Stacy.
At 09:44 AM 11/13/2003 -0500, you wrote:
Gary:
Interesting speculation and observations.
I have long believed that Book of Moses provides the most comprehensive and broad scriptural presentation we have as to how God went about creating the worlds. It provides a account that is quite instructive generally. Moreover, it seems to suggest that when we know exactly how He did it, His processes will be grounded in pure science not magic.
RBS
> -----Original Message----- > From: Gerald Smith [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2003 7:41 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [ZION] The Descent of Man > > > > John, > Now you are just going to have to accept the fact that some > things have not been revealed yet. We can only speculate on the > descent of man, whether there was an evolution involved or not. > My speculation is that the scriptures were written on a > personal/lineage history level. In the current FARMS magazine, > discussing DNA and the BoM, Sorensen explains what > personal/lineage histories of small groups are. > As far as they are concerned, the universe revolves around them, > and they view events in terms they understand. Amazingly, we do > the same today. 9/11 or Pearl Harbor only have value inasmuch as > we place value there personally. When our personal worlds are > falling apart, it seems the whole world is coming unglued. And > when we are doing great, we often forget the pains that still > occur throughout the rest of the world. > Given archaeology's estimate that there were only 1-200 million > people alive in Abraham's day throughout the world, we can > understand how unpopulated many places would be, especially > further back in Adam's day. We are possibly talking of just a few > million people, according to archaeology. It would be very easy > to believe him to be the only person upon the earth. > Or, it is very possible that the Lord allowed Adam to be first > man, and those before him were not counted as in the population > of mankind. We worry about thousands and millions of years, when > God works in multi-billion years and perhaps much longer periods > of mortal time. Was God the Father around prior to the creation > of this universe 15 billion years ago? Perhaps. Does it matter? > Not really. Did he create this earth 4 billion or 6 thousand > years ago? Doesn't matter, either way. He's free to do it any way > he likes. Is the Bible a perfect history? Possibly, but not > necessarily so. It is highly likely that scribes down the road > from Moses could have enhanced some of the story. Why else would > there be two creation stories in the Bible? Yes, I know some > claim one to be a spiritual creation and the other a physical - > but if so, which is which? If the second is the physical > creation, then there's no mention of creating Day and Night, > earth and water, etc. We just have a general creation, and then > man shows up in the Garden. > As for the creation stories in the Book of Moses and the > endowment, we still don't know whether we are learning about the > spiritual creation or the physical one. And there is Book of J > evidence of a third-type of creation story within the Bible that > falls in line with ancient Babylonian/Sumerian Creation stories > (including God having to fight and destroy Leviathan). So, which > one do we fully rely upon? > Traditionally, we take Genesis 1, and follow it. But it isn't > necessarily that easy once we look deeper into the scriptures. > > Do i believe Adam was a historical person? Absolutely! I just > don't know if he was physically the father of all humans, or > symbolically the father of all humans. After all, did God create > him out of the dust of the earth as the scriptures tell us, or > was he transplanted here from another world, as suggested by > Brigham Young? More speculation! > Gary > > > K'aya K'ama > Gerald Smith > [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.geocities.com/rameumptom/ > Freedom Forever > > ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// > //////////// > /// ZION LIST CHARTER: Please read it at /// > /// http://www.zionsbest.com/charter.html /// > ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// > /////////// >
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