Benjamin F. Johnson:
In his letter to George F. Gibbs, Benjamin F. Johnson wrote that:
And then you would have Further
"Truths from the "Teachings of the Prophet" and where shall I
commence? And how shall I write to your under<standing? <even> the
little I may have retained in memory? You will not forget that the march in
science through the last 70 years has in many things reversed the worlds
thought changed its modus almost its face and is fast exploding the Dogmas of
outside theology. Well the keys to all the knowledge first comitted to the
prophet Joseph as a part <of the> Gospel from the worlds benefit for all
of which he was derided. He was the first in this age to teach
"Substantialism" the Eternity of matter that no part or particle of
the great universe could <become> annihilated or distroyed. That light
& life & spirit were one that all light & heat are the "Glory
of God" <which is> his power that fills "Eternity of
Space" & is the life of all things & permeates with latent life
& heart Every particle of which <all> worlds are composed That light
or Spirit & matter are the two first great primary principles of the
universe or of Being. That they are Self Existant Co Existant indistructible
& Eternal and from these two Eliments both our Spirits & our bodies
were formulated.
David O. McKay:
I read the other day in a
commentary about the discoveries now being made in space, and in a sentence the
author said, “We find now nothing but darkness up there, what we have been
calling heaven.” In the writer’s mind, he implied that the great discoveries in
space will disprove the existence of heaven as we have concerted. I want to give
you a thought or two on that. This is from one of your teachers in a
university:
Assuming we travel at speeds about
double of those of the orbiting satellites, the time required to reach a number
of neighboring targets seem prohibitive. At a speed of ten miles per second, or
apparently 36,000 miles per hour, the one-way trip to the moon requires more
than six hours. Nearby mars is more than 40 days away. Pluto, at the edge of
our solar system, is about 11 ½ years distant. A trip to the nearest star at
this same speed would require a whopping 80,000 years one way. Figures like
these make travel prospects seem dim indeed.
One scientist, in one of my books
in the library, said that a bishop of a Protestant church, when he read these
staggering figures that to reach heaven requires so many years through cold that
would destroy life, lost his faith and apostatized. “How foolish,” said the
scientists, “to draw such a quick and unjustified opinion. If he had measured
the distance by the fifth dimension, he would have found that heaven would just
be around the corner.” “Such,” this writer says, “is the false conclusion of many
so-called scientists.”
I should like you to know what the
Church says in regards to this. As early as 1832, the Prophet Joseph gave some
thoughts on space and the planets, and you will find these words: “And there
are many kingdoms; for there is no space in the which there is no kingdom; and
there is no kingdom in which there is no space” (D&C 88:37). Commenting upon
that, one of our writers says “that the extent of the universe is infinite and
unbounded; it is empty in no part, but everywhere filled with substance; that
the duration of the universe is equally infinite and unbounded; that it has no
beginning and no end; that it is eternity, may be said to be the settled and
universal conviction of science today; but it was far from being such
conviction in 1832 when Joseph Smith said the same thing in the passage here
under consideration” (B. H. Roberts, “History of the Mormon Church,” 999). The
doctrine was nobly embodied in verse by W. W. Phelps. Kolob according to the
Book of Abraham, signifies the first creation, nearest to the celestial, or the
residence of God. Even in that early day, the Prophet gave Kolob as one of the
most distant planets, and I often wondered whether W. W. Phelps did not get the
idea expressed so beautifully, “If you could hie to Kolob,” from the Prophet
Joseph himself. (David O. McKay, address to the Student Body Assembly of Ricks
College, Rexburg, Idaho, September 20, 1961, in Anne-Marie Wright Lampropoulos,
A Vision Splendid: The Discourses of David O. McKay [Salt Lake City:
Greg Kofford Books, 2022], 100-1)
