Q: Based on LDS theology, is it reasonable that the Savior would have employed evolution as a mechanism for effecting the creation?

A: Given my understanding of the divine strategy employed to elevate the spirit offspring of God to a celestial state, I believe that creation by the Savior of the physical diversity of life through evolutionary processes is a much more satisfactory explanation (more compatible with the means God uses to achieve his ends) than creation by fiat.

For Latter-day Saints, the earth and its living inhabitants came into existence through acts performed by Deity which we call creation. This fundamental principle of our religious faith is not in question. We are inquiring, instead, whether evolution as a modus operandi for creation is compatible with what God has revealed about the strategies he employs to bring about his divine purposes.

An attempt to understand the theological implications of an evolutionary mechanism might begin with an examination of the LDS concept of the Plan of Salvation. This is a vision of the eternal nature and possibilities of man. In broad outline, a pre-existent spirit - the literal offspring of Deity - experiences mortal life in preparation, and to qualify for a continuing future of unlimited potential. It is very useful, I think, to distinguish between the role performed by God as "Creator" in this enterprise, and the program he requires as his children as "createes". For we who are attempting to achieve godliness through this program there are two essentials for success (Figure 1):

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time (life is a probationary period, Alma 42:10), and a chance to exercise, and a chance to exercise agency (thus proving worthiness, Abraham 3:25-26). The important point is that we are active, not passive participants in the enterprise. What we know of the kingdoms of glory and their inhabitants suggests that this program will result in diversity - a very wide range in the quality of that preparation and hence in the potential for ultimate accomplishment.

And what is God's part in this plan? Can we envision Christ and the Father laying their hands on the head of a human being, even a very good one, or raising their arms to the square, and in a priesthood-mediated act, proclaiming, "Be Ye a god!" I believe our answer to this question must be no; they would not, in fact they could not. Between the two they act as author of the plan, executor, mentor, confidant, Savior, Revelator, friend - all these and other indispensable functions if we are to obtain godhood, but they cannot bring gods into existence by fiat, solely by an act of their will and power. In the words of the hymn, "He will call, persuade, direct aright, . . . but never force the human mind" (6). God knows what the end result ought to be, he knows what is required to achieve it, he provides the circumstances under which it is possible - he may or may not need to engage in trial and error as "Creator" - but for the would-be gods, trial and error (sin and repentance) are, in fact, indispensable in "implementing their own creation" (working out their own salvation).

Next let's assume that what we have just described is a specific example (call it the "spiritual case") of a general model, and attempt to derive its generic elements (Figure 2). These appear to be as follows. There is an immortal entity (or at least an entity with an immortal component) with the potential for progression - an eternal destiny. The achievement of the fulness of that potential requires a preparatory history. The prerequisite conditions for the developmental period are time and a sphere of action. A statement from the Doctrine and Covenants seems to capture the fundamental principle upon which such a program operates: "All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also; otherwise there is no existence (D&C 93:20). Our first inclination may be to assume that an omnipotent God, acting as Creator, would act quickly and directly to being his creations into existence. I believe it likely that this same principle governed the process which generated physical life in its wonderful variety.

Figure 3 suggests that the general model just described might also be appropriately applied in the biochemical.biological world for generating physical life. The proposition begins with the assumption that the chemical elements of the earth are eternal (D&C 93:33). Mormon theology clearly rejects creation ex nihilo. For us the creative act is best described as organization, not the production of something from nothing (7). Placed by God in a sphere of action, under circumstances in which they would interact, and given time, what sorts of organization might the elements be expected to produce? It seems to me that the answer is biochemical and biological diversity, the generation of life in varying degrees of complexity as envisioned in the evolutionary scenario. Because the spirits of men possess agency they may be given stewardships with attendant accountability for the outcome of behavior. Though agency probably doesn't apply in the physical realm - the chemical behavior of molecules is not subject to their "will" - the range of reactions into which they can enter (defined by their intrinsic attributes: atomic organization, bond lengths and angles, etc.) might be properly considered a sphere of action, an estate which they can keep (Abraham 3:26). Just as God does not force his will upon men's spirits in their quest for godliness (but instead holds their agency inviolate), would he not also preserve the opportunity for the elements to "fill the measure of [their] creation" (D&C 88: 19, 25) without coercion? After all, it is contrary to the priesthood, which is the creative power, to operate by control, compulsion or unrighteous dominion (D&C 121:37-29).

How does this view of the creative mechanism compare to the scriptural accounts of the events? My reading of Abraham in its description of how the world and its living organisms came into existence suggests indeed that the elements (earth, water) were allowed to "act for themselves" under the creative direction and oversight of Deity - a scenario not inconsistent with the evolutionary process. The key concepts, repeated at the various stages of creation are that the Gods organized the inorganic components and prepared them to bring forth the living creatures (Abraham 4:1-31).

12. And the Gods organized the earth to bring forth grass from its own seed, and the herb to bring forth herb from its own seed, yielding seed after his kind; and the earth to bring forth the tree from its own seed, yielding fruit, whose seed could only bring forth the same in itself, after his kind; and the Gods saw that they were obeyed.

21. And the Gods prepared the waters that they might bring forth great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters were to bring forth abundantly after their kind; and every winged fowl after their kind. And the Gods saw that they would be obeyed, and that their plan was good.

Verse 18 of Chapter 4 is an especially intriguing description of the Creators during an interim stage: "And the Gods watched those things which they had ordered until they obeyed." There is here a clear suggestion of periods of time during which those objects undergoing creation, as agents, were left to themselves to follow the divinely instigated program.

At the conclusion of several stages of His work the Creator proclaimed the achievements up to that point as "good." What does "good" in this context signify? Was this self praise - "Michael and I did a good job."? Was this an assessment that the creations turned out the way they should have, that they were now in excellent condition? Was this a description of the moral excellence of the creations, their being good as opposed to evil (are land or waters or herb or tree or sun or moon or beasts - any except man - possessed of a spirit capable of choosing good from evil)? At least one other interpretation is suggested from a prominent Book of Mormon theme.

Nephi, Abinadi and Alma, among others, explored the notion that an event or idea or behavior is good if it leads to or promotes life. "He hath given unto you that ye might know good from evil, and he hath given unto you that ye might choose life or death." (Helaman 15:31); See also 2 Ne. 23, 26-27, 3 Ne. 26:5). Often, or course, life in these references is used in a spiritual not biological sense. But isn't it possible, when at the end of the 3rd day while viewing the dry land and the waters, that the statement "I God, saw that all things which I had made were good," was a recognition that conditions now existed that would give rise to physical life?

I feel more comfortable with a scenario in which the Creator permits the elements in the sphere in which He has placed them to participate in an evolutionary process which in 4 1/2 billion years produces a horse, than one in which the Creator, by virtue of his omnipotence, stretches forth his hand and achieves a complex creature instantaneously with the proclamation, "Let there be horse!" He certainly could do it this latter way if he wanted to, but would he? Would that be in keeping with his mandate to let "truth act for itself"?