The Theory of Relativity Was Mormon Doctrine Before it was Einstein's Doctrine

Joseph Smith Jr. (b. 1805, d. 1844)

I have no intention of taking religious theory into hyperspace with this article, but I am using fairly deep subject matter to illustrate one of the basic tenets of my faith, which is that Joseph Smith was an inspired servant of God whose work is valuable to all people everywhere.

One of the many controversies surrounding the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Joseph Smith Jr.'s translation of an Egyptian papyrus. Joseph Smith and his followers call it the Book of Abraham. Joseph Smith was a student of the Egyptian language (though some understand him to have been a master of the language), and, according to Smith and his followers, he was prophet of God who received revelation from God to share with the world. A major part of Smith's prophetic calling was defined by his work as a translator of sacred text.

Joseph Smith's translations of Egyptian differ greatly from secular translations, and his works are generally rejected by the Non-LDS community. Mormons are left to choose between faith and current scholars' claims. Even the Book of Mormon was, according to Joseph Smith, as well as the words of a couple of prophets in the book, written in a language referred to as "Reformed Egyptian". Scholars deny the existence of any such language. This book is regarded in the Mormon faith as the cornerstone of the LDS religion, meaning it contains the doctrines that uphold and cause our religion to function. Take The Book of Mormon away, and the core of our doctrine is non-existent.

Now, I am a lot less knowledgeable than many other LDS apologists, but I, as many other members of my faith, do not believe that the Lord only reveals evidence to educated members of His church. In fact, the Lord often speaks in disappointed tones when referring to those who are educated. One example is as follows: "When they are learned, they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsels of God, for they set it aside supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not...But to be learned is good, if they hearken unto the counsels of God." (2 Nephi 9:28-29)

I personally have met quite a few educated members of my own church who have chosen to take academic world-views more seriously than the tenets of their faith. I am also aware that LDS scholars generally have no idea how to explain why there are differences between Joseph Smith's translations of Egyptian and current scholars' translations of Egyptian, though this is apparently because they are thrown off by the Rosetta Stone, which is the key to a much later form of Egyptian than the dialect spoken during Abraham's day (this is an observation made by David Grant Stewart Sr., a professional translator of ancient and modern languages). For me, it's enough to say that when I read scholars' translations, the result is a bunch of nonsense that I don't believe any member of the Homo Sapiens species would write or believe in. When I read Joseph Smith's translations, it is totally understandable to me. That, of course, is not substantial evidence of anything for anyone aside from myself, but it does coincide with something Joseph Smith said himself: that true doctrine tastes good. (King Follett Sermon, April 7, 1844)

A facsimile from the Book of Abraham.

But the content of Joseph Smith's translations and revelations speak for themselves. And when reading them, one must ask, "Could Joseph Smith conceivably have invented these passages, or did he truly draw from revelations given by God?"

The Book of Abraham contains very interesting stuff, and is very different from other religious texts the Judeo-Christian world is used to. It is possibly the most complicated scripture in the LDS canon, even if it seems more relevant to Mormons than much of the Old Testament (the Old Testament is completely relevant, but readers have a harder time understanding its application).

In Chapter 3 of his book, Abraham is given a vision of the universe, in which God speaks and explains some of the mysteries of His creation.

God begins by describing the astrological properties of heaven's location in the universe. Abraham says, "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".

God then says, "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 [star] to govern all those which belong to the same order as that upon which thou standest."

Here God is saying that the greatest star, Kolob, governs all other stars, including our star, the sun. What could He mean by "governs"? How does one star govern another? Most likely by being large enough to influence other star systems via gravitational pull. Indeed, as we read on, we'll see that Kolob is probably that large.

"And the Lord said unto me...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."

Here, the Lord explains to Abraham that one day on the planet or in the star system of Kolob is for us one thousand years. The Lord then continues to explain why.

"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... 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 [stars] which thou hast seen..."

So now the Lord is indicating that the reckoning of time on each planet is different, and if one planet is greater than another, its reckoning of time is greater as well.

Wait, what?

Did God just tell Abraham about gravitational time dilation?

Yeah. He did. And in case you aren't sure what I'm talking about, gravitational time dilation is the part of the theory of relativity which informs us that the greater the gravity is in an area, the slower time flows there. Greater gravity comes where there is greater mass, so a larger planet would have greater gravity and slower time than a smaller planet.

So, since God said in these passages that Kolob is so great that a day there is one thousand years for us here we can calculate that time passes 365,000 times more quickly on earth than on Kolob. Once again, all of this being predicated on the 'greatness', or size, of each star or world in question. Which means there is no question as to whether or not Joseph Smith brought into light the gravitational time dilation aspect of the theory of relativity in 1835 when he published The Book of Abraham. That was seventy-two years before Albert Einstein cognized gravitational time dilation of his own accord in 1907.

In the debate over Mormonism's claim that Joseph Smith was a prophet, this is only one of many instances where we are forced to make a logical choice such as the following: do we believe that Joseph Smith, in an attempt to trick everyone, came up with a bogus interpretation of Egyptian that included the theory of relativity? Or was he what he claimed to be, that is, a prophet?

If it's easier for you to accept that Joseph Smith came up with the theory of relativity seventy-two years before Einstein, and all in an attempt to gain followers, I ask you this: can you name a single charlatan in the history of the world who postulated a great scientific truth in order to deceive people?

I can't. Liars do not come up with profound truth as a means to lead the masses astray. They do mingle truth with lies, but those truths are never original - they are truths that are generally accepted by the masses already, making the lies seem more credible. Joseph Smith revealed a principle that was unheard of in his time period, and way over their heads at that. This was no attempt to trick anyone. To me it is clear that Joseph Smith had in his possession a document written by the hand of Abraham, and he translated it correctly. There would be no gravitational time dilation in the text if the text were anything other than what Smith claimed it was.

This realization stacks up with a plethora of other truths Joseph Smith unveiled long before the academic world could catch up with him. The Word of Wisdom, which preaches that alcohol, tobacco, coffee, and the tea leaf contain harmful substances was given by Joseph Smith in the year of 1833, over a century before Western practitioners of medicine made this discovery. The Book of Mormon made the audacious claim that the American Indians are descendants of a group of Caucasians, which idea was completely rejected until very recently (read about it here). There is the fact that The Book of Mormon contains the histories of three ancient American civilizations that were massive and advanced in many ways, which Europeans and Euro-Americans would not accept until after Smith published the book, having chosen instead to believe the central American monuments had been built by the Romans. We have since celebrated the greatness of the Olmec, Mayan, and Aztec nations as examples of the ingenuity of peoples indigenous to America.

My original intent in writing this post was to present one of the many reasons to believe that Joseph Smith was not your typical founder of a religious movement. He was a prophet. A prophet receives knowledge from God on our behalf. Joseph Smith did not take the credit for major scientific discoveries. He let the words of Abraham be Abraham's words. Smith was not seeking fame. He was seeking the Truth, and he found it. Smith attributed it to that God whom he served, the God of Truth from whom all knowledge flows. If Smith were less than a prophet, I feel fairly certain that he would have touted the theory of relativity as his discovery, had he managed to discover it on his own as a non-prophet, non-translator. But he found this knowledge via inspiration as a prophet, which thing I know to be true.

Some of the remaining fragments of the papyrus from which Joseph Smith translated the Book of Abraham.