Evolution and Faith

I attended a great meeting tonight.  It was put on by the Institute of Religion (LDS church), and they invited two UVU professors to talk about science and faith, who happen to also be members of the Church.
Dr. Heaton and Dr. Ogden did a very nice job of explaining how they balance their religious faith and science.  Dr. Ogden introduced himself like this:
"I am a husband.  I am a father.  I am a brother, a son, a nephew.  I'm an Evolutionary Biologist.  And I'm a Mormon."  (Sounds like all those profiles on mormon.org.  I love it.)
He emphasized that he searches for truth everywhere, it doesn't matter the source.  He said that he can understand how some other faiths could have real problems with incorporating evolution into their belief systems.  But Mormons don't.  Our doctrine and official standing of the Church allow evolution and religion to coexist for us.  (See my previous posts on Evolution, including the cool Coexist sticker at the bottom featuring science and religion.)

"Yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith."
- Doctrine & Covenants 88:118

When I was searching for this Brigham Young quote, I ran across this article that deals with two Republican presidential nominees.  I do not wish to get into the realm of politics on this blog, but the writer makes correlations between the fact that the only 2 Republican presidential candidates who believe in evolution and climate change also happen to be the only 2 that are Mormons.  This is not a coincidence.  Here is the quote I was looking for:

“In these respects we differ from the Christian world, for our religion will not clash with or contradict the facts of science in any particular… whether the Lord found the earth empty and void, whether he made it out of nothing or out of the rude elements; or whether he made it in six days or as many millions of years.”
- Brigham Young, 2nd President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Our scriptures are full of references to learning and even science.
"The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth."
- Doctrine & Covenants 93:36

"Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain until the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand;
"Of things both in heaven [astronomy, meteorology] and in earth [geology], and under the earth [volcanism, oceanography]; things which have been [geology, paleontology], things which are [biology, geology, chemistry, okay, every aspect of science], things which must shortly come to pass;"
-Doctrine & Covenants 88:78-79, examples added

I love being a member of this Church, seriously.  I second what Dr. Ogden said about why he believes in it - he chooses to.  He's experienced too many things that are outside himself - outside his own molecules and matter, etc.  I feel exactly the same way.  Until you truly feel the Spirit, you won't know what the heck we're talking about.  It's a fully tangible, physical, real phenomenon that comes from God.  It's beautiful and awesome.

I too am a seeker of knowledge and truth - wherever it may be.  And I have a blast doing it. :)

Darwin - Dogma?

Disclaimer: These are my thoughts and opinions with my current level of knowledge and understanding, which I'm the first to admit is not great.  I'm certain as I learn more I will weaken or strengthen, toss out, or completely change my views.  Please comment with your views, but please keep in mind my admitted ignorance and keep your words kind. :)

Is it just me, or do some evolutionists (and atheists, for that matter), seem to just be another group of religious fanatics trying to convert you to their beliefs?  It seems like anyone who dares question any of Darwin's theories as scientists currently understand them is ridiculed as a heretic.

In Physics last summer, my teacher introduced science as something where you do not accept ANYTHING based on someone's say so.  It all has to be evidence based from your own experience.  He also said that scientists are a funny bunch.  When a colleague creates something (a new theory), the acceptable way to respond is to attempt to destroy their creation.  If it withstands the skepticism and repeated testing and experimenting, then it is deemed of value.

I agree with this whole-heartedly.  I am very skeptical.  I want to learn everything for myself and figure things out until they click in my head and make sense to my being (aka spirit).
However, I feel like many scientists don't actually agree with this skepticism.  If anyone expresses skepticism about evolution in particular, they are not praised as a true scientist, but they seem to be ridiculed.  I read a quote from some guy a few months ago (forgive me, I only remember the jist of it), saying that science cannot exist with God.  He had some pretty strong words about the fools who believe in God and said that science very effectively disproves the existence of such a being.  I found myself wondering if this is the common view of the entire scientific community or if this guy was just a bit over-the-top.

I myself believe in Natural Selection, it's pretty dang obvious. But I don't necessarily believe it was the sole mechanism for creating the current diversity of life we enjoy on the earth.  So far I don't know enough, but I suspect that evolution CAN happen in individuals, not just populations, and be passed on to their posterity.  That may sound preposterous to most people, and maybe after further study I'll find that it is.  But isn't that what science is about?  Inferring truth and meaning based on what you currently know.

Geology is based heavily on uniformitarianism (spell checker doesn't like that word, but I think I spelled it correctly haha).  I think that Geologists are incredible scientists who are really rather like detectives.  It's super fun to try to figure out what happened to get a given land form to where it is today.  However I think that uniformitarianism is a bit too simple.  I think it could be foolish to take this tiny amount of data we have from recorded history, and apply it to billions of years.  The only constant is change.  I think Geology is great for figuring out how things happened but I don't necessarily believe that they took the amount of time they suppose.  I do think that geologic processes could have happened at different speeds during different times of earth history.  There are too many factors to assume things were always as they are now.

I think that Darwin effectively disproved the idea of the earth being only a few thousand years old.  But I think him jumping to the conclusion that this meant there was no God at all may have been a bit hasty.

My Microbiology teacher always called DNA the "Spirit molecule".  I could never tell if he was making fun of religious people or if he believes in something like that.  I think "spirit" is much smaller than DNA though.  Perhaps quantum physics is scratching the surface of something.  I think there are so many things at play on the sub-atomic level that we may never understand.  And call me crazy if you want, but I think spirit (and indeed, God) is in there- somewhere.

Thanks for reading.  Please comment. :)  And have a nice day.

The human brain and spirit

My father had a stroke at the end of June and lost all feeling and motion on his left side.  But he immediately started working on getting whatever movement and strength he could.  In the ICU the first week, a Physical Therapist came in almost every day and held his leg up for him and told him to push his own leg out.  He didn't have much ability, but even then he could use his muscles slightly.

7/3/2011 Dad strapped in the chair sitting straight up and reaching out because he feels like he's falling over (strong pusher syndrome)

7/3/2011 Needed to have others do everything for him

 This week I went to help him practice walking- he can pull himself up out of his wheelchair, and move his entire left leg (lifting and placing it, not dragging it as the original optimistic prognosis was) and walk while holding on to the railing in the hallway or even using a walker/cane thing.  We are there to support him in case he needs to sit down or loses his strength, but other than that, he does everything himself.  I am so amazed and impressed by his progress.  It's a miracle of the human brain being able to rewire itself after a massive cardiovascular accident and the subsequent tissue damage to a large portion of the brain.

12/1/2011 Dad sitting straight and just got done shaving his whole face and brushing his teeth by himself and is now ready to wheel himself out with little assistance.

Getting ready to walk- sitting in wheelchair, he grabs onto the railing, pulls himself up to standing, and walks while holding the rail or the hemiwalker

It is also a miracle of the human spirit- my dad's sheer determination to get his life back as much as possible.  He is so optimistic and hard-working.  I'm so glad that he has been blessed so much.

I'm continually in awe of the human body and it's complexity and sophistication.  When I took Human Anatomy last spring, all the things I learned made me think over and over, "I don't know how anyone could learn this stuff and not believe there's a God."  It's all too perfect and beautifully organized and orchestrated. :)  I find it so fascinating and amazing.