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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