Frontal view of Aztec Calendar with base; Wikipedia
Where Science Meets the Doctrine and Covenants: Come Follow Me Lesson: February 10-16: Doctrine and Covenants 10-11
From the perspective of quantum science, section 10 of the Doctrine and Covenants is the most interesting section or chapter in all of the scriptures. This revelation was received between the summer of 1828 and April 1829. In verses 1 and 8, the Lord told Joseph Smith, “Now, behold, I say unto you, that because you delivered up those writings which you had power given unto you to translate by the means of the Urim and Thummim, into the hands of a wicked man, you have lost them…And because you have delivered the writings into his hands, behold, wicked men have taken them from you.” Then in verses 10 and 11, Joseph was told, “And, behold, Satan hath put it into their hearts to alter the words which you have caused to be written, or which you have translated, which have gone out of your hands. And behold, I say unto you, that because they have altered the words, they read contrary from that which you translated and caused to be written…”
Then we read in verses 30-31, “Behold, I say unto you, that you shall not translate again those words which have gone forth out of your hands; For, behold, they shall not accomplish their evil designs in lying against those words. For, behold, if you should bring forth the same words they will say that you have lied and that you have pretended to translate, but that you have contradicted yourself.”
Then the Lord told Joseph in verses 38-39, “And now, verily I say unto you, that an account of those things that you have written, which have gone out of your hands, is engraven upon the plates of Nephi; Yea, and you remember it was said in those writings that a more particular account was given of these things upon the plates of Nephi.” Then, in verses 41-43, “Therefore, you shall translate the engravings which are on the plates of Nephi, down even till you come to the reign of king Benjamin, or until you come to that which you have translated, which you have retained; And behold, you shall publish it as the record of Nephi; and thus I will confound those who have altered my words. I will not suffer that they shall destroy my work; yea, I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil.”
Joseph had been told in section 3, verse 1, “The works, and the designs, and the purposes of God cannot be frustrated, neither can they come to naught.” So, Joseph was not to start from the beginning of the Gold Plates and retranslate the first 116 pages. Rather, according to section 10, verse 41, he was to “…translate the engravings which are on the plates of Nephi, down even till you come to the reign of king Benjamin, or until you come to that which you have translated, which you have retained…”
In 385 AD, Mormon added a short comment to the plates, which would become known as the Words of Mormon. We read in 1:3-7, “And now, I speak somewhat concerning that which I have written; for after I had made an abridgment from the plates of Nephi, down to the reign of this king Benjamin, of whom Amaleki spake, I searched among the records which had been delivered into my hands, and I found these plates, which contained this small account of the prophets, from Jacob down to the reign of this king Benjamin, and also many of the words of Nephi. And the things which are upon these plates pleasing me, because of the prophecies of the coming of Christ; and my fathers knowing that many of them have been fulfilled; yea, and I also know that as many things as have been prophesied concerning us down to this day have been fulfilled, and as many as go beyond this day must surely come to pass — Wherefore, I chose these things, to finish my record upon them, which remainder of my record I shall take from the plates of Nephi; and I cannot write the hundredth part of the things of my people. But behold, I shall take these plates, which contain these prophesyings and revelations, and put them with the remainder of my record, for they are choice unto me; and I know they will be choice unto my brethren. And I do this for a wise purpose; for thus it whispereth me, according to the workings of the Spirit of the Lord which is in me. And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will.”
Mormon explained that “…I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come…” In 385 AD, God knew that in 1838, 1453 years later, Joseph Smith and Martin Harris would lose the first 116 manuscript pages translated from the Gold Plates. How was that possible?
We are told in Alma 40:8, “…all is as one day with God, and time only is measured unto men.” We also learn in Doctrine and Covenants 88:41 that, “He comprehendeth all things, and all things are before him, and all things are round about him; and he is above all things, and in all things, and is through all things, and is round about all things; and all things are by him, and of him, even God, forever and ever.” I don’t have any idea how this occurs, but I believe it does.
We are promised in Doctrine and Covenants 130:9, “This earth, in its sanctified and immortal state, will be made like unto crystal and will be a Urim and Thummim to the inhabitants who dwell thereon, whereby all things pertaining to an inferior kingdom, or all kingdoms of a lower order, will be manifest to those who dwell on it; and this earth will be Christ’s.” Apparently, then, we also will be able to have manifest the past and the future, as if one time, or no time.
Einstein stated, in 1955, after learning of the death of his life-long collaborator and closest friend, Michele Besso, “Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”1 I also have no idea how this is the case, but I also believe that it is.
To me, the strangeness of quantum physics, where time is just an illusion, is equal to the strangeness of the Lord preparing a replacement for the 116 lost manuscript pages 1453 years before those pages were lost. I take comfort in the statement attributed to Nobel laureate Richard Feynman, “If you think you understand quantum mechanics, you don’t understand quantum mechanics.”2
Whatever this strange phenomenon is, and whatever all this means, science and religion are on the same page here.
References
1. Paul Mainwood, Doctorate in the philosophy of physics, on Quora, forbes.com
2. Quantum Mechanics, New Scientist, newscientist.com/definition/quantum-mechanics/#:~:text=Small%20wonder%20Nobel%20laureate%20Richard,'t%20understand%20quantum%20mechanics.%E2%80%9D; retrieved 8 February 2025
Trent Dee Stephens, PhD
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