LDS Quotes on Nature
Faith is the power by which God speaks and worlds, solar systems, and universes come into being. So when we speak of faith we speak of tremendous power, even the power that can save a man from temporal and spiritual death.
| An Exploration of the Process of Faith as Taught in the Book of Mormon,” Church Education System Manual, p. 17
“As an organism, man is subjected to various biological laws which he cannot disobey any more than an animal can. That is, he cannot disobey the laws which he shares with other things. But the law which is particular to his human nature, the law he does now share with animals or vegetables or inorganic things, is the one he can disobey if he chooses.”
| Mere Christianity
“ ’Father’ is the noblest title a man can be given. It is more than a biological role. It signifies a patriarch, a leader, an exemplar, a confidant, a teacher, a hero, a friend and, ultimately, a perfect being.”
“Men must become harmless before the brute creation, and when men lose their vicious dispositions and cease to destroy the animal race, the lion and the lamb can dwell together, and the sucking child can play with the serpent in safety.”
| Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith
. . . the earth and its heaven shall, after passing away through death, be renewed again in immortality. This earth is living and must die, but since it keeps the law it shall be restored through the resurrection by which it shall become celestialized and the above of celestial beings. The next verse of this revelation explains this as follows: [D&C 29:24-25]
“So we see that the Lord intends to save, not only the earth and the heavens, not only man who dwells upon the earth, but all things which he has created. The animals, the fishes of the sea, the fowls of the air, as well as man, are to be recreated, or renewed, through the resurrection, for they too are living souls.” (President Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, Oct. 1928, pp. 99-100; see also D&C 88:17-19, 25-26.)
| Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual, p. 62
“We are a throw-away people. … Now we ask you to clean up your homes and your farms. ‘Man is the keeper of the land, and not its possessor.’ … We look forward to the day when, in all our communities, urban and rural, there would be a universal, continued movement to clean and repair … and to make our properties a thing of beauty to behold. … Therefore, we urge each of you to dress and keep in a beautiful state the property that is in your hands.”
| “God Will Not Be Mocked,” Ensign, Nov. 1974
“Says one, ‘I cannot believe in the salvation of beasts.’ Any man who would tell you that this could not be, would tell you that the revelations are not true. John heard the words of the beasts giving glory to God, and understood them. God who made the beasts could understand every language spoken by them. The four beasts were four of the most noble animals that had filled the measure of their creation, and had been saved from other worlds, because they were perfect: they were like angels in their sphere. We are not told where they came from, and I do not know; but they were seen and heard by John praising and glorifying God.”
| Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 291, 292
“We read in the papers and hear on TV constantly that the world ‘is in an awful mess.’ Not true! The world is still most beautiful. It is man who is off center. The sun still illumines the day and gives light and life to all things; the moon still brightens the night; oceans still feed the world and provide transportation; rivers still drain the land, and provide irrigation water to nourish crops. Even the ravages of time have not sloughed off the majesty of the mountains. Flowers still bloom and birds still sing, and children still laugh and play.”
| The Miracle of Forgiveness
“Look at the animal creation, they were all created by law, and will fulfill that law by which they were created. But see the feeling and disposition that we have in our hearts to be cruel towards animals, and that same passion that we cultivate towards the brute creation, mankind by-and-by will have towards one another.”
| JD 9:335, Heber C. Kimball, The Course the Saints Should Pursue, Etc.
“But as an intelligent being, if I have a mind capable of reflection, I wish to contemplate the works of nature, and to know something of nature’s God, and my destiny. I love to view the things around me; to gaze upon the sun, moon, and stars; to study the planetary system, and the world we inhabit; to behold their beauty, order, harmony, and the operations of existence around me. … everything is beautifully harmonious, and perfectly adapted to the position it occupies in the world. Whether you look at birds, beasts, or the human system, you see something exquisitely beautiful and harmonious, and worthy of the contemplation there was a God, [even] if there was no such thing as religion in the world.”
| Journal of Discourses, 1:151-52.
And so I issue a call for the conviction we all must have burning in our hearts that this is the work of God and that it requires the best we can give to the effort. My appeal is that you nurture your own physical and spiritual strength so that you have a deep reservoir of faith to call upon when tasks or challenges or demands of one kind or another come. Pray a little more, study a little more, shut out the noise and shut down the clamor, enjoy nature, call down personal revelation, search your soul, and search the heavens for the testimony that led our pioneer parents. Then, when you need to reach down inside a little deeper and a little farther to face life and do your work, you will be sure there is something down there to call upon. . . .
There is work to be done. We cannot say that every one of our neighbors has deep faith, that every one has a strong family, that every one near and far has heard the gospel message and has become a believing, teaching, temple-going Latter-day Saint. The world is getting more wicked, and the times ahead will try the best of us. But the forces of righteousness will always prevail when people like Stanford and Arabella Smith, people like Samuel Claridge and his spunky daughter Elizabeth make it prevail.
| “Faith to Answer the Call,” Ensign, July 2011, p. 54
“It is our privilege and our duty to search all things upon the face of the earth, and learn what there is for man to enjoy, what God has ordained for the benefit and happiness of mankind, and then make use of it without sinning against him.”
| Journal of Discourses, 9:243
“When I pass through the lovely countryside or fly over the vast and beautiful expanses of our globe, I compare these beauties with many of the dark and miserable practices of men, and I have the feeling that the good earth can hardly bear our presence upon it. … The Brethren constantly cry out against that which is intolerable in the sight of the Lord: against pollution of mind, body and our surroundings.”
| “The False Gods We Worship,” Ensign, June 1976.
“While I was working for a large bank, I was invited to attend an executive program at the University of Michigan. During the program, Professor Kim Cameron taught the concept of positive leadership and its heliotropic effect. He explained: “This refers to the tendency in all living systems toward positive energy [light] and away from negative energy [darkness]. From single-cell organisms to complex human systems, everything alive has an inherent inclination toward the positive and away from the negative.”
| "Brighter and Brighter until the Perfect Day"
“All that we possess and enjoy are the gifts of God to us, whether they be in earthly substance, physical constitution, or mental power; we are accountable to Him for the use we make of these precious gifts. … It is not our privilege to waste the Lord’s substance.”
| Journal of Discourses, 11:136.
“Stewardship in the Church is a very important matter. The Lord has mentioned it in the revelations. (See D&C 59; 104.) We are stewards over these earthly blessings which the Lord has provided, those of us who have this soil and this water. We have no moral latitude, it seems to me. In fact, we are morally obligated to turn this land over to those who succeed us — not drained of its fertility but improved in quality, in productivity, and in usefulness for future generations.”
| The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, 645.
“I believe in beauty. The earth in its pristine beauty is an expression of the nature of its Creator…. I believe in the beauty of nature—the flowers, the fruit, the sky, the peaks and the plains from which they rise. I see and believe in the beauty of animals….I believe in beauty—the beauty of God’s unspoiled creations, the beauty of his sons and daughters who walk without whimpering, meeting the challenges of each new day.”
| The Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, 248, 249.
“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.”
“This earth is his creation. When we make it ugly, we offend him.”
| “What Shall I Do Then with Jesus Which Is Called Christ?”
President Joseph Fielding Smith wrote: “If . . . the earth is to be restored as it was in the beginning, then all the land surface will again be in one place as it was before the days of Peleg, when this great division was accomplished. Europe, Africa, and the islands of the sea including Australia, New Zealand, and other places in the Pacific must be brought back and joined together as they were in the beginning.”
| Answers to Gospel Questions, 5:74) — Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual, p. 340
“The earth did not come by chance nor by accident. It is the result of a creation that is based on purpose, on agency, on choice. It accords with laws which were in force long before the plan was every laid down. All of it has order; all of it was planned for us. The beauty and precision of the universe, the endless variety of plant and animal life—all testify of a plan and a creator.”
| The Earth Shall Teach Thee, 12.
“In the Christian story, God descends to reascend. He comes down; down from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity; down further still, if embryologists are right, to recapitulate in the womb ancient and pre-human phases of life; down to the very roots and seabed of the Nature.”
| Miracles
“You are here commencing anew. The soil, the air, the water are all pure and healthy. Do not suffer them to become polluted with wickedness. Strive to preserve the elements from being contaminated by the filthy, wicked conduct and sayings of those who pervert the intelligence God has bestowed upon the human family.”
| Journal of Discourses, 8:79.
“The lawful association of the sexes is ordained of God, not only as the sole means of race perpetuation, but for the development of the higher faculties and nobler traits of human nature, which the love-inspired companionship of man and woman alone can insure.”
“We recommend to all people that there be no undue pollution, that the land be taken care of and kept clean to be productive and to be beautiful.”
| “Why Call Me Lord, Lord, and Do Not the Things Which I Say?” Ensign, May 1975.
“The lawful association of the sexes is ordained of God, not only as the sole means of race perpetuation, but for the development of the higher faculties and nobler traits of human nature, which the love-inspired companionship of man and woman alone can insure”
| "Unchastity the Dominant Evil of the Age,” Improvement Era, June 1917, 739
“I have seen many storms in my life. Most storms have caught me by surprise, so I had to learn very quickly to look further and understand that I am not capable of controlling the weather, to exercise the art of patience and to respect the fury of nature.”
The earth will abide its creation, and will be counted worthy of receiving the blessings designed for it, and will ultimately roll back into the presence of God who formed it and established its mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms. These will all be retained upon the earth, come forth in the resurrection, and abide for ever and for ever.
| Journal of Discourses, 8:8
“I am sure that beauty is intimately associated with pure religion. I believe that our Father in Heaven is a God of order and beauty. I doubt if any rational being ever entertained a concept of God, that is, as a personal Being, except in surroundings of beauty and exquisite loveliness … .Do you think it becoming in God’s children to deface the earth while we sojourn here? Being the stewards and custodians of the resources which are committed to us, have we not an obligation to use them, preserve them and return them in the best possible condition that our circumstances will permit?”
| Conference Report, Apr. 1940.
“Things upon the earth, so far as they have not been perverted by wickedness, are typical of things in heaven. Heaven was the prototype of this beautiful creation when it came from the hand of the Creator, and was pronounced ‘good.’”
| Journal of Discourses 23:175.