First off, as James Talmage said, there is no conflict between science and religion when both are clearly understood; if there is apparent conflict, it is due to our own incomplete and imperfect understanding of one or the other (or even both.) That said, there are limitations to both sets of knowledge with regards to this particular question. Religion has not attempted to answer definitively with any level of detail what exactly encompassed the creation, and I think any attempts to wring a detailed history of the world by literally reading the Genesis account of the creation such as the Ussher chronology are wrong-headed from the get-go. The answer from God appears to be some form of "that is not important to your salvation, so details have not been revealed." Also, it stands in (occasionally, apparent) contrast with science, which means that it becomes a means whereby to try the faith of Man.
Evolution, on the other hand, is a bit more tricky. Sure, there is a strong, decades-long scientific tradition of the model of evolution being the explanation given for the peopling (and inhabiting by both plants and animals, for that matter) of the earth. However... things are not as simple as they seem.
A few interesting examples: the credibility of the scientific industry overall has undergone a rather withering fire for anyone who's been paying attention to it. Although I could discuss this at length, to do so, I'd need to dig out a lot of old sources that I've read but not really tracked; rather, let me point you merely to a summary here, and an even more scathing one in the book reviewed here. And here's one specifically regarding evolution itself.
But maybe that's getting a little ahead of ourselves. Despite it's ascendancy, evolution as a model suffers from a number of crippling flaws, notably:
- The second law of thermodynamics states that natural systems become more chaotic over time, not more structured and organized. Evolution posits the opposite.
- Few scientists understand the statistics involved. While they handwave away the unlikeliness of evolution by saying that clearly it did happen, in reality, no rational mathematical model can possibly give us the complexity we see over the time frame that we see. That mathematics would require an order of magnitude (or more) more time for evolution to have produced the result that we see today.
- This is even worse with the abiotic genesis of life from some "primordial soup." There is no satisfactory scientific explanation for the genesis of life from not-life organic elements. And again; the statistical odds of not-life becoming life is astronomically more difficult than most scientists realize or admit.
- Hybrid species in the fossil record are rare, and usually unconvincing, except in a very macro, big picture way. As an example; Archaeopterix lithographica is often held out as a transition between dinosaurs and birds; however, it's also clearly too derived in a number of characteristics to be ancestral to later birds. It's therefore a "close cousin" of a completely unknown and unconfirmed ancestor to birds. This kind of ghost transition fossil story is commonplace; the actual transition fossil is almost uniformly unknown. There's even a modification to the theory of evolution that purports to explain why there is no clear fossil evidence for evolution: punctuated equilibrium. All of this merely says that there is no significant "hard evidence" of evolution in the fossil record.
- Experiments have been conducted with fruit flies, bombarded with mutagens to supposedly replicate the effect of millions of years of evolution. None of these has ever produced anything like a new species.
- In fact, the very notion that mutation is beneficial and can result in speciation, especially prompted by vacant ecological niches, is a just-so story that has never been observed or explained satisfactorily. And it trips over its own feet to some degree; mutation isn't caused by ecological vacancies, so what exactly prompts rabid speciation and diversification when ecological vacancies exist is not explained at all.
- The complexity of various organs, such as the vertebrate eye, or a bird's wing, which have hundreds of working parts that all interact together to fulfill a single function, has no explanation. There are handwavy attempts to suggest that "half a wing" or a "partial eye" confers some evolutionary benefit, thus prompting transitional features to exist, but these are handwavy just-so stories. The reality is that these complex structures have to have been designed in coordinated fashion in order to even exist. This is, again, a failure of most scientists to truly understand statistics and probability; c.f. the just-story which is actually statistically impossible of millions of monkey and millions of typewriters and Shakespeare.
- The same is true for intracellular enzyme interactions, or for that matter, other complex symbiotic interrelationships.
- Biological models, as referred to in the link above, are continually debunked by genetics, requiring tweaks to the theory of evolution until it is a hopelessly complex model that rests on an unproven foundation, and is therefore very unlikely to actually end up being true.
While it isn't really my purpose in this post to debunk the theory of evolution by natural selection (TENS for short), it is important for this post that I point out and establish, at least at a very high level, that TENS is very poor science, and if it weren't for inertia and politics within the scientific community, it almost certainly would have been discarded decades ago, and we'd either be talking about a new standard model, or at least be in search of one. The reality is that we are desperately in need of a new model that better explains the data that we have, because evolution doesn't do so. Young earth creationism doesn't either, which is the other obvious alternative in the public sphere, so we do not have a model that actually fits the data well currently, unless it lurks out there in the fringe realm of pseudo-science.
One day, the edifice protecting evolution from sufficient criticism to bring the model down will break through the political forces aligned to stop such criticism from gaining steam and some alternative, whatever it may be, will be presented. Then again, maybe it won't happen until further light and knowledge is revealed to Man. TENS has evolved into the counter-argument against religion; an atheistic, secular humanist dogma. As I said, neither the "standard" religious model of young earth creationism nor the atheist natural selection model are realistic or believable, and both are contradicted by a wide variety of evidence, but the presence of the model of evolution has been a very effective tool for Satan in leading people astray from their faith because of the weaknesses in young earth creationism, and the suppression of details about the weaknesses of evolution. As I said earlier, and as Bro. Talmage said decades ago, there is no conflict between science and religion when both are properly understood. However, neither are properly understood today; science gives us a visibly unworkable model with no alternatives, and religion declines to answer the question in any detail at present (although curiously, there are ways in which using time dilation observed by theoretical physics can actually—believe it or not—salvage and reconcile the Bible narrative with observed scientific observations about age. But that doesn't take away from the fact that the creation narrative that we have is incredibly light on details, and almost certainly deliberately so on the part of God, or Moses, or both.) For now, what is required is faith that more details on the how will be forthcoming at some future date, possibly in the Millennium, or in our life to come as we learn and grow more following the Resurrection. From D&C 101: 32 Yea, verily I say unto you, in that day when the Lord shall come, he shall reveal all things— 33 Things which have passed, and hidden things which no man knew, things of the earth, by which it was made, and the purpose and the end thereof— 34 Things most precious, things that are above, and things that are beneath, things that are in the earth, and upon the earth, and in heaven. From the Religion 301 manual (an Institute, or BYU class): How was the earth created? The Lord has not yet revealed how the earth was created. All we know is that it was created by God. (That quote from D&C 101 will apply quite well to all kinds of mysteries in astronomy and astrophysics that also are clumsily patched up with a secular, areligious scientific dogma, but that's a discussion for another time...)
Nor is my purpose to present an alternative model. I personally favor a model that has many of the "noble and great ones" involved in the creation, as described in Abraham 3 as a learning and training exercise, to prepare the world for the coming of Man, and that the various stages of life as seen in the fossil record are more like the model years of a car than what is described in TENS. But that's merely my own speculative pet theory and without a greater understanding of what the purpose of such an activity may be, it's hard to pin it down as only one of many potential models that could fit the available data. But we shall indeed see. As Bruce R. McConkie once wrote (and with the caveat that McConkie wrote a lot of stuff that was clearly merely his opinion, learned though it was); emphasis mine: When, during the Millennium, the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon is translated, it will give an account of life in the premortal existence; of the creation of all things; of the Fall and the Atonement and the Second Coming; of temple ordinances, in their fullness; of the ministry and mission of translated beings; of life in the spirit world, in both paradise and hell; of the kingdoms of glory to be inhabited by resurrected beings; and many such like things. As of now, the world is not ready to receive these truths. For one thing, these added doctrines will completely destroy the whole theory of organic evolution as it is now almost universally taught in the halls of academia. For another, they will set forth an entirely different concept and time frame of the creation, both of this earth and all forms of life and of the sidereal heavens themselves, than is postulated in all the theories of men. And sadly, there are those who, if forced to make a choice at this time, would select Darwin over Deity.
Some of the speculation of pre-Adamites came about a hundred or more years ago as Charles Darwin's TENS theory was first breaking across the world, in particular with regards to the age of human and hominid fossils, and the very existence of "early man" in general that seemed to contradict the Adam and Eve narrative. Given the many weaknesses of TENS, it's possible that the reason for the idea is somewhat mitigated, although it would also require that one believe that the half-life of Carbon-14 and radiocarbon dating is flawed science; a more difficult premise to accept, as I know of no challenges of any significance to the rationale of radiocarbon dating. So what exactly is the idea of pre-Adamites, and what happened to the idea that it's kind of dropped out of the consciousness of the membership of the Church?
Obviously, science still teaches us that the longevity of the human race is a good deal longer than as described in Scripture. According to research, anatomically modern humans have existed since about 200,000 years ago, out of a diverse selection of "archaic human" groups such as Neanderthals, Heidelburgians, Denisovans, Ergasters and Antecesors, etc. go back a million or more years, and guys like Homo erectus and Homo habilis go back almost 3 million years, before which their ancestors were supposed to have been the chimpanzee-like Australopithecus. Now granted; you need to get the details on a lot of this research. What is presented to us as a done deal with complete skeletons of unambiguous interpretation is often quite far from that in reality; while nothing as grotesquely false as the Piltdown Man hoax is evident, I firmly believe that without the underlying context of TENS, the data that we have on these so-called early humans could and would be interpreted very differently than they are today. A few fragments of bone does not a convincing man-ape hybrid make unless your model requires man-ape hybrids, after all, and very few of these specimens are known from more than a few fragments of bone. Most of the skulls that you see pictures of are reconstructions based on a bit of braincase attached to some brow ridges, a separate find of some jaw bones from a similar locale that is referred to the same species, and the rest is filled in via comparative anatomy. There's a joke physical anthropologists, archaeologists and paleontologists make that you could fit all of the pre-Modern human remains that we have today in a single shoe box, and still have room for the shoes. That's an exaggeration, but it's funny because of the underlying truth behind it. But even if you disregard the entire reconstruction of primive, ape-like species like Homo habilis, you still have anatomically modern humans that extend an order of magnitude earlier than Adam could possibly have been extended. It is very difficult to envision even an unliteral reading of the Scriptural account that has Adam and Eve running around 200,000 years ago. And yet we have skeletons that date that old, and no reason to doubt the veracity of the dating.
In addition to that, here's a small roundup of some quotations from The Brethren:
- In a Memorandum from the First Presidency to the General Authorities (mentioned above) issued in April 1931, it says: Both parties [i.e., Elders Joseph Fielding Smith and B. H. Roberts] make the scripture and the statements of men who have been prominent in the affairs of the Church the basis of their contention; neither has produced definite proof in support of his views... Upon the fundamental doctrines of the Church we are all agreed. Our mission is to bear the message of the restored Gospel to the people of the world. Leave geology, biology, archaeology and anthropology, no one of which has to do with the salvation of the souls of mankind, to scientific research, while we magnify our calling in the realm of the Church. We can see no advantage to be gained by a continuation of the discussion to which reference is here made, but on the contrary are certain that it would lead to confusion, division and misunderstanding if carried further. Upon one thing we should all be able to agree namely, that presidents Joseph F. Smith, John Winder and Anthon Lund were right when they said: "Adam is the primal parent of our race."
- Elder James Talmage wrote, of the same debate: Involved in this question is that of the beginning of life upon the earth, and as to whether there was death either of animal or plant before the fall of Adam, on which proposition Elder Smith was very pronounced in denial and Elder Roberts equally forceful in the affirmative. As to whether Pre-Adamite races existed upon the earth there has been much discussion among some of our people of late. The decision reached by the First Presidency, and announced to this morning's assembly, was in answer to a specific question that obviously the doctrine of the existence of races of human beings upon the earth prior to the fall of Adam was not a doctrine of the Church; and, further, that the conception embodied in the belief of many to the effect that there were no such Pre-Adamite races, and that there was no death upon the earth prior to Adam's fall is likewise declared to be no doctrine of the Church. I think the decision of the First Presidency is a wise one in the premises. This is one of the many things upon which we cannot preach with assurance and dogmatic assertions on either side are likely to do harm rather than good.
- Hugh Nibley, in an article titled "Before Adam" wrote, among other things: Do not begrudge existence to creatures that looked like men long, long ago, nor deny them a place in God's affection or even a right to exaltation—for our scriptures allow them such. Nor am I overly concerned as to just when they might have lived, for their world is not our world. They have all gone away long before our people ever appeared. God assigned them their proper times and functions, as he has given me mine—a full-time job that admonishes me to remember his words to the overly eager Moses: "For mine own purpose have I made these things. Here is wisdom and it remaineth in me." (Moses 1:31.) It is Adam as my own parent who concerns me. When he walks onto the stage, then and only then the play begins.
This opens the door to the possibility; maybe even the probability of pre-Adamite men, given those quotes and the archaeological record. But that of course answers nothing of what in the world they are doing spiritually and where they fit into the Plan of Salvation. Here's a few other Scriptures and quotes that some have used to build up (admittedly very speculative) concepts about pre-Adamites and where they may fit:
- D&C 45:54: And then shall the heathen nations be redeemed, and they that knew no law shall have part in the first resurrection; and it shall be tolerable for them.
- There are also many who believe that the term "replenish" in the phrase "multiply and replenish the earth" is to be taken literally; i.e., the earth needs to be refilled as it was emptied from a former full state. Elder Orson Hyde said in the Journal of Discourses: The world was peopled before the days of Adam, as much so as it was before the days of Noah. It was said that Noah became the father of a new world, but it was the same old world still, and will continue to be (in the future), though it may pass through many changes.
If any such pre-Adamites existed, then there are basically three potential outcomes that I'm aware of, with little to recommend any of them other than speculation.
- Adam and Eve were the father and mother of the lineage of people who received the first dispensation of the gospel, and as such are the father and mother (in a spiritual, and figurative sense) of all men. Their presence alone at the head of the family tree of all humanity is not to be taken too literally in this interpretation. Although I do not favor or agree with this interpretation, there are at least some traditions that support it; Adam and Eve are mentioned in the Pearl of Great Price (and in other sources) as interacting with other people who remain unnamed. I presume that they are meant to be their own offspring. There are also persistent (apocryphal if not actually outright mythological) references to a first wife of Adam's: Lilith. Even the statement above from the Presidency to the Brethren leaves open this possibility; it states that Adam is the primal parent of our race, not the sole parent of our race. In general, I don't support or agree with this position myself, but I can, by squinting really hard, see how it could maybe fit in with what we know. Certainly it seems that most the Brethren have never really believed it, but many Christian scholars outside of our faith believe in something like this. (Many others see the story of Adam and Eve and the Fall as symbolic rather than literal, and many even in the Church believe this, although I believe that this is not in harmony with what we know of Gospel doctrine.)
- There was a theory that I haven't heard much about, but which apparently was earlier somewhat popular, that a large number of people in the War in Heaven were reluctant, or afraid of the mortal trials, and entered into some kind of "plea bargain" or negotiated state where they would inherit only a Terrestrial (at best) glory but would live outside of the dispensations of the Gospel and not be subject to Celestial law. Although prior to hearing about this notion, I had assumed statements like Joseph Smith's reference to "the heathen of ages that never had hope," in Times and Seasons to refer to merely conventional heathens who died without ever hearing of the Gospel, some have seen statements like this as evidence for this plan, as is the verse from D&C section 54 noted above. If a terrestrial eternity was "tolerable" to these heathen nations, could they have bargained for just such a plan rather than being tried according to a fuller, celestial law? If so, it certainly makes sense for them to have lived before Adam's time, because Adam was given the celestial law, as were his descendants and the whole earth from his time until the end; even those who lived during the Apostasy or in cultures where they never heard of Christ will be taught the gospel in the spirit world and have the chance to accept it and thus gain the benefits of a celestial exaltation.
Although I don't see any reason to say that this notion can't be true, neither do I see any reason to suspect that it is. Every statement used to support it can equally be made to support another interpretation that does not involve pre-Adamic peoples that merely were apostate, not in some putative negotiated, plea-bargain spiritual status. The only things that recommend it are the fact that it does, at least, offer an explanation for human skeletons found by archaeologists that are almost certainly way too old to post-date Adam and Eve, and hey, at least it's a really interesting just-so story. - Orson Hyde and some other Brethren in earlier days of the Church seemed to believe in entire Dispensations of the Gospel that were born, came to fruition, and were finished prior to the Dispensation of Adam; i.e., Adam and Eve are the parents of our cycle, but that earlier cycles of humanity may well have existed on the Earth, lived their lives, had the Gospel, come to fruition, etc. and been then cleared to make way for our cycle once they were done. The quote given above from Hugh Nibley seems to be concurrent with this belief.
The reasons for this idea to be attractive are, again, it explains the existence of archaeological finds and radiocarbon dates associated with them, and at least a few of the early Brethren seemed to believe it. And as Bro. Nibley said, our Scriptures allow for the possibility; by which I presume he means that they don't say anything that would contradict it, although they also say nothing that would support it either. - Adam as the Father of our race does not mean that he's the father genetically, but spiritually, i.e., there was no dispensation of the Gospel on the Earth until the Gospel was revealed to Adam after his Fall and expulsion from isolation in Eden. This could, conceivably mean that there were other people on the Earth at the time of Adam and before, but that lacking the Gospel, History, as they say, starts with Adam and the revelation of the Gospel to him. In this scenario, being the posterity of Adam could just as well mean that our ancestors received the Gospel from him as that they were born of him.
- Before leaving off theories entirely, here's another idea that some in the Church believe. They apply this more to dinosaurs and other extinct life-forms and whatnot than to old people skeletons, but the concept is the same: i.e., that the matter used to create the Earth may have been leftover from some other earth and that fossils and other finds that seem to predate the Biblical record seem to do so because they existed earlier on another earth, not on ours. There are several reasons, I believe, to reject this idea:
- The creation of the earth, as best understood by science, is not a cold creation. The accretion of material would have generated a great deal of heat and pressure and any such relics from whatever former earth that they are the detritus of would have been destroyed as part of the process of the formation of our earth.
- We are given to understand from multiple sources that the spiritual fate of the world is to be perfected and "resurrected" to a degree of glory itself, not merely the people who lived on it (see D&C 88:17–20; 130:8–11; 77:1; 29:23–25; 43:32). If this is true, it doesn't make sense that the "bones" of one earth would be used to make another, since those other earths presumably have the same fate as ours; i.e, to receive their own celestial glory and be perfected; not to be torn apart and recycled.
- This would be true of the actual fossils and skeletons as well; if the world on which they lived had its Dispensation and came to its fullness of times, thus freeing its matter up to be used to make our earth, why haven't those creatures or men who lived on it been resurrected themselves? And if they have been resurrected, why are their remains still hanging around?
You can possibly twist this into a salvageable theory by positing that the Judgement Day of our world is actually the Judgement day of all worlds, and therefore all of those resurrections and celestial glories are yet to have happened. All in all, I think this theory requires too much special pleading... although honestly, I suppose all of these theories require special pleading.
That's really kind of the takeaway, though—as interesting as all of this is, there really isn't any reason to believe any of it. The only reason I can think of to even entertain these ideas are 1) they're curious and interesting at least, if nothing else, and 2) if you need some kind of rationalization or justification in your mind to accept the apparent contradiction of what we think we know about archaeology and what we think we know about Gospel doctrine. Finally, you can add 3) it was obviously a preoccupation of some degree to some of the earlier Brethren of the Church, which means that it's not just some wild, crackpot idea, but something that our elders took seriously, which at least implies that we might, if we're so curious, do so as well.
Personally, I don't require any such justification, and I'm comfortable suggesting that there are a number of things that I don't know or understand, but will in the fullness of times. So for me, I don't really take any of these theories seriously, or believe in any of them... although I will point out that I also can't see any reason to suggest that they can't be true; just that I don't see any reason to suggest that they should be true either.
All in all, I find them merely an interesting historical footnote; a folk belief, if you will, that briefly had a heyday before the Brethren decided specifically to no longer address it and it faded away as an important question to the membership of the Church.
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