SCRIPTURES brought forth in this dispensation record that almost four thousand years ago the Lord revealed to Abraham certain great astronomical truths regarding our heavens. The full record recovered was made up partly by personal revelation to Abraham through the Urim and Thummim (those miracles in stone, by which the ancient seers saw the past and gazed into the future), and partly from "the records of the fathers, even the patriarchs, concerning the right of Priesthood, the Lord my God preserved in mine own hands; therefore a knowledge of the beginning of the creation, and also of the planets, and of the stars, as they were made known unto the fathers, have I kept even unto this day, and I shall endeavor to write some of these things upon this record, for the benefit of my posterity that shall come after me." (Abraham 1:31.)
And I saw the stars, that they were very great, and that one of them was nearest unto the throne of God; and there were many great ones which were near unto it;
And the Lord said unto me: These are the governing ones; and the name of the great one is Kolob, because it is near unto me, for I am the Lord thy God: I have set this one to govern all those which belong to the same order as that upon which thou standest. (Ibid., 3:2-3.)
The Lord said further to Abraham:
... that Kolob was after the manner of the Lord, according to its times and seasons in the revolutions thereof; that one revolution was a day unto the Lord, after his manner of reckoning, it being one thousand years according to the time appointed unto that whereon thou standest. This is the reckoning of the Lord's time, according to the reckoning of Kolob. (Ibid., v. 4.)
The Lord added some information regarding the order of planets and their revolutions:
And thus there shall be the reckoning of the time of one planet above another, until thou come nigh unto Kolob, which Kolob is after the reckoning of the Lord's time; which Kolob is set nigh unto the throne of God, to govern all those planets which belong to the same order as that upon which thou standest.
And it is given unto thee to know the set time of all the stars that are set to give light, until thou come near unto the throne of God. (Ibid., vs. 9-10.)
This revelation came to Abraham in Ur of Chaldea as he was preparing to leave Chaldea to go into Egypt.
And the Lord said unto me: Abraham, I show these things unto thee before ye go into Egypt, that ye may declare all these words. (Ibid., v. 15.)
Thus the Lord told Abraham, forty centuries ago, that great governing stars, with Kolob as the main one, controlled the rest of the stars of our heavens in their times, revolutions, and courses. What was the force, the intelligence, the wisdom through which this control was exercised over a space of one hundred thousand light-years in diameter and ten thousand light-years thick at its center,—a great whirling disc?
About four and a quarter centuries later (some three thousand five hundred years ago), the Lord gave a great revelation to Moses that opened the Biblical record of the creation and what followed. This revelation is an introductory statement or supplement to the account appearing in the opening chapters of Genesis. The following sublime truths on the structure of the universe, taken from this supplementary statement, were given at the time when Moses was caught up into an exceedingly high mountain and saw God face to face and talked with him:
... And the Lord God said unto Moses: For mine own purpose have I made these things. Here is wisdom and it remaineth in me.
And by the word of my power, have I created them, which is mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth.
And worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose; and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten. ...
... For behold, there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of my power. And there are many that now stand, and innumerable are they unto man; but all things are numbered unto me, for they are mine and I know them. ...
And the Lord God spake unto Moses, saying: The heavens, they are many, and they cannot be numbered unto man; but they are numbered unto me, for they are mine.
And as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof even so shall another come; and there is no end to my works, neither to my words.
For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. (Moses 1:31-33, 35, 37-39.)
Modern astronomy seems to confirm fully the basic elemental truths declared in these scriptures.
Within the last quarter of a century, great telescopes and other instruments have enabled astrophysicists to announce new and marvelous facts regarding the universe. They have brought within visual view and radio contact a universe that has as its diameter two billion light-years (Bart J. Bok, "The Milky Way," Scientific American (February 1950), p. 31; cited as Bok I), that is, the distance light would travel in that many years speeding forth at the astounding rate of 186,000 miles per second.
Two of these telescopes are in Palomar, one with a 200-inch lens—the "Big Eye" which sees far—and the other with a 48-inch lens—the "Big Schmidt" which sees wide. They have uncovered a universe of inconceivable immensity. A third telescope at Mt. Wilson has a 100-inch lens.
Truth-Seeking by Science
Some of the present theories and the facts adduced to support them are of a character that has seemed might be appropriately lined alongside some of the things the scriptures tell us as quoted above.
This is not done with the thought of "harmonizing religion with science"—the problem can never be accurately so stated—the problem must be stated, "harmonizing science with religion." Of course, there is no thought of trying to prove the truths of religion by science. Truth is its own witness. It is merely suggested that the gropings of science for truth (a quest inherent in science which scientists must always and ever make by challenging the accuracy of everything they believe they have come to know), will inevitably come more and more near to the ultimate truth. A courageous, venturesome, modern astrophysicist (Fred Hoyle) quotes approvingly the following from Josh Billings: "It ain't what a man don't know as makes him a fool, but what he does know as ain't so." (Fred Hoyle, The Nature of the Universe (Harper & Row, Publishers, New York, 1950), p. 17, cited as Hoyle.)
The scientific facts and theories hereinafter stated and quoted, represent what it appears some scientists presently believe or feel they know, yet with the further knowledge that many things could be wrong, and with a full and complete reservation to recast seeming facts or best-grounded and settled theories whenever new facts and theories may require. This is the full and undisputed right of science, and true science will die when this basic element of scientific truth-search is given up, short of the discovery of the ultimate truth.
The scientific facts and theories presented herein are stated with the knowledge that they are for the present, possibly lapping over into the future for confirmation, for abandonment, for alteration, for reframing, or for positive denial.
On this basis, we proceed.
The Extent of the Universe
The Lord said "the heavens, they are many, and they cannot be numbered unto man." These new telescopes (the "Big Eye") presently tell us there are one hundred million galaxies like our own Milky Way, our heavens, within a diameter of two billion light-years; but they have not reached the ends of creation. Not even a guess is made as to what lies beyond the visual out-limits of this imaginary sphere. Each galaxy in this vast universe is a "heaven" in its place to its starry inhabitants. Our galaxy—the Milky Way—is our heaven. Many galaxies are so far away that the "Big Eye" shows only a tiny smudge of light on our photographic plate to mark their existence.
The Worlds of the Universe in Our Own Galaxy
"Worlds without number have I created," say the scriptures. (Moses 1:33.) Astrophysicists now estimate that nearly ten million planetary systems, each similar to our planetary system, must have been formed during our existence in our own Milky Way; that of these as many as one million were "possible abodes of life" and that out of this number as many as one hundred thousand might have had on them beings with some physical resemblance to ourselves. (Hoyle, pp. 102-103.)
Hoyle quotes the distinguished biologist C. D. Darlington as saying:
There are such very great advantages in walking on two legs, in carrying one's brain in one's head, in having two eyes on the same eminence at a height of five or six feet, that we might as well take quite seriously the possibility of a pseudo man and a pseudo woman with some physical resemblance to ourselves.
(Ibid.)
Worlds Outside Our Own Galaxy
The foregoing estimates have to do with our own galaxy. What of the hundred million other galaxies in space, apparently and speculatively like our own?
Some scientists estimate that of the one hundred million galaxies and nebulae in space, there are now upwards of one million planetary systems in each galaxy (Hoyle, p. 109.) Our galaxy appears to be one of the largest. "Worlds without number have I created," the Lord told Moses. "For behold, there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of my power. And there are many that now stand, and innumerable are they unto man; but all things are numbered unto me, for they are mine and I know them."
A Changing Universe
"And as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof even so shall another come; and there is no end to my works, neither to my words." The astrophysicists—the astronomers—do see from time to time what are called supernovae, that is, seemingly exploding stars which thereafter exist in some other form. Whether such supernovae also indicate a new star or orb seems not determined. The Chinese saw a supernova in 1054, since which time two other supernovae have been observed, one in 1572 and another in 1604. These explosions wipe out heavenly bodies previously existing. Hoyle estimates there must have been more than ten million supernovae explosions since the oldest stars were born. Hoyle also theorizes "the Earth actually was at one time a part of a supernova." (Hoyle, pp. 102, 84.)
Developing his theory that the earth was formed from fragments of the debris of supernovae explosions, Hoyle suggests that in its forming "the Earth moved through a medium consisting partly of gas and partly of comparatively small solid bodies ... The rocks of the Earth's crust may well have originated in this way. In particular it is possible that the Earth acquired its radioactive materials during this final stage. Among the gases acquired were probably nitrogen, water, oxygen, and carbon dioxide." (Hoyle, pp. 100-101.)
But another theory has been advanced within recent years that seems potentially to offer much in explanation of the origin of our solar system that would fall in with the sacred records.
Dr. Fred Whipple (Harvard Observatory) is reported to have suggested in the recent past a new theory accounting for the creation of our own earth and its solar family associates,—the sun, the earth, and the other planets of the system, and their satellites. ("Birth of Solar System," Life Magazine (April 26, 1948), pp. 91-98.)
This new theory would seemingly not consider the whole galaxy (as it would seem some astrophysicists would do) as the result of one great creative act from the explosion of one infinitely great, primordial superatom bomb from which the whole known universe was created; but rather, as already indicated, the result of an evolving, constantly growing universe to which additions were and are from time to time made.
Following this new theory, our solar system, sun, planets, and satellites would be created out of the great collections of dust, gas, and other debris that drift through interstellar space like enormous clouds in great "puffs," unbelievably light in density with perhaps one tiny frozen particle in as much as five cubic yards of space. However, the clouds are trillions of miles in diameter. (Ibid.)
It is said that astronomers have observed many such dust clouds, especially in the Milky Way, many of these of such proportions as would meet the requirements in size that Whipple postulates for this creation of our solar system. (Ibid.)
Considering the structure of our galaxy as it is presumed to be—similar to Andromeda (see Hoyle, p. 107), it would seem the solar system could be believed to have been formed from gasses and dust which drifted in the space the system now occupies. Such a concept of creation would easily yield itself to the details given in Genesis (see also Abraham and Moses) of the whole plan and order of the creation of the earth and its planetary associates.
Abraham records the sublimely great account of the happenings in the Grand Council and states the precise purpose for which this earth was created. Speaking of and to the vast assemblage of spirits at the Grand Council, the record runs:
And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell.
And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;
And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever.
And the Lord said: Whom shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of Man: Here am I, send me. And another answered and said: Here am I, send me. And the Lord said: I will send the first.
And the second was angry, and kept not his first estate; and, at that day, many followed after him. (Abraham 3:24-28.)
He seemingly spoke of the spirits at the Great Council. The record later runs:
And then the Lord said: Let us go down. And they went down at the beginning, and they, that is the Gods, organized and formed the heavens and the earth. (Ibid., 4:1.)
Our scriptures give in rough draft the blueprint of creation:
First, formless, voidless matter and darkness; the coming of light, its division from darkness into day and night; the division of the waters, below and above the firmament (clouds of watery vapor); the gathering together of the waters below the firmament into the seas; the appearance of the dry land; the coming of vegetable life; the unveiling of the sun and moon and the appearance of the stars as the skies cleared; the full shining of the sun and moon, along with the stars, now showing in their places in the heavens in the great already existing galactic firmament where there was yet space that existed possibly eons before; and so on down to the final creations of all things in orderly progression,—all indescribably glorious, clothed with the eternal beauty of the divine creation, all down where there were space and materials.
Conceived as part and parcel of the creation of the whole universe, Genesis, Abraham, and Moses spoke in poetry that in places seemed only poetry. But conceived as a special creation of our earth, in and of our galaxy, as the account of it tells, the poetry becomes a divinely beautiful anthem, enshrouded in heavenly symphony, glorious beyond measure, speaking with the authority and majesty of the Creator himself.
It should be mentioned here that Einstein declares, and his views seem generally accepted, "that space and time are inseparable and that the universe cannot be understood except in terms of four dimensions, three of space and one of time." For when we look out in space we look back on time. (Claude Stanush, "Geography of the Universe," LIFE Magazine (October 9, 1950), p. 108; cited as Stanush.)
It is pointed out that the explosion at Hiroshima would not be observed on Sirius (which is eight light-years away), for example, by a hypothetical observer until eight years after the event happened here. Visually, what is "past" with us is "future" for the distant observer on Sirius. (Ibid.)
As this principle is understood, when we look at a star that is ten light-years away, we are not really looking at the star as it is today but as it was ten light-years ago. Thus, as we now look at the heavens, we do not see them as they actually are now, but as they were the number of light-years ago that represents their light distance from us. In fact, we see the heavens today, not as of today, but as they were sometime in the past, as stated, at a time equal to the time it has taken light to travel (at 186,000 miles per second) from them to us—billions of different times, as many billions as stars with different distances. As we look at a galaxy one billion light-years away, we see it as it looked one billion light-years away, we see it as it looked one billion light-years ago, not as it looks today, and as it then looked in the space where we are now. But at this instant of this day, we do not know how it looks, where it is, whether or not it exists.
It may be interesting to get some concrete idea about the speed of light. It has been computed that traveling at that speed we would be one-seventh of a second in circling the earth. We would go from the earth to the moon in a little over one second, and from the earth to the sun in a little over eight minutes. We could make "a comfortable sight-seeing tour of the whole solar system, visiting all the planets" in about twelve hours and to reach Alpha, the star nearest the sun, we should need more than four years. We would need one hundred thousand years to go from one end of the Milky Way to the other. (Bok, I, p. 31.)
One other general matter might be mentioned. Two distinguished astronomers (Hubble and Bowen—both of the staff of Mt. Wilson and Palomar Observatories) inform us that some scientists believe (see supra) that all matter in the that some scientists believe (see supra) that all matter in the universe was collected in one great primordial "atom" which exploded into the millions of fragments out of which the galaxies have been formed and that those galactic fragments (some of which we see) are still flying off into space. Another theory is that this explosion filled all space with dust and gas, that gradually this dust and gas condensed into galaxies, that stars were formed inside the galaxies, and that this process is still going on. (F. Barrows Colton, "Mapping the Unknown Universe," National Geographic Magazine, September 1950), p. 420; cited as Colton.)
No appraisal of the definitive value of either of these theories has been noted. Some seriously question the explosion theory. (Hoyle, p. 119.)
However, it is affirmed that the only real evidence of such an expanding universe as these theories assume is what is called the "red shift" of light coming from the outer galaxies. This means that lines in the spectrum are "displaced from their normal positions toward the red end of the spectrum." (Stanush, p. 106.)
The principle is said to be the same as the Doppler Effect "taught in high school physics," which means that as sound waves moving rapidly toward an observer seem to stretch and lengthen when moving rapidly away from the observer, "similarly, light waves from a tremendously fast-moving source may be compressed sos that they shift toward the blue (short wavelength) end of the spectrum as the source approaches, or stretched so that they move toward the red end as it retreats." (Ibid.)
However, astronomers affirm "there is still some uncertainly about the interpretation of the red shift as an indication of motion." (Ibid., italics supplied.) Other explanations are offered for the shift of distant galactic light to the red end of the spectrum. The same author also discuss the possible effect of gravitation on the general problem of light rays.
Some astrophysicists have done some estimating and speculating. They begin:
The greater the distance of a galaxy from us, the faster it is receding. Double the distance, you double speed. Nearby galaxies move onward at several million miles an hour but the most distant ones seen through the "Big Eye" are thought to be receding at over two hundred million miles an hour. The problem is then posed, do they finally exceed the speed of light and, if then, what are the speeds of galaxies out still farther? If the galaxy is far enough away (say the theorists), the light will never reach us. (Hoyle, p. 116.)
New Galaxies in the Universe
The scriptures of Moses affirm, "And as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof even so shall another come; and there is no end to my works, neither to my words." While no such phenomenon has seemingly been reported as the destruction of a galaxy, a "heaven," nor has the creation of another galaxy, a "heaven," been observed, yet man's observations cover too brief a time. But both processes seem to be presently regarded by some of the astrophysicists as certain of occurrence, though the phenomenon of each seems not now known and the possible physical manifestations that might be incident thereto are presently the subject of widely varient theories. The present general result seems to be that the universe is an expanding one and will so continue. (Hoyle, Ch. 6.) Holy Writ says: "And as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof even so shall another come."
And now we return to the controlling element of this gigantic galaxy of ours, one of the great ones of the observable universe with its infinities of time and space and power—to Kolob of Abraham.
Back to Kolob
Four thousand years ago Abraham made this record:
And I saw the stars, that they were very great, and that one of them was nearest unto the throne of God; and there were many great ones [the record notes fifteen] which were near unto it;
And the Lord said unto me: These are the governing ones; and the name of the great one is Kolob, because it is near unto me, for I am the Lord thy God: I have set this one to govern all those which belong to the same order as that upon which thou standest.
That we may glimpse, and glimpse we only may, the infinities of time and space involved, the infinities of intelligence, experience, and wisdom that are in constant play, the infinities of force and power employed, the infinities of chance for mistake and error, the infinities of the ruin and chaos that would follow any tragic mishap, the infinities that annihilation would bring to all creation, we may note a few statements about our own galaxy, as presently understood and speculated about by our astrophysicists.
Size of Our Galaxy
Astronomers say our galaxy—our Milky Way—has some one hundred billion stars and could "store a million times as many stars in the present volume of the system without the risk of an undue frequency of stellar collisions." (Bok I, p. 31.)
They also now affirm our galaxy is a gigantic disc, a whirling wheel, lenticular in shape, one hundred thousand light-years in diameter from rim to rim (Hoyle, pp. 54, 106, says sixty thousand light-years), ten thousand light-years thick at the hub or center (another estimate is twenty thousand light-years [Stanush, p. 97]), believed to lie to the southward of us in America in the direction of the Great Star Cloud of Sagittarius. We are, say they, some twenty-five thousand to thirty thousand light-years from the hub or center of the galactic disc, out towards the rim. (Bart J. Bok, "The Southern Sky," Scientific American (July 1952), p. 47; cited as Bok II.) We lie, they affirm, in or near the central plane of this great whirling disc of one hundred billion stars (Bok I, p. 32); and they also affirm that the galaxy thins out toward the rims; that very few stars are found out beyond ten thousand light-years from our own sun; that one-half of the Milky Way is "comparatively thin and dull, the other dense and vivid"; and that "there are ten times as many stars per unit area of sky in the Sagittarius cloud as in the richest part of the winter Milky Way." (Ibid.)
At our position in this gigantic whirling wheel (about thirty thousand light-years from the center), the earth is credited with four rotary motions: (1) around its polar axis at a rate, in the United States, of seven hundred miles per hour; (2) around the sun at about seventy thousand miles per hour with some slight gravitation disturbances; (3) with the sun around the hub or center of the galaxy at one hundred fifty miles per second, or one million miles per hour at the outer rim; (4) the whole galaxy is moving through space as a unit (Colton, p. 403) at a rate there seems to be no way of computing.
Neither the why, the whence, nor the whither of this infinity of universe of mass is known by science, nor confidently speculated about, nor seemingly is the origin of the revolutionary movement of the different units that make up the mass.
But the Lord has told us. He knows. He declared to Moses, "... For mine own purpose have I made these things. Here is wisdom and it remaineth in me."
It is affirmed it takes two hundred million years for our solar system—sun and planets—to make one complete circuit around the hub or center. (Hoyle, p. 56.) This is the whirling affirmed speed of the united galaxy members themselves, all taken together, of which we supposedly know with reference to one another; but, in addition to this movement, the whole galaxy as one unit is moving (as stated) through space while its various elements are so revolving as among themselves, by our measurements in millions of light-years.
While we here have given a few details presently announced of our own galaxy, we must remember there are estimated to be in the universe we see, one hundred million galaxies—ours supposedly among the largest, some smaller, some nebulae. (Hoyle's later estimate is one billion galaxies; see Saturday Evening Post, February 21, 1959, p. 38.) Furthermore, there are presently estimated to be as many as one million planetary systems in each galaxy, with billions upon billions upon billions of individual units, numberless, incomprehensible to man. It is now estimated that the average distance apart of these galaxies is rather more than one million light-years. (Hoyle, p. 109.) The space occupied by those we know something about is seemingly a spherical space two billion light-years in diameter.
The internal structure of each of these one hundred million galaxies occupying this spherical space is presently assumed to be roughly the same as our own galaxy. The constellation of Andromeda (now estimated to be only about seven hundred thousand light-years away) is spoken of as "practically a twin of our Galaxy." (Ibid., p. 107.) In regard to its physical shape, structure, proportions, and space it is said we may feel we look at ourselves as in a giant mirror.
In each of the one hundred million galaxies we presently assume the disturbances incident to supernovae,—thousands of them, in all parts of this infinite universe.
More About the Hub, the Center of Our Galaxy—About Kolob
Apparently by almost, if not quite common consent (Bok II, p. 50), the hub or center of our galaxy is assumed to lie "in the direction of the Great Star Cloud of Sagittarius" in the area (southward from us) of the constellations of Sagittarius and Scorpio. (Bok I, p. 32, italics supplied.) Between us and this Great Cloud in which lies the hub, is a distance of from twenty-five thousand light-years to thirty thousand light-years. (Bok II, p. 47.) Astrophysicists now affirm that in this distance between us and the Sagittarius Cloud in which is the center or hub, "we can detect a network of dense dust clouds floating through space within 5,000 light-years of us or less; and beyond that, up to 25,000 light-years away, we can see the thickly huddled stars and star-clusters of the hub itself." (Ibid., p. 57.) Some say now that this large Sagittarius Cloud "is estimated to be 80,000 light-years from us." (Ibid., p. 48.) One observation is interesting in connection with this expression "thickly huddled stars" of the hub. Colton, speaking of the projected "Sky Survey," holds out some hope for more knowledge by saying: "But the Sky Survey may reveal rifts in this curtain through which parts of the 'hub' can be photographed and studied." (Colton, p. 418.) Hopeful also is Bok's statement in re a spiral arm in which he speaks of a "knot of stars." (Bok II, p. 47.)
This hub or central area of the Milky Way (Sagittarius and Scorpio constellations) is extremely brilliant. As already stated, present photographs show that "there are 10 times as many stars per unit area of sky in the Sagittarius cloud as in the richest part of the winter Milky Way." In short, one half of the Milky Way is comparatively thin and dull, the other dense and vivid. (Bok I, p. 32.) Evidence is said to show that some of the stars in the Sagittarius area are "very far away." (Ibid.)
It is declared that the area of the constellations Sagittarius, Aquila, and Cygnus, "seen best in summer, is so brilliant that parts of it may readily be mistaken for cumulus clouds when observed near the horizon." (Ibid.)
The following statements are interesting: Because of several considerations,—dust clouds, latitude, and time of possible observation—"one of the most brilliant sections in the Milky Way cannot be seen at all from observatories in the U. S.," whereas from the Boyden Station of the Harvard College Observatory in South Africa, observers "get the best view of the center of our galaxy, for as the Milky Way turns in our heavens, the center passes directly overhead at the latitude of the Boyden Station." (Bok II, p. 47.)
While the language of the astronomers is uniformly to the point that the hub or center of our galaxy is in the direction of the Sagittarius and Scorpio section of the Milky Way, their discussions leave little chance for the layman to question their convictions that the hub or center is in that area.
The Spiral Arm Theory
There is some speculation as to whether the center or hub is in a spiral arm of the galaxy and that "the Large Cloud is a piece of spiral arm broken loose from our galaxy" (ibid., p. 48), and that probably "here we are looking along a spiral arm of our galaxy or toward a knot of stars in such an arm," or whether, according to another theory, we ourselves are in such a spiral arm of our galaxy. (Ibid., p. 47; Colton, p. 418.) We need not be troubled about this, as it seems inconsequential to our purpose.
But the exact location of the hub or center is not important to our inquiry. It seems uniformly and presently conceded there is a hub, and that the entire galaxy revolves around it in determined times and at determined speeds; that stars in the hub are governing stars that control the galaxy; that apparently there are several of these stars working together either in a "huddle," a "knot," or group. The times of revolution of these is not suggested.
But this fact seems reasonably clear that this hub or center of a galaxy exists and performs, in broad principle, the functions of Kolob and that Kolob's existence and function were known about four thousand years before our day.
Say the scriptures:
And I saw the stars, that they were very great, and that one of them was nearest unto the throne of God; and there were many great ones which were near unto it;
And the Lord said unto me: These are the governing ones; and the name of the great one is Kolob, because it is near unto me, for I am the Lord thy God: I have set this one to govern all those which belong to the same order as that upon which thou standest.
As already stated, science obviously has nothing to offer as to the purpose of the creation of the universe. This is not the prerogative of science. Science deals with facts, not motives. Indeed it might be said that in one sense, science does not know motives, while in another sense it is constantly looking for the purpose, the objective of this or that phenomenon in things with life.
The Lord began his great theophany to Moses regarding the universe (quoted above), saying: "For mine own purpose have I made these things. Here is wisdom and it remaineth in me .... And worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose. ...." This, for the man of faith, puts the whole matter beyond question.
The Lord then referred to the creation of Adam as the first man but informed Moses he was only going to give Moses an account of this earth and the inhabitants thereof. But immediately followed these words: "... For behold, there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of my power. And there are many that now stand, and innumerable are they unto man; but all things are numbered unto me, for they are mine and I know them."
Then Moses immediately followed:
... Be merciful unto thy servant, O God, and tell me concerning this earth, and the inhabitants thereof, and also the heavens, and then thy servant will be content.
And the Lord God spake unto Moses, saying: The heavens, they are many, and they cannot be numbered unto man; but they are numbered unto me, for they are mine.
And as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof even so shall another come; and there is no end to my works, neither to my words.
Then, seemingly speaking as to all his creations, not of this earth alone, the Lord added:
For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.
The Lord seems now to leave matters dealing with the universe and to come back to our earth and to Moses' inquiry.
And now, Moses, my son, I will speak unto thee concerning this earth upon which thou standest; and thou shalt write the things which I shall speak.
And in a day when the children of men shall esteem my words as naught and take many of them from the book which thou shalt write, behold, I will raise up another like unto thee; and they shall be had again among the children of men—among as many as shall believe. (Moses 1:40-41.)
These were the words spoken to Moses by God on the Mount.
Then follows in the Book of Moses, Chapter 2, the opening words of the Inspired Version of the Bible:
And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Moses, saying: Behold, I reveal unto you concerning this heaven, and this earth; write the words which I speak. ... (Ibid., 2:1; italics supplied.)
Then follows the regular text of the Inspired Version.
God largely reserved his purposes for his creations to himself, save that he disclosed to Abraham as to the creation of this earth that it was created to see if the spirits seemingly destined to come here "will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them."
So, to the man of faith, there comes out of the Holy Scriptures, ancient and modern, a testimony that God had a purpose, as yet only partly disclosed, behind the making of the universe with all its vastness which he created; and words from the Book of Moses suggest and might be interpreted as meaning that other worlds, numberless to man, were also peopled by the spirits fathered by God himself, his children for whom he has divine love and concern; that as to them, and all created and wherever existing, there was to come the opportunity for which indeed they were created,—of participating in God's work and God's glory by having brought to pass for them immortality and eternal life. (See Moses 7:36.)
On the point of other worlds, peopled by God's children, in the great vision vouchsafed to the Prophet Joseph and Sidney Rigdon at Hiram, Ohio, February 16, 1832, after declaring:
By the power of the Spirit our eyes were opened and our understandings were enlightened, so as to see and understand the things of God—
Even those things which were from the beginning before the world was, which were ordained of the Father, through his Only Begotten Son, who was in the bosom of the Father, even from the beginning;
Of whom we bear record; and the record which we bear is the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, who is the Son, whom we saw and with whom we conversed in the heavenly vision ....
it is declared:
And we beheld the glory of the Son, on the right hand of the Father, and received of his fulness;
And saw the holy angels, and them who are sanctified before his throne, worshiping God, and the Lamb, who worship him forever and ever.
And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!
For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father—
That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God. (D & C 76:12-14, 20-24.)
This gives the answer to the outcry of the Psalmist:
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet ....
O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! (Psa. 8:4 ff.)
Our faith teaches us that man is potentially a creator.
All this glorious, infinite concept comes to man, layman or scientist, by faith, which is ready for enkindling in every created soul and which, fanned into flame, will bring the promised immortality and eternal life.
Science and the scientific urge and spirit will never alone bring this salvation and exaltation to the soul of man.
Principal Theories of Creation of Universe
There has appeared in The Saturday Evening Post (February 21, 1959) an article over the signature of Professor Fred Hoyle dealing with theories concerning the creation of the universe. The title to the article is, When Time Began.
Professor Hoyle is Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy at St. John's College, Cambridge University, Cambridge, England. He has been frequently cited and quoted in the preceding discussion.
However, his observations regarding three principal scientific theories of the creation of the universe are so framed that even those of us without scientific training may seem reasonably to understand them, that it has seemed that a non-scientist (myself) might (with the possibility of some interest and value) seek to cover some of the main points that have bearing on the matters discussed in the "Kolob" memorandum. This feeling gained some support from a consideration of some expressions in scripture, ancient and modern.
In this article in The Saturday Evening Post Hoyle seems to reduce the important theories in the matter to "three different theories which attempt to probe these mysteries of time and space and matter," which he refers to as "the Explosion Theory, the Expansion-Contraction Theory, and the Steady-State Theory." Noting that "space is populated with vast galaxies of stars," he comments that "galaxies tend to be distributed in groups, sometimes in big groups with as many as a thousand galaxies, sometimes in small groups of only two or three galaxies," and observes that our galaxy has only two members, our own Milky Way and M-31, "which is seen through the constellation Andromeda—a constellation of Milky Way stars."
He comments further that these galaxies occasionally meet in collision at high speed, but that "the component stars rarely hit each other, because they are small and the distance between them great. But the galaxies also contain huge clouds of gas, and these clouds do collide." (Ibid., p. 38.)
Calling attention to the collision of two galaxies in the constellation Cygnus, he notes the emission from such collision of radio waves and observes that man-made stations having an output of one hundred kilowatts are looked upon as fairly powerful, yet from the Cygnus collision are emitted ten decillion kilowatts. (Ibid., p. 96.) (Is this infinite energy wasted, or is it somewhere made available in the universe?)
Calling attention to the collision of two galaxies in the constellation Cygnus, he notes the emission from such collision of radio waves and observes that man-made stations having an output of one hundred kilowatts are looked upon as fairly powerful, yet from the Cygnus collision are emitted ten decillion kilowatts. (Ibid., p. 96.) (Is this infinite energy wasted, or is it somewhere made available in the universe?)
"The Explosion Theory"
After noting two different lines of reasoning for determining the age of the universe he observes, speaking of the explosion theory:
It would appear that the universe originated nearly ten billion years ago, and that our galaxy was formed about a billion years later.
The essential concept is that universal matter was originally in a state of very high density, enormously greater than the density of the galaxies today.... The whole universe expanded rapidly, its initial state of very high density lasting only a few minutes. In time the continuing expansion produced less and less density. After almost a billion years of expansion and decreasing density, the clusters of galaxies formed. They have since continued to move apart and will go on moving apart throughout eternity.
Thus, according to the Explosion Theory, the universe was born a definite time ago. The state of dispersal caused by the explosion will never cease in this theory. The galaxies will continue to move apart from each other until, in the ultimate limit in the future, space will present a uniform, featureless emptiness. All activity inside the galaxies will ultimately cease. The stars will no longer shine. All sources of energy will be exhausted. (Ibid., p. 98.)
"The Expansion-Contraction Theory"
Arguments and other theories to support this main one, advanced by scientists, have now more gone into discard because of newly discovered, seemingly hostile facts.
One of these new developments is that "we now know that a still higher temperature" (than that heretofore considered and relied upon in support of the "Explosion Theory"), "instead of promoting fusion, prevents hydrogen from fusing to produce complex elements. This realization led to a modification of the Explosion Theory. It is called the Expansion-Contraction Theory." (Ibid., p. 98, italics supplied.)
Some astronomers think that the original explosion of the superdense material may not have been sufficiently violent to produce a complete dispersal. They believe that the clusters of galaxies are moving apart from each other at a markedly declining rate, and that eventually expansion will cease altogether. Gravitational attraction will then cause the clusters to start moving together. This means that the universe will pass into a phase of contraction. The clusters will approach each other at ever-increasing speeds until the galaxies collide. Still further contraction will cause even the stars to collide. As a consequence of the greatly rising temperature that accompanies such a strong compression, the complex atoms will disintegrate and be transformed back into hydrogen. The stage will thereby be set for a reversal of the contraction process, and another universal expansion.
Here, then, is a very different picture—a cyclic universe, with expansion and contraction alternating. During expansion, galaxies and stars are formed. Hydrogen supplies energy inside the stars and is gradually changed into complex elements. During contraction, the galaxies and stars are disrupted, and the complex elements are broken down by the high temperature generated at the stage of greatest compression. Each cycle is similar to the previous one, and there is no limit to the number of cycles. Each cycle lasts roughly thirty billion years. The universe is now about halfway through an expansion phase.
According to the Expansion-Contraction Theory, the amount of matter in the universe is finite. Even the volume of space itself is finite, in somewhat the same way as the area of the surface of a sphere is finite. During expansion, all space swells up like an expanding balloon. During contraction, space collapses literally to a point. (Ibid., p. 98.)
"Steady-State Theory"
The third theory (advanced by Professor Hoyle and some others) is called the "Steady-State Theory." He says it "differs in almost all essentials both from the Explosion Theory and from the Expansion-Contraction Theory." This new theory is both difficult and technical. No attempt will be made to follow it. A few seemingly salient points may be noted. Professor Hoyle makes these in the beginning of his discussion of the Steady-State Theory. They are of a character that some extracts from them will be interesting. We who are neither astronomers nor scientists should read the whole discussion if we are to gain even a cursory knowledge of the subject. However, a few significant paragraphs may be quoted here as an interesting background to certain quotations which may be added from the Book of Moses.
Professor Hoyle's Comments
Professor Hoyle states:
We are thus faced with the alternatives of creation plus expansion or of annihilation plus contraction. In theory we must weigh both these alternatives, because every physical hypothesis considers two possible ways of viewing the direction of time—the case where time runs forward into the future in the usual sense, and the case where time runs backward into the past. ...
The maintenance of a constant average density of matter in space leads to the Steady-State Theory, first discussed by Prof. Hermann Bondi, Prof. Thomas Gold and myself some ten years ago. ...
In the Steady-State Theory the clusters of galaxies expand apart, but as they do so new galaxies are born, and at such a rate that their average density in space remains unaltered with time. The individual clusters change and evolve, but the universe itself, viewed on the large scale, does not change. Thus the old problem of the beginning and end of the universe does not arise at all in the Steady-State Theory, for the universe did not have a beginning and it will not have an end. Every cluster of galaxies, every star, every atom, had a beginning, but the universe itself did not. ...
If new galaxies are being formed, the Explosion Theory and the Expansion-Contraction Theory would be suspect because they do not provide for such creation. If new galaxies are not being formed, the Steady-State Theory becomes untenable. ...
The Explosion Theory gives us the picture of the universe as an explosion from a superdense state of matter. Many people are especially attracted to this hypothesis because it requires a definite moment of creation for the whole universe. According to this theory, the universe is not a self-operating concern. It has to be started, much as one might switch on a huge machine. There are many questions relating to this hypothesis that we can never hope to answer, for many of the present-day characteristics of the universe depend on the precise manner of the 'switching on' process. There is also a philosophic undercurrent of an existence outside the universe that touches on religion, a feature that seems attractive to some and unappealing to others.
The Expansion-Contraction Theory and the Steady-State Theory are similar in that they both present the universe as a fully self-operating system. There is no moment of origin, time extends backward into the past as far as we care to consider it. Otherwise these two theories are very different, the one depending on permanence and the other on impermanence of particles in the gravitational field.
The Expansion-Contraction Theory and the Steady-State Theory are similar in that they both present the universe as a fully self-operating system. There is no moment of origin, time extends backward into the past as far as we care to consider it. Otherwise these two theories are very different, the one depending on permanence and the other on impermanence of particles in the gravitational field.
Space and time play very different roles in the three theories. In the Explosion Theory, space is infinite, while time is finite toward the past and infinite toward the future. In the Expansion-Contraction Theory, time is infinite in both the past and the future, but space is finite. In the Steady-State Theory, space and time are both infinite. Moreover, space and time have a still deeper connection in the Steady-State Theory. This is a point of such considerable interest as to be worth a short diversion. ...
This wider interpretation of equivalence provides one of the strongest aesthetic reasons for preferring the Steady-State Theory. Moreover, the whole progress of modern physics has been closely bound up with the discovery of relations that are independent of the special position of the observer. For this reason alone, I feel that it would be most surprising if the Steady-State Theory, with its compelling space-time equivalence, should turn out to be wrong. ...
In the Expansion-Contraction Theory we are asked to think of expansion and contraction following each other in a never-ending series. During expansion, matter becomes organized into galaxies, stars, planets, living creatures. During contraction the galaxies, stars, and so on are entirely disintegrated in preparation for the succeeding phase of expansion. Each cycle is exactly similar to the preceding cycle. Nothing new ever happens from cycle to cycle, and it is just this that seems uninspired and inelegant. This is an aesthetic rather than a scientific objection, but it may be worth adding that scientists are more concerned with aesthetics than is commonly supposed! ...
... Are there any ultimate final laws of physics? Might it not be that however deep one digs, there are always still deeper levels of subtlety to be uncovered? Nowadays the trend is to answer the last question affirmatively, to believe that no end will be found to the intricacy of the laws of physics.
Such a point of view makes sense in the Steady-State Theory, but not, I think, in the other theories. In the Expansion-Contraction Theory, for instance, we have a universe that is entirely finite—a finite amount of matter, finite space, a finite time of cycling. It seems to me most doubtful whether such a universe could possibly accommodate laws of an infinite complexity. The situation is better in the Explosion Theory. Here we could possibly have an infinite universe with infinite laws—but one in which only a finite fragment of the laws was discoverable. For in the Explosion Theory there is but one single generation of galaxies. The stars and the living creatures in these galaxies live only for a finite time of a few tens of billions of years. Hence any understanding gained by living creatures must always remain finite. Digging beyond a certain finite depth would manifestly be impossible.
The situation is otherwise in the Steady-State Theory. Here it is possible to accumulate knowledge indefinitely, to dig to any depth, however deep. Here we have an unending series of generations of galaxies. When a particular galaxy dies, the knowledge that has been gained by creatures in it can (in principle!) be passed to a nearby younger galaxy. This process can be repeated without end, so that in the long run knowledge can be piled up to any required degree. Here we have a universe that is infinite, not only in its obvious physical characteristics but also in its intellectual possibilities. (Ibid., pp. 99-100.)
Ancient and Modern Scriptures
We shall conclude by adding a few quotations of scriptures, ancient and modern, that deal with matters treated upon in some of the theories advanced by Professor Hoyle in his presentation of the subject, with especial reference to the Steady-State Theory.
Isaiah
The great Prophet-poet Isaiah (Nephi said, "... my soul delighteth in his words ..." [2 Nephi 11:2]), in a burst of divine inspiration concerning the "day of the Lord" declared:
Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. (Isa. 13:9-11; see also ibid., 24:23; Mal. 4:1.)
Ezekiel
Ezekiel voiced the same thoughts:
And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light.
All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord God. (Ezek. 32:7-8.)
Joel
The same conditions were made known to Joel:
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come. ...
The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. (Joel 2:31, 3:15.)
While these passages seem not to contemplate destruction of galaxies, nor indeed total destruction of worlds, they do seem to be a prophet's visualization of cataclysmic disturbances and darkness.
However, in the great Olivet discourse, the Savior in instructing his disciples, seems to push the words of the prophets to their ultimate conclusion, and at least to concede the destruction of galaxies and worlds. All three of the Synoptists make the same record. The whole discourse should be read. (Matt. 24:1-51; Mark 13:1-37; Luke 21:5-36.)
Each of them says, in essence, as voiced by Matthew who, after listing the terrible tribulations of the last days, records Jesus as declaring, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." (Matt. 24:35; Mark 13:3; Luke 21:33.)
The tribulations preceding the second coming are told in Matthew (the translation in the Pearl of Great Price is better arranged as to the period and chronology of the incidents covered in the chapter as appearing in the King James Version), by Mark, and by Luke. (Matt. 24:35 ff.; Mark 13:9 ff.; Luke 21:10 ff.)
It may be well, however, to quote from each Gospel as to what shall happen after the tribulations recounted.
Matthew says:
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven. ... (Matt. 24:29-30.)
Mark says:
But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light.
And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.
And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. (Mark 13:24-26.)
Luke's record reads:
But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by.
Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:
And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. ...
And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring. ...
... for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. (Luke 21:9-11, 25-26.)
In each record, the recounting of these and other tribulations (not quoted here) is followed by the solemn declaration: "Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away." (Mark 13:31; Matt. 24:35; Luke 21:33; italics supplied.)
We should note here some of the more direct and clear statements made by the Prophet Joseph, either as inspired instructions to the Saints or as revelations from the Lord.
First, the Prophet, at Ramus, May 16 and 17, 1843, made the following comments:
It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance.
There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes;
We cannot see it; but when our bodies are purified we shall see that it is all matter. (D & C 131:6-8.)
At this point we might recall that Moses, when telling of his great interview with one who declared himself, "Behold, I am the Lord God Almighty, and Endless is my name; for I am without beginning of days or end of years; and is not this endless" (Moses 1:3), recounted some of the things the Lord God Almighty showed him:
But now mine own eyes have beheld God; but not my natural, but my spiritual eyes, for my natural eyes could not have beheld; for I should have withered and died in his presence; but his glory was upon me; and I beheld his face, for I was transfigured before him. (Ibid., 1:11.)
In a revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet, in the presence of six elders, the Lord, after commenting upon the sinfulness of the world, the Millennium and the scenes of judgments, declared:
And again, verily, verily, I say unto you that when the thousand years are ended, and men again begin to deny their God, then will I spare the earth but for a little season;
And the end shall come, and the heaven and the earth shall be consumed and pass away, and there shall be a new heaven and a new earth.
For all old things shall pass away, and all things shall become new, even the heaven and the earth, and all the fulness thereof, both men and beasts, the fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea;
And not one hair, neither mote, shall be lost, for it is the workmanship of mine hand.
But, behold, verily I say unto you, before the earth shall pass away, Michael, mine archangel, shall sound his trump, and then shall all the dead awake, for their graves shall be opened, and they shall come forth—yea, even all.
And the righteous shall be gathered on my right hand unto eternal life; and the wicked on my left hand will I be ashamed to own before the Father:
Wherefore I will say unto them—Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. (D & C 29:22-28; italics supplied.)
This comes directly to the point,—our heaven and our earth shall pass away and a new heaven and new earth shall come.
In a revelation given to the Prophet Joseph at Kirtland, Ohio, March 7, 1831, the Lord comments upon a variety of matters and also false doctrines. Turning his attention particularly to the Jews, the Lord said:
And it shall come to pass that this generation of Jews shall not pass away until every desolation which I have told you concerning them shall come to pass.
Ye say that ye know that the end of the world cometh; ye say also that ye know that the heavens and the earth shall pass away;
And in this ye say truly, for so it is; but these things which I have told you shall not pass away until all shall be fulfilled. (Ibid., 45:21-23.)
This is another affirmation that "... the heavens and the earth shall pass away; and in this ye say truly. ..." (See Sec. 67 for a statement that "... heavens and the earth are in mine hands, and the riches of eternity are mine to give"; and see for a general discussion of kingdoms, their governing laws and like matters, Sec. 88.)
We turn now to the Pearl of Great Price scripture—the "Book of Moses." These have already been quoted, but it seems desirable to quote them again as they may have a particular significance from the point of view of the Steady-State Theory advanced by Professor Hoyle.
Before considering the scriptures from Moses, it will be useful to have in mind some of the words of the vision of Abraham (Abraham 3:22 ff. and 4:1, also already quoted above). These scriptures read:
Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones;
And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born.
And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell;
And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;
And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever.
And the Lord said: Whom shall I send? and one answered like unto the Son of Man: Here am I, send me. And another answered and said: Here am I, send me. And the Lord said: I will send the first.
And the second was angry, and kept not his first estate; and, at that day, many followed after him.
And then the Lord said: Let us go down. And they went down at the beginning, and they, that is the Gods, organized and formed the heavens and the earth.
And the earth, after it was formed, was empty and desolate, because they had not formed anything but the earth; and darkness reigned upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of the Gods was brooding upon the face of the waters. (Abraham 3:22-28; 4:1-2; italics supplied.)
Note should be taken of Chapter 3, verse 24, and Chapter 4, verses 1 and 2 (just cited) as to the creation of a new earth in a place where "... there is space ..." and that in their creative work "... we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell"; and in Chapter 4, verse 1, it is recorded that "... they went down at the beginning, and they, that is the Gods, organized and formed the heavens and the earth." (Italics supplied.)
The whole tenor of what follows in this account leaves the impression that, at most, the use of the word "heaven" in this account refers not to our whole galaxy. If so, there could, it would seem, be no question about "space" in which to build (Abraham 3:24), and possibly no question about materials in the place chosen. If a galaxy were to be formed, it would seem no question need be made about materials for one little earth. Finding "space" suggests, at any rate, that there were neighboring creations to be considered. Finally, the provisions of verses 14 to 18 (Chapter 4) suggest that at most, even if so much, the question of our solar system was directly involved. However, this obviously conjecture, based on fragmentary allusions, might easily be wrong.
Leaving here these preliminary matters about the creation of this earth, we return to the great vision of Moses when the "Lord God Almighty" showed Moses some of "... the workmanship of mine [the Lord God Almighty's] hands; but not all, for my works are without end, and also my words, for they never cease." (Moses 1:3-4, italics supplied.)
First announcing to Moses:
And behold, the glory of the Lord was upon Moses, so that Moses stood in the presence of God, and talked with him face to face. And the Lord God said unto Moses: For mine own purpose have I made these things. Here is wisdom and it remaineth in me. ...
the Lord continued:
And by the word of my power, have I created them, which is mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth.
And worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose; and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten. ...
But only an account of this earth, and the inhabitants thereof, give I unto you. For behold, there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of my power. And there are many that now stand, and innumerable are they unto man; but all things are numbered unto me, for they are mine and I know them.
And it came to pass that Moses spake unto the Lord, saying: Be merciful unto thy servant, O God, and tell me concerning this earth, and of the inhabitants thereof, and also the heavens, and then thy servant will be content.
And the Lord God spake unto Moses, saying: the heavens, they are many, and they cannot be numbered unto man; but they are numbered unto me, for they are mine.
And as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof even so shall another come; and there is no end to my works, neither to my words.
For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. (Moses 1:31-39.)
It is unnecessary to point out the similarities in certain respects between the Lord's words and the speculations of the Steady-State Theory of the Hoyle school of thought in the creation of the universe.
The Contribution from Job
There is one scripture not usually dealt with in connection with problems hereinabove discussed to which, in conclusion, it would seem attention might be called—the final chapters of Job.
Whether or not this is the oldest book in the Bible and whether or not, as some contend, it was written before the Law was given to Israel—that is, was pre-Mosaic—yet it is a very ancient scripture and may be taken fairly to represent the knowledge of the universe which existed at the time of its writing.
It is generally conceded by scholars to be a great dramatic poem and that, "The poetical descriptions contained in the book are unequalled elsewhere." (The Queen's Printers' Aids to the Student of the Holy Bible, Variorum Edition (Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1893), p. 26.)
It is not written as a text book on astronomy or on the creation of the earth or the biological and mineralogical history thereof. But some of its expressions indicate that in them is more than poetic imagery.
"Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth...." (Job 38:4) refers to the beginning of the creation of the earth. Man has more information now than then, but it is still mystery.
"Who hath laid the measures thereof ... or who hath stretched the line upon it," and again, "whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened" and "... who laid the corner stone thereof" surely contemplate the interrelation of the earth with other members of the solar system, the interrelation of the billions of members of our galaxy, the interrelation of the billions of galaxies that the Palomar telescopes bring within our vision. (Ibid., 38:4-6.) God knew the infinity and the space thereof.
God's questions regarding light and darkness, and the separation of the waters, the problems of life and death, and so on, with a myriad of matters leading up to the constellations and galaxies as we now know them, some bearing the names that have come down to us in our time, even as to certain stars named; these questions are underlain with matters that are still mysteries. God then pushes his enquiry into the habits of created things.
All this at least shows that in the time of Job these matters were troubling men who were pushing their search for knowledge into regions that still are in the unknown to us.
"When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy" (ibid., 38:7), could well have been the acclaim that came in the Grand Council when the decision was reached to create an earth where those assembled might come and prove themselves willing to keep their second estate that they might "... have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever." (Abraham 3:26.)
This search by Divinity of the mind of Job, suggesting the depth of human ignorance upon matters that man must have been then concerned with and are still so largely unsolved, begins in the dignity of the Infinite and follows thus:
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.
Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.
Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?
where upon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?
When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it,
And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,
And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?
Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place;
That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?
It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment.
And from the wicked their light is withholden, and the high arm shall be broken.
Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?
Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?
Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if thou knowest it all.
Where is the way where light dwelleth? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof,
That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof, and that thou shouldest know the paths to the house thereof?
Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born? or because the number of thy days is great?
Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail,
Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?
By what way is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?
Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder;
To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man;
To satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?
Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew?
Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?
The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.
Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?
Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?
Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?
Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee?
Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?
Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart?
Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven. (Job 38:1-37.)
God then challenged the knowledge and wisdom of Job regarding the life and habits of certain animals and birds that were important in Job's world, pointing great characteristics thereof of deep importance to them, and affecting Job and his life of all of which Job seemed ignorant. The description of the war horse and of the hunting hawk found herein rivals anything in literature.
God then challenged Job still further and with reference to specific animals and besought Job's knowledge about them and Job's ability to control and direct them, to which Job declared, realizing his ignorance and lack of power:
"Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth," and added in abasement, "Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." (Ibid., 40:4, 42:6.)
The Planets and the Solar System
"And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell;
"And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them."
Abraham 3:24-25
