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==Question: Can Latter-day Saints have a non-literal view of the creation story, or have a somewhat more mythic view of the first five books of Moses given the Church's teaching of a historical Adam?== | ==Question: Can Latter-day Saints have a non-literal view of the creation story, or have a somewhat more mythic view of the first five books of Moses given the Church's teaching of a historical Adam?== | ||
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[[es:Pregunta: ¿Pueden los Santos de los Últimos Días tener una visión no literal de la historia de la creación, o tener una visión algo más mítica de los primeros cinco libros de Moisés dada la enseñanza de la Iglesia de un Adán histórico?]] | [[es:Pregunta: ¿Pueden los Santos de los Últimos Días tener una visión no literal de la historia de la creación, o tener una visión algo más mítica de los primeros cinco libros de Moisés dada la enseñanza de la Iglesia de un Adán histórico?]] | ||
[[pt:Pergunta: Pode Santos dos Últimos Dias tem uma visão não-literal da história da criação, ou ter uma visão um pouco mais mítico dos primeiros cinco livros de Moisés dadas ensino de um Adão histórico da Igreja?]] | [[pt:Pergunta: Pode Santos dos Últimos Dias tem uma visão não-literal da história da criação, ou ter uma visão um pouco mais mítico dos primeiros cinco livros de Moisés dadas ensino de um Adão histórico da Igreja?]] | ||
+ | [[Category:Questions]] |
This is an issue that has been a challenge for the Church since the beginning. It is also an issue that isn't unique to Mormonism (so we can find lots of interesting insights elsewhere). The problems that we have are caused by several distinct issues. So let's outline the three main issues, since every attempt to answer these questions (every explanation of how to understand Genesis) works to deal with these issues in different ways.
This one is a really important. This idea means that when we approach the "historical Adam" we have to be aware that there are many different ways to understand the material as history. And that our notion of history is very different today from the sense that history had when the Old Testament was written. Even more to the point, what we try to achieve with history, and in fact our sense of "telling the truth" is very different from what the author of Genesis was trying to achieve and what that author believed constituted "telling the truth". This isn't bad except when we try to assert that we should understand the history of the Old Testament in exactly the same way that we understand history now. Or that the notion of truth as we understand it corresponds exactly to the meaning of truth as they understood it. When we do confuse our own understanding for the intentions of the authors of that history, we inevitably also make mistakes in understanding what should be seen as literal or non-literal in a text.
We all recognize that there has to be a beginning point. We call the first man and woman Adam and Eve. But, there is necessarily something that is entirely different in their beginning than in ours (by definition as the 'first'). In some ways, this creates for a flexible understanding. We want to understand how they are like us, and at the same time try to understand how they are different from us. This goes back to that issue of what the text is trying to tell us. We have a great many interpretations of the Genesis story of Adam and Eve which treat different parts of the story as metaphorical and other parts as literal - and in many cases, two interpretations can choose completely opposite understandings of any specific detail in this way and come up with two very different outcomes. When we come to this as individuals, often we have to make decisions as to how we understand certain elements (more on this a little later), but you can see that inevitably, very, very few people have a completely literal understanding of the Genesis account of Adam, just as very, very few have an entirely metaphorical understanding of the Genesis account of Adam. Most of us sit comfortably in between. Part of the LDS view of Adam comes from this historical figure as a historical figure. But part of the LDS view comes from the ways in which Adam is just like ourselves - and often this comparison, intended by the text, is presented as metaphor.
These inevitably occur because of the previous two issues. As a text, Genesis has to be read and interpreted in some way - and there are lots of ways it can be. Some of those interpretations conflict with knowledge obtained from other sources - like scientific knowledge. One of the great debates of the past (and to some extent even the present) is how we place authority in these sources of information (a process we call epistemology). In one view, we try to understand the time period of Genesis literally, and the age of the earth then as being finite (a mere few thousand years) leading to a position known as Young Earth Creationism. This is a popular view among many Christians (and within the Church). On the other hand there are those who recognize that the earth seems to be very old, complete with a long fossil record of life. If this information is weighted accordingly, then the age of the earth is very great, and likewise, the Genesis account needs to be interpreted as being less literal in the sense that it does not intend to provide the age of the earth in a strictly literal sense. These doctrinal issues are often much larger debates that engage the text of Genesis to their own ends - issues like evolution, the age of the earth, the fall of man, the question of death before the fall, and so on.
It should be noted that it has been revealed that we don't know all things pertaining to creation and that those things will be revealed at the second coming (D&C 101: 32-33). We are also commanded to learn of all things so that we can be more perfectly instructed in things pertaining to the Gospel. Our theology is not threatened by science, it embraces it so that we can better understand what has already been revealed and what might be revealed in the future (D&C 88: 78-79). Thus we should study every scientific theory without fear.
There are a few things that might be more essential than others and non-negotiable when working out evolution.
The scriptures tell why man was created, but they do not tell how, though the Lord has promised that he will tell that when he comes again (D&C 101:32-33)[1]
This assumption that the order of creation events must align with science is called "concordism" and is not necessitated by scripture.
Whether the mortal bodies of man evolved in natural processes to present perfection, through the direction and power of God; whether the first parents of our generations, Adam and Eve, were transplanted from another sphere, with immortal tabernacles, which became corrupted through sin and the partaking of natural foods, in the process of time; whether they were born here in mortality, as other mortals have been, are questions not fully answered in the revealed word of God.[2]
How one views the origin of Adam and Eve's body will affect their views of the Adamic Language, how Adam and Eve supposedly entered the Garden, the purpose and nature of the Godhead, and how Adam and Eve's DNA mixed with extant populations after leaving the Garden.
If God did indeed create a literal Garden, the Garden would have to be perfect since he himself is perfect. But there doesn't seem to be any requirement for us to believe that God created a literal Garden. There only seems to need to be a place where Adam and Eve dwelt as perfect beings in the His presence.
Some may object to the areas of flexibility and more rigidity claimed by the author, basing their assumption of the Book of Moses and Abraham needing to be restorations of scientific fact. In neither case do we have historical evidence from either Joseph or the Lord that the Book of Abraham and/or Moses represent pristine, scientifically accurate, word for word restorations of lost urtexts from the prophets.[4]. If they were written by the original prophets, we would expect God to speak to them as he did to other ancient authors such as those that wrote Genesis (2 Nephi 31:3).
Thus, the scenario might play out that God created the world (2 Nephi 2:13) and that he did it over any period of time. The creation may have included death, disease, and procreation of different species prior to a time when he chose to elect or send the first of his Spirit children to the earth, Adam and Eve. They lived for a time (exactly where we're not sure). They perhaps lived in an Edenic setting where death may or may not have been limited to the Garden (there was likely death outside of it). They may have been tempted by the Devil (D&C 29:36,40), partook of fruit (29:40), and they fell sometime around 7000 years ago. They may have been taught repentance and redemption (29:42), they may or may not have been baptized (again we don't know who the author of Moses 1:1 is--a pseudepigraphical writer or Joseph Smith and we don't know if they are attributing the words to Moses pseudepigraphically or literally; Moses 6:64-66) and were given the priesthood that they passed onto their children--the record of which passing of authority we likely do not have a complete, detailed account of. They mixed with other extant populations (or were given bodies of that extant population) and with each relationship began to bring God's children into the world, thus being "the father of us all". Thus, the creation accounts are treated something similar to "historical fiction" in genre since we have real characters and some real events but also (potentially) some other theological goals to accomplish and thus many non-historical, non-literal aspects of them.
This reconciliation comes from the best interpretation of the author of the article and is only meant as to help put interested readers in a helpful direction but does not represent the official view of the Church. The author has attempted only to summarize those things made explicitly clear in scripture and provide direction for those passages may cause some trouble for members of the Church dealing with the question. Readers are free to disagree and offer what they might feel would be better interpretations or reconciliations of the matter with official, properly interpreted revelation. If improvements can be suggested, please send them to FairMormon volunteers.
Notes
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