Helaman 12:15
Everyone who knows me eventually finds out that I've had a deep interest in astronomy for most of my life. Consequently, the following verse in The Book of Mormon fascinated me when I first read it in my early teenage years:
Nowadays we all know that the Earth orbits around the Sun, and Nicolaus Copernicus is often credited for initializing this theory in place of the, then widely accepted, Ptolemaic Universe where the Sun (and everything else in the universe) orbits around the Earth. But according to this scripture, the Nephites understood this concept of a heliocentric universe over 1400 years prior to Copernicus! So naturally I was deeply interested in this verse for that reason. But deep down I knew that there must be a more spiritual reason for why Mormon chose to include this scripture in The Book of Mormon. But I did not know what this reason was.
After setting this on the "I currently don't know" shelf, I found myself many years later traveling home from serving a full-time mission in New York. While sitting in the airport during a layover between connecting flights home, the news was talking all about a large group of people in Utah protesting in favor of legalizing polygamy. Around the same time the so-called "Ordain Women" movement for women to be allowed to hold priesthood offices in the church was increasing greatly. In addition, many people across the country began protesting fiercely for the legalization of free and open marijuana use. And on top of all of this, there were countless reports of pushing for the complete legalization of gay marriage and transgenderism.
These, and many other, philosophies of men all seemed to emerge within such a short time in direct opposition to the commandments of God. And their arguments were shrewd enough that many friends who had a testimony of the truth departed from the testimony they once had. I even heard news reports of many other religions choosing to accept these philosophies as their standard. And I remember once being greatly concerned that The Church, which I knew to be true, might possibly be swayed to yield to these strong and loud movements. But then one day I was lead to the same scripture that had been sitting on the back shelf for many years.
While pondering this scripture once more, this time in the context of the circumstances I then lived in, I was reminded of how earth and worldliness could represent the philosophies of men, and how the sun and light can represent eternal truth. Substituting "philosophies of men" in for "earth", and "truth" for "sun", the scripture immediately made sense. While philosophical ideals change day by day, the truth of God never changes. It is absolute and eternal. Consequently, I gained the needed reassurance that by staying with the prophets and apostles leading The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I would always be on the right path forward.
"And thus, according to [God's] word the earth goeth back, and it appeareth unto man that the sun standeth still; yea, and behold, this is so; for surely it is the earth that moveth and not the sun." ~ Helaman 12:15
Nowadays we all know that the Earth orbits around the Sun, and Nicolaus Copernicus is often credited for initializing this theory in place of the, then widely accepted, Ptolemaic Universe where the Sun (and everything else in the universe) orbits around the Earth. But according to this scripture, the Nephites understood this concept of a heliocentric universe over 1400 years prior to Copernicus! So naturally I was deeply interested in this verse for that reason. But deep down I knew that there must be a more spiritual reason for why Mormon chose to include this scripture in The Book of Mormon. But I did not know what this reason was.
After setting this on the "I currently don't know" shelf, I found myself many years later traveling home from serving a full-time mission in New York. While sitting in the airport during a layover between connecting flights home, the news was talking all about a large group of people in Utah protesting in favor of legalizing polygamy. Around the same time the so-called "Ordain Women" movement for women to be allowed to hold priesthood offices in the church was increasing greatly. In addition, many people across the country began protesting fiercely for the legalization of free and open marijuana use. And on top of all of this, there were countless reports of pushing for the complete legalization of gay marriage and transgenderism.
These, and many other, philosophies of men all seemed to emerge within such a short time in direct opposition to the commandments of God. And their arguments were shrewd enough that many friends who had a testimony of the truth departed from the testimony they once had. I even heard news reports of many other religions choosing to accept these philosophies as their standard. And I remember once being greatly concerned that The Church, which I knew to be true, might possibly be swayed to yield to these strong and loud movements. But then one day I was lead to the same scripture that had been sitting on the back shelf for many years.
"And thus, according to [God's] word the earth goeth back, and it appeareth unto man that the sun standeth still; yea, and behold, this is so; for surely it is the earth that moveth and not the sun." ~ Helaman 12:15
While pondering this scripture once more, this time in the context of the circumstances I then lived in, I was reminded of how earth and worldliness could represent the philosophies of men, and how the sun and light can represent eternal truth. Substituting "philosophies of men" in for "earth", and "truth" for "sun", the scripture immediately made sense. While philosophical ideals change day by day, the truth of God never changes. It is absolute and eternal. Consequently, I gained the needed reassurance that by staying with the prophets and apostles leading The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I would always be on the right path forward.
Comments
Post a Comment