English 1010

Do Seven-Headed Dragons Truly Exist?
By Scott England


Do you really think that all the mythical creatures of the Book of Revelations is for real? Did angels really come down out of Heaven to procreate with the daughters of men, creating giants upon the Earth? Was the Garden of Eden really guarded by a cheribum with a flaming sword? In the Last Days, will we really be branded with the mark of the beast upon our foreheads? Did Adam and Eve really fall (bringing death and birth into the world unto all creatures including mankind), after eating a forbidden apple? How much of the scriptures are symbolic? How much eternal truth lay unrevealed to man because we are not prepared to receive such? God has used symbolism and parables, allowed vagueries and mistruths into our library of spiritual knowledge, for our benefit. The more we come to know, the more we realize we don’t know.
Look at creationism vs. evolution for example. Does it really make sense that humans, and many other living creatures, carry organs that have absolutely no function to them, for examples: our appendixes and the hip bones of whales. Why do Humans look so much like apes? Why is our social structure so similar to that of other apes? And why is there so much evidence that we evolved from lower primates? Yet it is written that Adam was the first man. Even though I am a Latter-day Saint, I believe in evolution. It is powerful evidence that God does truly exist, directing the course of progression between the species, displaying his love and involvement in our lives. His fairness in love to all creatures is apparent, after all, humans have only existed here on earth for a flicker of time. Adam was still the first Man even if he was born of a Neanderthal. I believe that God created Adam from the dust of the Earth through evolution. And in the womb, Man received the breath of life, and upon his birth, the light of Christ. And God came down from his home on high and raised Adam to be a man like unto himself. And perhaps he truly did create Eve from the rib of Adam as a reminder that husband and wife should be one. Is not that ability beyond us today? God taught Adam and Eve right from wrong and to make decisions for themselves. Once they exercised making their own decisions, they were blessed by consequences and received wisdom.
What about resurrection of all life into an unending immortal state? I believe that whatever has a beginning, also has an end, and whatever has no beginning, has no end. Think about this: Why in the world would a lion have incredible strength, massive claws and teeth for the tearing of flesh, keen sense of smell and hearing for hunting, camoflauge, a digestive tract for the consumption of flesh, or the circulatory and respitory systems for the delivering the nutrients derived from his prey to his cells? Why would every behavior of a lion be conducive to its character as a hunter if for the rest of eternity it would no longer be able to hunt because all life will be immortal? Why, if for the space in time, in comparison to one trillionth of the radius of an electron to that of a trillion times the length of our planet to the farthest star in the universe, would such traits that make up everything that a lion is, only be logical in such a miniscule time within eternity? I do not believe that God wasted his time in creating the lion. I believe the lion will continue to be a lion until he has completely fulfilled the measure of his creation.
I believe in eternal progression. Would it be fair for a worm to always be a worm? Wouldn’t it be blessing for that worm to progress, to gain in intelligence, little by little, dying and taking upon its spirit a new body of higher order, eventually being able to experience the joys of love, excitement, discovery, and fulfillment that we now enjoy. Wouldn’t it be an incredible blessing given by our Father for all of his creations to develop and have all that he has? I would hope that we could continue to progress, gaining in spiritual capacities within each reincarnation, albeit our spiritual memories are veiled by our physical minds. But that is advantageous to us, as we grow by exercising our faith. Hopefully, throughout the consequent eternities, over all, we will not procrastinate too much, that we may not suffer excessively, and have to endure the buffetings of Satan for too long. But avoiding the ‘’Everlasting torment of fire and brimestone” of the Testiments is a strong motivator.