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
“ ’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.”
“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
“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
“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.
“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
“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.
“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