Evolving to Get Back Home

To the Latter-day Saint, our brief mortal life on this physical world is but an evolutionary transition between a previous premortal existence and a subsequent postmortal one. We are creatures of the universe undergoing a metamorphosis. This mortal life has removed us from our original home, but, like migrating salmon, our purpose is to get back.

This purpose is universal to all humans. Latter-day Saints have NO exclusive rights. Our 3rd Article of Faith states: "through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved." In the Book of Moses (1:39) we are taught that God's work and glory consists of bringing to pass "the immortality and eternal life of man." By definition, God does not engage in failed enterprises.

Such higher purpose goes beyond this existence and beyond the empirically known universe. Such purpose cannot be derived by science. We need science, but science is NOT all there is. For example, we need morality.

Some have argued that there must be a morality that can be derived from science. John Kilcullen of Macquarie University, Australia, does a nice job of explaining the basic issues in an essay: Can Evolution Explain Morality? He concludes: " It seems pretty clear that an evolutionary explanation will not provide a foundation for morality." Going a step farther, he argues: "evolutionary explanation may undermine commitment to morality." His reasoning is that if evolution encompasses the entire purpose of life, then it is quite possible to be disinterested in that "purpose."

The late Stephen J. Gould, the famous Harvard evolutionist, would argue in a similar manner. He states:

Stephen J. Gould (1994). Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes. New York: W. W. Norton, pp. 32-44.
If nature is nonmoral, then evolution cannot teach any ethical theory at all. The assumption that it can has abetted a panoply of social evils that ideologues falsely read into nature from their beliefs — eugenics and (misnamed) social Darwinism prominently among them. Not only did Darwin eschew any attempt to discover an antireligious ethic in nature, he also expressly stated his personal bewilderment about such deep issues as the problem of evil.

As Gould indicated, Darwin did not view the science of evolution as being inherently antireligious. In a famous letter from Charles Darwin to the American botanist and firm Christian Asa Gray, dated May 22nd, 1860, Darwin discusses his lack of theological intention in his then recently published On the Origin of Species:

I had no intention to write atheistically. But I own that I cannot see as plainly as others do, and as I should wish to do, evidence of design and beneficence on all sides of us. There seems to me too much misery in the world. I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidæ with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of Caterpillars, or that a cat should play with mice. … On the other hand, I cannot anyhow be contented to view this wonderful universe, and especially the nature of man, and to conclude that everything is the result of brute force. I am inclined to look at everything as resulting from designed laws … . I feel most deeply that the whole subject is too profound for the human intellect. A dog might as well speculate on the mind of Newton. Let each man hope and believe what he can. Certainly I agree with you that my views are not at all necessarily atheistical.

Please note Darwin's famous phrase: "Let each man hope and believe what he can."

Darwin had theological struggles precipitated in part by the death of his beloved daughter, Annie, and the existence of parasitic Ichneumon wasps, but he also realized that the solution to evil and suffering was beyond the capacity of science.

Even if evolutionary science can account for many of our moral perspectives, the comment made in the movie African Queen (1951) by Rose (Kate Hepburn) to Charlie (Humphrey Bogart) could still be true: “Nature, Mr. Alnutt, is what we are put in this world to rise above.”

While the Genesis story of Adam & Eve cannot be taken literally in all its parts, there are essential messages. One such message is that the suffering and pain of this fallen world is temporary, and that there is more to this existence than the trials we now experience.

This essay will NOT pretend to solve the problem of pain and suffering. But, I am reminded of a scene in one of my favorite movies, Apollo 13:

Apollo 13, 1995 film directed by Ron Howard:
Television Reporter: Is there a specific instance in an airplane emergency when you can recall fear?

NASA Astronaut Jim Lovell: Uh well, I'll tell ya, I remember this one time - I'm in a Banshee at night in combat conditions, so there's no running lights on the carrier. It was the Shrangri-La, and we were in the Sea of Japan and my radar had jammed, and my homing signal was gone... because somebody in Japan was actually using the same frequency. And so it was - it was leading me away from where I was supposed to be. And I'm lookin' down at a big, black ocean, so I flip on my map light, and then suddenly: zap. Everything shorts out right there in my cockpit. All my instruments are gone. My lights are gone. And I can't even tell now what my altitude is. I know I'm running out of fuel, so I'm thinking about ditching in the ocean. And I, I look down there, and then in the darkness there's this uh, there's this green trail. It's like a long carpet that's just laid out right beneath me. And it was the algae, right? It was that phosphorescent stuff that gets churned up in the wake of a big ship. And it was - it was - it was leading me home. You know? If my cockpit lights hadn't shorted out, there's no way I'd ever been able to see that. So uh, you, uh, never know... what... what events are going to transpire to get you home.

As stated: "You never know what events are going to transpire to get you home." In this short life we experience tribulation. Evil is not theory; it is confronted directly. We experience death and termination. Pain is potentially around every turn. Could these trials be the events that get us home?

If this life is but an evolutionary training ground for returning to some heavenly home, then upon arrival we will indeed appreciate and understand, like Adam & Eve, that becoming like God requires knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3:22).

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