The Broadway musical “The Book of Mormon” and several prime-time television shows over the last few years have done their best to make fun of the Mormon belief that God lives on a planet far, far away, named Kolob.
That’s entirely incorrect according to Mormon theology, but more importantly, there is a lot to be learned about the beliefs of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by understanding this principle.
Where Is God?
God obviously isn’t here on the Earth walking among us, so where is he? Frankly, I don’t know, but there is a scripture that gives us a clue.
Abraham 3:3 reads “And the Lord said unto me: 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…” Verse 9 in the same chapter adds that “Kolob is set nigh unto the throne of God.”
That’s it! That’s really all we know about Kolob, and that’s what the fuss is all about. Personally, I really don’t see anything strange about that at all.
So what is Kolob and what does it mean? From the scripture, it sounds like it’s a portion of the heavens that is near to God’s throne.
And where is God’s throne, you ask? Is it in fact on a strange planet far, far away? I don’t know, and Mormon theology doesn’t claim to know either.
Where is Heaven?
Our religion does not claim any specific location for where God dwells right now while we are here on Earth, but it does say where heaven will be–right here on Earth.
After Christ comes again and after the final judgment, the Earth will be perfected and heaven will be right here on the Earth.
That begs the question of where the dead are who have gone on before us. I don’t know, and Mormon theology doesn’t weigh in on that topic either.
So What’s the Big Fuss With Kolob All About?
I don’t know. There are many, many people who seem to spend most of their time trying to break the faith of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Kolob is something that we never really even talk about. In fact, you’d probably find a large number of latter-day saints don’t really even know what it is–though most have heard of it before because of pop culture making fun of this belief. It’s a word mentioned in precisely two verses of scripture, and has no real consequence to anyone’s salvation. I’ve attended this church all my life, and I have never heard a single sermon or lesson about it.
It’s just something that anti-Mormons have dug out to try and make our beliefs seems as strange as possible, but I really don’t even see what all the fuss is about.
Brother Jim, I\’m writing for a couple of reasons. I found your web site while looking for blogs or whatever to share what I have discovered about Kolob and Abraham Chapter 3, which I write about in my new book. Then I noticed that you are a web site developer. I think I\’m going to need a web site to promote my book. I\’m pretty green at this promotion stuff, but please email me and let\’s talk.
About Abraham 3, the key to understanding what it means is General Relativity, which says that two observers in different gravitational fields will experience different elapsed time between the same two events. I devote two chapters on Abraham 3 in my book \”Faith and Physics,\” but here\’s a condensed excerpt: In the movie “Interstellar,\” which was co-produced by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Kip Thorne a team of scientists travel via a wormhole to a planet near a supermassive black hole named Gargantua. The crew of the spacecraft “Endurance” is in a rush to complete their mission and return home. The reason for the urgency is that although time is passing quite normally to their perception, and back home time is passing normally for their families and friends, relative to each other there is a huge difference in elapsed time. The reason for this unintuitive state of affairs, both in the movie and in Abraham’s revelation, is time dilation, which in this case is caused by the difference in the gravitational field in which the astronauts are immersed relative to that of the earth.
Abraham 3: 5
\”And the Lord said unto me: The planet which is the lesser light, lesser than that which is to rule the day, even the night, is above or greater than that upon which thou standest in point of reckoning, for it moveth in order more slow; this is in order because it standeth above the earth upon which thou standest, therefore the reckoning of its time is not so many as to its number of days, and of months, and of years.\”
What does it mean that the moon stands above the earth? It means that it orbits the earth. And why does the moon orbit, or stand above, the earth? It’s because the earth is more massive than the moon. And because it’s more massive, its gravity is greater.
Sitting in your living room watching the Super Bowl on TV you would see it last 60 minutes, neglecting halftime, time outs, etc. But let’s say you walk out to your back yard where you have a magical telescope set up, and watch the crew of Endurance playing football by NFL rules on a planet near Gargantua. Because of time dilation between Gargantua and Earth, you’d see the game being played in super slow motion, and probably get bored after the first few days or months.
But the crew of Endurance, watching the Super Bowl being played in the Super Dome in New Orleans from a location in Gargantua’s enormous gravitational field would no doubt be disappointed that the game was over in milliseconds! Similarly, if the game took place on our moon, we earthlings would see it last slightly less than 60 minutes. This is what is meant by “the reckoning of its (the moon’s) time is not so many as to its number of days, and of months, and of years” in Verse 5.
In my opinion Abraham\’s revelation proves beyond a doubt not only that Joseph was a prophet, but also that some revelation was meant to be understood only in our day.
Hello,
If it is entirely incorrect, but we do have the one verse from Abraham, does this mean we start leaving out lines of scripture that we don’t understand? Why write an article specifically about how Kolob is not true or does not have the evidence to be Gods home, even though its mentioned in the book of Abraham? Why not try taking on Leviticus? Im only asking out of curiosity
Also, see here https://www.ldsliving.com/3-fascinating-things-every-mormon-should-know-about-kolob/s/82249 . LDS Living goes far into the Kolob verse and adds meat to it
Or, alternatively from that article
“Divine energy, power, or influence that proceeds from God through Christ and gives life and light to all things. It is the law by which all things are governed in heaven and on earth (D&C 88:5-13).”
As the first creation and the star nearest to the source of all light, God, it makes sense that Kolob gives its light in a similar way. The explanation for figure 5 in Facsimile 2 in Abraham explains that the planet Enish-go-on-dosh “borrows its light from Kolob through the medium of Kae-e-vanrash, which is the . . . governing power. . .” It also later says that two other stars, Kli-flos-is-es and Hah-ko-kau-beam, also receive “light from the revolutions of Kolob.”
Hello, I was searching out the name Kolob and found this site. I recently passed thru SLC and stopped off at a little restaurant called Kolob Fried Chicken outside Alta and wanted to learn more about its origins. The food was delicious by the way!