Creation: Before the Lesson

So, tomorrow's Sunday School lesson in my ward is on the Creation. While I'm not teaching, it should be a very interesting lesson. While I very much am a believer in God, I simply cannot get behind the idea that the earth is 6000 years old with a six 24-hour day creation. Rather, I believe that the earth is about 4.5 billion years old. It is interesting to note that at the end of the previously linked lesson plan it says that "day" in the Old Testament does not represent a 24-hour period. It doesn't say it "might not" or "may not". That's pretty cool, in my mind. Along with that, I'm one of the Mormons that is crazy enough to believe in evolution by natural selection. Some within the LDS faith will admit to believing in evolution of species outside of humans, but that mankind is a special case. For me that simply doesn't fit into my world view. I believe that man, just like all other species, is the product of (divinely appointed) evolution. I don't believe God "rushed" evolution of any species, but that such things took their sweet time as explained by modern science. I know that this isn't a very well-accepted view among those of my own faith, but even BYU's "Evolution Packet" has a statement that we know the why's of man's creation, but necessarily the how's.

Now some may say, "But David, that's not really all that important to your eternal salvation." That may be true. Eternity doesn't directly hang in the balance when it comes to what I believe on the origin of this earth and the origin of man. That being said, it is important for me to believe as I do. I subscribe to the idea of uniformitarianism on a scientific as well as religious level (see Hebrews 13:8, 1 Nephi 10:18, and Mormon 9:9). Joseph Smith, in the Lectures on Faith said "But it is equally as necessary that men should have the idea that he is a God who changes not, in order to have faith in him, as it is to have the idea that he is gracious and long suffering. For without the idea of unchangeableness in the character if the Deity, doubt would take the place of faith." (Lecture Third, Verse 21) I simply cannot believe in a God who goes about changing the rules of physics on a whim (that being said, I don't believe that the miracles we read about in the scriptures break any laws of physics/chemistry/biology/etc. But that is a post for a later time). If He is changing in something seemingly trivial, how can I put faith in him on the big stuff? So, my friends, that is why I believe in an old earth and man coming about via evolution.

TL;DR I believe in God, an earth that is 4.5 billion years old, and evolution of man.

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