B.H. Roberts vs. Joseph Fielding Smith on Evolution

Comments · 90

• ST

  @stephenjackson7797 · 9 days ago

  Can't wait for Friday. I had Dr. Duane Jeffery as a professor when I attended BYU in the 70s. His teachings caused quite a stir among conservative Mormon religionists, and got me into trouble at my ward when I recited him.

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• EJ

  @ejonesca · 9 days ago (edited)

  I've heard Eyring mention his father having similar respectful disagreements with JFS regarding evolution.

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• SP

  @spencergreen4296 · 9 days ago

  Man, I kept thinking that younger BH Roberts was Neitzche... uncanny.

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• BE

  @bens5507 · 8 days ago

  Thanks for the shoutout!

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• HA

  @harlanlang6556 · 8 days ago

  I moved to Utah in 1960 fresh out of college with a degree in biology.  Every Mormon I met said that Mormon doctrine was belief in a 6,000 year old earth, and that evolution was not true.  One of the main principles of biology is evolution over billions of years.  I saw the fossils and understood the logic of evolution.  No religious dogma made sense to me which did not include evolution.  So that logically led me to question the LDS belief in prophets as guided by God to enlighten the members of the church.  But then I did find a religion which did believe in evolution.  That got my attention.

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• MB

  @mbanks7969 · 11 days ago

  That First Presidency statement must have been the one I came across when I was trying to square away Mormonism with science during university! Glad I ran into that instead of Joseph "Nepobaby" Fielding Smith, which probably was avoided as I did not have easy access to my father's library at the time.

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• RO

  @Rozzboy · 8 days ago

  Stoked for the Peck interview

• BR

  @brienbrockbank3231 · 9 days ago

  Thanks Ben! I was just thinking about this topic this morning and how it was a major instigator for my deconstruction from Mormonism. Lo and behold, you uploaded this video the same morning. Thanks for always delivering such high-quality videos accessible to a lay audience like myself.

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• JU

  @Juju.in.Yarnia · 9 days ago

  My testimony became that God is the god of the universe so the scientific laws are his laws. I got really into math and science as part of my worship of god. I became a Navy Nuke (navy nuclear power plant operator) Engineering Laboratory Technician. I served for 7 years. <br><br>I’m now ex-mo but I still believe in progress and math and science. Those are real.

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• RI

  @richardredick7515 · 8 days ago

  Professor Park, I thoroughly enjoyed this digest of a very tumultuous time in the Quorum. &nbsp;I have felt that the Senior Apostles well-remembered the 1890s and early 1900s, and did not wish to renew such a spirit of division in the ranks of the Brethren. &nbsp;That was a time period when one Apostle would not smile and say good day to an opposed Apostle &nbsp;- &nbsp;literally. &nbsp;So, I am not surprised that the First Presidency walked the razor&apos;s edge to avoid favoring one side or the other, and said let&apos;s discontinue this discussion. &nbsp;Joseph Fielding Smith was not there for those COLD DAYS, but B.H. Roberts was. &nbsp;He surely remembered, and likely was disappointed, but not surprised at the reaction. &nbsp;<br><br>And, BTW, I loved your allusion to the Scopes Monkey Trial starring CLARENCE Darrow. &nbsp;LOL!<br><br>Love your show!

• SA

  @SantoAtheos · 9 days ago

  The LDS Church&apos;s evolving position on evolution is very interesting. The church made a short film in 1962 The Search for Truth which leaned anti- evolution. By the 1980s they edited it and gave it a more &quot;we don&apos;t know if it&apos;s true or not&quot; stance. I&apos;m glad I saw the latter. <br>In 2012 the only two Republican candidates for US president who accepted evolution as fact were LDS- Romney and Huntsman. I found this very much in contrast to many of my BYU peers who in the mid 1990s were very much ignorant of the evidence and still very anti-evolution.

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• SK

  @sketchygetchey8299 · 9 days ago (edited)

  Man, this stuff would have been useful when I had mission companions trying to discourage me from believing in Evolution (one of them believed that standing under a tree is the safest place during a lightning storm 😑). Instead I got Bruce R. McConkie arguments and nothing else.

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