We all recognize or should recognize at this time that the principle or law of evolution cannot be gainsaid. Whether in the operation of that law the body of man is a product of the same line of ancestry which lies back of other animal forms is of course quite another question. If it be accepted that the body of man came up through the evolutionary process, it still does not follow that al life upon the earth developed from a single germ, which so many rather careless thinkers have insisted upon as being the case, and thereby confuse the issue at stake. If in some other manner, the body of man was brought about the Almighty, I shall still be content. After considerable reading and study and thought, I have come to the conclusion that for one I must hold my judgment with respect to the origin of man in suspense. I am doing this not because of any fear of being in opposition to Church doctrine but candidly because existing facts do not satisfy my mind upon the subject.
[Source: John A. Widtsoe, Letter to Sterling B. Talmage, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1910-1951, Privately Published, Salt Lake City, Utah 2010]
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