Science and the Last Word

The invaluable Matthew Bowen called attention several days ago to this passage from Hugh Nibley, which I really like:

“Until the final returns are in, no one is in a position to make final pronouncements, and as long as science continues to progress, the final returns will remain at the other end of a future of wonders and surprises. In the world of things, we must forever keep an open mind, because we simply don’t know the answers. But we are not claiming that because science does not have the ultimate answers, religion does have them. What we do claim is that the words of the prophets cannot be held to the tentative and defective tests that men have devised for them. Science, philosophy, and common sense all have a right to their day in court. But the last word does not lie with them. Every time men in their wisdom have come forth with the last word, other words have promptly followed. The last word is a testimony of the gospel that comes only by direct revelation. Our Father in heaven speaks it, and if it were in perfect agreement with the science of today, it would surely be out of line with the science of tomorrow. Let us not, therefore, seek to hold God to the learned opinions of the moment when he speaks the language of eternity” (“The Prophets and the Open Mind,” in The World and the Prophets [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1987], 134). 

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In the meanwhile, here’s a bit of the science that we actually currently have:

“‘Strange’ Alien Planets May Be Made of Exotic Matter”

“Magnetic Field on Mars Mysteriously Pulses at Night, NASA’s InSight Lander Finds”

“New Radar System Alerts Politicians When People Are Enjoying Something So They Can Ban It”

“Was Dark Matter Really Created Before The Big Bang?”

“Better Than Earth? Are There Superhabitable Worlds In The Milky Way?”

“Maybe Dangling a Space Elevator Off the Moon Isn’t as Ludicrous as It Sounds”

“Most massive neutron star ever detected, almost too massive to exist”

“Astronomers have discovered the most massive neutron star to date, a rapidly spinning pulsar approximately 4,600 light-years from Earth. This record-breaking object is teetering on the edge of existence, approaching the theoretical maximum mass possible for a neutron star.”

Posted from Helsinki, Finland