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Chapter 2 The Book of
Mormon and the Theory of Evolution
How long has it been since you have read the Book of Mormon? I was
startled a little while ago by interviews with two men who were years ago [teaching]
in our seminary system and both of whom have gone into other teaching
positions, [and] have obtained their graduate degrees. They have slipped away
from the gospel truths and now have been challenging and quarreling with and
trying to destroy and criticize the teachings of the Church.
I have talked with both of them, and when I inquired about their reading
the Book of Mormon, one of them said to me: "It has been fourteen years
since I have read anything in the Book of Mormon."
Another said, "I can't remember when I last read anything from the
Book of Mormon." So it will be with any of us, if we do not continue to
saturate ourselves with the teachings of this most precious book which the Lord
has given us for a purpose -- that is, to correct all of these errors and
dissensions in our day just as He promised He would in other days. Harold B. Lee (2002 Priesthood/R.S. Manual - page 63) Korihor and The Book of
Mormon mainly covers a period of time between 600 B.C. and 400 A.D., a period
of about a thousand years. Almost all of
the Book of Mormon was written in the Lehi was
born in One of the
characters in the Book of Mormon is Korihor, who lived
in
6 But it came to pass in the latter end of the
seventeenth year, there came a man into the land of Zarahemla,
and he was Anti-Christ, for he began to preach unto the people against the
prophecies which had been spoken by the prophets, concerning the coming of
Christ. This verse
states the purpose of Korihor's teachings, which was to
lead people away from Christ. Here is
part of Korihor's teachings: 26 And ye also say
that Christ shall come. But behold, I
say that ye do not know that there shall be a Christ. And ye say also that he shall be slain for
the sins of the world … In this
verse Korihor claims there would be no Christ, and
that He would not be slain for the sins of the world. Christians know that Christ did come to earth
and was slain for the sins of the world.
28 Yea, [the church members] durst not make use of that which is their
own lest they should offend their priests, who do yoke them according to their
desires, and have brought them to believe, by their traditions and their dreams
and their whims and their visions and their pretended mysteries, that they
should, if they did not do according to their words, offend some unknown being,
who they say is God - a being who never has been seen or known, who never was
nor ever will be. Korihor
is trying to claim that the dreams, visions and mysteries given to the prophets
by God have led the people to believe in a being which does not exist. This being,
God, may have been "unknown" to Korihor,
but He was definitely known to This next
quote is a description of the first vision of
22 Yea, methought I saw, even as our father Lehi saw, God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with
numberless concourses of angels, in the attitude of singing and praising their
God; yea, and my soul did long to be there. The
testimony of Korihor was that he had not seen God and
other great visions. But the testimony
of the prophets is regarding the things they have seen and have heard. A Remission of Sins and
the Atonement Let us
consider some of the other false doctrines taught by the Anti-Christ Korihor:
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. The
"traditions of your fathers," which Korihor
mentioned, were the teachings of prophets prior to his time. They were based on revelations from God. Korihor
is claiming that there is no need for the remission of sins. He uses derogatory language (e.g.
"frenzied mind" and "derangement of your minds") to insult and
belittle those who believed in a need for the remission of sins. This
tactic, sometimes called "name calling," is a frequent method used by
satan to try and embarrass
the members of the church and cause them to reject the teachings they have been
taught by living prophets. It is a ploy
to convince someone to leave the prophets and "join the crowd" and
become popular. If there
was no God, as Korihor claimed above, then we cannot
be held accountable for sin because God does not exist. Thus, his teaching that there is no God and
his teaching that there is no sin are essentially the same thing. Jacob, one
of the prophet sons of Lehi, stated to his people:
6 And my soul delighteth in proving unto my
people that save Christ should come all men must perish. 2 Nephi 11:6 (Jacob, son of Lehi) In this
quote Jacob is stating that without Christ, "all men must
perish." What Jacob was saying
("save Christ should come all men must perish") is that without the
atonement there would be no remission of sins and without the remission of sins
all mankind "must perish," meaning they would become subject to satan. More will
be said about the atonement in the chapter about Christ. Let us
consider another teaching of the prophet Jacob:
7 For if there be no Christ there be no God;
and if there be no God we are not, for there could have been no creation. But there is a God, and he is Christ, and he cometh in the fulness of his
own time. 2 Nephi 11:7 [Jacob, son of Lehi] In this
verse Jacob states that without Christ, there would be no God, and if there be
no God, then we would not have been created. Jacob is
correct. Without God, in this case
Heavenly Father, there could have been no Universe. And without God, in this case Christ, there
could have been no creation of this earth and Adam and Eve. The Theory of Evolution The second
half of verse 17, spoken by Korihor, is this:
17 ... 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. Book of Mormon, Alma 30:17 (Korihor) In verse
17, Korihor claims that humans prosper in this life
according to their genius and they conquer in this life according to their
strength. The reader
should see the similarities of the teachings of Korihor
to the teachings of the theory of evolution. The concept
that a man "prospered according to his genius," and that every man "conquered
according to his strength" are commonly referred to as "natural
selection" or "survival of the fittest" by the theory of
evolution. Korihor
also stated that "whatsoever a man did was no crime." Korihor is saying
that there is no such thing as "right" or "wrong" or
"sin." This is also a doctrine
of the theory of evolution because it teaches us that we are nothing but animals. Remember, the
Book of Mormon was published in 1830, which was 29 years before The Origin of Species was first published. By
including the example of Korihor, the Book of Mormon prepared
in advance the members of the church for the time they would be exposed to the
false doctrines and false theories of the theory of evolution. This is an example of the quote mentioned at
the top of this chapter. Why Do Societies and
Families Prosper? So how do
humans "prosper" in this life?
Is it because of our "genius" and our "strength" as Korihor and the evolution establishment tell us? There is
hardly any doctrine in the Book of Mormon which is repeated more often, and in
more different ways, than the doctrine that we prosper according to how well we
keep the commandments. For example: 20 And [the Lord] hath said that:
Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land; but
inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my
presence. 2 Nephi 1:20 [Lehi] This doctrine
is repeated by example or doctrine over and over and over again in the Book of
Mormon. We
"prosper" in the sense that God will protect us from our enemies and
He will protect our livelihood and prosper us in other ways as well. However,
note in the above scripture the phrase "ye shall be cut off from my
presence." If we do not keep the
commandments we will be cut off from the presence of God. This will cloud our judgments in everything
we do. Many people
may think of this "clouding" of judgments in relation to how much
money we have. This is not the point of
the scripture. The "clouding"
of our judgments is more likely to affect our relationship with God, which is
infinitely more important than whether or not we have a lot of money. This verse
implies that the phrase "prosper in the land" includes a generous
amount of the spirit of God to teach us and protect us and clear our minds. The fact is
that when we embrace satan
and his tactics, we not only remove ourselves from the presence of God, but we
also encourage satan to be our master. The goal of satan is to destroy us. When a society has totally embraced satan, they are setting themselves
up for the destruction which satan can provide them
and God may allow. It is very
easy to see the truthfulness of the above verse when the verse is applied to nations
or civilizations.
21 And [secret combinations] have caused the destruction of this people
of whom I am now speaking [the Jaredites], and also
the destruction of the people of Nephi. Ether 8:21 [ Secret combinations
(e.g. secret cartels) are the final result of totally abandoning the spirit of
God and rejecting His prophets. President
Ezra Taft Benson also said this: "Pride results in
secret combinations which are built up to get power, gain, and glory of the
world. (See Hel.
7:5; Ether 8:9, 16, 22-23; Moses 5:31.) This fruit of the sin of pride, namely
secret combinations, brought down both the Jaredite
and the Nephite civilizations and has been and
will yet be the cause of the fall of many nations. (See Ether
8:18-25.)" Ezra Taft Benson, “Beware of Pride,” Ensign, May 1989, 4 While Korihor claimed that our genius is what causes us to
thrive, it is nothing but a lie. God has
the last say as to which nations survive and which are destroyed. It is keeping the commandments of God and
having faith in the true and living God that are the key to the spiritual and
physical survival of nations, communities and families. The tactics
of satan to obtain and
maintain power are extremely effective, but the power lasts only until God
decides enough is enough. In other
words, it is not "survival of the fittest" which determines the fate
of nations, it is the love of God and the keeping of
His commandments. Protecting the Righteous In addition
to destroying wicked societies, God protects righteous nations. Consider these versus about the prophet
Enoch:
13 And so great was the faith of Enoch that he led the people of God,
and their enemies came to battle against them; and he spake
the word of the Lord, and the earth trembled, and the mountains fled, even
according to his command; and the rivers of water were turned out of their
course; and the roar of the lions was heard out of the wilderness; and all
nations feared greatly, so powerful was the word of Enoch, and so great was the
power of the language which God had given him.
14 There also came up a land out of the depth of the sea, and so great
was the fear of the enemies of the people of God, that they fled and stood afar
off and went upon the land which came up out of the depth of the sea.
15 And the giants of the land, also, stood afar off; and there went
forth a curse upon all people that fought against God;
16 And from that time forth there were wars and bloodshed among them;
but the Lord came and dwelt with his people, and they dwelt in righteousness.
17 The fear of the Lord was upon all nations, so great was the glory of
the Lord, which was upon his people. And the Lord blessed the land, and they
were blessed upon the mountains, and upon the high places, and did flourish.
18 And the Lord called his people
19 And Enoch continued his preaching in righteousness unto the people of
God. And it came to pass in his days, that he built a city that was called the
City of
20 And it came to pass that Enoch talked with the Lord; and he said unto
the Lord: Surely Moses 7:13-20 [refers to Enoch] I like to
mention that there is no evidence in these versus that the people of Enoch ever
had weapons. They didn't need them. In this next
verse, Isaiah, quoted in the Book of Mormon, explains how it is impossible for
the righteous to be destroyed by the wicked:
3 And all the nations that fight against Zion, and that distress her,
shall be as a dream of a night vision; yea, it shall be unto them, even as unto
a hungry man which dreameth, and behold he eateth but he awaketh and his
soul is empty; or like unto a thirsty man which dreameth,
and behold he drinketh but he awaketh
and behold he is faint, and his soul hath appetite; yea, even so shall the multitude
of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion. 2 Nephi 27:3 (Isaiah) The point
is that it is not the genius of people which causes their nation to be
destroyed or protected; it is their wickedness or righteousness which is the
deciding factor. If they are righteous,
God may give them the wisdom to know how to survive. If they are wicked, they will get their
"inspiration" from satan,
and satan will be allowed to destroy them on God's timetable. However, it
must be remembered that God may preserve the wicked for a time so that various
individuals may have their free agency to choose between good and evil. This extra time will give some people the
opportunity to repent and it will give others an opportunity to potentially destroy
their souls by joining the wicked society. Much more
will be said about the destruction of the wicked and the protection of the
righteous in a later chapter. The Hearts of Man Let us see
the next verse from Korihor:
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—... Book of Mormon, Alma 30:18 (Korihor) This verse
explains that the people who believed in his teachings were led away into whoredoms (i.e. gross immorality). The preaching of Korihor
led the people away from believing in the commandments (i.e. led them to
believe there were no consequences to their actions, as mentioned above) and from
believing in an atonement, and thus their hearts
were turned away from the commandments and they became very wicked. Were Korihor's teaching the cause of their hearts turning to
evil; or where their wicked hearts the cause of their embracing the teachings
of Korihor?
45 And yet do ye go about, leading away the hearts of this
people, testifying unto them there is no God? ... The concept
of the relationship between a person's "heart" and what they believe
is quite significant. One of the
things that the Book of Mormon makes very clear is that the hearts of men and
women, when they become evil, cause them to have very clouded judgments. They call evil to be good and they call good
to be evil. This is because in their
hearts they want to do evil, so they embrace false doctrines as true doctrines and
they reject the true doctrines of the prophets. In these
next versus, the prophet Samuel the Lamanite is sent
to preach to the wicked Nephites (who were shooting
arrows at him while he was preaching because they didn't like what he was
saying). In these versus we see the
clouded judgment of those whose hearts embrace evil:
25 And now when ye talk, ye say: If our days had been in the days of our
fathers of old, we would not have slain the prophets; we would not have stoned
them, and cast them out.
26 Behold ye are worse than they; for as the Lord liveth,
if a prophet come among you and declareth unto you
the word of the Lord, which testifieth of your sins
and iniquities, ye are angry with him, and cast him out and seek all manner of
ways to destroy him; yea, you will say that he is a false prophet, and that he
is a sinner, and of the devil, because he testifieth
that your deeds are evil.
27 But behold, if a man shall come among you and shall say: Do this, and
there is no iniquity; do that and ye shall not suffer; yea, he will say: Walk
after the pride of your own hearts; yea, walk after the pride of your eyes, and
do whatsoever your heart desireth--and if a man shall
come among you and say this, ye will receive him, and say that he is a
prophet.
28 Yea, ye will lift him up, and ye will give unto him of your
substance; ye will give unto him of your gold, and of your silver, and ye will
clothe him with costly apparel; and because he speaketh
flattering words unto you, and he saith that all is
well, then ye will not find fault with him. Helaman 13:25-28 (Samuel the Lamanite) What Samuel
the Lamanite is saying is that if their hearts are
evil, they will cast out the prophets and embrace false prophets and give them
money because the false prophets tell the people what they want to hear. One of the
interesting things about the experience of Samuel the Lamanite
is what the people said about him when they saw they could not kill him:
6 But the more part of them did not believe in the words of Samuel;
therefore when they saw that they could not hit him with their stones and their
arrows, they cried unto their captains, saying: Take this fellow and bind him, for
behold he hath a devil; and because of the power of the devil which is
in him we cannot hit him with our stones and our arrows; therefore take him
and bind him, and away with him. Helaman 16:6 [narrative] When the
hearts of a people are evil, they are prime candidates for embracing false
doctrines and are likely to persecute the prophets living in their day. “The quest for riches darkens the
sense of right and wrong.” Antiphanes, ancient Greek dramatist But even
members of the LDS church are not exempt from eternal laws. President Heber J. Grant stated: "You will find that those [in
the LDS church] who do not do their duty, are always complaining about somebody
that does, and [they are] making excuses for themselves. I have never found a
man who was keeping the commandments of God that had any criticism to offer
concerning any administration of the affairs of the Church. Neglect of duty,
failure to keep the commandments of God, darkens the mind of man and the Spirit
of the Lord is withdrawn. We find it recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants
“For although a man may have many revelations, and have power to do many mighty
works, yet if he boasts in his own strength and sets at nought
the counsels of God, and follows after the dictates of his own will and carnal
desires, he must fall.” [D&C 3:4] Heber J. Grant (2004 Priesthood/R.S. Manual - pages 27-28) When we
fail to keep the commandments, we are ripening for spiritual darkness and
spiritual danger. The words
of the prophets are in direct opposition to the things that Korihor
taught. Here is an example of just how
different the teachings of Korihor were to the true
gospel of Christ. These are words spoken
by an angel to the prophet King Benjamin: 19 For the natural man is an enemy
to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever,
unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit,
and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord,
and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble,
patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit
to his father. Mosiah 3:19 [words of an angel to the
prophet King Benjamin] King Benjamin
is teaching his people to put off the natural man and become more in tune with
the will of God and thus become more like God. Whereas Korihor was teaching people to do whatever they wanted to
do, without any consequences; King Benjamin was teaching the exact opposite. King Benjamin was teaching that our
relationship to God should be "even as a child doth submit to his
father." Our relationship with God is not
that of Creator and created-thing. It is
of personal Father and child. Elder Douglas L. Callister, BYU-I
Devotional, November 8, 2005 King
Benjamin emphasizes that we must become a "saint through the atonement of
Christ the Lord." This is in direct
opposition to the teachings of Korihor, who preached
there was no such thing as sin, and there was no atonement, and no Christ. Note that
the angel, in speaking to King Benjamin, refers specifically to the existence
of Adam. Many verses in the Book of
Mormon refer to Adam. This is another
difference between the words of the prophets and the theory of evolution,
because evolution teaches that humans are descended from apes, not Adam and Eve. Here is the rest of verse 18:
18 ... telling them that when a man was dead, that was the end thereof. Book of Mormon, Alma 30:18 (Korihor) Korihor
states that when a man dies, that is the end of his existence. This is equivalent to saying that humans do
not have an eternal spirit. It is also
the equivalent to saying that there are no consequences to sin because there is
no Judgment Day (because we won't exist after death) and we cannot therefore be
punished or rewarded after death. In this
regard, it should be emphasized again that the relationship between God and
humans is not the same relationship as between humans and their pets. God is our Father. God loves us, His children. We keep the commandments because we want to
become like our Father in Heaven. We
want to feel comfortable living with Him.
The commandments, as we call them, are really guidelines for living
forever with the righteous saints and with God. Commandments
are the "standard" by which we obtain portal into the As
mentioned above, Korihor taught the people they could
do anything they wanted to do and that we survive based on our intelligence and
strength. King Benjamin,
on the other hand, tells us we must become humble, full of love, etc. and
submit ourselves to the Lord "even as a child doth submit to his
father." In the
church, we have been taught over and over that we prosper (God's definition of
"prosper," not necessarily
the world's definition of "prosper") based on our obedience to God. Today's
theory of evolution is very similar to the teachings of Korihor. While the theory of evolution is claimed not
to be atheistic, all of the teachings of the theory of evolution are perfectly
consistent with the teachings of the atheist and anti-Christ Korihor. In other
words, if we fill in the "missing pieces" of evolution doctrine; which
pieces are "missing" for political reasons and to obtain more
proselytes; we end up with the teachings of Korihor. As part of
the prophet Alma the Younger's response to Korihor,
42 Behold, I know that thou believest, but
thou art possessed with a lying spirit, and ye have put off the Spirit of God
that it may have no place in you; but the devil has power over you, and he doth
carry you about, working devices that he may destroy the children of God. Here is more
of the response to Korihor by the prophet Alma the
Younger (remember this was before the time of Christ):
40 And now what evidence have ye that there is no God, or that Christ
cometh not? I say unto you that ye have
none, save it be your word only.
41 But, behold, I have all things as a
testimony that these things are true; and ye also have all things as a
testimony unto you that they are true; and will ye deny them? Believest thou that
these things are true? ...
43 And now Korihor said unto Alma: If thou
wilt show me a sign, that I may be convinced that there is a God, yea, show
unto me that he hath power, and then will I be convinced of the truth of thy
words.
44 But Modern
evolutionists have far more physical evidence for God than Korihor
had. But as in the
days of The mission
of satan is to destroy
mankind and make us miserable forever. The Fate of Korihor Let us
repeat a verse above:
43 And now Korihor said unto Alma: If thou
wilt show me a sign, that I may be convinced that there is a God, yea, show
unto me that he hath power, and then will I be convinced of the truth of thy
words.
51 And now when the chief judge saw this, he put forth his hand and
wrote unto Korihor, saying: Art thou convinced of the
power of God? In whom did ye desire
that Consider
the end result of Korihor, after he could no longer
speak (in these verses the Zoramites were a very
proud and very wicked people):
59 And it came to pass that as [Korihor] went
forth among the people, yea, among a people who had separated themselves from
the Nephites and called themselves Zoramites, being led by a man whose name was Zoram--and as he went forth amongst them, behold, he was
run upon and trodden down, even until he was dead.
60 And thus we see the end of him who perverteth
the ways of the Lord; and thus we see that the devil will not support his
children at the last day, but doth speedily drag them down to hell. The last
phrase is key: "thus we see that the devil will
not support his children at the last day, but doth speedily drag them down to
hell."
22 And behold, others [satan]
flattereth away, and telleth
them there is no hell; and he saith unto them: I am
no devil, for there is none--and thus he whispereth
in their ears, until he grasps them with his awful chains, from whence there is
no deliverance.
23 Yea, they are grasped with death, and hell; and death, and hell, and
the devil, and all that have been seized therewith must stand before the throne
of God, and be judged according to their works, from whence they must go into
the place prepared for them, even a lake of fire and brimstone, which is
endless torment. 2 Nephi 28:22-23 [Nephi] The theory
of evolution preaches there is no devil.
The theory of evolution is very flattering to people because it teaches
that humans are the highest form of life in the Universe. The Book of
Mormon, on the other hand, prepares its members for the onslaught of satan's false doctrines (see the
quote at the top of this chapter). After Korihor had been struck dumb, he finally admitted there was
a devil, and that the devil had deceived him. The Book of
Mormon clearly states who was behind Korihor's
teachings (satan) and why Korihor was so successful (because of the
"hearts" of men and women who wanted the words of Korihor
to be true). Another
interesting thing about the conversation between Korihor
and Alma the Younger is that Korihor claimed that the
prophet Alma the Younger was trying to lead the people astray to get rich. Here is the conversation:
31 And [Korihor] did rise up in great swelling
words before
32 Now Alma said unto him: Thou knowest that
we do not glut ourselves upon the labors of this people; for behold I have
labored even from the commencement of the reign of the judges until now, with
mine own hands for my support, notwithstanding my many travels round about the
land to declare the word of God unto my people. 33 And
notwithstanding the many labors which I have performed in the church, I have
never received so much as even one senine for my
labor; neither has any of my brethren, save it were in the judgment-seat; and
then we have received only according to law for our time.
34 And now, if we do not receive anything for our labors in the church,
what doth it profit us to labor in the church save it were to declare the
truth, that we may have rejoicings in the joy of our brethren? In the LDS
church today; a Bishop (who is the leader of a local congregation) typically
serves for 6 or 7 years. During those 6
or 7 years he (and his family) serve the members countless
hours. Yet the Bishop does not get paid
a dime in all those years. Not only
that, he is expected to pay a full tithing to the church during the time he is
a Bishop!! Do the
local leaders not get paid so the top leaders of the church can get paid lots
of money? The top leaders serve
full-time, thus they do get paid; but they only get paid a fraction of what
business executives get paid for the same level of responsibility. The church has over 13 million members,
scattered around much of the world, so the top leaders have huge
responsibilities. Many high church
leaders took large pay-cuts to accept calls to serve in the top levels of the
church. Evidences for the Book of
Mormon The Book of
Mormon (published in 1830) talks a great deal about ancient There are
literally thousands of archaeological evidences which support the teachings of
the Book of Mormon, mainly in Central and The Book of
Mormon uses Egyptian literary forms many times.
A Hebrew literary form, called a chiasm, is found frequently in the Book
of Mormon, especially in the first two-thirds of the Book of Mormon (i.e. from
I Nephi through The prophet
Joseph Smith did not have an education above grade school and was only about 25
when the Book of Mormon was published. But that is
not all; many prophesies were made in the Book of Mormon. Many of these have been fulfilled and many
more are being fulfilled today. In fact,
there are many aspects of the Book of Mormon which are far more relevant today
than they were in 1830 (when the Book of Mormon was first published). Only God
could have written a book, through His prophets, which is far more relevant 175
years after its publication, than it was the day it was made public. As time goes on, the Book of Mormon will
become even more relevant as more prophecies are fulfilled and more of the
teachings and prophesies are understood. On the
other hand, even though the theory of evolution still exists, since the days of
The
"theories" of men don't last long, but the true doctrines of God last
forever. |