Book of Mormon and Freedom

Science Vindicates the Prophets

Joseph Fielding Smith wrote:

“The Savior said that preceding his coming there would be signs in the heavens. No doubt there will be appearances of commotion among the heavenly bodies. We are informed by prophecy that the earth will reel to and fro. This will make it appear like the stars are falling. The sun will be darkened and the moon look like blood. All of these wonders will take place before Christ comes. Naturally the wonders in the heavens that man has created will be numbered among the signs which have been predicted—the airplanes, the guided missiles, and man-made planets that revolve around the earth. Keep it in mind, however, that such man-made planets belong to this earth, and it is doubtful that man will ever be permitted to make any instrument or ship to travel through space and visit the moon or any distant planet.”

(Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions [1st edition] (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1957), 2:190-191)

Again, a few years later, Apostle Smith reiterated this idea,

We will never get a man into space. This earth is man’s sphere and it was never intended that he should get away from it. The moon is a superior planet to the earth and it was never intended that man should go there. You can write it down in your books that this will never happen.” (Honolulu stake conference, 1961)

But surely this Apostle was proven wrong in 1969 when Buzz Aldrin became the first man on the moon, right?  Everyone saw it on live TV, and even good members of the Church have witnessed to their involvement in getting men to the moon.  No one in their right mind would defend these “outdated” words of a man sustained (at the time) as a “prophet, seer & revelator”, would they? How about NASA?

In a video produced by the space agency, one of their astronauts explains some issues they will have to solve BEFORE making a future trip to Mars saying,

“As we get further away from Earth, we will pass through the Vann Allan Belts, an area of dangerous radiation. Radiation like this can harm the guidance systems, onboard computers, or other electronics on Orion. Naturally, we have to pass through this danger zone twice, once up and once back. But Orion has protection, shielding will be put to the test as the vehicle cuts through the waves of radiation. Sensors aboard will record radiation levels for scientists to study. We must solve these challenges before we send people through this region of Space.

The Van Allan Belts are several radiation belts located BETWEEN the Earth and the Moon that are not only life-threatening to humans, but even destroy satellites when they expand closer to the Earth. If NASA says the belts cannot be passed through safely in our day, how could they have done it in 1969?

But didn’t Apostle Smith admit he was wrong?  Anti-Mormons disguised as friendly apologists at FAIR claim Smith said,

“Well, I was wrong, wasn’t I?” (Personal reminiscence of David Farnsworth provided to FAIR, 21 November 2010).

Their reference is a single person remembering the statement forty years after the fact and with no way to verify with the Apostle-turned-Church President who incidentally, had plenty of time to publicly correct his widely published remarks but chose to let them stand.

Is there another statement supposed to have been made by a Church leader that would-be apologists have addressed?  How did they handle it in that instance?  In fact, one such statement made the rounds this past election.  The remembered statement, attributed to Ezra Taft Benson, was,

“If you vote for the lesser of two evils you are still voting for evil and you will be judged for it. You should always vote for the best possible candidate, whether they have a chance of winning or not, and then, even if the worst possible candidate wins, the Lord will bless our country more because more people were willing to stand up for what is right.” (Personal reminiscence of Mike Thompson, Orem Utah.)

Mike has been sharing this with people for at least ten years now (late 2016). What was the response by apologists to this reminiscence?

LDS Mag dismissed the statement saying,

“This quote does not originate from any talk or official document, but rather, an account given by Mike Thompson in an online forum from 2009. If you’re wondering who Mike Thompson is, no one really knows. Except for Teri.”

Couldn’t the same be said, but with more veracity, about David Farnsworth?

LDS Living addressed the quote by saying,

“there are no official documents, talks, speeches, or text to show that President Ezra Taft Benson actually said it”

Again, how about Farnsworth’s statement about Joseph Fielding Smith?  Any official document, talk or speech to show Joseph Fielding Smith said he was wrong?

Even Salt Lakes local CBS affiliate got into the fray over this quote from Benson getting a statement from the Church saying they,

“cannot confirm the quotes source or accuracy because it was apparently made in a private discussion.”

For so-called apologists to hang their hat on a reminiscence that, when applied equally to other reminiscences, would not be treated with any sort of reliability shows either deception or desperation.

The fact remains that Joseph Fielding Smith stood by his statements and modern science admits he was right.

19 thoughts on “Science Vindicates the Prophets”

  1. The bottom line is that men HAVE gone into space and HAVE sent craft to distant planets (Mars Rover, etc…). JFS was WRONG. This is why the prophets have stated that they are not infallible and that if their words contradict scripture, we should reject their words and stick with scripture.

    They’ve also stated that if the scriptures don’t touch on the topic at hand, then the words of all authorities are simply their opinions and not official doctrine. Official Doctrine is only had when something is accepted by the Church via Common Consent.

    LDS culture likes to promote the false idea that the prophets are never wrong. This is a wicked tradition of our fathers and it must be snuffed out.

      1. JFS said, “Keep it in mind, however, that such man-made planets belong to this earth, and it is doubtful that man will ever be permitted to make any instrument or ship to travel through space and visit the moon or any distant planet.” The Mars Rover went to a distant planet and we’ve sent other craft past Pluto. The Van Allen Belt provides a challenge that can be overcome. We can shield nuclear scientists from uranium and plutonium.

        Other prophets have been wrong on other things as well. We all know the Bible verse about abstaining from every appearance of evil. Every prophet has interpreted “appearance” in this verse to mean how something looks or seems to others.

        1. A look at the original Greek or a non-KJV English or non-English Bible shows that the word translation shows that it really means type or manifestation or occurrence…as in “This is Trump’s 5th appearance on a Sunday talk show”. IOW, the verse actually means that we must avoid ALL forms of evil rather than avoiding things that simply seem to others as being evil. ETB specifically stated that Paul meant the “seems to others” interpretation despite the Greek text categorically disproves that.

          The Brethren make mistakes. The 18 mo. mission term for Elders 35 years ago was a big flop and quickly abandoned. The Brethren felt that more would go if the $ and time were less. The same # went but cycled through faster meaning areas closed and far fewer baptisms.

        2. I appreciate your comments Kevin, but it did sound like NASA haven’t come up with a way past it yet. We are relying on their honesty when they say they have been to these planets, and seeing as how our technology now is way more advanced than was Apollo’s, I still wonder how they managed it then but struggle now?

  2. NASA obviously came up with a way past /through the belts since they have sent men to the moon and back. This and the other instance I mentioned above, show that prophets make mistakes and they have warned us against considering them infallible. it is a wicked tradition of our fathers to consider them as such.

    1. Your warped understanding of what a prophet is and does is closer to a wicked tradition in my book. There are prophecies of the desolating scourge that will cleanse the church in the last days. The part that stands out to me most was that it will come in a time when hardly anyone cares what the prophets say. Good job trying to spread your new wicked tradition of treating the prophets as if their fallibility was worse than yours.

  3. Yes if NASA got people to the moon then it is QED, they got past the van Allen belt. However many people are not convinced they did get to the moon, hence the importance of explaining how we suddenly overcame the va belt which was always a major issue before the ” moon landing.” NASA have yet to explain and as we see are still contemplating how to get past it.

    1. ActualRocketScientist

      1/2 If you sincerely want know Tim, here’s the answer. The radiation minimization plan for Apollo had two components. One was to pick trajectories that traveled at their fastest speeds through the worst parts of the Van Allen belts, minimizing the amount of time spent in the highest radiation environments and minimizing overall radiation exposure. They also avoided some of the worst parts of the inner Van Allen belt.
      The CM and LM spacecraft were also designed to shield against radiation as much as possible. The use of thin layers of aluminum metal with polymer sandwiched between is about the best you can do, with 1960s technology, for radiation shielding and also serves as thermal insulation.

      1. ActualRocketScientist

        2/2 A lot of the radiation in the Van Allen belts comes from charged particles (electrons, protons, nuclei, etc.) which don’t penetrate fairly deeply and can be easily block with even something as thin as a sheet or two of aluminum foil. The materials used in the spacecraft skins specifically avoided heavier elements like Lead. Heavier elements might help blocking x-rays they would also create more x-rays from bremsstrahlung radiation when hit by high energy electrons, so on balance they wouldn’t help.
        The astronauts generally crammed the bulk of their radiation exposure into two short sections before and after lunar orbit (and landing), usually separated by several days, which would minimize the physiological impact.

  4. Well Tim H., There is a Hopi prophecy handed down through the Chieftains that tells of an eagle going to the moon and coming back. A son of one of these Chiefs was watching the moon landing. When the astronaut said,” Houston the Eagle has landed”, this young man immediately remembered the prophecy told to him by his father. Remember, the Native Americans have their prophets too.

  5. Joseph Fielding Smith was correct . We have not been to space . all NASA lies Thank GOD for the truth given to Joseph F Smith.
    God will not be mocked/.

        1. Well, I was wrong, wasn’t I?

          Lol. Sorry, I was just responding to an email notification that a comment was made and I didn’t go back and read the story again. Correct, you addressed it in the article.

  6. even Bernie Sanders is quoted in a presidential speech as saying that keeping young people interested in politics is like going to the moon ,it aint never going to happen .
    truth is out there but you have to pull your head out of the sand and continue to seek it.

  7. I wish this article would go into more examples of proof against the moon landing Potemkin village production. I saw another video where nasa was sheepishly explaining why they haven’t gone back to the moon for so long. They said it was because they don’t know how anymore…. they followed by explaining that they “accidentally” recorded over the tapes of all the trajectory and calculations they “recorded” from mans “greatest achievement”. Ya right. The more I look into it the more bull crap I smell. Also rocks that were purported to be moon rocks by astronauts were tested decades later and proven to be from here on earth. Many many examples such as this. There are nervous interviews from the astronauts that evade answering the question directly as well as obvious photo and video inconsistencies. Even the real-time low latency communication with the moonwalkers is wasn’t possible in their day when they could hardly maintain a good signal while on earth. Anyway I am just barely chipping at the tip of the ice berg. I can say with as much authority that JFS did not say he was wrong as another Joao can say that he did. It’s a worthless citation with zero credibility.

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