We know that there is a God in heaven, who is Father of our spirits. We know this because 1) the scriptures tell us so, 2) righteous prophets both ancient and contemporary testify of Him, 3) all His creations, on earth and in the vastness of our universe, declare his handiwork (Psalm 19:1), 4) He hears and answers our prayers, and 5) His spirit whispers to us that He is real.
We knew God before we were born, and we hope to return to God after completing our lives. We believe that we can if we are worthy once again to stand in His presence.
The prophets tell us how we should live to please God, and we strive to understand and follow those teachings. God does not compel us to believe in Him or to do His will. Instead, we have the gift of personal choice, the freedom to choose, and the opportunity to charter our own course through life. We believe that obedience to God will bring the ultimate happiness.
We trust in God and know that He loves and cares for us. This faith in God brings peace and assurance--even in the midst of troubled times.
We oppose all that is ungodly: the immoral, the unjust, the dishonest, and those who betray our trust.
Right to life
We support the rights of children to be born and experience life, to be nurtured by both a father and a mother in a stable and supportive home environment, and to learn the value of prayer.
Creation and evolution
No scientist ever created life; none completely understands the scientific process of death. To appreciate life, we must contemplate both science and God's divine role.
We believe that God created this earth, filled it with plant and animal life, and provided it with an abundance of resources to sustain the populations that reside on it. He set the earth in its precise orbit, axis tilt, optimum distance from the sun, and speed of rotation to make the days and nights, and the four seasons. He alone controls the climates and weather patterns--the storms, floods, draughts, hot summers, and cold winters.
The earth is billions of years old. Scientific data do not support the old sectarian notion that God created and populated the earth in just six 24-hour periods. Evolution on a limited scale can be observed in nature. However, that observation does not extend to the absurd hypothesis that life began spontaneously from a sea of nucleic acids and a sudden bolt of lightening from which all life forms evolved, or that man evolved from lower life forms.
While acknowledging the changes that result from mutation and natural selection (survival of the fittest), we do not overlook the Designer, the Creator, and the Provider who made all things possible.
We find no contradictions between true science and true religion, for God is the author of all truth. Our challenge is to discover the marvelous creativity of God in all its majestic diversity, form, function, and beauty: the computational power and memory of the brain, the stamina and endurance of the heart, the visual acuity of the eyes, hearing sensitivity of the ears, smelling by the nose, tasting by the tongue, and the overall magnificence of physiological processes in man and all other plants and animals.
