mormonsandscience

There are certain things which are difficult for us mortals to conceptualize. One that I find particularly challenging is the notion of “There [being] no such thing as an ultimate beginning, a time prior to which there was nothing” (Mormon Doctrine). It just seems like there should be a beginning somewhere in the past.

What is unusual about the doctrine of “no beginning” is that it is equally difficult to conceptualize the opposite, that there ever was a beginning. If I say there was a beginning to the god-created universe, then who created God? Identifying a cause for a god-created universe just begs the question, “Who is responsible for God’s existence?” If our cause was a divine creator, then who created our creator, and who was his creator, and so on? Indeed, cosmological speculation about a “first cause” creator that cannot possibly exist leads to a hopeless infinite regression.

By reflecting on the apparent impossibility of both positions (beginning vs. no beginning), we run the risk of experiencing a minor ontological crisis over whether any of this life is real. This issue goes beyond the false reality created by the Matrix as portrayed in the popular sci-fi movie. We are, in a sense, asking, “Who created the Matrix? And “Who created the Matrix’s creator?”

Thankfully Descartes provided a temporary solution to these sorts of existential crises. Regardless of whether there was or was not a beginning, we exist as evidenced by the fact that we can think about these very issues. Cogito ergo sum – I think therefore I am!  Descartes’ cogito ergo sum does not solve the problem of an infinite regress of identifying the first cause, it only assures us that we are real, or does it?

The importance of thinking does not stop at cogito ergo sum. Other influential philosophers and theologians have convincingly argued that for the physical world to exist, it must be perceived. Bishop Berkley (namesake of Berkley University) put it this way: “Esse est percipi” – to be is to be perceived! The essence of esse est percipi is that for something to be real, it must be perceived. Take the old familiar question: “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there, does it make a sound?” However, in the current discussion, the question becomes: “Does the tree even exist at all if no one ever perceives it?” If you think this is a bunch of malarkey, you are in good company – Einstein was very skeptical of esse est percipi. The whole notion of something having to be perceived in order for it to exist led him to quip, “When no one is observing the moon, is it still there?” as if to suggest, of course it is there!

Not so fast! Esse est percipi is supported by experiments in quantum mechanics.

In one renowned quantum mechanics study, electrons are fired one at a time from an electron gun through a double slit barrier. When the positions of the electrons are registered on a screen behind the barrier, the single fired electrons create an interference pattern that can only be explained by the electrons behaving like a non-physical wave of potentialities after leaving the electron gun. However, when we observe, at the barrier, which slit the electron goes through, the electrons go back to being physical particles.  The upshot of all this is that when no one observes the electrons they are non-physical waves, but when we observe the electrons they are physical particles.

Confused? Don’t worry. Dr. Quantum describes this process very well. Click the video below.

Shortly after the Civil War, the Union Army Surgeon General stated that mid 1800s medicine was “at the end of the medical Middle Ages.”  This statement acknowledges that during the Civil War era, the medical profession was ill-prepared to handle diseases, infections, and war wounds.  Their lack of knowledge on what caused disease, how to avoid infections, and how to treat wounds contributed to the death and suffering.  This was a time when more soldiers died from disease than battle wounds, and checking into a field hospital was often a death sentence.  

The following excerpt from the journal of Carl Schurz, a Union commander at the Battle of Gettysburg, describes the horrors of Civil War surgical procedures.  After 5000 years of human history, this was the best surgical approach that humanity had to offer.  

“To look after the wounded of my command, I visited the places where the surgeons were at work. . . . At Gettysburg the wounded-many thousands of them-were carried to the farmsteads behind our lines. The houses, the barns, the sheds, and the open barnyards were crowded with the moaning and waiting human beings, and still an unceasing procession of stretchers and ambulances was coming in from all sides to augment the number of the sufferers.   A heavy rain set in during the day - the usual rain after a battle and large numbers had to remain unprotected in the open, there being no room left under roof. I saw long rows of men lying under the eaves of the buildings, the water pouring down upon their bodies in streams. 

Most of the operating tables were placed in the open where the light was best, some of them partially protected against the rain by tarpaulins or blankets stretched upon poles.  There stood the surgeons, their sleeves rolled up to the elbows, their bare arms as well as their linen aprons smeared with blood, their knives held between their teeth, while they were helping a patient on or off the table, or had their hands otherwise occupied; around them pools of blood and amputated arms or legs in heaps, sometimes more than man-high.  Antiseptic methods were still unknown at that time. 

As a wounded man was lifted on the table, often shrieking with pain as the attendants handled him, the surgeon quickly examined the wound and resolved upon cutting off the injured limb. Some ether was administered and the body put in position in a moment. The surgeon snatched his knife from between his teeth, where it had been while his hands were busy, wiped it rapidly once or twice across his blood-stained apron, and the cutting began. The operation accomplished, the surgeon would look around with a deep sigh, and then - "Next!"  And so it went on, hour after hour, while the number of expectant patients seemed hardly to diminish. 

Now and then one of the wounded men would call attention to the fact that his neighbor lying on the ground had given up the ghost while waiting for his turn, and the dead body was then quietly removed. Or a surgeon, having been long at work, would put down his knife, exclaiming that his hand had grown unsteady, and that this was too much for human endurance - not seldom hysterical tears streaming down his face. 

Many of the wounded men suffered with silent fortitude, fierce determination in the knitting of their brows and the steady gaze of their bloodshot eyes. Some would even force themselves to a grim jest about their situation or about the "skedaddling of the rebels." But there were, too, heart-rending groans and shrill cries of pain piercing the air, and despairing exclamations, "Oh, Lord! Oh, Lord!" or "Let me die!" or softer murmurings in which the words "mother" or "father" or "home" were often heard.”

Look how far medical knowledge has come in just 150 years!  We are light years ahead of where we used to be during the Civil War, and yet it did not take light years to get where we are; it has taken less than two centuries.  Why has incredible progress taken place during the last 100 years and not during the previous 5000 years?  Answer: The Restoration and the concomitant outpouring of the Light of Christ.  We are living in a wondrous time foretold by the prophets of old.  The blessings of the fullness of the gospel extend far beyond religious domains.

My employer is a leader in healthcare delivery and outcomes.  Because of its reputation as a leader, medical professionals from around the country come to its semi-annual conference on quality improvement.  I recently attended this four week conference. I heard from at least 20 professionals who talked about a wide variety of challenges facing health care.  The last presentation impacted me the most; it got under my skin, so to speak, and for a good reason.  

The final presenter’s goal was to show how transparency in healthcare organizations improves outcomes.  She showed a video of parents with children who are suffering from cystic fibrosis.  The parents in the video were concerned that their children were not receiving the best possible care for their cystic fibrosis at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. 

The organization with data on which hospitals are delivering the best outcomes is the national Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF), but the CFF was not talking.  The foundation did not want to release data on which hospitals were producing the best outcomes and which were producing the worst.  This secrecy is a major concern given that the difference in survival years between the best and the worst cystic fibrosis treatment centers was 17 years!  That means that children from the best treatment centers were, on average, living 17 years longer than children from the worst treatment centers. 

The parents fought with the foundation until it gave them what they wanted – the name of the hospital with the best outcomes in cystic fibrosis care.  After discovering which hospital offered the best care, the parents and medical staff from Cincinnati visited the best care facility to learn what they were doing and what worked well.  This information was then incorporated into care programs at Cincinnati’s children’s hospital to improve the outcomes and prolong the lives of children suffering from cystic fibrosis in Cincinnati, Ohio.  

Watching the video and seeing young kids who were suffering from cystic fibrosis was heartbreaking enough; what made it even more heartbreaking was seeing their parents struggling to get the CFF to reveal the hospital offering the best care.  The thought that a lack of transparency in healthcare outcomes is reducing the lifespan of children suffering from cystic fibrosis is distressing.  You would think that we should be “pulling out all the stops” when it comes to helping these children.

In my opinion, what is equally distressing is our increasingly lack of transparency with the Light of Christ.  Every step that science (and society in general) takes toward godless secularism is a step away from the enlightening power of the Light of the Lord.  That same Light that inspired great discoveries in scholars like Newton, Boyle, Faraday, Einstein, and Salk has the potential to reveal promising treatments and cures for devastating diseases like cystic fibrosis.  The more we humble ourselves before the Lord and seek His guidance through prayer, the more secular knowledge we will receive through the enlightening power of the Spirit of the Lord.  On the other hand, the more we move towards secularism, the less we benefit from this enlightening power.

By increasing transparency in healthcare and improving our transparency with the Light of Christ we will advance our understanding of diseases and ultimately enhance the quality of people’s lives.  We will also, as Orson Pratt stated, help science move “higher and higher until [it is] crowned with the glory and presence of Him who is eternal.”  A wonderful goal, indeed.

“I was changing a light bulb in the bathroom when I slipped, fell and hit my head.  When I came to, I had a dream . . . a vision, of this! (pointing to a drawing).  The Flux Capacitor.  This is what makes time travel possible!”  - Doctor Emmett Brown, inventor of time travel.

This statement by the Doc in the 1981 blockbuster movie “Back to the Future” is not just another humorous comment, it is a parody of an event that has happened repeatedly throughout the history of modern science.  I am referring to dreams and inspirations that led to marvelous breakthroughs in science and technology.  

Secular science just shrugs its shoulders at these supernatural events and attributes them to human intuition and perseverance.  Yet, as I point out in my book Truth & Science, the source of these miraculous events is the Light of Christ.  We are all beneficiaries of scientific or technological breakthroughs that have saved lives and enabled us to lead more productive and comfortable lifestyles.  When you think of the blessings of science and technology in your life, don’t thank your lucky stars; thank the Lord.  

The prophet Brigham Young said, “Every discovery in science and art, that is really true and useful to mankind, has been given by direct revelation from God.”  This is not the kind of statement that has to be taken on faith; there are plenty of examples of scientists receiving supernatural assistance.  One of my favorite accounts is Dmitri Mendeleyev’s (1834-1907) discovery of the periodic table.  Interestingly, the circumstances surrounding Mendeleyev’s discovery of the periodic table are similar to the circumstances portrayed in Doc Emmett Brown’s fictional discovery of the Flux Capacitor.

Both Mendeleyev and the Doc had wild unkempt hair.

Both had pictures of famous scientists who inspired them.  Doc had pictures of Thomas Edison and Isaac Newton in his study, and Mendeleyev had pictures of Newton, Galileo, and Faraday in his study.

Both men isolated themselves from the outside world while they worked feverishly on their discoveries.  Doc isolated himself while he worked on time travel, and Mendeleyev isolated himself while he worked on a way to organize the elements by their atomic weights.

And both men had a vision/dream while unconcscious that led to major discoveries.  Doc had a dream while unconscious on the bathroom floor, and Mendeleyev had his dream after falling asleep from exhaustion.  In his vision, Mendeleyev said, “I saw . . . a table where all the elements fell into place as required.”  While in a dreamlike state the Spirit of the Lord revealed to him the exact details of how to solve the problems he had labored on for so long.  Mendeleyev's account reads like a Hollywood script, yet it is true!

Is it a coincidence that events like this began happening around the time of the Restoration?  No. The apostle Paul testified that in the last days God would pour out His Spirit upon all flesh. The outpouring of His Spirit enlightened people’s minds, ended the Dark Ages, and prepared the inhabitants of the earth for the Restoration.  The outpouring of the Spirit of the Lord continues to this day.  Its enlightening power is what makes the latter-days so different from previous dispensations.  Consider that for the first few thousands of years in the history of mankind, modes of transportation and communication remained largely unchanged (e.g., walking, on horse, riding in an animal drawn cart).  Now look how far we have come in the last 150 years.  The progress has been astounding!

The next time you start your car, turn on your computer, adjust your thermostat, answer the phone, turn on a light, bake in the oven, take a bath, put your clothes in the washer and dryer, and take a healing medication, thank the Lord.  As Brigham Young said, He is the provider of all useful and wonderful discoveries.
(Mormons and Science 8.08)