What does the mormon church say now?

Question

http://www.mormonsinshock.com/DNABOM.htm

Now that DNA testing has proven conclusively that one of the main claims of the mormon church is false, the American Indian is NOT descended from Isrealite lineage, what is their defense?

This is not an attack on anyone, I just want to know what the mormon church believes today.

Answer 1

As I have said before, Mormon people are very nice and caring people. But they have been sold a major bill of goods. I agree with the author of your link, "My heart goes out to this group of people."
http://www.schneblin.com/studies/pdfs/gospel_addendum.pdf

I found your link quite interesting.

Answer 2

It is saying that there is no such thing as DNA PROOF that the native American Indians did or did not descend from the Lehites. I have linked below several articles that say this.

For there to be a real scientific study, there would need to be some things that just can't be had. For you would need the DNA of the original Lehites, at the beginning of the Book of Mormon; you would need the DNA of the peoples at the end of the Book of Mormon (and we know that there was more than just the Lehites here at the beginning and the end); and then the DNA of Native American Indians today. Since two of those three things are impossible to acquire, then there is no way to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Native American Indians did or did not descend from Hebrew.

Answer 3

Wow!

I am not a Mormon, but I have known Mormons and I have known Mormons who left Mormonism.

Mormons are very very nice people, they are brought up to be very respectful, patriotic and family oriented. In this, we should all take notice. I love Mormons. It pains me deeply when I hear their stories about what they have endured since leaving the Mormon church. Many of them have been disowned by their families, because this is what the Mormon church tells these families they must do in order to remain in good standing with the church. > I received an email, correcting me on the previous point. The writer, a Mormon man, advises me that this is not the stance of the Mormon church as a whole. Perhaps that was the case when I knew my ex-Mormon friends 15 years ago, but I guess it has changed now.<< Those who come out of Mormonism are very brave people and should be applauded for that bravery.

Isaiah 8:20 says, "To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."

Check out the foundational doctrines, beliefs and teachings of the Mormon church. Balance them against what the bible says. If what the Mormon church believes and teaches does not match what the bible says, it is because there is no light in them.

In the bible, light is another word for truth.

I wish some Mormons would respond.

joatman71 Thank you for your input. I am glad you provided some information from a Morman's perspective.

You said, "I believe that there have been some LDS beliefs that have changed over time as we have learned more, but these beliefs were not based on scripture. The church tries not to discourage individual thought."

But what about the 3,913 revisions to the Book of Mormon to date? Is the Book of Mormon scripture? Is it God inspired?

Did you read the link that Willie provided?
Toward the bottom of the page you will find this claim from one of the LDS leaders who claims, "'The Book of Mormon does not claim to explain the primary genetic origins of all Native Americans.' But that is just what the introduction to the Book of Mormon DOES claim… that the record on the plates was deposited, “giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from which they sprang.” The first page of the introduction also repeats the premise… that the Lamanites are of the House of Israel."

Also there must be a distinction made between descedants and relatives. They can be related, as in cousins, but not of the same blood line or they can be descendants with recognizable blood ties. What does the Book of Morman claim?



God loves you and so do I.



The sower.

Answer 4

The LDS church is not unique in being challenged in it's beliefs. The world in general seems to be challenging Christianity more and more. The Church does not say much on this, but other people do.

"An interesting study reported in the June 2003 issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics leads me to believe that it is possible for Book of Mormon peoples to be ancestors of modern Native Americans and yet not be easily detected using traditional Y-chromosome and mitochondrial DNA tests. This study, conducted by a group of scientists from a company called deCODE Genetics, used the extensive genealogies of people from Iceland combined with probably the most massive population study ever performed.6 They traced the matrilineal and patrilineal ancestry of all 131,060 Icelanders born after 1972 back to two cohorts of ancestors, one born between 1848 and 1892 and the other between 1798 and 1742.

Examining the same Y-chromosome and mitochondrial DNA markers used in other genetic studies, these 131,060 Icelanders revealed highly skewed distributions of descendants to ancestors, with the vast majority of potential ancestors contributing one or no descendants and a minority of ancestors contributing large numbers of descendants.6 In other words, the majority of people living today in Iceland had ancestors living only 150 years ago that could not be detected based on the Y-chromosome and mitochondrial DNA tests being performed yet the genealogical records exist showing that these people lived and were real ancestors. To the point at hand, if many documented ancestors of 150 years ago cannot be seen with Y-chromosome and mitochondrial DNA tests from modern Iceland, then the possibility can exist for people that are reported in the Book of Mormon to have migrated to the Americas over 2600 years ago and yet not have detectable genetic signatures today."

I believe that there have been some LDS beliefs that have changed over time as we have learned more, but these beliefs were not based on scripture. The church tries not to discourage individual thought.

Answer 5

I'm not Mormon but I go to their church quite often, and I will tell you, they are doing just fine.

http://www.fairwiki.org/index.php/Book_of_Mormon_and_DNA_evidence

you probably won't look but I found a site for the other side of the issue.

I copied and pasted a part of it for you.

Mitochondrial DNA is passed only from mothers to their children. It has been used in attacks on the Book of Mormon, and yet even known Jewish populations do not share mt DNA.

A new study now shows that the women in nine Jewish communities from Georgia . . . to Morocco have vastly different genetic histories from the men. . . . The women's identities, however, are a mystery, because . . . their genetic signatures are not related to one another or to those of present-day Middle Eastern populations.[3]
So, known Jewish groups cannot be linked at all by mtDNA studies, and yet the critics would have us believe that two of the lost tribes (Ephraim and Manasseh—from whom we have no 'control' or 'reference' samples to compare to) can be ruled out as ancestors of the Amerindians via mtDNA testing?

Answer 6

I'm willing to bet that the official church stance is going to remain unmoved. FARMS has absolutely NO credibility in the scientific world when they presuppose the conclusion to be correct, then obfuscate the 'science' to make it appear to be unresolved.

Any employee of the mormon church is required to tow the party line, and those who do not face unemployment and excommunication. If you live in Utah, you have to adapt to the culture, and the culture is hostile to scientific inquiry. Therefore, any apologetics from a church-owned institution in Provo will certainly not produced an unbiased treatise.

However, more and more mormons come here to either spout off how happy they are, spar with christians, but they're exposed to more controversy and history than even before.

There's a chance of another schism in the church with one side following Gordon, and another less rigid and more forgiving humanist following. People can only take so much BS before they realize they've been 'taken'.

Ivan: I was going to comment how well reseached your argument was, but since you're reduced to name-calling, I've reserved judgement.

Answer 7

2 facts 1 We are talking about the INDians in what is NOW mid- southern Mexico 2nd please do your research. A leader was killed on the day of the "great storm" (mentioned ALSO in the bible(when Jesus died) and also look up the day and night of light. The tablets were hidden so Antichrists wouldn't destroy them ( the bible might have been destroyed if things were similar. a note The Jews have middle eastern DNA not Egyption DNA

Answer 8

I'm not a Morman, but I thought the Israelite descendents in America were killed off by savage tribes.

Answer 9

Joeseph Smith Made up most of these stories and sine then the LDS church has chopped and changed to suit whatever modern science comes up with in order to defend their false prophet.

Answer 10

I don't know what they teach today on that matter. Isn't it odd that we know so much of the history of Latin America, and yet there is no account of Nephites and Labanites? The Holy Land is full of evidence of the historicity of the Bible, but there is no Book of Mormon evidence that scholars can find in Latin America. Do the LDS ever wonder about that?