ping for later watching
I have read the Book of Mormon and to say the least, it is a bit strange. Now I am assuming you're an Evangelical Christian. Evangelicals make a strong point in saying that Mormons (and jehovah's witnesses) are not Christian even though Jesus is included in their belief system & theology. On this point, the evangelicals are right. They are not Christians in the sense that most Christians define Jesus, the Trinity etc. Now, this is where I ask a question. Evangelicals are also quick to call Mormonism a cult. Now how do thy mean that? In the wacky sense, that they'll kidnap you, lock you in a basement and brainwash you till your mid is goo? Or in the more benign sense based on the that the belief system is not revealed from God, but rather a man made concoction?
ping for later
The National Geographic Society is doing a Genographic Study with thousands of participants worldwide.
This will give a much larger sampling of anything previously done and should show migration trends of different peoples by their DNA. The information already gleaned is quite damaging to the LDS claim of Israelite migration to the Americas.
I wonder how the LDS will treat the information when it is released. Anyone care to guess?
watch later
Seriously, you are a hairsbreadth from banning if form holds true
What DNA dilemma?
Is this about the magical underpants again???
Group A says their DNA evidence is going to 'disprove' the Book of Mormon...
Ain't gonna happen...why?
Because of several key things people with extreme views seem to leave out...
Those conducting most of the 'research' say that Mormons believe that all Native Americans are PRIMARILY from Israel, meaning via blood line. Somehow or another that "belief" was assigned to Mormons. Thats how they are interpreting the word 'civilization'.
Do we believe that people from the Holy Land came to the Americas? Yes. By all means. Do we believe that there was no one else here when those people got here? Nope.
In fact there were great civilizations of people here in the Americas beforehand. In other words people came from the Holy Lands and discovered other populations of people.
With that being the case, if there is or isn't DNA evidence whoopee too doo! Why? Because there is NO CLAIM THAT THEY WERE THE FIRST PEOPLE HERE, nor in fact that they were some pure blooded people. The word 'civilization' can be defined in more than one way.
From the introduction to the Book of Mormon:
The Book of Mormon is a volume of holy scripture comparable to the Bible. It is a record of Gods dealings with the ancient inhabitants of the Americas and contains, as does the Bible, the fulness of the everlasting gospel. The book was written by many ancient prophets by the spirit of prophecy and revelation. Their words, written on gold plates, were quoted and abridged by a prophet-historian named Mormon. The record gives an account of two great civilizations. One came from Jerusalem in 600 B.C., and afterward separated into two nations, known as the Nephites and the Lamanites. The other came much earlier when the Lord confounded the tongues at the Tower of Babel. This group is known as the Jaredites. After thousands of years, all were destroyed except the Lamanites, and they are the principal ancestors of the American Indians.
You have right there an explaination that there was thousands of years of civilization in the Americas where the Book of Mormon only covers a relatively small portion of that. 1000 years in approximately 531 pages. There is at least 2000 other years left unaccounted for.
In my view it wasn't some pure blood bunch of Jews that came over and became some master race... but rather a rag tag group who landed seasick and ultimately ended up mixing with the locals. Adopting people in, marrying, so on a so forth over long periods of time.
Whats more is the term civilization does not refer to race alone. IE Our modern civilization started when Christopher Columbus found America and reported back. Does that say everyone in America is a decendent of Columbus? NOOO. Yet, he helped create a great civilization.
I guess it depends on how you define the word 'civilization' though....
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)