What Proof Do We Have? Part II

Continued from the previous post regarding the proof in the ground of the scriptural record.,
    There are numerous other areas in the Bible lands that cannot be “proved” that Biblical events took place there, but we have long passed that issue after two thousand years of discussion, research and belief. On the other hand, we are only 190 years into the Nephite knowledge, and almost no Nephite research by serious archaeologists and anthropologists who insist in spreading their own, minute vision of the development of the Andean area.

200 acre site uncovered in Galilee, Israel. While it matches the sites of the age, it is not proven who lived here, though Archaeologists claim it is Tel Hazor, the site of Joshua’s key victories (though there are some who claim it is not )

Yet, artifact after artifact, excavation after excavation, discovery after discovery, continue to validate what is written in the Book of Mormon. Still, even today, there are critics of the Samson story. They claim the Samson myth was copied from an icon showing the exploits of the Sun God, with the beams of light from the Sun God’s head being mistaken for long, uncut hair.
    They claim the Hebrew mythologian created a hero-god, whose downfall was brought about by not obeying the Nazirite law never to cut his hair, and that Samson’s name was a variant of Shamash the Babylonian Sun God. It was also the Hebrew name for the Sun, and that Samson was born in Tsorah near Beth-shamash (house of the Sun) which was an ancient center of Sun worship.
    So what “proof” is there that the Bible event was real? In the end, it is a matter of faith—just as it is to those believing in the Book of Mormon.
    In addition, it is interesting that even today science cannot explain the magnificent structures found in Peru, including walls that have been built with stones weighing hundreds and even thousands of tons, that have been assembled and fitted without modern technology that still stump modern engineers. Yet, they have no understanding of who built these magnificent buildings and structures, or exactly when they were built, or how they were built in a land with no record or history of prior development.
    Another question could be posed. If we did not have the Bible record, would we know who built Jerusalem, or when it was built, or by whom? If we did not have the written records, though fragmentary at best, of Middle Eastern kings and empires, would we know anything about them? Take for an example:

1. Stonehenge in England. We do not know who built the giant stone megaliths, why it was built, or how it was built. There is no written record to tell us.
2. Catal Huyuk in Turkey. Since there is no written record, we only have speculation as to who they were that built this 32-acre city. We don’t even know what it was called.
3. Mehrgarh in Pakistan. An Indus people who are said to have existed 4,000 years before the first pharaoh of Egypt. We know nothing about them other than artifacts they left behind.
4. Uyghur east Turkistan. A people whose history is unknown and little understood. Who they were is only conjecture, believed to have been the ancestors of the Chinese yuezhji.
(Image C – No one has any idea what this rock wheel was for or who built it

5. Big Horn Medicine Wheel in Wyoming. At 9,642 feet, on top of the Bighorn Range in Wyoming that is reachable only during the warm summer months, lies an 80' diameter wheel-like pattern made of stones. It is unknown when, why, or by whom it was built.
6. Mystery Hill in Massachusetts. This complex, the largest and most sophisticated of its kind in North America, covers over 30 acres and is composed of monolithic standing stones, stone wall and underground chambers, most of which are aligned to obvious astronomical points. No one knows when it was built, or by whom, or for what reason.
7. Lamokans in Michigan. Claimed to have settled the area 5000 years ago, they are unknown, nor do we know where they came from or exactly when the 2½-acre site was built.
8. Teotihuacan in Mexico. The mysterious city that is laid out in a grid was built and abandoned before the Aztec settled in central Mexico. The Aztec named the site and guessed about the purposes of the buildings, but archaeologists are only now beginning to understand the importance of the temples here. Who they were or from where they came is unknown.
9. Nazca Lines in Peru. Giant drawings in Peru’s Nazca Desert can only clearly be seen from the sky or the tops of surrounding hillsides, but not from the ground. The drawings depict many different things such as humans and different kinds of animals, but no one knows who made them, when they were made, or for what purpose.

Typically dolmens are single-chamber megalithic structures, usually consisting of three or more upright stones supporting a large flat horizontal capstone that mostly date from 4000 to 3000 B.C. It is unclear when, why, and by whom the earliest dolmens were made 

10. Dolmens are found throughout the World. In various places from all over the world across the coasts of West Europe—from Portugal to Denmark—and in France, Ireland, Scotland, England, Sweden, the Netherlands, Russia, Korea and the American north-east, there are seemingly primitive constructions consisting of a single chamber and built with enormous megalithic stones. Who built them, for what purpose, and when they were built is unknown.
    There are far more than these ten unknowns, but the point is, science, including archaeologists, anthropologists, and numerous others, have no idea where so many things came from, who created or built them, or for what purpose they were made. We can only theorize. And one person’s guess is as good as another. The only manner in knowing something beyond guesswork is to rely on written information of the period, cultures, and structures under investigation—like the Bible for the Middle East, or the Book of Mormon for the Andean area of South America.
    Those who wait for positive proof of an artifact, and who made it, when and why, are doomed to fail in their quest for knowledge, information and understanding.