What purpose would be served mentioning souls on other planets? Would it have served to illuminate or confuse?
The Book doesn’t mention Australia or the New World either.
“What purpose would be served mentioning souls on other planets?”
I have no idea... but we know the Book does talk about the other stars, and tells us that they were created after Earth, to serve a purpose for the creation here. So, any hypothetical souls on other planets would seem like kind of an afterthought, wouldn’t they? Maybe that’s not the right word, but I hope you catch my drift.
If we seriously start speculating theologically that there could be souls on other planets, based on an argument from absence, then we’ll soon be faced with the theological dilemmas that led to some of the “goofier” doctrines of Mormonism. None can be saved unless they accept Christ, and the Church is supposed to help spread that Gospel to all, so are these hypothetical souls deprived of salvation because we don’t have a hyperdrive? Or did Christ go visit them too? Did he have to make another sacrifice, so that things really weren’t finished once and for all? Or did he just drop by to tell them the good news? Are the souls on these other planets even fallen, or are they in a state of grace, having never been tempted by Satan? When the end of days comes around on Earth, and death is thrown into the fiery furnace, will death cease across the universe, or only on Earth? We could dance in circles all night.
All I know is that God seems awfully focused on what is happening on Earth, to the point where He came down here Himself to straighten things out. Maybe we should take a cue from Him and stay focused on our local affairs too.