Mormon Moon Men Mania

According to the internet, Joseph Smith once said, “The inhabitants of the moon are more of a uniform size than the inhabitants of the earth, being about 6 feet in height. They dress very much like the Quaker style and are quite general in style or the one fashion of dress. They live to be very old; coming generally, near a thousand years.”

Or rather, Philo Dibble told Oliver Huntington that Joseph Smith had said that. Super legit. “But wait!” the detractors will cry. “It was published by the church. Checkmate. Your church is false.”

While this quote was published in the *pauses and puts on glasses to read the well-known title that everyone will recognize* Young Women’s Journal of 1897¸ it has never really been corroborated by anyone else or in any other publications. And the Young Women’s Journal is not typically (ever) cited for its doctrinal relevance.

“Ah ha! But you fail to mention all the other quotes from Joseph Smith saying more or less the same thing.” Okay, so he allegedly said this multiple times, but the person alleging that he said this is always the aforementioned Oliver Huntington. Seems awfully convenient that the only source for this quote is one random member from the obscure annals of church history.

So did Joseph Smith believe there were men living on the moon? I’m gonna have to go with no on this one just because of the lack of credibility from the homie that said it in the first place. And if he did, and I’m about to let you in on one of the Mormon church’s best-kept secrets, he may have been incorrect. Prophets are not perfect. They can say things that are not true. If you don’t buy it I’ll invite you to reread the intro to the Book of Mormon (it’s shocking how much can be learned when you, ya know, crack open the scriptures) in which the possibility of errors within the text is floated. To my knowledge, nobody has ever legitimately claimed infallibility on the part of the prophets. A great example of a prophet being wrong is Joseph Fielding Smith, who said in private settings that he believed humankind would never make it to the moon. He lived to see that this opinion was incorrect when Americans landed on the moon (unless of course the whole thing was a conspiracy and we never landed on the moon, in which he case he is absolutely correct, but that's the kind of crackpot theory that has no place here). 

Anyway back to aliens. Although there may not be Quaker style Moon men, we do know from the Book of Moses that there are inhabitants in the universe outside of our earthly sphere. These are creations of God, which I typically imagine looking more or less like us since we are made in God’s image. I guess you could call them aliens, but they are really just more of God’s children living in distant parts of the galaxy. Beyond these, there are forms of extraterrestrial life, angels and other resurrected beings, which we read about in the scriptures. By definition, these beings are extraterrestrial because they do not inhabit the earth. And this brings us to Brigham Young.

Brigham Young wrote, “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 fathers. 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. It was made to give light to those who dwell upon it, and to other planets; and so will this earth when it is celestialized.”

We’re in trouble now. How could a prophet think that there are people living on the sun? He must be crazy. Well, breaking down what the quote actually says may be a useful exercise. First, he clearly states that this is an opinion. “I rather think it is” doesn’t exactly make something canonized doctrine. Second, while he does state that he believes there are inhabitants on the moon and sun, he never says that the inhabitants are human. Third, Joseph F. Smith said in Doctrines of Salvation, “It is my opinion that the great stars that we see, including our sun, are celestial worlds; at least worlds that have passed on to their exaltation or other final resurrected status.” Once again, this is an opinion and not necessarily a doctrine, despite the title of the book. If Joseph F. Smith’s opinion is correct, then it is possible that the inhabitants of the sun and moon are simply celestial and terrestrial beings. And when I say it is possible, I mean that is exactly what Brigham Young said in the quote. He speaks of the earth as it will be when it is celestialized like the sun.

This is certainly not theologically impossible, but if Brigham Young and Joseph F. Smith were both wrong about this or I have misinterpreted what they meant, it really doesn’t matter too much, because prophets can be wrong. I need to make this point again, because I have received some feedback from people about this blog in which they liken what I do to making up Star Wars of Lord of the Rings fan theories. I pull this quote from my introductory post, “I know that scholarship, research, sources, blah, blah and blah are important, but I have started looking at Mormonism as more than a history to be studied or a faith to be followed. It is a massive universe filled with adventures, prophecies, heroes and villains. The way a person may look at Harry Potter, the Lord of the Rings or Star Wars is how I look at the Mormon canon.” So don’t take any of this too seriously.

As long as the prophets are right about what matters, the church will be fine. It may sound like a cop out, but then you think about the Proclamation and how it says that families are foundational to society. Coincidentally, the more the family unit breaks down the crazier the world seems to get. They may have been onto something after all. And I'd rather they be right about that kind of thing than the existence of Moon men. 

What do you think? Am I wrong about the moon men? Can prophets be wrong? Are aliens even real to begin with? Will the earth someday be an inhabited star for some other planet? Comment below or message me with questions, comments, complaints, jokes, etc.