💾 Archived View for gemini.spam.works › mirrors › textfiles › occult › MORMONS › bom-arc.txt captured on 2022-07-17 at 09:43:42.
⬅️ Previous capture (2022-06-12)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
The following is the text of a series of messages by Ted Lapoint, sysop of Kingdom Come! BBS concerning archaeology and the Book of Mormon: ======================================================================= Biblical archaeology is a major field of inquiry that has filled museums with artifacts had has filled libraries with books on cities, temples, fortresses, coins, inscriptions, and so on, that have been dug from mounds and ruins in Israel as well as in Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Iran (Persia), Iraq (Babylon), and other lands mentioned in the Bible. Archaeologists have often used the Bible as a guide to what to look for and where, and the objects and writings uncovered have confirmed the Bible as factual, proving that the people and places spoken of in the Bible actually existed. Ancient Egyptian and Babylonian records unearthed by archaeologists may portray their own pharaohs and kings as superior to the kings of Judah and Israel, but they thus verify the existence of those Jewish and gentile leaders named in the Bible. They may commemorate Egyptian and Babylonian victories over ancient Israel, while they ignore their own defeats, but they thus confirm that the battles really took place as recorded in the Bible. Can the same be said for the Book of Mormon? Have archaeologists digging in North, South and Central America used the BOM as a guide, as they have used the Bible in the Near and Middle East? Has the BOM guided them in locating and uncovering ruins of cities, temples, and fortifications mentioned in that book the way the Bible has? Have coins and inscriptions been unearthed in the Americas bearing the names of nations and ruler spoken of in the BOM as excavations in Bible lands have uncovered references to Old Testament kings, New Testament Caesars, and even Pontius Pilate? And have any writings been found in the Americas referring to the BOM's alleged appearances of Christ in this hemisphere, comparable to the nearly contemporary Roman and Jewish Talmud accounts, which refer to Jesus as a criminal and an impostor but at least acknowledge that he did walk the earth in the first century A.D. Judea? What archaeological evidence is there for the BOM? While apologists for the Mormon Church have written on the subject, and organizations have been formed by the LDS members - with the purpose of producing support for the BOM- with the result that Mormons are able to trot out alleged "proof" of its authenticity - there is an obvious difference between such chauvinistic efforts and the legitimate work of professional archaeologists. Thus, if the LDS Church members choose to ignore the findings of the anthropology and archaeology departments of schools across the country in favor of conclusions reached at Brigham Young University, this should not be surprising. But anyone who approaches the subject with both eyes open quickly notices that Mormons keep citing Mormon sources for their support, because support is lacking from academically recognized non-Mormon experts in the field. Undoubtedly, one of the most comprehensive sources for historical and archaeological information on the Americas is the Smithsonian Institution to inquire concerning the authenticity of the historical events portrayed in the Book of Mormon. In a letter to the Smithsonian - dated January 1, 1990, the following letter was sent: Dear Sir or Madam: I have been reading the Book of Mormon, a scripture of "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" (the Mormons). I have questions concerning the authenticity of the historical events that it portrays. They are: 1) Is the Book of Mormon used to find archaeological sites in the New World? 2) Is there archaeological evidence that prior to the European influence, the North, Central and South American Indians did: a. use iron and or steel? b. use vehicle with wheels like full size wagons, carts, chariots or similar? c. use or have access to asses, goats, horses, sheep, elephants, cattle, oxen, cows? d. use of have access to domesticated plants like wheat, barley, oats, millet, and rice? e. use silk and or linen? 3) Did some or all of the original ancestors of the American Indians come from Israel or some Semetic family? 4) Have any New world archaeological sites ever been connected to a Book of Mormon event or location? If so, please name them. Thank you for your response to the above and any related information you may wish to send. I have enclosed a check for $2.00 to cover postage, handling, etc. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Now, I would like to list all of the areas in the BOM that instigated the above questions: Iron (2 Nephi 5:15;20:34; Jarom 1:8; Mosiah 11:8; Ether 10:23) Steel (1 Nephi 4:9; 16:18; 2 Nephi 5:15; Ether 7:9) Vehicles with wheels (Alma 18:9-10, 12; 3 Nephi 3:22; 21:14) Asses (1 Nephi 18:25; Mosiah 5:14; 12:5; Ether 9:19) Goats (1 Nephi 18:25; Alma 14:29; Ether 9:18) Horses (1 Nephi 18:25; 2 Nephi 12:7; Enos 1:21; Alma 18:9-12; 3 Nephi 3:22l 21:14; 1:21; 3 Nephi 3:22; 6:1; Ether 9:19) Sheep (Ether 9:18) Elephants (Ether 9:19) Cattle (Enos 1:21; 3 Nephi 3:22; 6:1; Ether 9:18) Oxen (1 Nephi 18:25; Ether 9:18) Cows (1 Nephi 18:25; Ether 9:18) Wheat (Mosiah 9:9) Grain (Helaman 11:17) Silk (1 Nephi 13:7; Alma 1:29; Ether 9:17) Linen (1 Nephi 13:7-8; Mosiah 10:5; Alma 1:29; 4:6; Ether 10:24) And this, was their response: Your recent inquiry concerning the Smithsonian Institution's alleged use of the Book of Mormon as a scientific guide has been received in the Smithsonian's department of Anthropology. The Book of Mormon is a religious document and not a scientific guide. The Smithsonian Institution has never used it in archaeological research and any information that you have received to the contrary is incorrect. Accurate information about the Smithsonian's position is contained in the enclosed "Statement Regarding the Book of Mormon," which was prepared to respond to the numerous inquiries that the Smithsonian receives on this topic. Because the Smithsonian regards the unauthorized use of its name to disseminate inaccurate information as unlawful, we would appreciate your assistance in providing us with the names of any individuals who are misusing the Smithsonian's name. Please address any correspondence to: Public Information Center Department of Anthropology Natural Museum of Natural History Smithsonian Institution Washington, DC 20560 PREPARED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY - SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION The "Statement Regarding the Book of Mormon" is as follows: 1. The Smithsonian Institution has never used the Book of Mormon in any was as a scientific guide. Smithsonian archaeologists see no direct connection between the archaeology of the New World and the subject matter of the book. 2. The physical type of the American Indian is basically Mongoloid, being most closely related to that of the peoples of eastern, central, and northeastern Asia. Archaeological evidence indicates that the ancestors of the present Indians came into the New World - probably over a land bridge known to have existed in the Bering Strait during the last Ice Age - in a continuing series of small migrations beginning from about 25,000 to 30,000 years ago. 3. Present evidence that the first people to reach this continent from the East were the Norsemen who briefly visited the northeastern part of North America around A.D. 1000 and then settled in Greenland. There is nothing to show that they reached Mexico or Central America. 4. One of the main lines of evidence supporting the scientific finding that contacts with Old World civilizations, if indeed they occurred at all, were of very little significance for the development of American Indian civilizations, is the fact that none of the principal Old World domesticated food plants or animals (except the dog) occurred in the New World in pre-Columbian times. American Indians had no wheat, barley, oats, millet, rice, cattle, pigs, chickens, horses, donkeys, camels before 1492. (Camels and horses were in the Americas, along with bison, mammoth and mastodon, but all of these animals became extinct around 10,000 B.C. at the time when the early big-game hunters spread across the Americas.) 5. Iron, steel, glass, and sild were not used in the New World before 1492 (except for occasional use of unsmelted meteoric iron). Native copper was worked in various locations in pre-Columbian times, but true metallurgy was limited to southern Mexico and the Andean region, where its occurrence in late prehistoric times involved gold, silver, copper, and their alloys, but not iron.* 6. There is a possibility that the spread of cultural traits across the Pacific to Mesoamerica and the northwestern coast of South america began several hundred years before the Christian era. However, any such inter-hemisphere contacts appear to have been the results of accidental voyages origination in eastern and southern Asia. It is by no means certain that even such contacts occurred; certainly there were no contacts with the ancient Egyptians, Hebrews, or other people of Western Asian and the Near East. 7. No reputable Egyptologist or other specialist on Old World archaeology, and no expert on New World prehistory, has discovered of confirmed any relationship between archaeological remains in Mexico and archaeological remains in Egypt. 8. Reports of findings of ancient Egyptian, Hebrew, and other Old World writings in the New WOrld in pre-Columbian contexts have frequently appeared in newspapers, magazines, and sensational books. None of these claims has stood up to examination by reputable scholars. No inscriptions using Old World forms of writing have been shown to have occurred in any part of the Americas before 1492 except for a few Norse stones which have been found in Greenland.