The Mormon Channel

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced a new online radio service called the Mormon Channel.

The content for the Mormon Channel comes many different sources. First, many of the programs come from the vast archives of the Church. Second, working with the various departments of the Church, a large number of new programs and series have been developed for the Mormon Channel. Finally, some great partners- such as Bonneville, Deseret Book, and the campuses of Brigham Young University, have also provided content for the service. Frequently Asked Questions.

The site explains that the content will include live programming. To quote:

Yes. General Conference, CES firesides, devotionals, Christmas firesides, and other special broadcasts will be carried live on the Mormon Channel, and repeated across multiple time zones. It should be noted, however, that certain Church events, such as temple dedications, are intended to be viewed only in select locations because of the sacred nature of the event. Broadcasts not intended for a general audience will typically not air on the Mormon Channel.

No man has found pure space

Until the early 1900s, many people still believed that the earth, or at least the solar system was at the center of the universe. It wasn't until the time of Howard Shapley, in the 1920s and after, that the true size and arrangement of the universe was generally accepted. It is claimed that Shapley was the first to appreciate the size of the Milky Way Galaxy. The history of science is full of these startling inconsistencies, demonstrating that scientists should never be so sure they are correct.

Even though the true size and scope of the universe were debated into the 1920s, and still are the subject of a lot of theories and conjecture, it is more than interesting that a poet in the 1800s saw the full majesty and extent of the universe and realized how insignificant the world was in comparison.

William Wines Phelps, a prominent player in the establishment of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, expressed his thoughts on the subject of the size of the universe in a poem, later put to music as a Mormon hymn. In verses of the hymn, If you could hie to Kolob, he poetically expressed the size of the creation by declaring that "there is no end to matter; there is no end to space." He questions whether the end of the universe could be found, even at a speed exceeding that of light itself.

Although the ideas expressed in this hymn are common enough today, the concept of a boundless universe was virtually unknown at the time. Phelps' inspiration came from the teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith Jr. who spoke of the vastness of the creations in Book of Moses, where, beginning in the Pearl of Great Price: Moses: Chapter 1, we read:

7 And now, behold, this one thing I show unto thee, Moses, my son, for thou art in the world, and now I show it unto thee.
8 And it came to pass that Moses looked, and beheld the world upon which he was created; and Moses beheld the world and the ends thereof, and all the children of men which are, and which were created; of the same he greatly marveled and wondered.
9 And the presence of God withdrew from Moses, that his glory was not upon Moses; and Moses was left unto himself. And as he was left unto himself, he fell unto the earth.
10 And it came to pass that it was for the space of many hours before Moses did again receive his natural strength like unto man; and he said unto himself: Now, for this cause I know that man is nothing, which thing I never had supposed.

This came from a man living in a world that still debated the size of the visible universe!

The name of this blog

The title of this blog comes from an old hymn called "If you could hie to Kolob."

1. If you could hie to Kolob In the twinkling of an eye, And then continue onward With that same speed to fly, Do you think that you could ever, Through all eternity, Find out the generation Where Gods began to be?

2. Or see the grand beginning, Where space did not extend? Or view the last creation, Where Gods and matter end? Me thinks the Spirit whispers, "No man has found 'pure space,' Nor seen the outside curtains, Where nothing has a place."

3. The works of God continue, And worlds and lives abound; Improvement and progression Have one eternal round. There is no end to matter; There is no end to space; There is no end to spirit; There is no end to race.

4. There is no end to virtue; There is no end to might; There is no end to wisdom; There is no end to light. There is no end to union; There is no end to youth; There is no end to priesthood; There is no end to truth.

5. There is no end to glory; There is no end to love; There is no end to being; There is no death above. There is no end to glory; There is no end to love; There is no end to being; There is no death above.

The reference to "Kolob" makes for one of the longer articles on Wikipedia. It also brings up a topic that is mostly ignored by the main stream members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today. However, on July 20, 2007, President Boyd K. Packer gave an interview for the PBS documentary "The Mormons." Here is a portion of that interview, telling the importance of the reference in the context of the present day church:

HW: There’s a hymn that you mentioned that you love when talking about the plan of salvation to somebody. Something about “hie to” — I’d like to hear that from you.

BKP: “If I could hie to Kolob in the twinkling of an eye, and then continue onward with that same speed to fly, do you think that I could ever, through all eternity, find out the generations where Gods began to be?”

Then the other verse goes on, and you can read it: “There is no end to matter, there is no end to space; there is no end to wisdom; there is no end to race.” You’re testing an old man. That is a very profound song that you should read when you’re studying about what’s going on in the world today.

When you read that and talk and look into the eternities, you see the endlessness of it all — that’s caught up in the words of that song. President David O. McKay read that to one of the astronauts that came. There’s so many things that we don’t know, but it’s a wonderful world that we live in. There’s no end to what we can learn, but we only use about 15 percent of the room there. It’s a great, great revelation that came from William W. Phelps.

“If I could hie to Kolob” — now you have to know what Kolob is; the scriptures say it is the center place — “and then continue onward with that same speed to fly.”

I know a lot of hymns, and I know that one.

HW: But it does say something essential about Mormons.

BKP: It does; it shows a depth and a breadth and a power that is consistent with all that we know. All of the orbits of all the heavenly bodies follow that same thing — it’s an amazing world we live in. When you see color and life and all that life has to offer, we shouldn’t be bored.

More later

Worry items seriously questioned

I spent a lot of time worrying about my last post and finally decided that I had really missed the essence of the the American psyche and its motivational worries. It was obvious to me, upon reflection that the list was way off. I had ignored the real causes of worry in our contemporary society. So after a sleepless fifteen or twenty minutes, I came up with an alternative list of the things people actually worry about. These are in order of their importance in our society:

1. Today I will worry about a certain male dysfunction. (This was easily number one by the amount of E-mail I receive each day).
2. Today I will worry about spots on clothing caused by dirt and spills. (No question that this is the most serious problem as shown by a random sample of TV ads over the past fifty years).
3. Today I will worry about my inability to get a close shave. (A really serious problem).
4. Today I will worry about my body odor.
5. Today I will worry about going bald. (although this is a visible male problem, it is really the greatest fear of women also).
6. Today I will worry about a generous overabundance of body.
7. Today I will worry about children being injured by air bags.
8. Today I will worry about removing the tags from new mattresses and pillows.
9. Today I will worry about memory loss.
10. Today I will worry about bad breath.
11. Today I will worry about germs on every surface I touch.
12. Today I will worry about using public restrooms.
13. Today I will worry about loss of data on my computer.
14. Today I will worry about computer viruses.
15. Today I will worry about water quality.
16. Today I will worry about things being taught or not taught in public schools.
17. Today I will worry about roughage in my diet.
18. Today I will worry about indoor air quality.
19. Today I will worry about poor lighting conditions.
20. Today I will worry about being out of shape.
21. Today I will worry about having my child fail kindergarten.
22. Today I will worry about social acceptance. (Usually limited to those with disgusting habits or conditions).
23. Today I will worry about inability to fall asleep.
24. Today I will worry about loss of civil rights.
25. Today I will worry about illegal aliens taking away my job.
26. Today I will worry about losing my rollover minutes on my cell phone.
27. Today I will worry about being lactose intolerant.
28. Today I will worry about identity theft.
29. Today I will worry about my inability to program my DVD player.
30. Today I will worry about my inability to operate my cell phone.
31. Today I will worry about electricity running out of the wall sockets.

Now, that is a more realistic list. I am sure you can think of a few more things, if you can just stay awake long enough to remember them.

What me worry?

Look after a couple of weeks of Swine Flu, I thought we might need something else to worry about for a while. So I have compiled a little list of things to worry about. There are thirty one of them, one for each day of the month. Now when you wake up in the morning you don't have to think, "What will I worry about today?" I have a list. All you do is post the list in a conspicuous place, like the door of the fridge, and you can worry to your heart's content, each day on an entirely new and different worry.

1. Today I will worry about being hit by a giant meteorite from outer space.
2. Today I will worry about a resurgence of the bubonic plague killing all of mankind.
3. Today I will worry about global warming raising the level of the oceans until New York is under water.
4. Today I will worry about the build up of pesticides and chemicals poisoning all of the worlds water supply.
5. Today I will worry about a super storm freezing the entire Northern Hemisphere (or Southern Hemisphere depending on where you live).
6. Today I will worry about a monster lizard hatching out of the middle of the Pacific Ocean and invading my town (really only a worry in New York, but you can always hope).
7. Today I will worry about a break down of law and order creating the end of society as we know it (wait a minute, this has already happened).
8. Today I will worry about the destruction of the rain forest (ditto above).
9. Today I will worry about suddenly developing a fatal disease.
10. Today I will worry about aliens invading the earth and killing all of mankind (leaving the women).
11. Today I will worry about nuclear war.
12. Today I will worry about biological war (since we are on wars for a while).
13. Today I will worry about terrorists bombing my city.
14. Today I will worry about a giant _______ fill in the blank (suggestions: earthquake, flood, tsunami, hurricane, tornado or whatever).
15. Today I will worry about all of the cute fuzzy animals of the world going extinct.
16. Today I will worry about all of the rest of the not so cute and fuzzy animals going extinct.
17. Today I will worry about an increase in taxes.
18. Today I will worry about the end of civilization (oh dear, back to number 7).
19. Today I will worry about _______. This is another free choice day. I would suggest Bigfoot, Yetis, Loch Ness Monster, Area 51 or whatever you would like today.
20. Today I will worry about a complete collapse of the world economy.
21. Today I will worry about the alien skull found on Mars.
22. Today I will worry about the hollow earth theory.
23. Today I will worry about UFOs.
24. Today I will worry about a volcano erupting in my town (two extra points if you live in L.A.).
25. Today I will worry about the beginning of a new ice age.
26. Today I will worry about the New World Order and someone taking over the government.
27. Today I will worry about the Apocalypse and Armageddon (Another two for one day).
28. Today I will worry about the earth being hit by a black hole or whatever.
29. Today I will worry about the sun exploding in a supernova. (Do you realize how much work it is to keep this up for a whole month?).
30. Today I will worry about everything on the list for at least five minutes.
31. Today I will worry about all of the things on the TV ads.

Now, wasn't that refreshing?

Lord of the Rings after forty-three years

I first read Lord of the Rings about forty-three years ago. This book has been called one of the most popular and influential books of the 20th-century. Some time later, while I was in Panama, I found a copy of The Hobbit and read that also. I wish I could say that reading the books was a watershed time in my life, but at that time I found the books interesting and fairly long. Some of the parts were less than exciting. By 1966, I had a poster of Middle Earth and had re-read the books at least once.


After reading the books a couple of times, I began to appreciate the character of the narrative. The books are written in a flowing style that sounds musical when read aloud. The entire book is definitely not written for children or anyone not willing to put forth the effort to absorb the world of Middle Earth. In a sense, by writing almost the ultimate fantasy novel, Tolkien ruined the genre for most of what follows. It is ironic that the creation of the genre and its destruction take place at the same time.

Although often included with such works as those by George MacDonald and C. S. Lewis, those authors' books are not really in the same category. Lewis' Narnia books can hardly be compared, either in scope or structure, to the Lord of the Rings. I would certainly recommend both MacDonald and Lewis to younger readers, but I would hesitate to discuss the Lord of the Rings with anyone who had not tackled longer novels like the Hunchback of Notre Dame or Les Miserables.
Like many other long time readers of the Lord of the Rings, I was skeptical of any efforts to cinematize the story with any success. Having seen most of the classic books I have read butchered by Hollywood renderings, I could not imagine anyone doing the story straight. I could see Bilbo dancing like a woodland elf or Frodo bursting into a song. I was pleasantly surprised when Peter Jackson was able to pull off a very good movie, not much like the book in some ways, but faithful to the ideas and concepts. Fortunately, they watered down the character of Gollum or the movie would have been a tiresome as the book.


After the release of the film, it is doubtful if anyone will be able to read the book again without visualizing the characters in the movie version. In that sense, the movie has ruined the book, which usually does not happen. Right now, I do not plan on reading the book again, unless I get an audio version and listen to it while I am driving across country or something like that. I may watch the movies again, for the entertainment value.

Red Planet and Tunnel in the Sky

As near as I can tell, I started reading science fiction in 1954 or so. As I look back at the lists of books from various authors, I realize that not much had happened before that time. Robert Heinlein published his first novel, Rocket Ship Galileo, in 1947. By 1955, he had written 12 books, including the Red Planet and Tunnel in the Sky.

If you thought that Star Gate was innovative, you probably haven't read Tunnel in the Sky. Many of Heinlein's books were social commentaries rather than space operas. I especially liked Methuselah's Children and The Door into Summer. Which I read shortly after they were published. There was no mechanism to publicize a new book written by an author, at least to a teenager living in a small town in Eastern Arizona all summer. I had no national radio stations and certainly no television. The only way I could find these books was if they showed up on the book racks in the drug stores or ended up in some library.

One thing about the future that none of the authors, including Heinlein, could foresee was the Internet and computers. Although there were some who envisioned modern forms of communication, no one could have predicted blogs and social networking. I find current life to be much more complicated and a lot less "modern" than depicted in the early scifi books.