FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Difference between revisions of "Detailed response to CES Letter, Science"
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|summary=How do we deal with the fact that there is no scientific evidence of a worldwide flood? How can the scriptures and prophets teach of a worldwide flood, when this contradicts the evidence? The biodiversity of plants and animals on the earth could not have occurred within the span of a few thousand years. Did the continents separate during the flood of Noah? Doctrine and Covenants 133:23–24 seems to imply that they did. How do we reconcile this to scientific fact? Didn't Brigham Young, John Taylor and Orson Pratt teach that the Flood was the baptism of the Earth? | |summary=How do we deal with the fact that there is no scientific evidence of a worldwide flood? How can the scriptures and prophets teach of a worldwide flood, when this contradicts the evidence? The biodiversity of plants and animals on the earth could not have occurred within the span of a few thousand years. Did the continents separate during the flood of Noah? Doctrine and Covenants 133:23–24 seems to imply that they did. How do we reconcile this to scientific fact? Didn't Brigham Young, John Taylor and Orson Pratt teach that the Flood was the baptism of the Earth? | ||
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| − | |claim= | + | |claim=The author states, "Facsimile 2, Figure #5 states the sun gets its light from Kolob. We now know that the process of nuclear fusion is what makes the stars and suns shine. With the discovery of quantum mechanics, scientists learned that the sun’s source of energy is internal, and not external. The sun shines because of thermonuclear fusion; not because it gets its light from any other star as claimed by the Book of Abraham." |
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| + | *Joseph did not say that "the sun gets its light from Kolob," he said "this is one of the governing planets also, and is said by the Egyptians to be the Sun, and to borrow its light from Kolob through the medium of Kae-e-vanrash." The author has simplified this down to "the sun gets its light from Kolob." | ||
| + | *There are many scriptures or statements by the prophets that seem to have scientific implications. Unfortunately, they are never couched in modern scientific terms and their meanings are often very obscure. Any faith-promoting proof from Abraham’s astronomy is a flimsy house of cards and any faith-destroying attack on some straw-man interpretation is unsustainable, such as the suggestion that Abraham taught that the photons leaving the surface of the sun originally came from Kolob. | ||
| + | *Some examples of how this might be interpreted and the questions that it raises: | ||
| + | **First, to “borrow” means to receive with the intention of returning, especially said of a material object or substance. It may also mean to take and adopt as one’s own, especially said of abstractions or ideas, as in “the composer borrowed his harmonic structure from Bach’s Fugue in D Major.” So what does it mean for the sun to “borrow” its light from Kolob? Is light a material or an abstraction? Does the Sun intend to repay the light it borrowed? | ||
| + | **What, in fact, is meant by 'light' in this context? Doctrine & Covenants 88:7–13, in wording strongly reminiscent of our Book of Abraham quote, states “7 ...this is the light of Christ. As also he is in the sun, and the light of the sun, and the power thereof by which it was made. 8 As also he is in the moon, and is the light of the moon, and the power thereof by which it was made; 9 As also the light of the stars, and the power thereof by which they were made; 10 And the earth also, and the power thereof, even the earth upon which you stand. 11 <b>And the light which shineth, which giveth you light</b>, is through him who enlighteneth your eyes, which <b>is the same light that quickeneth your understandings</b>; 12 Which light proceedeth forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space — 13 <b>The light which is in all things, which giveth life to all things, which is the law by which all things are governed</b>, even the power of God who sitteth upon his throne, who is in the bosom of eternity, who is in the midst of all things (emphasis added).” These verses are clearly NOT talking about electromagnetic radiation. Does anyone have a convincing explanation of what they ARE talking about? | ||
| + | **A “medium” can mean a material through which some signal propagates or a means or channel through which something is achieved. What does it mean here? Does it refer to a material or a means? | ||
| + | **What is Kae-e-vanrash? The Book of Abraham says that it is a “grand Key,” or “governing power.” What does that mean? Is Kae-e-vanrash a term for nuclear reactions, gravitation, cosmic rays? Or is it a more spiritual medium such as priesthood or faith, or an organizational structure, or a means used for administrative communications? | ||
| + | **Finally, what are we to understand about the nature of Book of Abraham astronomy? Is it a revelation from God to Abraham explaining the structure of the universe as it would be seen by the astronomers of our day? Or should we remember that “The Lord said unto me: Abraham, I show these things unto thee before ye go into Egypt, that ye may declare all these words.” {{scripture||Abraham|3|15}}, so that, as John Gee has suggested ([http://www.fairlds.org/FAIR_Conferences/2009_The_Larger_Issue.html "The Larger Issue"]), this is simply the teaching that would be easiest for the Egyptians to understand — one that would teach them that Elohim, who dwells near Kolob, rules over than the sun-god, Amen-Re? | ||
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Revision as of 21:54, 22 July 2013
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| [[../Temples & Freemasonry Concerns & Questions|Temples & Freemasonry Concerns & Questions]] | A FAIR Analysis of:
[[../|Letter to a CES Director]] |
[[../Scriptures Concerns & Questions|Scriptures Concerns & Questions]] |
A FAIR Analysis of the online document Letter to a CES Director section "Science Concerns & Questions"
- Response to section: "no death of any kind (humans, all animals, birds, fish, dinosaurs, etc.) on this earth until the 'Fall of Adam'"
- Response to section: "If Adam and Eve are the first humans, how do we explain the 14 other Hominin species who lived and died 35,000 – 250,000 years before Adam?" [Work in Progress]
- Response to section: "Science has proven that there was no worldwide flood 4,500 years ago"
- Response to section: "Tower of Babel" [Work in Progress]
- Response to section: "People living to be 600+ years old" [Work in Progress]
- Response to section: "Humans and animals having their origins from Noah’s family and the animals contained in the ark 4,500 years ago." [Work in Progress]
- Response to section: "Jonah and the whale" [Work in Progress]
- Response to section: "People turning into salt in Sodom & Gomorrah" [Work in Progress]
- Response to section: "the sun getting its light from Kolob" [Work in Progress]
- Response to section: "They carried honey bees across the ocean? Swarms of them?" [Work in Progress]