The laws which maintain the natural order constitute “truth,” which is “independent” only “in that sphere in which God has placed [them]” (D&C 93:30). Thus, as Latter-day Saints we understand how science can discover truths about our present order. In other words, as Latter-day Saints, we recognize that there are some limitations about the extent of uniformity in our present mortal order of nature. The first limitation is that the same order or set of laws does not necessarily extend to other “spheres.” A sanctified, millennial world, or a glorified celestial world, or a pre-Fall paradisiacal world obviously functions under a different order of nature. Its order—perfectly “natural” to it—would seem “unnatural” to our mortal world. Imagine, for instance, the biology of a world in which there is no death. Or try to fit the second law of thermodynamics (which states that all energy processes of the universe are “running down”) into a world of eternal progression. Clearly, God has placed us in one “sphere,” but there may be many other types of “spheres” for us to learn about at some future time.
Yet for many, science has come to mean not a method for understanding how nature does work, but a particular philosophy about how nature has to work. This philosophy has become a sort of super-model, and any proposed model or observation which doesn’t fit the existing philosophy is automatically discarded as unworthy of further examination. Accepting this rigid philosophy, known since the late eighteenth century as “naturalism,” has led many people to reject the story of the Flood and other events recounted in Genesis.