And he certainly was not. However, the MesoAmerican cultures abounded throughout North and South America. The tantalizing traces are there. When Smith was coming up, Americans were fascinated by the civilizations that were so old that not even the Indians knew anything about them, except perhaps in very vague legends and oral histories, transmitted down through the centuries. We still know very little about the subject.
For example, there are various schools of thoughts on when and where the hemisphere was first inhabited, ranging all over the map and from 7-25,000 years ago! I ain't no pal of Joseph Smith, but I am definitely cutting Old Joe all possible slack on this particular subject ... and wish all of my Mormon friends debating the various controversies good luck and thanks for looking in to it.
Good for you. If Old Joe was truly a prophet, all of the Mormon talking points should have been silenced by now. Since we all know he was not, we cut no slack.
Anti-Mormon legend has it that when the Elders caught Joe smoking and drinking,
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Why would that be an “anti-mormon legend” ???
The mormons smoked and drank during that time...
Both Joey Smith and Briggy Young sold liquer to their followers...
Both had dances and parties...
Smith had a bar in his hotel...
Briggy Young cheated one of his followers out of a successful brewery and made it even larger...
Young preached that he didnt smoke but he never ordered the mormons not to..he just said he didnt..
So where is the documentation and the proofs? Fact of the matter is mesoamerican history has been studed, explored and evaluated in great detail - yet not one undisputed piece of evidence of hebraic/egyptian culture has been found - nada, zero, zip. The fact is that the LGT area as progressively gotten smaller and smaller over time why - because these 'tantalizing' traces are only figments of the imagination and have not borne fruit under critical scientific study. Furthermore, this is not a single disciplinary study - but multi-disciplinary encompassing dna, anthropology, archaeology, linguistic, paleontology and geology just to name a few. So your statement that we still know 'very little' is no longer valid. There have been no cultures with advanced metallurgy, horses, old world crops, chariots (and other wheeled carts), concrete etc found - period.
For example, there are various schools of thoughts on when and where the hemisphere was first inhabited, ranging all over the map and from 7-25,000 years
You apparently are not familar with the bom story - most of which is focused on 350 BC - 600 AD.
ain't no pal of Joseph Smith, but I am definitely cutting Old Joe all possible slack on this particular subject ... and wish all of my Mormon friends debating the various controversies good luck and thanks for looking in to it.
There is no slack to 'cut'. Joseph smith claimed that the amerindians of his day were descendants of the hebrew party that arrived in the americas 350 bc. This has been shown to be false. Since smith 'made up' the story (lied), the rest of his 'revelations' are at best highly questionable and should cause all mormons to stop and think.