Continuing with the comments received after our recent five-part
series about DNA, which includes the newest developments in MtDNA that has been
obtained over the past ten years from studies based on much larger sampling knowledge, here are more:
Comment #1: “Your Church says the
events described in the Book of Mormon were confined to a small section of
Central America, and that the Hebrew tribe was small enough that its DNA was
swallowed up by the existing Native Americans, however, the DNA can't be
"swallowed up" because mitochondrial DNA is passed on from the mother
UNDILUTED”
Janis J.
Response: Instead of passing on what you’ve heard from other
critics, why not read the scientific papers and journal reports that have been
available now since 2002 that MtDNA is not just passed on from the Mother and
is not undiluted, but also from the father—old paradigms die hard, but why not
keep up? In addition, the LDS Church has no stand whatsoever about where the
Book of Mormon lands were located other than the Western Hemisphere, and no
stand on any Limited Geography Theory. Individuals have ideas, as individuals
always do. Central America, or more accurately, Mesoamerica, was originally the
brainchild of several LDS archaeologists and anthropologists over the years
since the early 1900s, and promoted vigorously by FARMS, at one time a private
organization, now doing work with BYU in numerous areas, such as copying and
preserving ancient documents (which my brother-in-law and his wife spent some
time doing at BYU). In addition, the LDS Church has never made a comment about
DNA being absorbed by a larger, indigenous population in the Land of Promise,
and the Book of Mormon itself lays no claim or even suggestion or hint at any
other people living in or around the Land of Promise during the time the Book
of Mormon covers, about 2000 B.C. to 421 A.D. You quote, as do other critics,
things that are not part of the Church’s stated doctrines or beliefs as though they
are—however, such statements, when quoted correctly, are made from time to time
by individual members or private groups who are speaking for themselves and
almost always doing so in printed statements showing they are not connected
with the Church as such. The problem with critics is they tend to hear others
say things and repeat them blindly without checking out to learn the accuracy
or inaccuracy of the statements. Such lack of fact-checking is a curse in our
society today and has led to numerous organizations who are “fact checkers”
offering their services to government, social and private groups. While your
vigorous, and almost always inaccurate statements show your ignorance to those
who know, you make yourself a laughing stock among intelligent individual who
are not part of your criticizing world.
Comment #2: “Despite your lengthy tirade about DNA in
your several posts, the basic problem is that Joseph Smith painted himself and
the Church he founded into a corner. Back in the 1800s when he brought out the
Book of Mormon, he could not anticipate the day when DNA evidence could be used
to disprove the Book of Mormon claim that the Lamanites (native Americans) were
descended from Middle Eastern ancestry. That makes the prophet, seer, and
revelator look awfully stupid” Mervyn C.
Response: It seems
that stupid belongs to the scientists who claimed mitochondrial DNA (MtDNA) was
passed on only by the mothers and claimed that Mitochondrial Eve existed
200,000 years ago in Africa as well as all the other people who jumped on the
bandwagon in 1987 claiming MtDNA could then be used to trace everyone’s
genealogy back to Mitochondrial Eve. How red their faces must have been when,
in 2002, new studies showed that MtDNA is also passed on by the father, and
there was no Mitochondrial Eve, and that these new findings showed that the
earlier studies actually only led backward to about 6000 years for the beginning of the DNA!
On the other hand,
Joseph Smith has been proven time and again to have proclaimed matters that
have, over time, been shown to be uncannily correct, though unknown by anyone
in his day. And if you are going to call someone stupid, perhaps you might want
to look inward about matters you have obviously not studied.
DNA is not a proven
science no matter how much people believe it is—matters keep changing as more
evidences pile up and more studies are conducted by scientists who know they
have not found out everything about DNA. In 1987, as an example, the amount of
family group testing and DNA sampling was very small—today, that amount is far
greater and provides far more accurate information. But for those who think we
have learned it all about the most complex of biological breakdown of the human
body, they would be wise to change their thinking. The one constant about
scientific knowledge is that it keeps increasing.
Comment #3: “I copied this off the internet and wondered
how you would respond to it after reading your series on DNA: Since the late
1990s and the pioneering work of Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza and others,
scientists have developed techniques that attempt to use genetic markers to
indicate the ethnic background and history of individual people. The data
developed by these mainstream scientists tell us that the Native Americans have
very distinctive DNA markers, and that some of them are most similar, among old
world populations, to the DNA of people anciently associated with the Altay
Mountains area of central Asia. This conclusion from a genetic perspective
confirms a large amount of archaeological, anthropological, and linguistic
evidence that Native American peoples' ancestors migrated from Asia at the
latest 16,500–13,000 years ago” Everette T.
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