Seek Ye Knowledge

Jack began reading voraciously. He's always liked reading, but he started reading a lot more books on science. Specifically, Big Bang, The Universe in a Nutshell, and other works that would increase his understanding of scientific thought and theory. I've always been a big fan of science (though my bookshelf is mostly literary fiction), and I was impressed with his appetite for knowledge.

Though I've never been an exclusive creationist, I was a little nervous as some of his book choices were geared more toward persuading belief in evolution exclusively and away from any form of creation. I've never thought they needed to be mutually exclusive, and I didn't know where his reading would lead him. For the most part, though, I just kept my mouth shut. He wasn't reading science fiction or asking mystics to lead him down the proper path to perfection. He was reading documented, tested theories.

Sometimes our conversations (which were frequent, almost daily) went like this:

Jack – Do you believe in creation the way it's written in Genesis. That it's six days?

Me – Six periods of time, probably. Not so much the six days thing, unless a day is a thousand years.

Jack – Bruce R. McConkie said it was literally six days, but that a day to the Lord was like a thousand years. Elder Nelson gave a talk in conference a few years ago talking about six creative periods. There's just too much science to think each part could have happened in a day unless a day according to Genesis is a billion years. So do you think that man was put here on earth in his finished form, or that he evolved from something else?

Me – No, the evidence showing other forms of pre-man-as-we-know-him-now is overwhelming . Maybe there was a progression, and then when he became the homo sapien we know now, God placed him in the Garden of Eden and gave him instructions. He had to come from somewhere, even according to God's laws, I would think. He didn't just become an adult from dust. He either was born here or on some other planet or sphere and put here.

Jack – So he could have just changed over time and then Adam could have just been the first fully evolved homo sapien?

Me – Maybe. I don't know.

Yeah, we have really frivolous conversations. Keep in mind that during the time he was evaluating the existence of God, Jack regularly asked me how I was doing and made sure I wasn't feeling unduly stressed by it all (with the recognition there's only so much stress he could take away). Also that I felt I could contribute any ideas or information that would help him.

As Jack continued his reading, his interest in the subject only grew. I read snippets of his books while laying next to him at night and understood his passion for science. It's not full of haphazard theories put forth by nomads with wanderlust of the mind. Brilliant people expand scientific studies in astronomy and gravity and quantum theory, and their findings are amazing and beautiful.

I felt fortunate when, one day, Jack told me he'd decided he had come to terms with his questions. He does still believe in God, and believes that He created this universe in some way that aligns with scientific thought and evidence. He doesn't believe that God intervenes in man's life, but that He wants us to be kind to one another and as good to each other as we can while here on earth.