The Wonders of Eternity, and Modern Science, Technology, and Medicine
- stephenstrent7
- Jul 9
- 6 min read
The Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995
Where Science Meets the Doctrine and Covenants, for the Come Follow Me lesson July 7-13; Doctrine and Covenants 76
Although I love individual verses and passages in other sections of the Doctrine and Covenants, the 76th section is my favorite of all the sections. However, for this essay, I am not going to cover the three degrees of glory, which is the part I love. Instead, I am going to recite part of what might be called the preamble: verses 5-10.
“For thus saith the Lord—I, the Lord, am merciful and gracious unto those who fear me, and delight to honor those who serve me in righteousness and in truth unto the end. Great shall be their reward and eternal shall be their glory. And to them will I reveal all mysteries, yea, all the hidden mysteries of my kingdom from days of old, and for ages to come, will I make known unto them the good pleasure of my will concerning all things pertaining to my kingdom. Yea, even the wonders of eternity shall they know, and things to come will I show them, even the things of many generations. And their wisdom shall be great, and their understanding reach to heaven; and before them the wisdom of the wise shall perish, and the understanding of the prudent shall come to naught. For by my Spirit will I enlighten them, and by my power will I make known unto them the secrets of my will—yea, even those things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor yet entered into the heart of man.”
President Russell M. Nelson’s first General Conference talk after becoming president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in April 2018, was entitled, “Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives”. He stated, “One of the things the Spirit has repeatedly impressed upon my mind since my new calling as President of the Church is how willing the Lord is to reveal His mind and will. The privilege of receiving revelation is one of the greatest gifts of God to His children.”
Many years earlier, the then Elder Russell M. Nelson stated, “The Lord can only teach an inquiring mind.”1
We are told in Doctrine and Covenants 121:33, “How long can rolling waters remain impure? What power shall stay the heavens? As well might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri river in its decreed course, or to turn it up stream, as to hinder the Almighty from pouring down knowledge from heaven upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints.”
The 76th section of the Doctrine and Covenants is a prime example of “…I reveal all mysteries, yea, all the hidden mysteries of my kingdom…Yea, even the wonders of eternity shall they know…” I grew up learning about the “three degrees of glory”, as revealed in the 76th section. I can only imagine the thrill of my ancestors and other faithful, early members of the Church, who heard or read the revelations given in that exciting and holy piece of scripture, for the first time as adults, “…which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor yet entered into the heart of man.”
One of the most beautiful passages in this section is the statement by Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon,2 “And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives! For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father—That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God.”
Since February 1832, there have been millions of scientific discoveries and technological advancements—in my opinion, some of God’s mysteries revealed. There were approximately 7.7 million patents issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) during the 20th century (1901-2000) alone. Just last week, I was thinking about transportation, as Kathleen, Lizzy (our granddaughter) and I were driving back home from taking Kenzie (another granddaughter) to the SLC airport to fly to North Carolina to a Church youth conference and service projects. We drove the 164 miles in just over two hours, whereas, it would have taken a wagon train or a person walking twenty miles a day (which is a very good day for a wagon train or hiker) at least eight days to complete the journey. At 80 mph on the freeway, we covered a daily wagon trek every ten to fifteen minutes.
In Joseph Smith’s time, it took about a month and a half to walk (at a fast pace) the roughly 800 miles from Kirtland, Ohio to Independence, Missouri. Today, a person can drive that distance in just under twelve hours. If you fly between Cleveland and Kansas City, it takes longer to drive the 23 miles from Kirtland to Cleveland, and check through the airports than it does to actually fly between the two cities.
In 1832, it had been eighty years since Benjamin Franklin had “discovered” electricity in 1752; Humphry Davy demonstrated the first arc lamp in 1809, but the first home to be lighted with electric lights was that of William Armstrong, in Northumberland, England, in 1878 using a hydroelectric generator and Joseph Swan’s light bulbs. Thomas Edison’s residence in Menlo Park, New Jersey, was also lighted with his electrified light bulbs later the same year. Today, with the simple flip of a switch, I can illuminate any room in my home, without having to light a single candle or lamp.
Cholera and typhoid fever made the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers dangerous to travel, beginning in 1832. Today, cases in the US are rare. Modern water and sewage treatment systems, and other sanitation standards, have largely eliminated widespread outbreaks in the US. However, there are countries, without adequate sanitation and access to clean water, where cholera and typhoid fever remain a problem.
It is estimated that smallpox killed as many as 500 million people between 1849 and 1949, when it was irradicated in the US, as the result of vaccination. Smallpox was irradicated globally in 1980. The first vaccinations against smallpox were developed by Edward Jenner in 1796. He inoculated people with puss from cowpox sores, the antigen of which could elicit antibodies that work against human smallpox. The word “vaccination” was derived from the Latin “vacca”, which means cow. However, it took over half a century for people to overcome their fear of vaccination.
Before the introduction of the measles vaccine in 1963, the disease caused an estimated 2.6 million deaths every year. The disease was declared eliminated in the US in 2000, mainly because of the successful and effective vaccination program that resulted in high vaccination rates across the country. However, in 1998, an unscrupulous British physician, Andrew Wakefield, who stood to rake in millions of dollars by supporting alternate treatments, published a fraudulent paper in the prestigious medical journal, The Lancet, claiming that the MMR vaccination was linked to autism.3 As a result of the unnecessary fear introduced by Wakefield’s false claims, an estimated “…232,000 deaths could have been prevented [in the US during the COVID 19 pandemic] among unvaccinated adults during the 15 months had they been vaccinated with at least a primary series.”4 It appears that some people would rather go back to 1832 than take advantage of what God has revealed to us through modern science.
Here is what the First Presidency said about vaccinations on August 19, 2021:
“Dear Brothers and Sisters:
“We find ourselves fighting a war against the ravages of COVID-19 and its variants, an unrelenting pandemic. We want to do all we can to limit the spread of these viruses. We know that protection from the diseases they cause can only be achieved by immunizing a very high percentage of the population.
“To limit exposure to these viruses, we urge the use of face masks in public meetings whenever social distancing is not possible. To provide personal protection from such severe infections, we urge individuals to be vaccinated. Available vaccines have proven to be both safe and effective.
“We can win this war if everyone will follow the wise and thoughtful recommendations of medical experts and government leaders. Please know of our sincere love and great concern for all of God’s children.”
The First Presidency
Russell M. Nelson
Dallin H. Oaks
Henry B. Eyring5
Trent Dee Stephens, PhD
References
1. Nelson, Russell M., in M. Russell Ballard, “What Came from Kirtland”, Brigham Young University fireside, Nov. 6, 1994
2. Doctrine and Covenants 76:22-24
3. Wakefield, Andrew et al., Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children, The Lancet. 351 (9103): 637–41, 1998
4. Jia, KM, et al., Estimated preventable COVID-19-associated deaths due to non-vaccination in the United States, Eur J Epidemiol. 38:1125-1128, 2023.
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