The LDS Daily WOOL Home Page
(6/24/03)
"God revealed to Moses that He 'created man in his own image and after his
likeness.' (See Gen. 1:26-27) How lofty and inspiring this knowledge is to his
children here on the earth, to know that they have not evolved from some lower
organism of life, as teachers of evolution would have us believe, but are the
literal offspring of Deity. "Man's evolution does not concern his origin and
beginning. God determined the fact of his form and creation; but man's evolution
as a son of God is to rise towards the likeness of his Eternal Father in heaven
by perfecting his God-given abilities and powers which, in an embryonic state,
are like God's, but presently are not fully developed." — Delbert L. Stapley,
"Man, A Child of God," "BYU Speeches of the Year," 1962 p. 2
(6/25/03)
"God has given to all his creations upon the earth, to the very earth itself, a
due and proper individual form. Every plant, every animal has its own shape that
lasts through life; and to the successor of each comes that same shape. The
minerals of the earth have each their due and proper form when left to obey the
law and order of their creation. Lastly, man has his form to him given, and his
offspring after him. The laws of God, as shadowed in his works, know only order
and form; these they inexorably demand. When God gave to his children his
greatest gift, without which they were lost to him, he gave the gift in due and
proper form and figure,—a man, the Christ who was in the image of the Father—our
Father, Christ's Father." — J. Reuben Clark, Jr., "Behold the Lamb of God, [Salt
Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1991], p. 179
(6/26/03)
"What is the message of the Old Testament? From the first to the last, in the
Pentateuch, in the historical books, in the poetical books, and in the prophets,
it teaches the existence of a personal God, the Maker of the heavens and the
earth, the Father of the human race. It teaches that the earth and all things
upon it are provided for man's benefit but that man must obey law, divine law,
to secure the blessings he desires. It teaches that obedience to the moral law,
given by God for human conduct, involving faith in God, not to be compared with
man-made, ethical, selfish codes of action, is the most important concern of
man. It is the message of messages for humankind." -- John A. Widtsoe,
"Evidences and Reconciliations," [Salt Lake City: Improvement Era], p. 135
(6/27/03)
"Could any language be more explicit? Does it demean God, as some would have us
believe, that man was created in his express image? Rather, it should stir
within the heart of every man and woman a greater appreciation for himself or
herself as a son or daughter of God. Paul's words to the Corinthian Saints are
as applicable to us today as they were to those to whom he wrote. Said he: 'Know
ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in
you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple
of God is holy, which temple ye are.' (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)" — Gordon B.
Hinckley, "Faith: The Essence of True Religion," [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book
Co., 1989], p. 21
(6/28/03)
"After God had created the heavens and the earth, he came down and on the sixth
day said, 'Let us make man in our own image.' In whose image? In the image of
Gods created they them, male and female: innocent, harmless, and spotless,
bearing the same character and the same image as the Gods. And when man fell he
did not lose his image but his character, still retaining the image of his
maker, Christ, who is the image of man [and] is also the express image of his
Father's person.... And through the atonement of Christ and the resurrection and
obedience in the gospel, we shall again be conformed to the image of his Son
Jesus Christ. Then we shall have attained to the image, glory, and character of
God." — Kent P. Jackson, comp. and ed., "Joseph Smith's Commentary on the
Bible," [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1994], 7