Quotes from the Brethren
Boyd K. Packer–
If men were merely animals, then logic favors freedom without accountability.
How well I know that among learned men are those who look down at animals and stones to find the origin of man. They do not look inside themselves to find the spirit there. They train themselves to measure things by time, by thousands and by millions, and say these animals called men all came by chance. And this they are free to do, for agency is theirs.
But agency is ours as well. We look up, and in the universe we see the handiwork of God and measure things by epochs, by eons, by dispensations, by eternities. The many things we do not know we take on faith.
But this we know! It was all planned before the world was. Events from the Creation to the final, winding-up scene are not based on chance; they are based on choice! It was planned that way. (Boyd K. Packer, “Atonement, Agency, Accountability,” Ensign, May 1988, 69)
Russell M. Nelson–
Through the ages, some without scriptural understanding have tried to explain our existence by pretentious words such as ex nihilo (out of nothing). Others have deduced that, because of certain similarities between different forms of life, there has been an organic evolution from one form to another. Many of these have concluded that the universe began as a “big bang” that eventually resulted in the creation of our planet and life upon it.
To me, such theories are unbelievable! Could an explosion in a printing shop produce a dictionary? It is unthinkable! Even if it could be argued to be within a remote realm of possibility, such a dictionary could certainly not heal its own torn pages or renew its own worn corners or reproduce its own subsequent editions!
We are children of God, created by him and formed in his image. At least 55 verses of scripture attest to our divine creation. (Russell M. Nelson, “The Magnificence of Man,” Ensign, Jan. 1988, 64 )
Gordon B. Hinckley–
I remember when I was a college student there were great discussions on the question of organic evolution. I took classes in geology and biology and heard the whole story of Darwinism as it was then taught. I wondered about it. I thought much about it. But I did not let it throw me, for I read what the scriptures said about our origins and our relationship to God. Since then I have become acquainted with what to me is a far more important and wonderful kind of evolution. It is the evolution of men and women as the sons and daughters of God, and of our marvelous potential for growth as children of our Creator. (Gordon B. Hinckley, “God Hath Not Given Us the Spirit of Fear,” Ensign, Oct. 1984)
Ezra Taft Benson–
The living prophet gets at what we need to know now, and the world prefers that prophets either be dead or worry about their own affairs. Some so-called experts of political science want the prophet to keep still on politics. Some would-be authorities on evolution want the prophet to keep still on evolution. And so the list goes on and on.
How we respond to the words of a living prophet when he tells us what we need to know, but would rather not hear, is a test of our faithfulness. (Ezra Taft Benson, “Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet,” Tambuli, June 1981, 1)
Quotes from the Founders
George Washington–
The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained. (Washington, George, First Inaugural Address, April 30, 1789)
Speeches and Other Resources
- George R. Hill III, “Seek Ye Diligently,” Ensign, June 1993, 21
- Boyd K. Packer, “The Pattern of Our Parentage,” Ensign, Nov. 1984, 66
- McConkie, Bruce R., “The Seven Deadly Heresies”, 1980
- Petersen, Mark E, “We Believe in God, the Eternal Father”, 1973
- The First Presidency, “The Origin of Man”, 1909
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