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Posted on 04/04/2011 1:57:43 PM PDT by fishtank
The great Moon Hoax of 1835
April 4, 2011 By Nancy Atkinson, Universe Today
"Say the words “Moon Hoax” these days, and everyone thinks you are talking about the people who don’t believe the Apollo astronauts ever went to the Moon. But back in 1835 there was the original Moon hoax that thousands of people fell for, despite the tall tale being complete fiction. A series of articles were published in the New York Sun newspaper reporting incredible new astronomical observations of the Moon supposedly made by astronomer Sir John Herschel during an observing run at the Cape of Good Hope with his powerful new telescope. Detailed descriptions of winged beings, plants, animals and a sapphire temple increased sales and subscriptions to the fledgling newspaper."
More at the link.
Nikes, with ZOOM.
It’s not a question of him teaching it. I read accounts where he spoke of it well before his death.
For a short while (I can’t remember the years) it was THE BEST local newspaper in New York. It was intellectually Conservative but avoided all the “yellow journalism” and sensationalism of The Post and The Daily News.
Since it appealed to the more serious news-reader, it also did not garner the ad revenue that print journalism must have just to exist.
When the owners of The New York Sun had to quit their print edition, I was left with the WSJ as the only good alternative to the New York Times. After a few years hiatus, they restarted the web version of the Sun, which is almost as good as the old print version.
Now, under NewsCorp, which bought the WSJ, it - the WSJ - continues to become more Liberal every day on every page but the editorial pages - which were left in the hands of the former owners of Dow Jones (which owned the WSJ and was sold to Murdoch’s NewsCorp).
Can any of you all add to this?
Something is not adding up here, but my memory is bad in this.
As far back as 1837, I know that he said the moon was inhabited by men and women the same as this earth, and that they lived to a greater age than we do - that they live generally to near the age of a 1000 years.
He described the men as averaging near six feet in height, and dressing quite uniformly in something near the Quaker style.
In my Patriarchal blessing, given by the father of Joseph the Prophet, in Kirtland, 1837, I was told that I should preach the gospel before I was 21 years of age; that I should preach the gospel to the inhabitants upon the islands of the sea, and - to the inhabitants of the moon, even the planet you can now behold with your eyes.
The first two promises have been fulfilled, and the latter may be verified.
From the verification of two promises we may reasonably expect the third to be fulfilled also."
(This is the exact (though not complete) text of an article in "The Young Woman's Journal", an LDS magazine of the 1890s. The article is dated "Feb 6, 1892". )
President Brigham Young not only taught the moon was inhabited, but the SUN as well. In a sermon delivered in the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, President Young made these unbelievable statements:
“Who can tell us of the inhabitants of this little planet that shines of an evening, called the moon?...when you inquire about the inhabitants of that sphere you find that the most learned are as ignorant in regard to them as the ignorant of their fellows. So it is in regard to the inhabitants of the sun. Do you think it is inhabited? I rather think it is. Do you think there is any life there? No question of it; it was not made in vain.” (Journal of Discourses, vol. 13, p. 271)
Man, you just stirred the pot. Any truth you reveal these days will cost you, no matter whom it affects.
***New York Sun newspaper ****
I read about this back in the 1960s from a popular mechanical or scientific magazine. I still have the article.
Wonder if this is where Joseph Smith got his idea of men on the moon!
The Spook(prisoner in the dungeon) digs his way out. When he sticks his head out of the hole, he is on the moon and sees the American flag with astronaut footprints all around it.
He then crawls back into his cell, calls the jailer and asks for the definition of “affluent society”.
There once was a restaurant on the moon but it got closed down. Claims are it had no “atmosphere”.
rim shot needed here...
I don't believe Joseph Smith ever taught anything of the kind.
The face on the moon?
I saw that movie at the the theater years ago!
Not all the Lds "prophet" quotes made about moon people arise from second-hand sources named Huntington.
Greyfoxx39 cited Brigham Young: Who can tell us of the inhabitants of this little planet that shines of an evening, called the moon? ...when you inquire about the inhabitants of that sphere you find that the most learned are as ignorant in regard to them as the most ignorant of their fellows. So it is with regard to the inhabitants of the sun. Do you think it is inhabited? I rather think it is. Do you think there is any life there? No question of it; it was not made in vain. Source: Journal of Discourses, Vol. 13, p. 271...1870 --
So this was a false prophesy made by Young (yes, no, or typical Mormon crickets' answer when forced to face reality?)
Here Brigham Young had already been leading the Lds church for over 25 years or so when he made the above comment -- including around 25 years as its "prophet."
Brigham Young's first counselor was "apostle" Heber C. Kimball: "Where did the earth come from? From its parents earths...The earth is alive. If it was not, it could not produce." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 6, p. 36, 1857)
Yeah. We can tell the top two members of the Lds church in the 1850s, 1860s, and 1870s were in touch with the Mormon god if this was their somewhere-over-the-rainbow ramblings.
Well, Colofornian, since you don’t seem to have anything to add to the subject we were talking about (Joseph Smith teaching about moon people), I can only assume that you agree with my assertion that it is very unlikely that Joseph ever really said that quote attributed to him.
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