I know that Alliance dislikes long posts, and I do as well, but I think the parts I have quoted from this article are relevant to the discussion. I am sorry if it isn't, I thought it was, perhaps my view of the discussion is off.
George R. Hill III, “Seek Ye Diligently,” Ensign, June 1993, 21But how do we find truth? As we seek to understand the gospel and its related truths more fully, we would do well to keep in mind the parameters governing the two methods of discovering truth—the scientific method and the revelation method. Both processes can be of great benefit to us in our efforts to “seek … diligently and teach one another words of wisdom.” (D&C 88:118.)
The goal of the scientific method is to determine by objective, reproducible measurements what happens in a given system and how it happens. To ensure validity, the same results must be obtained each time the same set of conditions prevail. Subjective data (like love for family or impressions from the Holy Ghost) are not discounted as being nonexistent, untrue, or unimportant; they simply lie outside the framework of scientific methodology.
The revelation method of learning truth is subjective. Depending on senses additional to those we use to measure data quantitatively, this method utilizes our feelings, often to answer why—a question beyond the purview of the scientific method. Reproducing at will the receipt of revealed information is not under the investigator’s control.
Gospel truths, including things we need to know and do to obtain eternal life, were given to mankind by revelation. The Lord chose to reveal these basic truths to prophets, who recorded them for our use as scripture. He wisely chose to ensure through direct communication that these truths were clear and correct, and has so testified.
The Lord wisely left a vast set of truths for us to discover via experience and scientific experimentation. So it is necessary for us to develop our minds, recognizing the principle of eternal progress, to achieve our celestial potential. Thus, a large body of useful truths external to strict gospel truth has been accumulated over the ages to bless and improve our lives.
There has been much attention in the media about the teaching of the theory of evolution. While serving as dean of the University of Utah’s College of Mines and Mineral Industries, I had interesting discussions with fellow faculty members in the departments of geology, geography, and geophysics about the theory of evolution and the misunderstanding many people have about the scientific method.
In the process of discovering scientific truths, it is essential to develop theories that relate experimental observations to each other and suggest additional tests to determine the validity of those theories or to modify them, which is generally the case.
Competent scientists recognize that theories are not laws but serve the function of testing ideas and pursuing new relationships. Elder John A. Widtsoe observed: “Facts never change, but the inferences from them are changeable. … The careful man does not become so enamored of an hypothesis or a theory that he cannot distinguish it from a fact. … Theories of science can no more overthrow the facts of religion than the facts of science. … One cannot build a faith upon the theory of evolution, for this theory is of no higher order than any other inference, and is therefore in a state of constant change.” (In Search of Truth: Comments on the Gospel and Modern Thought, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1930, pp. 41, 46, 110.)
The theory of evolution as presently taught posits that higher forms of life arose gradually from lower stages of living matter. Inheritable genetic changes in offspring are assumed to be spontaneous rather than the result of arranged or directed forces external to the system.
This theory conflicts with a basic law of chemistry, the second law of thermodynamics, which states in part that it is not possible for a spontaneous process to produce a system of higher order than the system possessed at the beginning of the change.
An example of a spontaneous process is a boulder that dislodges from a mountaintop and rolls down the mountain. The only way to get the boulder back up the mountain (thereby increasing its height, or the order of the system) is for energy outside the system to be expended—such as someone directing the process by seeing that the rock is carried up the mountain.
One of the current explanations of the improvement in plant and animal species over time is that cosmic radiation caused genetic changes resulting in a higher order of offspring survivability than the parent possessed.
A number of years ago, a renowned biologist and geneticist told of an experiment he had directed in which grasshoppers in their various stages of growth had been subjected to radiation levels greater than that insect family had received during its existence. He said the experiment caused many genetic changes, including the loss of a foreleg, an antenna, or some other inheritable change. However, not one of those changes gave the offspring a greater viability or survivability than that of the parent.
Many Latter-day Saints recognize that the processes involved in evolution are valid. We see improved strains and varieties of plants and animals developed through judicious selection of their parents. But we would have to agree with those who understand the limitation defined in the second law of thermodynamics limitation that such changes can only occur if guided or if outside energy is available to improve the system.
We are in the very fortunate position of understanding that the Lord is in charge of the universe and that positive genetic changes can in fact occur under his direction. On the other hand, spontaneous improvements of the type hypothesized by devotees of current evolutionary theory remain an unsupported supposition.
Hill was a long-time chemical and fuels engineering professor at the University of Utah and member of the National Academy of Engineering. As well as a General Authority for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We do not believe in paid ministry, so our leaders typically have expertise in other fields as well.