Wednesday, May 15, 2013

More Comments to be Answered Part IV

Here are some more comments that we’ve received from this website blog.
Comment #1: “They have discovered ancient sunken ships in the Mediterranean Sea that are over two thousand years old, but they haven't discovered any physical evidence of Book of Mormon people. Still this doesn't stop some promoters from inventing all kinds of supposed preposterous proofs. They could apply the same reasoning to establish the location of Santa Clause or Big Foot. Why do some people never seem to grow too old for fairy tales; perhaps it is that the truth is just too frightening or complicated for them to embrace. Or perhaps reality doesn't afford them the recognition or esteem that they receive from fantasy. But it seems their time would be better spent seeking knowledge and the truth of the light of the universe. Mormons believe in a material world; if there were a history of the Book of Mormon people, then there would be material (physical) evidence easier to find than 2000 year old sunken ships” The Skeptic.
A skeptics skewed view of the celebrated 1969 moon landing
Response: Skeptics are forever doomed to question everything with which they do not agree, and ignore all that opposes their way of thinking. There are skeptics who believe man never went to the moon, that it was filmed on a stage setting somewhere; there are skeptics who believe the twin towers was an “inside job,” etc. While I have been over this idea of proof of Book of Mormon existence in Andean Peru many times, let me just ask, as I have before, who do you think built all those magnificent Pre-Inca structures now found all over Peru? Who do you think built one of the most advanced and magnificent highway systems of antiquity? Why do we find two unknown animals in Peru to match the two mentioned in the record? Why do we have two unknown grains of significant importance in Peru to match those mentioned in the record? Why are we now finding elephants and horses in the Americas long after their assumed extinction date? Etc., etc., etc.
Comment #2: “According to Book of Mormon text, Nephi was able to guide the ship to the promised land with a compass delivered to the tent door of his father by angels while still in what is now known as the Saudi Arabian Peninsula. So, if Nephi was guiding the ship and they were living worthy of the guidance, he could land it in the exact intended location for settlement. It was not a hap-hazard wind blown landing such as was described for the Jaredites. The location of landing then could just as easily be described geographically as the Southern U.S. gulf of Mexico area with northern expansion into the Mississippi/Ohio river area. So-called native Americans were then discovered by colonial settlers dressed in their loin cloths” I.C.
“My father arose in the morning, and went forth to the tent door, to his great astonishment he beheld upon the ground a round ball of curious workmanship; and it was of fine brass”
Response: The Liahona was far more than a compass. It was, among other things, a teacher—live worthily and the Lord would help them (1 Nephi 16:28); a descriptive instrument, which wrote comments on its surface (1 Nephi 16:27); an instructor that taught the ways of the Lord (1 Nephi 16:29), a guide to show where the more fertile parts of the wilderness were located (1 Nephi 16:10,14, Alma 37:39), and where to go to find beasts for food (1 Nephi 16:30-31); a punisher for disobedience (1 Nephi 18:12), a faith promoter (Alma 37:40-41), a director that pointed toward the Land of Promise (Alma 37:44), a similitude of Christ (Alma 37:45); and a compass (1 Nephi 16:13; 17:1).
As for landing where he wanted, the ship, as Nephi told us, was “driven forth before the wind.” He could only go where the wind blew, and that was well determined and today well understood. If we back up a bit, we can recognize that the Lord led them along the path they took to the eventual place they called Bountiful. From Bountiful the Lord knew the winds would take them to the Land of Promise he had prepared for them and was to be Lehi’s promised land. All things with the Lord are known and planned from the beginning.
By the way, as a side note, the winds that blew the Jaredites to the Land of Promise were not haphazard—constant winds are a pre-determined factor. Again, the Lord knows all things, designed all things, built all things in the universe, including this earth and all that is involved herein, such as waves, currents, winds, etc. (Ether 2:24), thus the Lord told the Brother of Jared: “I prepare you against these things; for ye cannot cross this great deep save I prepare you against the waves of the sea, and the winds which have gone forth, and the floods which shall come” (Ether 2:25). The only thing that might be suggested as hap-hazard, would be the up and down, i.e., sometimes above the surface, sometimes below the surface.
Winds blowing across the ocean cause drag, which in turn, pulls the water along in the direction of the wind. The greater the wind, the stronger the current and rougher the sea
Finally, once the winds and currents are understood, there would be no landing in the Mexican Gulf from the Arabian Peninsula. And no ship could have in 600 B.C., or even in our generation before the dredging and channeling of the Mississippi for ocean vessels, sailed up the Mississippi or the Ohio. Even in the 19th century the only transportation for any distance up the Mississippi was done by flat-bottomed river boats—even large river boats were flat-bottomed.
Comment #3: “Both the Old World and New World have rivers, mountains, deserts and streams. The similarities are just astounding! It just proves the Book of Mormon is true” Red
Response: I love sarcasm. It is a form of humor I have long used and feel quite at home with; however, in this case, other than giving one a good laugh, accomplishes nothing in any serious discussion about the Book of Mormon.
Comment #4: “Joseph Smith would have known about Indians in his day and merely included that knowledge and experience in his creation of the Book of Mormon” Kirklon
Response: Police and judges in a legal system are mentioned in various contexts in the Book of Mormon, but would not have been part of Joseph Smith's experience with local Native American tribes. Also, the importance of merchants is linked to the significance of major markets that existed as distinctive features of the Nephite Nation, but not part of what Joseph Smith would have known of Native Americans. To ascribe such complex elements of civilization to people viewed in 1830 as primitive savages would have been remarkably foolhardy, but these elements are now known to have been present in the ancient Americas. In fact, there would have been nothing involved in the American Indian in Joseph Smith’s day to suggest any of the numerous scenarios described in the Book of Mormon. Which, obviously, further lends to the authenticity of the book.
Comment #5: “So many scholars claim that Mesoamerica is the very place where the physical geography can be aligned with the Book of Mormon” Niklaus.
Response: They have either never been to the area, never read the Book of Mormon geographical statements, or both. Or they want to go with an area that simply does not match, but turn a blind eye to it. See my books Lehi Never Saw Mesoamerica, and Who Really Settled Mesoamerica, to understand the magnitude of the above statement. And for comments about those who claim Mesoamerica to be the Land of Promise, see my book: “Inaccuracies of Mesoamerican and Other Theorists."

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