Many religions ignore science when some of their beliefs are factually disproved. They call it a theory. The mormon founder, while speaking as god, said that some American Indians were direct descendants of jewish colonists called lamanites. Genteic testing has proved this is as preposterous as it sounds yet many people still choose to believe. Why and how?
2007-01-19 17:14:57 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Many religious and non-religious people have an a priori committment to a belief.
2007-01-19 17:19:21 · answer #1 · answered by Edward J 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I once studied Mormonism and read the book of Mormon carefully.
In it there was mentioned a discovery of another society that had already inhabited the Continent. It is a shame that a religion was founded around the book because I think the book has real Merritt
and that it exists for the benefit of all,not just Mormons. If one would study the life of Joseph Smith who is credited for translating a portion of some golden plates you would find that he was an extremely gifted individual. He went far beyond his calling when he established a church however. The book is not in conflict with the idea of people crossing the bearing ice bridge as most scientists believe. There's materials that have been found in Central American tombs that can only be found in the great lakes aria which indicates continental travel and trading with other people. The people of the Book OF Mormon pretty much annihilated each other in warfare. The scientists taking DNA samples of north American Indians found a connection to a different group of people. If they would go down to the amazon
jungle native populations, my bet is that they Would find a genetic link to the early Jews BC. It would be interesting to see. The Book of Mormon is a good read any way. You don't have to be Mormomised to do it. Like any Christian church, Mormons have attractive ideas. They're just not for me.
2007-01-20 02:55:20 · answer #2 · answered by Del C 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Really? It was completely disproved? How interesting - can you site that source? I would be really interested in reading that.
Incidentally, you might want to actually have some kind of understanding of what you're professing to -- Joseph Smith never 'spoke as God' as you claim. It sounds like you heard a twisted piece of information, probably from some anti-mormon site or apologist site, and making your contribution in perpetuating that ignorance. Know of what you speak before you attempt to poke holes in it.
*edited to add* The people known as the Maya are also theorized to be the people that came over from Jerusalem (known broadly as Nephites and Lamanites - there were several groups split from that of other tribes like Jaredites, Anti-Nephi-Lehites...) and who died off very swiftly about 1200 years ago. The few that remained joined with those that had wandered off and came into North America who then became what we know as American Indians. Enough time has certainly passed that it is entirely possible - naturally it cannot be proven conclusively, neither for nor against. But, isn't that sort of the point of faith?? The belief in the existence of things without evidence? There are many consistencies with how the Maya practiced their religious faith, as well as many other things with the book of mormon and the history it entails.
2007-01-20 01:20:11 · answer #3 · answered by mx_hart 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I read an interesting article in Nat Geographic regarding genetic mutations, using markers on the sex-defining gene. According to the markers, NA Indians are the genetically newest of the peoples of the Earth. Africans are the most ancient, with the least amount of markers and the most propensity for mutation.
It is more likely that the NA Indian is the descendant of Asian, not middle-eastern (the first migration point from Africa, and there-fore the second oldest genetic material)
I'm not sure I'm explaining it properly, but that was the gist of it.
2007-01-20 02:14:38 · answer #4 · answered by Shinigami 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Genetic testing is rather recent you know many American Indian tribes have had genocide practice against them. Maybe the the direct descendants of the Jews were wiped out before genetic testing became available. So what have you got to say now? OO
2007-01-20 01:23:41 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No more or less silly than claiming all of humanity descended from a single pair of humans over 6,000 years when we have evidence going back 3 billion years. Why do any of them believe any of it?
2007-01-20 01:18:23 · answer #6 · answered by fourmorebeers 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You mean you haven't uncovered all of Joseph Smith's other lies yet. I concluded years ago that everything he said was lies.
However, marriage in heaven belongs to the Swedenborgian Church and predated Joseph's Smith church by about 100 years.
2007-01-20 01:39:04 · answer #7 · answered by WhyNotAskDonnieandMarie 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
why do you care what momons believe. has a moman ever treated you badly? Most momans I know are nice people.
2007-01-20 01:18:16 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
the same reason anyone believes in anything supernatural - the details don't matter
2007-01-20 01:18:05 · answer #9 · answered by Dr. Brooke 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
they are fools.
2007-01-20 01:16:58 · answer #10 · answered by joethemetaldude 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋