I have a question for Mormons?

Question

I am hoping someone can help me out. I was talking to my friend who is not Mormon and he brought up a question that I am now wondering. I don't know enough. We were talking about he strongly believes in the bible and how everything relates to todays time. I told him the Book of Mormon was written in the same time and how it relieves similar things about Christ on the North American Continent.

This is what he said "Where are all the artifacts from that period of time? Places and artifacts are found time and time again relating to the bible. But where is the proof of the Nephities and so forth?"

I know the golden plates the angel took but there would have to be something a piece of clothing or pottery dated back to that specific time line. What proves the book of mormon is real to a non mormon other then telling them it is blind faith?

I am Mormon, but I am not a studius Mormon. I really don't know much about the "details".

I do know the Golden Plates were written by Mormon hince the name Book of Mormon and in the 19th Century they were translated by Joesph Smith. But I am not questioning my religion and I don't want answers that speak about praying to a false god in your eyes. My question is where are the relics and artifacts from the man Mormon era?

Answer 1

Here's the best artifact that I can think of. Although no one should believe any religion based on such things, they are cool to find and learn about

Answer 2

Sorry, but there has never been a single artefact discovered which relates to the supposed civilisation which refugees from biblical Isreal, according to the book of Mormon, established in the Americas.

Which is significant in itself, since this civilisation was supposedly huge, with literally millions of members, there ought to be *some* evidence somewhere - and there isn't.

Even more significant, the book refers to all sorts of animals, plants and articles which are known not to have been in the Americas at the time - for example there were no horses and therefor no chariots, there was no steel or silk.

Evidence has been found for the Vikings who were no more than a couple of hundred people for a decade or so - but nothing at all of the millions who were supposed to have died on Hill Cumorah.

To the unbiased reader, the Book of Mormon is quite obviously a 19thC fake.

Futher to the poster below - no, Christians don't believe the Bible because of archeology - but the fact remains, we can find Jerusalem, we can find Jericho, the Jews appear on certain Egyptian temples, biblical places and artefacts are found all the time - not all of them, not every reference - but a lot.

In contrast - NOT A SINGLE MORMON CITY OR ARTEFACT has ever been found - this was supposedly a huge civilisation that lasted for hundreds of years but left no trace at all on the landscape. MesoAmerican only became the supposed site of the Mormon civilisation when it was realised that a northern American civilisation was impossible for this reason.

This being so, you might like to search on the Internet for the truth about the Book of Abraham. A random piece of papyrus Joseph Smith "translated" - it turned up a few years back and turned out to be a common Egyptian funeral scroll, nothing whatsoever to do with Abraham. If you look in the Pearl you'll find a facsimile, and JS's "translation". If you look further you'll find out just how little Egyptian JS knew.

Answer 3

I'm sorry but the Book of Mormon was written not in ancient times but in the 19th century.

There is a rule where the Bible cannot be added to nor books can be taken away from the canon of 66 books.

And there is no evidence that Jesus visited North America. That's something that both secular and Biblical scholars agree on.

Answer 4

Good question.
First, to skypilot, the LDS Church does not withhold information as you insinuate. We do believe in offering milk before meat, but if a member fails to study the scriptures in depth, it is the fault of the member, not of the church. Yes, the Peal of Great Price does expound on the doctrine of exaltation, but you act as if this is some foreign concept and non-Christian belief. Romans 8:16 states, in agreement with the Pearl of Great Price: The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then HEIRS; HEIRS of God, and JOINT-HEIRS with Christ…

To Chrstnwrtr, the Book of Mormon was written anciently and translated in the 19th century. Your “rule” of not adding to the bible is no rule at all but rather a verse found in both Revelations 18:22 and Deuteronomy 4:2. Both refer to adding and taking away from the book in question and the doctrine they were preaching not to the bible as a whole which didn’t even exist as a book when these verses were written. If such were the case, then everything after Deut. 4:2 would be excluded.

Now to the question at hand…neither your friend nor any other Christian believes in the bible because of physical evidence. To hold the Book of Mormon to a standard of physical proof is absurd as we do not believe in it because of the proof that exists. Second, when looking at physical proof, you must understand that archaeology in the Americas is still in its infancy when compared to the amount of research that has been done in biblical lands. Furthermore, only a fraction of the few of archaeological sites in the Americas have even been explored. There are more sites discovered all of the time and eventually all things will be made known. Finally, Meso-America is the site where most of the Book of Mormon is believed to have taken place and there are plenty of artifacts available that support it. Most people incorrectly assume that everything occurred in the United States. So, what are some of the things that have been discovered? The Book of Mormon talks of lush green areas abounding with fruit in the Arabian Peninsula. This was ridiculed until archaeological evidence proved otherwise. The Book of Mormon contains ancient verifiable Hebraic writing styles to include Chiasmus (another recent linguistic discovery). The Book of Mormon accurately describes cities of cement with large populations in the Americas, both contrary to popular belief in Joseph Smith’s time and both have been verified by research (Tikal, Copan, Tenochtitlan, Teotihuacan, to name a few major cities discovered). Temples are also described and have been found in abundance. The peoples of Meso-America were very religious. The Book of Mormon chronicles large scale warfare, military fortifications, and sacrifice throughout history, all of which have been validated. The Book of Mormon was written in reformed Egyptian. The only written language in the Americas was a language which uses glyphs and is similar to Egyptian Hieroglyphs. It is unfortunate that the Spaniards destroyed most of their records as they would have proven valuable. The natives had a documented story similar to the Noah and the Flood. The society, culture, leadership, kingdoms, etc, as described in the Book of Mormon have all proven accurate. While much archaeological research is being done by church scholars, the Church itself has not (and probably won’t) given any definitive locations of Book of Mormon cities.
An uneducated farm boy from upstate New York could never have guess right so many things that hadn’t even been discovered.

That said, the only thing that will "prove" that the Book of Mormon is true is if that person reads it, lives by its teachings, prays about it and receives a witness from the Holy Ghost that it is true. It is fun to look up historical information on the Book, but its purpose is to convince both Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ.

Answer 5

I used to belong to the Mormon church (Latter-Day Saints). They have a book called the Pearl of Great Price which they don't tell you about right away, when you're thinking about joining.

The book claims that when we get to heaven we will be exalted to the point where we become gods ourselves. This is wrong and NOT of God. In Genesis 3:4, when Eve was thinking about eating the apple and told the serpent God said no because she would die the serpent said:

4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

They also claim God was once a man who exalted himself to the point of becoming a god, but Scripture says God said: "I am the same, yesterday, today and forever." (I can't find it right now but trust me, it's there.)

Also Paul makes a reference in 1st or 2nd Corinthians about the devil appearing as an 'angel of light'. That is actually the meaning of the devil's name, Lucifer, 'the light-bearer.'

Mormons are really nice people, they just don't study their Bible much.

God Bless!

Answer 6

Jeff Lindsay has a whole page dedicated to evidence supporting the book of mormon. Here is the link: http://www.jefflindsay.com/BMEvidences.shtml

Answer 7

Non of the religions are fact. God is just pretend!

Answer 8

well if u think about it the laminites r what is now known as native americans