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Difference between revisions of "Detailed response to CES Letter, Science"
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==A FAIR Analysis of the online document ''Letter to a CES Director'' section "Science Concerns & Questions"== | ==A FAIR Analysis of the online document ''Letter to a CES Director'' section "Science Concerns & Questions"== | ||
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{{CESLetterItem | {{CESLetterItem | ||
| − | |claim= | + | |claim=The letter states, "2 Nephi 2:22 and Alma 12:23-24 state there was no death of any kind (humans, all animals, birds, fish, dinosaurs, etc.) on this earth until the “Fall of Adam”, which according to D&C 77:6-7 occurred 7,000 years ago. It is scientifically established there has been life and death on this planet for billions of years. How does the Church reconcile this?" |
|answer= | |answer= | ||
| − | |link= | + | *Current Church manuals take a cautionary approach to interpreting {{s|2|Nephi|2|22}} by considering only how it affected Adam and Eve. For example, from 2010 ''Gospel Principles'' manual, page 28: |
| − | |subject= | + | <blockquote> |
| − | |summary= | + | When Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden, they were not yet mortal. In this state, “they would have had no children” (2 Nephi 2:23). There was no death. They had physical life because their spirits were housed in physical bodies made from the dust of the earth (see Moses 6:59; Abraham 5:7). They had spiritual life because they were in the presence of God. They had not yet made a choice between good and evil. |
| + | </blockquote> | ||
| + | *Note that the current Gospel Doctrine manual does not explicitly mention the "entire earth," but simply states that there was "no death" prior to the Fall. Adam and Eve were not yet mortal. In this state, "they would have had no children" (2 Nephi 2:23). The statement "there was no death" applies to the Garden of Eden, which is what the paragraph is describing. There is no statement in the manual that there had been no death anywhere in the entire world. | ||
| + | *There has been a difference of opinion among Church leaders on the extent to which immortality affected God's creations before the Fall. The interpretation that "no death" applied to the entire earth has been shared by many Church authors, including President Joseph Fielding Smith and Elder Bruce R. McConkie. For example, McConkie's Bible Dictionary states that "Latter-day revelation teaches that there was no death on this earth for any forms of life before the fall of Adam. Indeed, death entered the world as a direct result of the fall (2 Nephi 2:22; Moses 6:48)." | ||
| + | |link=Mormonism and science/Death before the Fall | ||
| + | |subject=Death before the Fall | ||
| + | |summary=Does LDS doctrine hold that there was no death before the Fall of Adam? | ||
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{{CESLetterItem | {{CESLetterItem | ||
Revision as of 12:10, 23 June 2013
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| [[../Temples & Freemasonry Concerns & Questions|Temples & Freemasonry Concerns & Questions]] | A FAIR Analysis of:
[[../|Letter to a CES Director]] |
[[../Scriptures Concerns & Questions|Scriptures Concerns & Questions]] |