Mormon Scientist

I LOVE to read. Fiction, non-fiction, text-books, biographies, and what ever else. But few pieces of literature have ever made me cry. Mormon Scientist, by Henry J. Eyring (son of Henry B. Eyring of the LDS First Presidency and grandson of Henery J. Eyring) and grandfather Henry J. Eyring made me cry wet, warm tears serveral times not out of sadness, but a soul-filling happiness.

As a religious scientist I get a lot of crap from people. On the scientific side I am scouffed at by my colleges because I not only believe in God, but in a very personal Heavenly Father. When I share my faith with my scientific peers and teachers very rarely am I met with understanding respect. In fact, I am treated often as an ignorant fool. On the same token since, I am a scholar-in-study of the most demonisticly viewed field by religion (which is evolution and studying early hominids (early human forms)), faithful religous indivduals question, not always kindly, my faith and intentions. I may not be literally burned at the stake by religious peoples, but very often I feel the symbolic fire.

Henry J. Eyring, even in the early 1900's, went through this same thing. Even as a truly inspired and famous chemist he could not escape the persectution. But instead of stamping his feet and complaining he worked hard. He not only shared the message of the Gospel with anyone who would listen, but came up with some the most basic principles of chemistry that even I learn in my chemistry classes today.

I am not near as great as Henry J. Eyring, but as I read this book I couldn't help crying because I have never met, rather read about, someone who thinks so much like I do. Some of the things he wrote in essence are the same ideas that often come out of my mouth or ideas I think about while doing my studies or thinking late at night. His words lifted my up my, and his, total and utter belief that science and religion are not enemies. They are partners and the more we learn of God we understand science and vice versa. Mormon Scientist is important for religious and scientific people alike to read.

There were many, many, many quotes from this book that imprinted on my heart. But here are some I choose to share that are from Grandfather Henry J. Eyring. One must really read the book to fully appreciate it though.

-"I would like to suggest to youth who may feel inclined to disparage religion as they pursue other studies, that they might bring enrichment to their lives by cultivating faith and an intrest in things of the Spirit as they follow their pursuits. Such faiths will never detract from their abilities in other fields, but will broaden their thinking and give added depth to their character."- Pg. 49

-"I have been announced a student of science. But I also like to think of myself as one who loves the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For me there has been no serious difficulty in reconciling the principles of true science with the principles of true religion, for both are concerned with the eternal verities of the universe." Pg. 51

-"I am now going to venure to say that science has rendered a service to religion. The scienticfic spirit is a spirit of inquiry, a spirit of reaching out for truth. In the final analysis, this spirit is likewise of the essence of religion. The Savior said: 'Ask, and it shall be given you; seek. and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.' The scientist has in effect reaffirmed this great fundamental laid down by the Master, and in doing so has given a new impetus to religion." -Pg. 52

-"I am convinced that if the Lord required that His children understand His works before they could be saved that no one could be saved. It seems to me that to struggle for agreement on scientific matters in view of the disparity in background which the member of the church have is to put emphasis on the wrong place. In my judgement there is no room in the Church for people who think that the periods of creation were (a) 24 hours, (b)1000 years, or (c)millions of years. I think it is fine to discuss these questions and for each individual to try to convert the other to what he thinks is right, but in matters where apparently equally reliable (church) authorites disagree I prefer to make haste slowly.

...I have never liked, for example, the idea that many of the horizontally lying layers with their fossils are wreckage from earlier worlds. In any case, the Lord created the world and my faith does not hinge on detailed procedures." - Pg. 62
-"I have no objection to Joseph Smith's making a number of mistakes. Of course he did, and I like it. I like to see some of the brethren make mistakes, because then I think that the Lord can use me too.
Perhaps I can say it another way. The Church would have been perfect if the Lord had not let people into it. That is where the mistake seems to have been made, but we understand this too. The Church is part of his wonderful plan to work with you and me."- Pg. 222

-" God is so gentle, so dedicated to the principle that men should be taught correct principles and then govern themselves--- that they should take responsibilty for their own mistakes---that His children can actually question whether He exists. To me, that in itself is one of the testimonies that He exists. I cannot think of anything which more wonderfully typifies His mercy, His kindness, His consideration for us, His concern for us, than that He does it all with bonds that are like the strongest steel but are so gentle that you cannot see them."- Pg. 224

-"To people who ask, 'Oh, as a scientist, how can you be a devout Latter-day Saint?' I say, 'Nonsense. My religion is on the same basis as my science. It works. It really makes people better. It (the church) is an organization that is tremendous. Everybody is in the Church. You have a part in it. You could not have more unlikely material than some of us, and yet the Lord chooses to work with us and try to make something of us. You can't do better than that."- Pg. 232

-"There is probably no better way to deepen faith in the Gospel than to try to think out how this magnificently complicated world came about. Only a profound scholar of the physical sciences is able to calculate that utter improbability of any universe rising by chance. There is, however, a deep meaning running though all that touches our lives. The gospel is to be found not only in the scriptures but in every detail of the world, if we can but read it." Pg. 233

-"There are lots of things, of course, that science does not know, but to me the saddest thing I see is people who feel that science threatens them religiously. It could not possibly threaten us religously, because that same God who 'made' our religion, that same God is making the universe. Science might threaten our understanding of religion. I am not doubting that---that some of us, including me, have a faulty understanding of our religion that almost anything might threaten it. But the thing is that is important about that is if we want to influence our sons and daughters, we must get our religion in the kind of shape that is cannot be threatened by anything that science discovers or does not discover."- Pg 241

-"With each new discovery, the skeptic finds less need for God, while the devout Latter-day Saint sees in it one more evidence of His overruling hand.
It was ever so. The Bible speaks of the four corners of the earth. In the time of Columbus, there were those who thought a flat earth was religious necessity. When it turned out to be round, Christ's teachings were found to be just as consistent with the new view as with the old. Later, when Galileo verified the theories of Copernicus and said the earth moved about the sun and so it no longer be considered the center of creation, there were bigots ready to burn him at the stake. When the smoke cleared away and men looked at matters calmly, it became apparent that nothing essential had been lost. A lot of human philosophy disappeared, but it turned out to be unnecessary."- Pg. 247
"I understand, of course, there are contradictions of all kinds of science, and there are contradictions between science and religion, and there are contradictions between various parts of religion in every human mind (but not in God's mind; in a billion years you will have your problems solved, if you can wait).

And there aren't any problems, really, but I always feel a little bit unhappy when somebody tells me that they'll give me a beautiful picture that reconciles everything. Baloney. I mean, I can't reconcile chemistry, and they're going to take the whole world and reconcile it and religion and science and everything in it? I can't do that. I like contradictions. I like a little bit of a mess and I am glad when one of the brethern says something that I think is a little bit foolish, because I think if the Lord can stand him, maybe He can stand me. So that's it, and I think that maybe there's a certain stumbling block that some of us have: we expect other people to be some kind of perfection that we don't even approach ourselves. We expect brethren or the bishop or the stake president or the General Authorities not to be human beings; but theyre wonderful, and they are better than they would if it weren't for the Lord helping them. I think I would say this, I don't think there is a finer group in the world than the bishops of the Latter Day Saint Church. Some of them aren't what they ought to be, but just by-and-large you won't find a more devoted group of men than that."- Pg. 303