Sunday, February 13, 2011

I don't know where Kolob is, so stop asking.

I will just apologize up front, this post will be a rant.

In short, I don't know where Kolob is, so stop asking. Because I am an astronomer it seems like about once a month I get asked, "So, have you found Kolob yet?" Mostly when I get that question I respond with a simple, "No." But sometimes I am tempted to respond with much more, but usually that would involve technical explanations that would put my listeners to sleep long before I get to the punch line and the effect would be totally wasted. But for those who are tempted to ask their local LDS astronomer (like me) if they have "found Kolob yet" let me explain just what it is they are asking.

First, all we know about Kolob is this:
2 And I saw the stars, that they were very great, and that one of them was nearest unto the throne of God; and there were many great ones which were near unto it;

3 And the Lord said unto me: These are the governing ones; and the name of the great one is Kolob, because it is near unto me, for I am the Lord thy God: I have set this one to govern all those which belong to the same order as that upon which thou standest.

4 And the Lord said unto me, by the Urim and Thummim, that Kolob was after the manner of the Lord, according to its times and seasons in the revolutions thereof; that one revolution was a day unto the Lord, after his manner of reckoning, it being one thousand years according to the time appointed unto that whereon thou standest. This is the reckoning of the Lord’s time, according to the reckoning of Kolob.

5 And the Lord said unto me: The planet which is the lesser light, lesser than that which is to rule the day, even the night, is above or greater than that upon which thou standest in point of reckoning, for it moveth in order more slow; this is in order because it standeth above the earth upon which thou standest, therefore the reckoning of its time is not so many as to its number of days, and of months, and of years.

6 And the Lord said unto me: Now, Abraham, these two facts exist, behold thine eyes see it; it is given unto thee to know the times of reckoning, and the set time, yea, the set time of the earth upon which thou standest, and the set time of the greater light which is set to rule the day, and the set time of the lesser light which is set to rule the night.

7 Now the set time of the lesser light is a longer time as to its reckoning than the reckoning of the time of the earth upon which thou standest.

8 And where these two facts exist, there shall be another fact above them, that is, there shall be another planet whose reckoning of time shall be longer still;

9 And thus there shall be the reckoning of the time of one planet above another, until thou come nigh unto Kolob, which Kolob is after the reckoning of the Lord’s time; which Kolob is set nigh unto the throne of God, to govern all those planets which belong to the same order as that upon which thou standest.

10 And it is given unto thee to know the set time of all the stars that are set to give light, until thou come near unto the throne of God.

11 Thus I, Abraham, talked with the Lord, face to face, as one man talketh with another; and he told me of the works which his hands had made;

12 And he said unto me: My son, my son (and his hand was stretched out), behold I will show you all these. And he put his hand upon mine eyes, and I saw those things which his hands had made, which were many; and they multiplied before mine eyes, and I could not see the end thereof.

13 And he said unto me: This is Shinehah, which is the sun. And he said unto me: Kokob, which is star. And he said unto me: Olea, which is the moon. And he said unto me: Kokaubeam, which signifies stars, or all the great lights, which were in the firmament of heaven.

14 And it was in the night time when the Lord spake these words unto me: I will multiply thee, and thy seed after thee, like unto these; and if thou canst count the number of sands, so shall be the number of thy seeds.

15 And the Lord said unto me: Abraham, I show these things unto thee before ye go into Egypt, that ye may declare all these words.

16 If two things exist, and there be one above the other, there shall be greater things above them; therefore Kolob is the greatest of all the Kokaubeam that thou hast seen, because it is nearest unto me.
This comes from the Book of Abraham Chapter 3, translated by Joseph Smith from ancient Egyptian papyri. So unless we talk to the original author (Abraham), the translator (Joseph Smith) or the revelator (God), or we  happen to have access to a set of Urim and Thummin there isn't anything we can add to what we read in the Book of Abraham. That's it, that's all we have. So to "look for Kolob" we would be looking for a star (no idea what type) "nigh unto the throne of God" which we have little idea what that is either. So to "find Kolob" we are looking for a star of unknown type, somewhere in the Universe (a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very big universe, emphasis on the big), that is somewhere close to "the throne of God" which, unless you have actually seen it, we have no idea what it looks like. Thus we are looking for a star (unknown type) next to something that we don't know what it is.

So to ask me "Have you found Kolob yet?" is like asking me, "Have you found that one thing that is next to that other thing?" Of course my answer will be "No." As soon as we know what that one thing is that is next to that other thing, and what that other thing is then I will know what I am looking for and then I might just be able to begin to look for it. Until then, don't ask.

1 comment:

Jared said...

So, what you're saying is that you don't know. And you call yourself an (LDS) astronomer! ;)

Supposing you did know where it was, do you at least have an idea how you'd hie there [well, hello!], preferably in a way that takes no more than a twinkling of an eye? :)