This book was fascionating for the way in which it tried to reconcile theology with science. I loved the way in which he compared the two and demonstrated that both were reliant upon faith. He looks at the teachings of Joseph Smith regarding the eternal nature of matter, energy which he sees as coming from the Holy Spirit, which he likens to the great ether, which was a dominent scientific idea during his time, which states that the universe is permeated in a ether that peervades through everything, this he says is the Holy Spirit that supplies life, light and governs the world, it is God’s presence through all of creation. An interesting chapter is when he talks about plato’s cave and how all we see is the shadows of the reality as nature in its ultimate form is unknowable; our minds cannot comprehend the relation of cause and effect, this makes me think of David Hume who looked at this fact and the limitations of the human mind in what we can know. “Laws of Nature are, therefore, man’s simplest and most comprehensive expression of his knowledge of certain groups of natural phenomena.” (p.34)
Two chapters I really enjoyed were the ones in which he talks about geological time and evolution. Two areas I have been pondering recently. The first he points out the fact that nature is a means through which God can speak to us, it is the second book of scripture, the stars, clouds, mountains and soil are a form of divine revelation of the history of the world. He reconciles this to an interpretation of the creation whereby the days are symbolic of periods of unspecified time, not literal 24 hour periods. He as part of this looks at organised intellgences and that eternity of life, is the eternity of organisation, which is intellegience.
Another great section is the one in which he applies the gospel to science, thereby showing that the gospel is scientific, or science derives from eternal rinciples of the gospel. He starts of with Faith. People often when they lose faith or start to doubt turn to science as a more sure form of knowledge due to its derivation from experiements which comes from the senses and s more tangible and thus has no need for faith. Yet, Widtsoe shows that faith is needed in science, for much of science speaks of worlds far removed from our senses and is beyond that which we can know. He cites molecules and atoms, as an example of that, things which we cannot obersve with our own eyes. They are far removed from the real world, yet, we believe in their existence, despite the fact that most of us have never seen them, and that they seem to contradict our own personal experience. He then points out that as faith in a scientific practice grows it causes scientist to repent, to alter theories and practices to be in harmony with the new principle, such as antiseptic surgery. “In the spiritual life, it is impossible for the person who desires the greatest joy to remain passive in the presence of new principles. He must embrace them; live them; make them his own.” (p. 81) This he says brings obedience to law which he likens to baptism, which is obedience to spiritual law although we may not understand why it is baptism and not anything else. Likewise we may not understand why a coil of wire must be coiled to emit light. “All theoloy and all science contain laws that must be obeyed in order to obtain certain results, although the full reasons for the required combinations are not understood.” If scientists exert faith, change ways, and obey laws then they recieve knowledge or intellegience, which Jospeh Smith said is what the holy ghost is. “the holy ghost has no other effect than pure intelligence it is powerfull in expanding the mind, enlightening understanding, and storing the intellect with present knowledge.” Thus, a sciemtist recieves a gift from the holy ghost as a reward for their obedience.
In the section on the theory of evolution he uses Herbert Spencer to guide his thinking. “ Man seeks the law of laws, by the operation of which, things have become what they are, and by which their destiny is controlled.” Spencer says that everything is in a state of flux and changes from instant to instant. Everything is either progressing or regressing as it is changing in one direction or the other. This is the law of evolution that things are evolving into a progressive state. The next move hemakes is to draw ths distinction between natural selection and evolution. Darwinian notions of the struggle for existence he rejects and states evolution is true but natural selection does not, and may not be true. He states that one form of life can not change into another form of life but remains in the sphere in which God has created it.
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