The California Collection/TheCaliforniaCollection.cdr/his074/lds_36.arj/LDS-36.TXT

Text File | 1991-02-28 | 3.6 KB | 77 lines

KOLOB, the Mormon Masterplanet.

According to the Mormon scriptures (Doctrine and Covenants,
Abraham 3) our galaxy, if not all galaxies, is posited to contain
countless planets either already, or soon to be, inhabited by
human-type life.  The greatest of these planets is Kolob.

Kolob is said to be the greatest of the planets because it is rest
unto the throne of God.  But, it is also the greatest of all the
Kokau-beam that thou hast seen which signifies stars or all the
great lights which were in the firmament of heaven.

Moreover, at least two stars and possibly fifteen or more stars
and planets, the Moon, the Earth, and the Sun receive their light
from Kolob.  Kolob also is said to be surrounded by many great stars
which are near unto it (Abraham 3:2).

According to this same passage (Abraham 3) the greater the planet
the longer its rotational period.  Kolob, the greatest, has a
day equal to 1000 years.

Now, how do these statements square with the facts of astronomy?
Observations convince astronomers that stars are very different from
planets.  The visible stars (to Abraham) are large ranging from
500,000 to 300,000,000 miles in diameter.  They produce huge amounts
of light through nuclear fires burning in their cores.  No star (except
for an extremely rare kind of close binary companion) receives significant
light from another.

Planets, on the other hand, are small smaller than 90,000 miles
diameter and produce no light of their own.  They simply reflect
some of the light they receive from the stars.

It is now known by astronomers that the ability of a planet to
support life depends on its size.  Only planets very close to
the dimensions of the earth can maintain stable water cycles free
of those gases poisonous to life.1

A life supporting planet must have a rotational period close
to 24 hours.  If it is as brief as it is for the greater planets
(e.g. Jupiter and Saturn), thousand mile per hour winds result.  If
it is as long as Kolob╒s thousand year day, the night temperature
would barely rise above absolute zero (-460F) while the day temperature
would probably exceed the melting point of lead (621íF).

A life supporting planet cannot exist too close to many great
stars.  Such stars would disrupt its orbit and would undergo
explosions that would terminate its life-forms.

However, there are more fundamental problems.  Life support conditions
are calculated to be absurdly rare in our universe.  Even with the
possible existing trillion trillion stars out to the limits of
the universe the possibility of finding even one planet with the
right conditions for life is less than one in one hundred million.
The Mormon scenario of millions of populated planets is just pure
fantasy.

Recently, science has proven that the universe requires a transcendent
Creator.3  The creator in Mormonism is not transcendent.  Rather,
he dwells in his kingdom on one of the planets of our universe.

Obviously, the Mormon Kolob is an inhospitable place for life.
Obvious, too, its violation of observed principles of astronomical
structure.

REFERENCES:1. Ross, Hugh. Genesis One: A Scientific Perspective.
(Pasadena, CA: Reasons to Believe, 1983), pp. 6-7.2. Ross,
Hugh. Cosmology Confronts the Creator: New Proofs for Gods Existence.
(Pasadena, CA: Reasons to Believe, 1987), p. 223. Ross, Hugh.
Cosmology Confronts the Creator: New Proofs for Gods Existence
(Pasadena, CA: Reasons to Believe, 1987), p. 12-24. Hugh Ross
Director of Reasons to Believe P.O. Box 5978 Pasadena, CA 91107
[phone]Copyrighted ⌐ 1987 Character Count=129Downloaded
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