In the late 1600’s Sir Isaac Newton developed laws of motion that explained the orbits of the planets. His laws worked well for the first six planets in our solar system and were accepted as true. The problems came after Uranus was discovered in 1781. Astronomers could observe and measure the orbit of Uranus and knew that it didn’t match up with calculations based on Newtonian laws.
So now there were choices to make. Should scientists throw out Newton as having been proven wrong and start over? Should they become critical and spend their time looking for other problems with Newton or his work? Or should they have done what, in hindsight, proved to be the most productive? Trust what they had learned from Newton and use it to study the anomalies in Uranus’ orbit.
French mathematician Urbain Le Verrier and others choose to do exactly that. They believed that there was something else out there, likely a yet undiscovered planet, which explained why the orbit of Uranus didn’t fit with calculations based on Newton. In 1846, over sixty-five years after the discovery of Uranus had thrown doubt on the reliability of Newtonian physics, astronomer Johann Galle and his student Heinrich d’Arrest were able to locate the planet Neptune. Le Verrier’s calculations had been so accurate that these astronomers were able to quickly pinpoint the planet just one degree from where Le Verrier said it should be.
Now, let me move on to my reasons for starting this blog. About six months ago, someone who I have the greatest love and respect for explained to me why he no longer believes the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to be true. He presented a great deal of evidence, some new to me and some familiar, all compelling. I was dazed and troubled. As the product of my upbringing by devout parents in an almost exclusively Mormon small town, I think I always believed that if you knew enough about the church then you believed it was true. Now here was all this evidence that didn’t fit with my previous understanding. Against excellent advice, I began digging into the claims of those critical of the church. Much of what I found did in fact seem damning, but I couldn’t let go of the deep feelings and undeniable experiences that were the foundation of my testimony. I kept believing that there was more out there, yet undiscovered (at least by me), and I have searched for answers with more intensity than at any other time in my life.
I may have gotten carried away in my enthusiasm for understanding it all. As I have alternated between frustrating concerns and exciting insights, I feel certain that my incessant talk on these subjects has surely exhausted the patience of nearly everyone near me. This is probably the real reason so many have advised that I should be writing it all down, but I’ve decided to take their advice regardless of why it was given. I am surprised by my desire to share my thoughts in such a public way. I am the person who cautiously deliberates before “liking” something on Facebook, the one too afraid of sounding stupid to comment on Instagram photos.
I know that nothing I have to say is original or definitive. I don’t claim that anything I’ll write will represent the doctrines of the LDS Church. I might even write something now, only to find some new insight that changes my mind later. This blog is just my way of chronicling my amazing experiences as I have used what I have always believed to consider the apparent inconsistencies with the gospel and search for my metaphorical Neptunes.
After all, while finding a new planet is momentous, isn’t discovering and comprehending the Creator of “worlds without number” even more important?
The inspiration for this post came from a well written post by Happiness Seekers.
