Mormons on Evolution

On the Tribunal Blog Eric asked about LDS views on Evolution. I did a little bit of research and found a couple things that were surprising to me.

"Elder Talmage (a geologist by training) strongly emphasized that countless organisms had lived and died for millions of years before the fall of Adam, some small portion of them becoming fossils. He also quoted scripture and expressed his conviction that Adam was indeed the first member of the human race, that we existed previously in heaven, and that we were created in the image of God (pp. 68–70)."

Talmage is a pretty authoritative source. . . not "doctrine" but pretty compelling. Just as interesting as the evolution aspect is the rejection of a "young earth" theory by Talmage. Interesting indeed. This comment was made in 1930. The following was made in 1910.

The First Presidency, in their regular column in the Improvement Era, "Priesthood Quorums' Table," stated the following: "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"

Anyway, I've always thought I would look pretty stupid if I had to defend "young earth" (the idea that the age of the earth is 6,000 years or so, in accordance with the bible), but now I will just quote Elder Talmage and say that the earth has been around for millions of years. I never had a problem with reconciling the evolution of non-human animals and the scriptures, but now I think even pre-human homonids are probably within the reach of scriptural accuracy.

Maybe I'll look up the flood on the same BYU site. I'll tell you what, if I can find brethren publicly stating that the flood was most likely localized and not global, I just might start to believe the rest of the Old Testament!

brad

Me and Al Gore!

For anyone who hasn't seen the news, Al Gore uses 20 times the electricity and gas of a normal person to keep just ONE of his mansions running. He claims that he invests in/buys renewable energy sources to offset his own use. IE, he pays someone else to be CO2 efficient so that he doesn't have to.

That gave me and idea. Check out my new Ebay Auction.

brad

Update from Jay Bateman

Jay has been emailing me recently - and I don't know if it is public news or not - some of you probably already know - but he told me to keep it a secret. I am really not good at keeping secrets or surprises but I am not sure this is a secret. Anyways - James and Jackie had their baby boy on Wed. the 21st and he said that Andrea is engaged and getting married on June 29th.

I HAD TO MAKE THE CALL

As sad as Buffy was to see me stop earning more money, I called my paper-route supervisor yesterday and told him that I would have to quit the route due to increased travel from my full-time job (which is at least partly true). I was really dreading the thought of getting a sub for our New York trip, which is coming up at the end of March. It’s one thing to ask your neighbor to wake up at 4:30am for one or two days, it’s entirely another to ask him to do it for 5 days in a row.

I figure I made around $15/hour on average, net of all expenses (including an estimated $100/month in car damage). I’d actually keep doing it, but it just won’t work during the summer with vacations and travel. It really isn’t that bad, the worst was that it was endlessly exhausting because it was every day. An interesting experiment if nothing else. Hard to sympathize with people that are really struggling for money. Heck, you can make an extra $700 a month if you just wake up early, and drive around in your car for 45 minutes a day….and I’ve rarely heard financial sob stories from people that don’t own at least one car. Then again, maybe I had superior paper-man skills.

Ty

It is funny how you get excited over things certain things after you have kids. Ty has been interested in sitting on the potty and has peed on the floor on the way to sit on the potty and on the floor next to the potty but this morning he was sitting on the potty and actually peed in the potty! I was so surprised that he actually went - Kade and I were both really excited and kept telling him good job - he acted like it was no big deal. This is probably just a one time deal - but hopefully he sticks with it and continues to go in the potty! :)

I Did It!!!!

I finally copied the picture cd and sent you each one. I sent a consent form with it that you have to show to have them printed.
Mom

Let's Try This Again

Okay, so it looks like the student who scheduled the Kids Club commericial didn't quite do it right. They also didn't run the report telling me what times it would be on correctly, thus no commericial when we thought there would be one. So here's the new schedule. Hopefully, this one is right. Sorry about all the confusion!

Wed. 2/21
- 5:58 pm

Fri. 2/23
- 11:58 am

Sat. 2/24
- 8:58 am
- 1:28 pm

Sun. 2/25
- 10:58 am
- 6:58 pm

Mon. 2/26
- 6:27 am

Tues. 2/27
- 12:27 pm

IF Entertainment

Morgan, GOOD NEWS! I just saw that the Kiwanis teen film vestival will be showing on April 11th!!! Woo Hoo! Remember how good it was last year? I can't wait. I also see that the Mckellar girl has an award winning music video that will be shown. Mark your calendar.

hey

Buffy, I got the modbe package. I have your shirt...it is really cute. Kind of makes me wish I would have gotten one! I didn't get the brown sweatshirt I ordered. In one place it said it was sold out, but then in another it said it was on backorder. I was going to mail your sister about it and see what is up, but I dont think I have her email. Pass it along if you would. In case I wasn't exactly clear on the last post, I just want one hook thing. The kind like my mom's. I am excited to see you guys. Interesting that Rich has to take over a class and teach it. That should be fun. Hopefully the students dont just sit and stare. I can see that happening. Fun times.
Well, not much new here.

Baby Morgan turns 1

Morgan turned one on Saturday and spent most of the day throwing up on everything. Here are a few pictures we managed to get where she looks relatively happy. We had a Disney Princess party for her. I made the cake and thought it came out pretty well, the blue things on the sides are windows with the Disney Princesses looking out.

I was supposed to get the TV schedule for the Kids Club spot today, but the student hasn't emailed it to me yet and I'm not in my office. I'll be sure to get it tomorrow.

Valentine's Day

Buffy, Riley was very excited to get the valentine from Kade and Ty today. She made one that she will be sending tomorrow. It will also have the check for the ModBe stuff in it, so maybe don't let Kade rip it open :) Sorry that has taken me so long. I have a really hard time mailing things for some reason. Usually it is a stamp issue. Anyway, I am VERY impressed that Kade can write his name!
I want one of those knobby picture hanger things from Rod Works. Are you guys planning on being in IF anytime soon? If so, would you get me one? Let me know. I have looked everywhere for them here. No luck.
Today for family home evening (if you can even call it that), I asked Riley if she knew who Joseph Smith was. She said "Joe Smith was getting chased by bad guys so he went in the forest". Sounded pretty good to us. Maybe they taught her that in Sunbeams...cause we know we didn't :)
Hope everyone has a lovely Valentine's Day. Buffy, maybe you could ask your one princess birthday party/limosine/pedicure/dipped chocolates friend what her husband did for her last year so we can all use that as leverage this year.

KBYU commercial??

Ali,
Do you have a schedule of when the KBYU commercial with the boys in it appears on T.V.?? We have been watching for it and have never seen it on.
Thanks, Buffy

cabinets

Dad finished refinishing the cabinets in all the bathrooms and the kitchen! We put new hardware on and they really look nice. the first picture is the before. Actually this is the after, I still have major problems posting pictures I guess

Southern California - Day 1

After about 12 hours of driving we arrived in Anahiem on Friday. The trip was pretty uneventful. Man, the southeast is one big desert. There is pretty much nothing from Albuquerque all the way to San Bernadino. The trip from Flagstaff on makes northern New Mexico look like an oasis.

Yesterday we drove another 90 minutes down to San Diego and went to Sea World. The girls went on the only roller coaster there, then we went to the dolphin show. Brooke and Dad were chosen to be part of the show. We rubbed the dolphins, and Brooke was in a 'splahing game' with one. We'll post some pictures when we get home and get them developed (so maybe by Christmas). Today we're going to church, then probably to the beach for awhile. Maybe we'll get back in time to see the end of the Super Bowl.