I ask this not to condemn, but to enlighten and for you to search for truth.
Ether 15:2 says "there had been slain 2 million of his mighty men, *and also their wives and children". This makes the population of the Jeridites between 4-6 million people. Joseph Smith himself declared that the Jaradites lived in the Americas more than a thousand years, and covered the continent from sea to sea, with towns and cities. (Teachings of Joseph Smith, p.267) They had vast culture, and a broad infrastructure to sustain the millions of lives that settled here. But, with all of the battles, and weapons used, there has never been found even a small shred of their language, or archeology found on this continent.
Mosiah 9:9 says we began to till the ground, yea even with all manner of seeds, with seeds of corn, and of wheat, and of barley, and with neas, and with sheum, and with seeds of all manner of fruits... However, none of these but corn are native to that region.
Update:My question is referring strictly to the archeological accuracy of the book, not the faith or even the religious aspect. The Bible has been archeologicly proven time and time again.
Since Angeltwin has provided the only true "response" to the question, I will retbut with these questions: Even if some skeletal remains have been found, where are the structures, homes, language evidence, etc of these millions of people? Supposedly there was a mass conversion to Christianity; where are the manuscripts of teaching and history? You say that the Nephites "came over", but even in the book, they didnt. "Nephi" came over and converted the local natives of the americas. Even If he brought seeds with him and planted enough crops for millions of residents, where is the evidence of wheat, and of barley? ..and what are neas and sheum - no evidence exists of these mysterious plants.
What about the name Nephi? There is no record of this ever being a Hebrew or Egyptian name
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
It's called the Mormon Bubble of Delusion. Everyone outside the bubble can clearly see that everyone inside the bubble is deluded, but everyone INSIDE the bubble thinks that they're right.
You do ask to condemn. And you are the one who needs to search for truth.
There are many contradictions in teh Bible, as well. The Bible has NOT been archaeologically proven to be the WORD OF GOD. There is no way any book can be scientifically PROVEN to be an HOLY book. If the Bible has been so proven, then why do so many people find archaologoical inconsistencies in the Bible?
You gave Matthew 15:19 to show that the heart is wicked. But what about verses like Matthew 5:8 which talks about those who are PURE OF HEARt? That such people are blessed? There are many verses in the Bible that talk about the heart and they do NOT say how wicked and corrupt it is.
Just as you read the Book of Mormon (or did you not read it, just relied on what other people have said?) only to find such inconsistencies, many people have done that with the Bible. And they make a good case, much better than you do here for the Book of Mormon.
There are lots of evidences FOR the Book of Mormon, and you can find them if youreally want.
God does not want Himself proven by science. He wants us to come to Him from FAITH.
Oh, and something that the others hear didn't catch. There is almost 1500 year span from the end of the Book of Mormon to when JOseph Smith found the plates. How many people have lived on these continents in that time? Digging, farming, undoing what was done earlier by earlier people, new people coming, older cultures dying off, etc. The Middle East was pretty much kept the way it was for a couple millenia. The climate in a good part of it is desert, dry and dusty. I think that this preserves things and people who are buried there. Much more than a lot of the Americas, that are jungles, or rain forests, which would slowly cause such things to deteriorate rapidly.
And like one other said here, there are things here that have never been uncovered.
As for grains and other things mentioned in the Book of Mormon that were not "native" to the western hemisphere, did you stop to think that the plates were not originally done in English. There were probably some grains and things that were not exactly like we have today, and were called something different, and when translating the plates, Joseph used words that were not 100% accurate, but came close enough that we have an idea of what was talked about. Besides, I think that everythign you say was not native, have been discovered archaologically.
But, in archaeology, no one is going to uncover anything with a sign that says "Welcome to Zarahemla" since what was there was probably changed or totally destroyed by subsequent peoples.
The detail you state after your question states some contradiction. While claiming "not to condemn, but enlighten as you search for the truth," you suggest subtly scriptural references that you perceive are support of your positions. However, your entire premise is faulty.
Your position is founded on an implied belief that you know the truth. What would happen if you were open minded and searched with sincerity the things you are challenging?
If God wanted to "restore" his truth to the earth, would not the things the Mormons believe in by a logical way for that restoration to occur? If God felt that the truths of his teaching were distorted, were altered, were changed, would he not want to bring the truth back to the earth? What better way than to be consistent and unchanging and do it via a prophet? Like he has throughout history.
If, and for some it is a big "if" what the Mormons are teaching has some particle of being possible, why would anyone not want to check it out further and ask God about its truthfulness. Millions of Mormons have and have found the answer. That is why they are members.
if you had read all of the Book of Mormon you would know why they can't find any of the Jaredites stuff that was left behind after they were wiped out.
try reading 3rd nephi
the nephites took all sorts of seeds and animals with them when they came over, the other types of plants were probably to hard for the lazy Lamenites to take care of.
just because he couldn't doesn't mean that there is no proof of the book of Mormons validity
scientist have discovered that the skeletal remains found in south america are older than those found in north america
have you actually read it all the way thru?
in first nephi it tells youhow the Nephites and the Lamenites came to be on this continent.
there was only one other person on this continent when they got here and his name was Ether the only surviver of the battle that wiped out the whole Jaredite nation.
in third nephi it tells us that there was great tempests, earthquakes, fires, whirlwinds, and physical upheavals in which the whole continent was changed after Christ was crucified.it can only be assumed that the remains of the Jaredites cities were buried never to be seen again.
if you really want to read something that is not the Book of mormon but is pretty accurate on the stuff that is in it i recomend the Tennis Shoes Among The Nephites series by Chris Heimerdinger.
it is about these kids that find a cave that takes them back thru time to the Nephite era.
I am paraphrasing a quote that "anti-Mormons persist in trumpeting the story of the late Thomas Stuart Ferguson as an example of an authority on archaeology and a "great defender of the faith" who lost his testimony when he learned that the Book of Mormon was merely a work of American frontier fiction. They do this despite the fact that Ferguson, a lawyer based in northern California, was neither an archaeologist nor, for that matter, a scholar." You might want to keep in mind that the world of archaeology is still growing with new discoveries all the time, and I for one am still curious to find out what, for example, lies under layer after layer in Zócalo, Mexico, and other places. Let go of your anti-Mormon sites for a while and start fresh. Come at it from a Jewish perspective and try reading Hugh Nibley or W. Cleon Skousen's commentaries on the Book of Mormon. Have a happy day, and I send you a gummy bear with an archaeologist's shovel to go one step at a time.
One example The Great Mound in Indiana
Indiana University’s excavation revealed in the Great Mound burials, log tombs, crematory basins, garbage pits, numerous postholes, and some pottery. The pottery is decorated in zones, with thin incised lines, often forming nested (up to five) diamond designs. This design is similar to an excavation of Ball State University at New Castle twenty miles to the southeast. The New Castle Site is dated by radiocarbon at around the beginning of the Christian Era. Since Middle Woodland Hopewell pottery has also been recovered from New Castle it is reasonable to assume that the mound complex at Mounds State Park is also Hopewell.
Ball State University, under permit from the Department of Natural Resources, excavated the Mounds’ Bluff Site locality just to the north of the Great Mound site. Human bone, a garbage pit and stone chippage were encountered. For locations of the Mounds’ Bluff Site refer to diagram of the park.
Information from the Indiana Historical Society on the Great Mound indicates that on the platform surrounding the earth mound were numbers of small post molds. This suggests that an irregular brush screen had guarded the activities occurring in the central region or that saplings had been bent over and tied to the heavy support posts located near the center to form a roofed shelter. Artifacts recovered, though few in number, included plain and distinctively incised pottery, mica, a plain platform pipe, and bear effigy canines which were drilled and carved from bone. (Kellar 1969).
The Indian earthworks at Anderson were long thought to be burial mounds. A Ball State archaeologist’s work, however, indicates they may have been observatories to track the stars and the seasons.
They are known as the Adena and later Hopewell, prehistoric Indians who lived in Indiana centuries before such better known historical tribes as the Miami and Delaware.
Much of their sophisticated culture is shrouded in mystery, lost forever in the mists of time. There are no written records, and the clues they left behind are scant: shards of pottery, bits of jewelry, assorted stone tools. “Very little is really known about the Indians of that time,” said Karren Dalman, naturalist at Mounds State Park. Adding to the mystery is the absence of anything archaeologists can identify as the remains of a village near the Anderson Mounds.
Questions that still puzzle historians are, just where did the Adena leave off and the Hopewell begin, and what was their relationship to each other. Most estimates date the Adena from 1,000 BC to about 100 BC, with Hopewell flourishing from 100 BC to 400 AD. Current theory is that the Anderson earth-works were built by the Adena from 1,000 BC to about 100 BC and they were later used by the Hopewell.
You claim you are trying to get us to search for truth...yet condemn those who might be actually trying to search for evidence? Sounds odd to me...
And yes, evidence has been found of people dating back to those times...we believe they were on the American continent, not necessarily in the U.S. They could have been anywhere... sometimes I really think the Lord doesn't want us to find "evidence" because then when would we develop faith in Him? I must assume that had there been no "archeological" evidence to support the bible you would also toss that aside as false information???
I have a testimony of the Book of Mormon. I know it is true and the most correct book on the earth. My testimony is more "convincing" and stronger than any piece of metal or 'evidence' you could show me. I have asked my Heavenly Father if it is true...I know it is and I could never deny it.
First of all, we have proof for the possibility of the Jaredites. They are the Olmecs. They tell a story of the way they came here. It is the same as the way the Jaredites came. The Tree of Life was important to the Olmecs. Some of the Olmecs gods are very close to Egyptian gods. No one is certain of what language they even spoke. A lot of theories are around.
As to the grain, I just don't know. I couldn't find anything on neas or sheum. AS to the rest, I just don't know
Well, when you can see the errors in the modern day Bibles,
then maybe we can talk about how true the Book of Mormon is.
If you really like to learn the truth, why don't you go check out some of the sites like fairlds.org, I am sure there is plenty for you to read about.
And by the way, don't pretend to be nice, we know who our friends are.
It is a case of the Emperor's new clothes. Those that claim to see the clothes (Truth in book of Mormon) are more concerned about their appearance and being accepted than the truth. People with an outsiders frame of reference can see that the Book of Mormon is poorly written and is pure fantasy. You can't expect people who believe to turn away from their friends and family and just realize they were wrong to believe in Mormonism. That would be far to painful. All their time and money sacrificed for nothing....to painful!
They will likely respond to that in the same fashion as christians when you point out the inaccuracies in their bible.