and their technology, and their false religions, and haughty
carriage, and fashion, and education and vain looks, and their whoredoms,
and their tampering with the life which I the Lord their God have given unto
them, yea their birth-control as before the flood, and their psychology, and
their biology and their false science, and their evolution and their
technology as before the flood:

9 In the which they say as before the flood, who is the Lord God that we
should fear him, for are we not a mighty nation and people, and have we not
freed ourselves from the delusion of our fathers who were bound down by a
vain and foolish hope of a resurrection, and this through evolution and
false science, and false religions, which abound as before the flood;

Revelations of Jesus Christ 24:8-9

Twenty plus minutes later, I found this quote from a BYU scholar --

Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, Vol.10, Ch.10, Pgs.448-453:

The clearest expression of the theory of random chance evolution is Robert
Jastrow's popular book *Red Giants and White Dwarfs* (which has been
required reading in some courses at BYU): "Yet the fact is that a single
thread of evidence runs from the atom and the nucleus through the formation
of stars and planets to the complexities of the living organism." "Darwin
saw that the forms of life existing on the earth today have evolved
gradually out of earlier and simpler beginnings." "We believe that at the
beginning there was only a cloud of gaseous hydrogen. . . . It was the
parent cloud of us all." "With the further passage of time, cells developed
.. . . and living organisms were started on the long road to the complexity
of the creatures which exist today." How? "Life can appear spontaneously in
any favorable planetary environment, and evolve into complex beings,
provided vast amounts of time are available." "Thousands of skeletons and
fossil remains mark the path by which life climbed upward from its crude
beginnings." The principle of natural selection is, according to Jastrow,
the great "new law . . . discovered by Charles Darwin," which "guides the
course of evolution and shapes the forms of living creatures -- on this
planet
and on all planets on which life has arisen -- as firmly and as surely as
gravity controls the stars and the planets."

Karl Popper would deny this so-called law of nature even the title to a
scientific theory: "There is a difficulty with Darwinism. . . . It is far
from clear what we should consider a possible refutation of the theory of
natural selection. If . . . we accept that statistical definition of fitness
which defines fitness by actual survival, then the survival of the fittest
becomes tautological, and irrefutable."

.... Today "Neocatastrophism" teaches that during the earth's past there have
been "drastic turning-points, the cutting off of animal types, characterized
by a widespread more or less contemporary extinction of numerous species and
emergence and even exuberance of others." This has led eminent geologists to
take positions which are "in opposition to Darwin's doctrine of gradual
evolution, natural selection, and extinction as a normal process." "The
extinction can only have been a sudden and decisive event," and we have "not
only the dying out of older species (Stämme), but also the more or less
sudden emergence of new ones," so that we "should speak of an anastrophe"
rather than a catastrophe. The "argument . . . that the origin of life is
essentially a problem in probability . . . is an insufficient and actually
an unsuitable concept. Furthermore, this appears to me as even a dangerous
mental attitude. It leads to a self-satisfied state of mind. We have an
illusion that the problem can be explained with existing knowledge (a very
natural tendency in scientists) and this lulls us into an attitude of not
thinking really about the problem."

Being tautological in nature, the evolutionary hypothesis explains very
little. It has "two basic fallacies: . . . (1) it assumes that there is only
one way in which a certain state of affairs, such as life, can exist; and
(2) it assumes that the probability of a process can be calculated although
its mechanism is unknown." It is a product of hindsight: its authors wrote
the answer-book first, and then composed the problem around it.

32 I have pointed these contradictions out to the Leakeys of South Africa
and they still insist upon their theory of evolution in spite of reason and
truth, which I will demonstrate within this letter to the satisfaction of a
child.

Revelations of Jesus Christ 14:32

The earth was organized from matter that already existed in a chaotic state,
in six creative periods, each of which is recorded exactly in the Book of
Genesis, which is true (upon direct revelation to me) by the Sons of God,
who should be born in the flesh upon the earth through special chosen
parentage (John 10:31-38), I am one of them. I fully realize that much of
what has been written upon this subject conflicts with what I, Art Bulla,
have written, but I know more on the subject than all of the world put
together, for I have seen and have received my understanding from Him who
spoke unto me with his own voice that day, and I know that my testimony is
real and true, and can be confirmed by the honest seeking mind, in the
manner specified ("If any man know of my doctrine, whether it be of me or my
Father, let him live the doctrine." the greatest and most powerful of the
Sons of my Father, Jesus of Nazareth.)
....
And so, O modern liberal, who is not modern at all, I warn you according to
the power which I possess according to the pattern of the warning of them
who have gone on before me, God will not be mocked, and there is a
destruction awaiting you O man, that is sure if you turn not away from your
godlessness, which is the grossest and most despicable form of ignorance and
baseless theory imaginable, for we are not, saith the Lord, descended from
thy fossils which ye so gloat in but the earth, was it not organized out of
these materials which had their existence also before thee, saith the Lord?
Even so, try me, saith the Lord, and see if I the Lord God shall not mock
them that mock and scorn them that scorn to their complete destruction, both
body and soul in that hell prepared for them from the foundation of the
world, if they repent not. Even so, I the Lord God have spoken it through
the mouth of my servant, in whom I have ordained that He should be my organ,
or that through which I, the Lord thy God, the maker and framer of both
heaven and earth should speak unto thee, O man, and this also from before
the heavens and the earth were made.

~~Teachings of the One Mighty and Strong

7 And it shall come to pass that I, the Lord God, will send one mighty and
strong, holding the scepter of power in his hand, clothed with light for a
covering, whose mouth shall utter words, eternal words; while his bowels
shall be a fountain of truth, to set in order the house of God, and to
arrange by lot the inheritances of the saints whose names are found, and the
names of their fathers, and of their children, enrolled in the book of the
law of God;

(Doctrine and Covenants | Section 85:7)

Discourses of Brigham Young, Pg.48:

There is an eternity of matter. Astronomers estimate that there is between
us and the nearest fixed star matter enough from which to organize millions
of earths like this. There is an eternity of matter, and it is all acted
upon and filled with a portion of divinity. Matter is to exist; it cannot be
annihilated. Eternity is without bounds, and is filled with matter; and
there is no such place as empty space. And matter is capacitated to receive
intelligence. 7:2.

Worlds are made of crude element which floats, without bounds in the
eternities -- in the immensity of space; an eternity of matter -- no limits
to it, in its natural crude state, and the power of the Almighty has this
influence and wisdom -- when he speaks he is obeyed, and matter comes
together and is organized. 13:248.

~~Edited by Dr. John A. Widtsoe

116 And behold, this hath been done on other worlds which have been created
by the Power of the Most High and organized from the chaotic element.

Revelations of Jesus Christ 5:116

12 For the foundation of matter, is it not spirit, saith the Lord God?

13 And all things are spiritual in nature, even unto me, saith the Lord God
of Enoch and Moses.

Revelations of Jesus Christ 20:12-13

In sum, the Eloheim made this earth of aether, or anisotropic "native",
"chaotic elements", comprised of aethereal perfect fluid and vortices of
positron-electron pairs, AND of the remains of "former creation", from
which however we are NOT descended.

Receive ye the correct teachings of Art Bulla and James Clerk Maxwell (a
Virtual Mormon), real scientists.

James Clerk Maxwell:

"Almighty God, who hast created man in Thine own image, and made
him a living soul that he might seek after Thee and have dominion over
Thy creatures, teach us to study the works of Thy hands that we may
subdue the earth to our use, and strengthen our reason for Thy service;
and so to receive Thy blessed Word, that we may believe on Him whom
Thou hast sent to give us the knowledge of salvation and the remission of
our sins. All which we ask in the name of the same Jesus Christ our Lord."
....
"What is done by what is called myself is, I feel, done by something
greater than myself in me. My interest in things has always made me care
much more for theology than for anthropology; ..."
http://www.sonnetsoftware.com/bio/maxbio.pdf

Erastus Snow, Apostle of Joseph the Seer:

And it is folly for geologists, or any other class of scientists, to assume
that they know it all, or that they have read the Book of Nature from
beginning to end, and comprehend it through and through.

~~Journal of Discourses, Vol.19, Pg.327, January 20, 1878

The Mormons' descent to Darwinism was gradual, step-by-step:

James E. Talmage and the theory of evolution

[Richard Sherlock is a Professor of Philosophy at Utah State University in
Logan, Utah. What follows is excerpted from his 1978 article, "A Turbulent
Spectrum: Mormon Responses to the Darwinist Legacy," Journal of Mormon
History 4, 45-69; as reprinted in *The Search for Harmony*, Salt Lake:
Signature Books, 1993, 67-91. ...]
....
The first church leader to attempt a reconciliation of sorts was Apostle
James E. Talmage, a trained geologist, president of two universities, and a
man who believed that modern scientific discoveries were important and could
not be denied outright. But though he was sympathetic to science, his
religious convictions prevented him from becoming an unqualified supporter
of evolution. Ultimately he retreated into the world view of Bishop Ussher
and the coming of Adam at 4004 B.C.E. (71)

Talmage did not write or publish a great deal on evolution. His first
discussion of the matter came in 1890 before he became an apostle. At the
time he was president of LDS College in Salt Lake City and taught geology
and natural science at the school. In an address to teachers in Utah County,
he discussed evolution at some length. This speech set a pattern for
Talmage's later discussions of evolutionary theory and the ideas surrounding
it.[11] (71)
....
Talmage criticized the evolutionary ideas of Darwin's most prominent
supporter, Thomas Huxley. He dismissed the idea that life originated in some
primordial protoplasm as the result of chance occurrence. ...

Then he proceeded to argue against the central thesis of Darwinian
synthesis, the organic mutability of species. The fixity of species was a
hallmark of Talmage's thinking. Variations do occur, he admitted, but he
called his audience's attention to the sterility of hybrids as a classic
example of the "law" that species reproduce only "after their own kind."
Each creation was a special work of the Creator adapted to its specific
environment: "The insect is fitted for its abode on the leaf; the fish for
the water; the bird for the air; each beast for its allotted life; and so
man for his. No one form can be transmuted into another. The thought that it
could be otherwise is far more wild than the alchemist's dream of
transmuting base lead into royal gold. In the fable of old the frog burst
when it tried to appear as an ox. Each after its kind -- each to its
sphere -- this is the song of nature; and all praise to nature's God."[13]
(72)
....
Talmage recognized that certain hard facts from geological and
paleontological studies could not be ignored. He seems to have been
convinced of the necessity to account in some fashion for these well
established facts. The most important statement from him in this regard was
his 1931 address, "The Earth and Man," but during the same time period
Talmage answered many letters on topics surrounding evolutionary theory.
With these sources it is not difficult to reconstruct the main contours of
his thinking. (73)

Talmage began by admitting that the earth was considerably older than
humanity. How old he did not know, but the church made no pronouncement on
such matters and if geologists said that it was very old then that was
probably true. Such a concession as this would not produce shock waves
anywhere. American theologians had been saying it since the 1830s without
great difficulty, and inside the LDS church many were prepared to accept it.
His next move was more challenging. Plants and animals had existed for ages
before the coming of man. Furthermore they had lived and died during these
countless ages. This was the major concession in the 1931 address:
"According to the conception of geologists the earth passed through ages of
preparation during which countless generations of plants and animals existed
in great variety and profusion and gave in part the very substance of their
bodies to help form certain strata which are still in existence as such."
(73)

As it stands this statement could be interpreted as merely a report of what
geologists believe about earth history. But in a letter a few months later
he was explicit about his own belief: "I cannot agree with your conception
that there was no death of plants and animals anywhere upon this earth prior
to the transgression of Adam, unless we assume that the history of Adam and
Eve dates back many hundreds of thousands of years. The trouble with some
theologians -- even including many of our own good people -- is that they
undertake to fix the date of Adam's transgression as being approximately
4000 years before Christ and therefore about 5932 years ago. If Adam was
placed upon the earth only that comparatively short time ago the rocks
clearly demonstrated that life and death have been in existence and
operative in this earth for ages prior to that time."[16] Talmage admitted
life and death of animals for those countless ages but still believed in the
biblical chronology for the coming of Adam.[17] (73-74)

If Adam only came 4,000 years before Jesus Christ, then Talmage was clearly
headed for difficulty. In the 1931 speech he tentatively suggested that
there might have been men on earth before Adam -- "pre-Adamic men." He
suggested that whatever came before the "Adamic race" (his term) was a
completely different dispensation with which we are not to be concerned.
Talmage realized that dogmatic assertions were not helpful. In his journal
on the day the First Presidency gave its decision in the controversy between
Smith and Roberts, he wrote, "This is one of the many things on which we
cannot preach with assurance, and dogmatic assertions on either side are
likely to do harm rather than good."[18] (74)

In a letter written a few months before his death, Talmage articulated his
fundamental scheme of reference which had varied little in forty years:
"Undoubtedly true evolution is true, meaning progress from the lower to the
higher, from the simple to the more complex. We cannot sweep aside all the
accumulated knowledge in geology, archeology or any other branch of science
simply because our interpretation of some isolated passage of scripture may
seem to be opposed thereto. I do not believe that Adam derived his mortal
body by evolutionary processes from the lower animals. The adamic race of
men are of an entirely different order."[19] In the end Talmage's thinking
on evolution is an amalgam of diverse impulses, the mark of a man with
divided loyalties. As a scientist he knew that the evidence could not be
denied. But the safe harbor of special creationism was appealing to him.
(74)
http://ndbf.blogspot.com/2005/08/james-e-talmage-and-theory-of.html

Dr. Talmage's error was that he relied only upon his learning from Scripture
reading and worldy university training and his own respected work as a
professional geologist, so that he clearly did not receive further
revelation on the issue, other than from the accepted Scriptures (but not
the words of Brigham Young, whom he rejected) and his own academic training
and experiences in chemistry and geology. The result was that Talmage ended
up professing an amalgam of truths, half truths of guesswork and outright
falsehoods.

Talmage with his considerable influence was most instrumental in effecting
the Mormons' denial of the crucial Adam-God doctrine taught with power
and authority to the world by Brigham Young, that Father Adam begat both
the spirit and the body of Jesus of Nazareth, so that the correct celestial
chain of command or hierarchy is the great Jehovah who showed Himself to
Moses, then one of His Archangels, Michael or Adam the Ancient of Days,
then the next Jehovah (the Only Begotten) in this branch of the families of
heaven, even Jesus the Christ, our Lord and Savior pertaining to this
planet.
Despite the following quote, to what little credit Talmage is deserving, he
did not entirely embrace Evolution.

Dr. James E. Talmage:

.... in the fierce competition that is growing every year fiercer and
stronger in this world of ours. We have heard oft-times much
misrepresentation of the so-called principles of evolution; but there
is this principle of evolution which I believe is declared as much by
the words of God, through revelation, as by the works of nature --
the fittest will as a rule survive.

~~Collected Discourses, Vol.5, April 6, 1895

11 But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the
abundance of peace.

(Old Testament | Psalms 37:11)

http://www-geology.ucdavis.edu/~cowen/HistoryofLife/evolutionlinks.html
New research published in Science. This is not the formation of new species
(yet), but it suggests that in some circumstances, incipient species can
evolve in a geological eye-blink. The papers in Science: start from _this
summary_

A sub-fossil example: The mini-radiation of geese on prehistoric Hawaii.
_National Geographic News_, February 6, 2002. What's more, they were
all descended from the Canada goose, within the last half-million years.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/02/0206_020206_canadiangeese_2.html
"A single population of Canada goose became resident in the Hawaiian islands
and gave rise to the diverse geese of the islands," the researchers wrote
last month in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "The
endangered nene is the only surviving member of [that evolutionary]
radiation."

To study the geese's ancestry, James [my insert: a biologist at the
Smithsonian Institution] and her colleagues used clues coded in genetic
material obtained from fossils and from living populations of geese.
Tracking the path of the feathered Hawaiian immigrants, the researchers
traced them back to a branch within the family of Canada geese.

The researchers' sleuthing began with a comparison of genetic sequences from
the nene, several types of living Canada geese, and fossils of several
extinct geese from Hawaii. Thirteen fossil geese that died between 500 and
about 5,000 years ago provided ancient DNA samples for Hawaiian birds.

"I've been astonished at the degree of the Hawaiian fossils' preservation,"
said James. "The birds died in lava-tube caves, where they were less exposed
to ultraviolet radiation." UV light breaks down DNA.

To salvage as much DNA as possible, the scientists looked at an abundant
type of DNA that exists inside the tiny energy-producing organelles of
cells, called mitochondria.

14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou
[art] cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy
belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

(Old Testament | Genesis 3:14)

60 For I am the author and creator of the races, ...

Revelations of Jesus Christ 7:60

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, Hence if Jesus had a Father, can we not believe that He had a
Father also? I despise the idea of being scared to death at such a
doctrine, for the Bible is full of it.

~~Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Section Six 1843-44 Pg.373

1 Spring Hill [Missouri] is named by the Lord Adam-ondi-Ahman, because, said
he, it is the place where Adam shall come to visit his people, or the
Ancient of Days shall sit, as spoken of by Daniel the prophet.

(Doctrine and Covenants | Section 116:1)

No definitive LDS stance on evolution, study finds
By Carrie A. Moore
Deseret Morning News
Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2006

OREM -- Despite characterizations by some Latter-day Saints that their
theology eschews the theory of evolution, two LDS scientists say their
church has no definitive position on whether humans evolved from earlier
life forms.

William Evenson and Duane Jeffery told dozens of people gathered at Utah
Valley State College on Tuesday that what definitely has evolved over time
is the position taken by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on
the issue.

They came to that conclusion after dissecting the history of statements made
by past LDS leaders at the request of former Brigham Young University
president Rex Lee. In 1991, Lee asked Evenson -- then dean of physical and
mathematical sciences at BYU -- to draft a document that could be given to
students who routinely queried him on the church's position.
....
As Evenson and Jeffery examined the history, it became obvious there was
vast disagreement among some former church leaders about whether evolution
played a role in the origin of man, Jeffery said.
....
In doing so, the two learned that a 1909 statement -- signed by President
Joseph F. Smith and his counselors -- contained a couple of paragraphs that
were "quite anti-evolutionary, yet they don't come right out and say it's
false, but it doesn't take much to say that's what the intent was," Jeffery
said. "It has been published ever since by anti-science writers in the
church ever since as the official position."

But what is less well-known "is what has happened since then," Jeffery said.
Letters began arriving at the office of the First Presidency after the 1909
statement, and in December 1910 another message was released, saying in
part, "Our religion is not hostile to real science. That which is
demonstrated, we accept with joy . . . "

Jeffery, a biology professor at BYU for 37 years, said that statement was
quoted by members for the ensuing 20 years, "and I would suggest it's still
a good idea."

In the following years, LDS apostles, including B.H. Roberts and James E.
Talmage, wrote about the issue and presented their findings to the First
Presidency with a leaning toward scientific theory, while junior apostle
Joseph Fielding Smith vehemently opposed their views in his own writings and
presentations to the First Presidency, Jeffery said. Much of their
disagreement came over whether "pre-Adamites" walked the Earth before God
created Adam, and whether death of any species had occurred prior to Adam.
The debate became so heated that on April 7, 1931, the First Presidency
called all the general authorities together and distributed a seven-page
memo that "said straight out the church has no position on pre-Adamites or
death before the fall of Adam, Jeffery said.

"They basically said, 'leave the subject alone.'" But the competition
between Talmage and Smith continued, as Talmage gave an address at the Salt
Lake Tabernacle in August 1931 which was later published under the direction
of the First Presidency over Smith's objections, Jeffery said.
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,635188399,00.html

By revelations of Jesus Christ, we can authoritatively state that our human
race is NOT descended from the "former creation" (the remains of which are
the vaunted pre-historic fossils dug up by our eminent scientists and dated
as such with their various methods), to which Dr. Talmage the honored Mormon
geologist privately, for the most part, referred to as "pre-Adamites" or
"pre-Adamic men". I am reminded of the Prophet Joseph Smith quoting the
poet Alexander Pope:

I want to show a little learning as well as other fools --

A little learning is a dangerous thing.
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring,
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us up again.

~~Joseph Smith, Jun., Messages of the First Presidency, Vol.1

.... 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.

~~Journal of Discourses, Vol.1, Pg.50, Brigham Young, April 9, 1852

15 ... And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, ...

(Old Testament | Genesis 4:15)

9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there
confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter
them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

(Old Testament | Genesis 11:9)

21 And he had caused the cursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore
cursing, because of their iniquity. For behold, they had hardened their
hearts against him, ... wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair
and delightsome, ... the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon
them.

22 And thus saith the Lord God: I will cause that they shall be loathsome
unto thy people, save they shall repent of their iniquities.

(Book of Mormon | 2 Nephi 5:21 - 22)

26 ... hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the
face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the
bounds of their habitation;

(New Testament | Acts 17:26)

And we shall at last have to come to this conclusion, whatever we may think
of revelation, that without it we can neither know nor understand anything
of God, or the devil; and however unwilling the world may be to acknowledge
this principle, it is evident from the multifarious creeds and notions
concerning this matter that they understand nothing of this principle, and
it is equally as plain that without a divine communication they must remain
in ignorance.

~~Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Section Four 1839-42 Pg.205

12 And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this,
I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.

14 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this
people, [even] a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise
[men] shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent [men] shall be
hid.

(Old Testament | Isaiah 29:12,14)

EVOLUTION AND ETHICS (1946)
by Sir Arthur Keith

WITH A PREFACE BY
Earnest A. Hooton

G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York
....
Published in England under the title
*Essays on Human Evolution*

Preface

THE name of Sir Arthur Keith deserves to be associated with those of Charles
Darwin and Thomas Huxley in the study of the evolution of man. During the
last half century, Keith has been the foremost British student of human
phylogeny and of fossil man, and, in the opinion of many, has exhibited the
greatest mastery of this subject shown by any anthropologist. In his early
career Sir Arthur acquired a sound knowledge of anatomy of the great apes
which he subsequently utilized in interpreting the fragmentary remains of
fossil man and demonstrating their relationships to each other and to
subhuman primates. Sir Arthur has always displayed an insight into the
physiological, functional aspects of primate evolution almost unique among
morphologists. His boldly original theories have sometimes been condemned as
fantastic by more pedestrian students of human origins, but subsequent
discoveries have vindicated Keith far oftener than they have confuted him.
For example, he was for many years the solitary champion of the theory that
anatomically modern man, Homo sapiens, existed early in the Pleistocene
period, before apelike Neanderthal man lived in the caves of western Europe.
This theory has been substantiated by the recent find of the Swanscombe man.

I became, in some sense, a disciple of Arthur Keith when I was a student of
anthropology at Oxford nearly thirty five years ago and was making my first
essay at studying the bones of ancient man. I was working upon a collection
housed in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, of which Professor
Arthur Keith was then Conservator. Although Dr. Keith had no formal teaching
duties, he was always ready to instruct and to guide aspiring young
students. He had the faculty of building up the self confidence of the
ignorant neophyte by insinuating his own ideas and apposite excerpts from
his own vast knowledge into the problem of his pupil, in such a way that the
latter imagined that the solution was his own and not Keith's. Among the
several great teachers I have had, none was his superior.

Few eminent anthropologists have engaged in scientific controversy as often
as Sir Arthur Keith, and I know no other who has shown such consistent
tolerance, fairness, and courtesy in the face of acrimonious criticism. In
the present book, Sir Arthur Keith steps out of his usual role as the
interpreter of man's anatomical evolution to present his conclusions upon
the relation of evolution to ethics and the function of war in evolution.
The findings of Sir Arthur will afford little comfort to facile political
idealists who refuse to recognize the brutal and predatory course of man's
rise from apedom. ...

EARNEST A. HOOTON
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts
July 21, 1946
http://reactor-core.org/evolution-and-ethics.html

http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/klmno/keith_arthur.html
Sir Arthur Keith
1866 - 1955

Sir Arthur was a Physical Anthropologist and an Anatomist. He was an
excellent teacher and inspired many of his students. He is best known for
his work on fossilized humanoid forms and as being a protégé of Charles
Darwin.

He was born on February 5, 1866 to John Keith and Jessie MacPherson. In
1888, he received a Bachelor of Medicine Degree from the University of
Aberdeen, then traveled as a physician on a gold mining trip to Siam. There,
he dissected monkeys and became interested in racial types. In 1892, he
returned to Britain and studied anatomy. In 1893, he won the first Struthers
Prize at Aberdeen. In 1894, he became a fellow of the Royal College of
Surgeons of England. In 1895, he was appointed Senior Demonstrator of
Anatomy at the London Hospital and in 1899, he became head of the
department.

He also studied primate skulls and published *An Introduction to the Study
of Anthropoid Apes* in 1897 and in 1900 he married Celia Gray. In 1902, his
work *Human Embryology and Morphology* was published. In 1908, he resigned
from the hospital and became the Conservator of the Royal College of
Surgeons Museum. He thought that curators should make the resources of their
museums available to researchers.

In 1911, he published *Ancient Types of Man*, in which he said that moderns
humans are as old as extinct forms of humans. In 1915, he published *The
Antiquity of Man*, which basically had the same theme, and was an anatomical
survey of all important human fossil remains. He was knighted in 1921. In
1931, *New Discoveries* was published in which he admitted that modern
humans probably arose from types already separate in the early Pleistocene.
In 1932, he helped found a research institute at Downe, where Charles Darwin
once lived, and was appointed Master of the Institute in 1933, where he
worked until his death on January 7, 1955 at the age of 88.

References:
http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/859.html
http://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/sir-arthur-keith-faq.htm

Written by Students in an Introduction to Anthropology Class,
Minnesota State University, Mankato 2003

Sir Arthur Keith:

"Evolution is unproved and is unprovable. We believe in it
because Creation is unthinkable."
http://www.people.ubr.com/education/by-first-name/s/sir-arthur-keith/sir-arthur-keith-quotes/evolution-is.aspx

"Surely man is part of a great whole. Design is manifest everywhere.
The darkness in which the final secret of the Universe lies hid is part
of the Great Design. The anthropomorphic God of the Hebrews cannot
meet our modern needs."
http://www.people.ubr.com/education/by-first-name/s/sir-arthur-keith/sir-arthur-keith-quotes/surely-man-is-part.aspx

9 Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! [Let] the potsherd [strive]
with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth
it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?

10 Woe unto him that saith unto [his] father, What begettest thou? or to the
woman, What hast thou brought forth?

11 Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of
things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands
command ye me.

12 I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, [even] my hands, have
stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.

(Old Testament | Isaiah 45:9 - 12)

George Q. Cannon, Apostle of Joseph the Seer:

As I have told many of our young men when they have been going to college,
how valuable it is to know that these doctrines of Darwin are incorrect, and
that man has not come up from that low condition, through thousands or
millions of years, to his present stature and reasoning faculties, etc. It
is worth something to know that, to begin with, and not spend time over it.
So it is with many things that are taught by scientific men. It gives the
Latter-day Saints an advantage over every other people and our young men
will make progress in science that will surprise the world because of this,
having certain fixed principles of truth to commence with which God has
revealed, and which they know are true. This is our condition as an entire
people. There are cartloads of books being written from time to time to
prove certain things that are not true. The Lord having revealed to us the
truth, and having His Spirit to enlighten us, by which we can go to Him and
ask concerning matters about which we are ignorant, He will give us light
and dispel darkness.

~~Collected Discourses, Vol.3, September 24th, 1893

Oriental Pedagogy

.... The Chinese character for school shows a passive child with adult hands
pouring knowledge into his empty head.

.... Charlemagne's awareness of Asia was sharpened in mortal combat.
He was the first secular Western potentate to beat the drum for
secular schooling.

~~The Underground History of American Education (2002),
by John Taylor Gatto, NYC Teacher of the Year in 1989, 1990, 1991
and New York State Teacher of the Year in 1991

1 AND at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth
for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such
as never was since there was a nation [even] to that same time: and at that
time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in
the book.

(Old Testament | Daniel 12:1)

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/weather/12/03/storms.northwest.ap/index.html
Tue December 4, 2007

Copters rescue people from roofs as storm pounds Northwest

PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) -- Hurricane-force winds and heavy rain battered the
Northwest for a second day Monday, killing at least two people and leaving
entire communities dark and isolated as the storms blocked roads with trees,
power lines, high water and mud.

Dozens of people stranded by flood waters required rescue as the second of
two storms blew through, and Oregon transportation officials warned drivers
not to attempt passage through the Coast Range.

"This storm is hitting the coast so hard, it's not leaving any road open,"
Transportation Department spokeswoman Christine Miles said.
....
The governors of Washington and Oregon declared states of emergency, which
will allow for easier aid to stricken communities.

About 150 people were stranded at some point Monday across western
Washington, said Gov. Chris Gregoire.

Rescue boats during the daytime yielded to helicopters equipped with
global-positioning systems after dark, in some cases plucking people from
roofs, Lewis County sheriff's Detective Matt Wallace said.

An estimated 30 to 40 people evacuated a flooded mobile home park near
Astoria in northwestern Oregon, said Red Cross volunteer Peter Williamson.
Fire officials in Tualatin said 23 people and a dog had to flee as rising
water threatened 16 homes.

Bremerton, Washington, reported 10.78 inches of rain in 24 hours, said
Weather Service meteorologist Chris Burke. High water closed some streets in
Portland.

Wind gusts of more than 100 mph were reported along the Oregon coast, with
the highest reading at 129 mph at Bay City, the Weather Service said. Gusts
hit 81 mph at Hoquiam, Washington, it said.

Mudslides halted north-south Amtrak passenger train service between Eugene,
Oregon, and Vancouver, British Columbia, and flooding forced the indefinite
closure of Interstate 5, the main route between Seattle, Washington, and
Portland. To the east, snowslides temporarily closed major Cascade Mountain
passes carrying traffic on Interstate 90 and U.S. 2.

Roads leading into the population centers of Washington's Grays Harbor
County were cut off for most of the day, but one patched-together route from
Olympia to Ocean Shores was finally punched through by Monday evening.

"In 30 years of law enforcement, it's as bad as I've ever seen," said Grays
Harbor County Sheriff Michael J. Whelan, whose own truck was smashed in his
driveway by a falling tree.

Telephone and other communications were so were so tenuous that it was
impossible to determine how many people were forced out of their homes, said
Abby Kershaw of Oregon Emergency Management.

Pacific Power reported 40,000 homes without power in Oregon, and it could be
days before electricity is fully restored, the utility said. Transmission
poles 100 feet tall were toppled, and large sections of lines lay on the
ground.

"The ground is saturated from intensive rainfall and trees are leaning into
power lines and dropping to the ground," the utility said in a statement.

More than 80,000 people lost power in western Washington, Gov. Chris
Gregoire said.

In southwestern Washington, one man died when a tree fell on him as he was
trying to clear one that had been toppled, said Grays Harbor County
Sheriff's Detective Ed McGowan. Another died of a medical problem after the
power went out, he said.

The Chehalis River was expected to crest at nearly 75 feet Tuesday, which
would put Interstate 5 under about five feet of water, said state
Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond said.
....
The high winds snapped a 206-foot Sitka spruce, one of the nation's largest,
that had attracted 100,000 visitors a year.

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/winter/2007-12-03-pacific-northwest_N.htm
Rainfall was torrential, with nearly a foot of rain falling in some spots of
the Northwest over 48 hours, the Weather Channel said. The storm churned
offshore waves as high as 70 feet, Moore said, and some as large as 40 feet
hit the Oregon coast.
....
At Coos Bay, Ore., Sally White said she was sitting in the dark using a
cellphone because phone lines were down. All guests had canceled at her
bed-and-breakfast, This Olde House.

"People don't want to come here," she said. "I've never seen winds like that
in the 16 years I've had this house."

Patti Swift has lived on the banks of Grays Harbor in southwestern
Washington all her life. She had to think back to a Columbus Day storm in
1963 to compare to this one.

"We think this one's worse," she said from her powerless home.

29 Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be heard of fires, and
tempests, and vapors of smoke in foreign lands;

30 And there shall also be heard of wars, rumors of wars, and earthquakes
in divers places.

(Book of Mormon | Mormon 8:29 - 30)

20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech [you]
by us: we pray [you] in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.

(New Testament | 2 Corinthians 5:20)

23 For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our
brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know
that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.

(Book of Mormon | 2 Nephi 25:23)

7 I have charity for my people, and great faith in Christ that I shall meet
many souls spotless at his judgment?seat.

8 I have charity for the Jew?I say Jew, because I mean them from whence I
came.

9 I also have charity for the Gentiles. But behold, for none of these can I
hope except they shall be reconciled unto Christ, and enter into the narrow
gate, and walk in the strait path which leads to life, and continue in the
path until the end of the day of probation.

10 And now, my beloved brethren, and also Jew, and all ye ends of the earth,
hearken unto these words and believe in Christ; and if ye believe not in
these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will
believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given
them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good.

11 And if they are not the words of Christ, judge ye?for Christ will show
unto you, with power and great glory, that they are his words, at the last
day; and you and I shall stand face to face before his bar; and ye shall
know that I have been commanded of him to write these things,
notwithstanding my weakness.

(Book of Mormon | 2 Nephi 33:7 - 11)

The Holy Ghost bore record of the preceding verse, 2 Nephi 33:11 at 8:18 am,
Dec. 5, 2007. Amen.

--
Jong Kim, Apostle of the One Mighty and Strong


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