Day 18: Giving Thanks For Science ♥
This year the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) released a stunning and exciting announcement – the discovery of seven new planets in a solar system called Trappist-1, only 40 light years away from our earth! (that’s considered really close intergalactic-ally).
Three of these seven plants could potentially be filled with life.
“This discovery gives us a hint that finding a second earth is not a matter of ‘if’, but ‘when’…you can just imagine how many worlds are out there that have a shot of becoming a habitable ecosystem!”
-Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have always believed in other inhabited worlds created by God.
The prophet Joseph Smith translated the following scripture from the Book of Moses:
“And worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose; and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten.”
It is always exciting when modern science catches up to ancient prophecy!
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In 1985 a Mormon U.S. Astronaut named Don Lind spoke in LDS General Conference about his experiences in orbit.
“To look down on the earth from space is absolutely incredible. I knew ahead of time just exactly what I was going to see. I was intellectually prepared, but I was not prepared emotionally for what I saw. The world is very large. I knew that. But to see this huge, magnificent sphere slowly rotating beneath me was overwhelming.
I have no ability to describe what it was really like, and no photographic emulsion can even start to do it justice. The visibility, of course, was excellent. But I was amazed at the intensity of the colors. I estimated that there were twenty shades of intense blue as the earth’s atmosphere changes from the gray of the curved horizon into the incredible black void of space. And when you look at an archipelago of islands, there are hundreds of shades of blue and green and yellow tan that are just beyond description.
The first time I had a minute to stop and just look at the earth, the absolute beauty of the scene brought tears to my eyes…
Now, try to imagine what it was like for me to have that scene in front of me and then have the fragments of half a dozen scriptures pop into my mind. “The heavens declare the glory of God.” (Ps. 19:1.) If you have seen the heavens, you have “seen God moving in his majesty and power.” (D&C 88:47.) I am sure you can imagine the closeness I felt to my Father in Heaven as I looked down at one of His beautiful creations. I was really stirred by an increased awareness of what He did for us as the Creator of our earth. That was one of the most moving experiences of my life.
- Don Lind, The Heaven’s Declare The Glory of God, Oct. 1985
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When I was a child, my family would put together a huge jigsaw puzzle each Christmas, one that could take a week to finish, with thousands of small, look-alike pieces. Each piece fit in only one place, and we could complete the picture only by placing each piece correctly. When the Lord allows the scientists to discover all their parts, and he sees fit to reveal his part, the “picture” of what scientists have learned and the “picture” of what God has done will be the same.
Today I give thanks for the gift of science and the diligent scientists who help us picture God’s Majesty more completely, and continually discover more new things about God’s creative power. We forever realize that God’s Power so much higher, wider, deeper and father than our tiny minds could comprehend. However, thanks to Science our tiny minds can learn to open up bit by bit, so that we can see God’s full Glory. And as we learn more about God our Father, we learn more about who we really are.
Thank you Science! What a blessing! – MoSop
Latter-day Soprano 
I enjoyed it very much.
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Thank you, I’m so glad!
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