Refuting and Correcting BYU’s False Doctrine on the Origin of Man #43 - Scripture Study Aids included with the Standard Works

 (by Dennis B. Horne)

             While it is true that the Bible study aids, such as the dictionary, are not canonized scripture,[1] they are still purposely published with the scriptures. I rhetorically ask—would the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve include the (thoroughly revised and corrected) dictionary with the canonized scriptures if they didn’t approve of the doctrine it taught? I think not. I also think it foolish to believe otherwise, as Ben Spackman does. On this question, Elder Boyd K. Packer wrote: “Only the scriptural text itself is recognized as scripture. All the other materials were included to be of help to Church members in their study of the scriptures. . . . All that went into it was read and approved by the Brethren.”[2]

            One sign that solid work was done on the Bible Dictionary is indicated by how few substantial changes were made in it when it was reviewed for the updated 2013 edition of the scriptures. The chapter summary for the verses (2 Nephi 2:22-25) disputed by the biologists only says, “Adam fell that men might be”—but that says everything. The chapter summary for Moses 3 also says a lot: “God created all things spiritually before they were naturally upon the earth—He created man, the first flesh, upon the earth.”

Refuting and Correcting BYU’s False Doctrine on the Origin of Man #42 - An Apostolic Reading Committee Halts Elder B. H. Roberts’s Book Teaching Some False Doctrines

(by Dennis B. Horne) 

            The below are comments given by an internal reading committee made up of members of the Quorum of the Twelve in 1929, regarding questionable doctrinal assertions made in Elder B. H. Roberts’s book manuscript, The Truth, The Way, The Life. These comments, made by the committee in their official responses to their reading of Elder Roberts’s book, are an exceptional example of the work done by these internal Church reading (or early “correlation”-type) committees. Because Elder Roberts would not revise his book in conformity with their wishes, it was not published as originally planned by the Church and desired by Elder Roberts. Then, in the early 1990s, a group of scholars at Brigham Young University reviewed the recently declassified work and its history, and published it with their commentary and the reading committee’s comments as well. Two papers were prepared by the reading committee, one titled, “Doctrinal points questioned by the Committee which read the Manuscript of Elder B. H. Roberts, entitled—The Truth, The Way, The Life.” and the other “List of Points on Doctrine in Question by the Committee in Relation to B.H. Roberts’s Ms.” There were also notes included of a report made by the chairman of the committee, Elder George Albert Smith, to their Quorum President, Rudger Clawson. The committee was made up of George Albert Smith, Joseph Fielding Smith, David O. McKay, Stephen L Richards, and Melvin J. Ballard. For a complete review of this committee’s work, see B. H. Roberts, The Truth, The Way, The Life: An Elementary Treatise on Theology, John W. Welch, ed. (Provo, Utah: BYU Studies, 1994). The following selected items are taken from this publication, the reading committee’s comments on Roberts’s statements coming from the footnotes. Page numbers are given after each excerpt. (See also James B. Allen, “The Story of The Truth, The Way, The Life,” BYU Studies 33, no. 4 [1993], 691-741.)

            Other doctrines are considered and commented on besides evolution and the origin of man, but those were among the main issues that were objected to as Elder Roberts set them forth wrong in his book:

Refuting and Correcting BYU’s False Doctrine on the Origin of Man #41 - A Purpose of Apostles

(by Dennis B. Horne) 

            The below material is presented to help readers decide for themselves if the Lord allows His Prophets and Apostles to continually mislead the church by teaching false doctrine on the origin of man, instead of the true doctrine of the BYU biologists teaching evolution. We must ask ourselves if the doctrine of the origin of man—the origin of Adam and Eve—is to be taught to the Church by the BYU Biology Department and BYUSQ, or if it comes via Church leaders that hold the keys of the Kingdom.

            But first I quote from comments I noticed on the liberal-dissident blog “By Common Consent” when evolution was being discussed:

“With all due respect to Russell Nelson as a human being – I suspect he knows very little (as do most people) about evolutionary biology. His ignorance is most apparent with that “explosion in a printing shop” comment. That’s not an uncommon argument from creationists and ID folks. It makes absolutely no sense and displays a lack of knowledge of the natural and life sciences. Now, it is perfectly fine if Nelson and company want to have those views, but to stand up at the pulpit or pen an article in the Ensign as a leader of the church bears the weight of authority when, frankly, they do not have the authority to speak on those topics.”

President Spencer W. Kimball’s Special Witness of Jesus Christ

[Readers desiring to obtain their own hardback copies of volume one of I Know He Lives: How 13 Special Witnesses Came to Know Jesus Christ can find copies on sale here  Softbound copies can be purchased here, on sale. An ebook (Kindle) edition is available on Amazon here, for cheap. The Amazon page also includes the Introduction and first chapter of volume one for free.]

 (by Dennis B. Horne) 

I want to add to these testimonies of these prophets

my testimony that I know that He lives.

And I know that we may see him.

            “Just the other day one of my brethren came into the office to talk to me intimately and confidentially. After closing the door, he said, ‘Spencer, your father was a prophet. He made a prediction that has literally come to pass, and I want to tell you about it.’ He continued, ‘Your father talked with me. . . . You were just a little boy and you were sitting there, milking the cows, and singing to them as you milked. Your father turned to me and said, ‘brother, that boy, Spencer, is an exceptional boy. He always tries to mind me, whatever I ask him to do. I have dedicated him to be one of the mouthpieces of the Lord—the Lord willing. You will see him some day as a great leader. I have dedicated him to the service of God, and he will become a mighty man in the Church.’”[1] So related Elder Kimball at the beginning of his first General Conference address.

Refuting and Correcting BYU’s False Doctrine on the Origin of Man #40 - President George Q. Cannon on False Theories about the Origin of Man

(by Dennis B. Horne)

            Today, most members don’t understand the marvelous counselor in the First Presidency George Q. Cannon was a hundred and twenty to a hundred and sixty years ago. Historians compare his influence and stature to that of Presidents Heber C. Kimball, J. Rueben Clark, and Gordon B. Hinckley. His list of accomplishments in behalf of the Church is long and distinguished with few to match it. His spiritual and doctrinal qualifications were impressive. For example, speaking to a congregation of young people, President Cannon recorded, “I testified that the Lord Jesus lived, for I had seen Him and heard His voice, and I had heard the voice of the Spirit [Holy Ghost], speaking to me as one man speaketh to another. I had been led to my present position by the revelations of the Lord, for He had pointed out to me the path to pursue. . . . I also testified that under the laying on of my hands those who were dead to all human appearance had been raised to life, and the blind had been restored to sight.” During a meeting of the Quorum of the Twelve, President Cannon declared: “I bore testimony also to the brethren that I had heard the voice of the Spirit of God [Holy Ghost] as a man’s voice.” President Cannon was truly a prophet, seer, and revelator. I suspect his inspired teachings on the creation of man will not be appreciated by BYU biologists, for while science changes, doctrine does not and what was true in President Cannon’s day remains so today and in the century and decades to follow.

Refuting and Correcting BYU’s False Doctrine on the Origin of Man #39 - Spencer W. Kimball on superiority of revelation to science

(by Dennis B. Horne)

            This general conference message by Elder Spencer W. Kimball is highly relevant to this series:

            We live in a marvelous age with developments far beyond the most fantastic prognostications of a quarter century ago. Our communication lines have been extended from Pony Express to fast air service; transportation has been speeded from horse and buggy to globe-encircling jets for the masses, and speeds running into the thousands of miles each hour for the explorers. From the Vikings and Columbus, we come to "Glenn" and the astronauts. Persistent scientists continue to explore land and sea, and now they are out in space. Much learning has been added, but astronauts and rocket riders and telegraphers can little realize how relatively elementary are their movements and discoveries and knowledge. Astronomers have sought knowledge through study but prophets through faith. Astronomers have developed powerful telescopes through which they have seen much, but prophets and seers have had clearer vision at greater distances with precision instruments such as the Liahona and the Urim and Thummim, which have far exceeded the most advanced radar radio, television, or telescopic equipment.

Refuting and Correcting BYU’s False Doctrine on the Origin of Man #38 - President David O. McKay on Evolution

(by Dennis B. Horne) 

            The strings holding up the notion that President McKay believed in evolution are thin and fragile indeed. The two or three hints that evolutionists have promoted to make their case are entirely insufficient. Of course, even if we hypothetically decreed that President McKay was a believer in evolution, which he was not, he would be vastly outnumbered by his Brethren in the leading councils of the Church. The two items below are very relevant and interesting, as is the material reviewed in blog #7:

            President Harold B. Lee [private letter on official Church letterhead stationery, October 2, 1973. This was written a few months before President Lee’s death.]

            I have a few moments to respond to your letter of recent date in which you express some concern about some contradictory information as to the position we should take with regard to the doctrine of evolution. This, as you know, has been long a bone of contention so serious that in the earlier years when Darwin’s theory first was enunciated, a number of professors at the Brigham Young University were released because of their unwillingness to teach the theory and then counter by delivering the true doctrines of the gospel.