Mormons/L.D.S. about the book of Mormon...?

Question

If the book of Mormon is true, why hasn’t a valid geography been established for the book?

KEY WORD: VALID

the Bible has MAPS in the book, so people can go visit these places.
the book of Mormon has NO MAPS that are VALID.

keep in mind that if Mayans(Indians) came from Israel, then why are ALL ancient marking and writing on the temples in south America written in ancient Mayan writings? Only the book of Mormon was written in Hebrew. INDIANS ARE NOT LAMANITES and are not proof to validate the book of Mormon.
Nor the land they own in N.Y. to validate the book of Mormon, anyone can buy a peace of land and say something happened here.
Where's all the left behind MONEY, BONES(from these wars the supposivly happened) TEMPLES(excluding the Mayans)?

come on?! any real answers from a Mormon?
where on earth did the events in the book of Mormon take place before 1830? and if this is truly American heritage,...why is there NOT A VALID geography?

Answer 1

Oh dear, I have been in that frustrated place you are in. I am not trying to answer this question, but simply going to give you more evidence.

http://www.carm.org/mormon.htm
http://www.carm.org/lds/diff_questions.htm

There are also some CRAZY quotes from past "prophets" you can find online too. Hmm...I wonder where those gold plates are haha.

Answer 2

I agree with HighFlyDanger, Moroni 10:3-5 states:
3-Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye wshould read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.
4- And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, wiwth real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you by the power of the Holy Ghost.
5- And by the powewr of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

Here is the problem with MANY people in today's society. They seek for evidence, proof, visual proof that it is true. Now, if God were to just lay down the proof that the LDS Church is the true Church, then people would flock around the grounds of the Temple worshiping Christ. This leaves you with a gap, not recieving your personal witness to follow Christ, and be more like him. So therefore, leading you to following Christ for all the WRONG reasons, because you would only follow it because you saw the proof it is true. I'm sorry, but if you want your evidence, the only place to find it is deep within your heart where only the Lord can take you to...

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Additionaly, here is a quote by Gordan B. Hinckley, our modern day prophet.
President Hinckley said of the First Vision:
That becomes the hinge pin on which this whole cause turns. If the First Vision was true, if it actually happened, then the Book of Mormon is true. Then we have the priesthood. Then we have the Church organization and all of the other keys and blessings of authority which we say we have. If the First Vision did not occur, wthen we are involved in a great sham. It is just that simple.
(New York Rochester Missionary Meeting, July 12, 1996)

Answer 3

There is a general Idea of where everything took place but nothing definite, so maps wouldn't work, some have drew some up from there own idea of what happened you might want to check those out. the Book of Mormon wasn't written in Hebrew it was written in Reformed Egyptian. You say temples but then exclude the Mayans, when the Mayan temples are proof, there are many similarities to those and to the ones in Egypt, such as the pyramid style, a very simple one, as well, But I myself am not sure and need to look it up, some say in some of the Mayan temples they have found the Star of David, could be true maybe not. But material things don't prove the Book of Mormon to be true, many things geographically prove the bible to be true but still some CHOOSE not to believe, I suggest you SINCERELY read and pray about the Book of Mormon to know if it is true.

Answer 4

My husband is really into discovering the Book of Mormon geology. It's why he's studying anthropology at Uni, right now. He agrees with you that all the current theories are incorrect.

As you may (or may not) know, there was a lot of destruction at the time of the death of the Saviour. The BOM states that cities were covered by mountains, or dropped into the ocean, or were swallowed up in cracks in the land. There is evidence of this (so I've been told by my husband, but I'm no expert).

The Bible has already had millennia (three or more?) for scholars to do research. The Book of Mormon has only been available to scholarly research for less than 200 years.

Give us a break. We're working on it, man.

P.S. Did the Israelites/Christians believe in the OT/Bible before or after the scholarly research gave them proof?

Answer 5

In one later part of the Book of Mormon (which was written in Reformed Egyptian, not Hebrew - significant difference there), massive geological changes are recorded as having occured at the time of Christ's crucifixion. That would make any map of what occured prior to that time very difficult (if not impossible) to make.

And honestly, would having maps to go along with the Book of Mormon *really* make you believe it? The Bible has VALID maps, after all (as you've pointed out), and look at how many people in the world don't believe in that book.

Answer 6

Exactly!
I am a Christian, and I've thought for several years that the Mormons seem to be the only religious group whose members, as a whole, come the close to living as Jesus wanted his followers to live. If it weren't for the fact that none of the uniquely Mormon doctrine makes any sense, I probably would have converted a while ago. I'm still tempted to sometimes, but then I realize that there's a huge difference between living the way the Mormons live and intellectually accepting that what they teach is actually true. I'd love to practice with them most of what they practice (modesty, family unity, missionary training, family support for children on missions, every day religious instruction, no fear in witnessing, loving tolerance of other beliefs without denying their own, etc) without having to believe most of what they believe (baptism of the dead, God being one of many gods, members becoming gods, etc).

Answer 7

None of this is explored in regular church meetings, or 'firesides' or conferences, dedications, talks etc. It lands in the realm of the BYU Maxwell Institute (and Jeff Lindsay(?)) to actually have permission to discuss these items.

Unfortunately, they must break with logic, scientific method and resort to obfuscation, if not fiction, concerning the extensive absence of real evidence. I have read an explanation of the expansion of Indo-European languages, a very dry subject, much more easily than the explanation of 'NHM' as a proof of Lehi's trek. Were their TWO Hill Cumorahs? The apologists would have you believe that, but there are theories that persist that "Thomas" was Jesus' twin brother. Two Jesus's? There more evidence to support that than two hills thousands of miles from each other.

The real problem is the there is so much time and effort being placed in supporting what essentially is a fairy tale made up by a bi-polar dysfunctional country boy with a creative but uneducated mind.

What a waste of time and energy. There's got to be a carbon penalty somewhere...

Answer 8

JaMan,
Thanks for your concern about my religion. Safe to say, even with your pursuasive arguement. I'm still comfortable in my own religion. One reason would be that at the time of the death of the Savior, the land changed so it's difficult to figure out. You can make arguements and so can I but ultimately, it comes down to faith. Here's one for example. If you plot out Lehi's journey to the Americas, they bury Ishmael in a place called Nahom. That very place was discovered about 150 years after the death of Joseph Smith on that same path. Sorry to burst your bubble, but you're just waisting time if you're trying to convince us of the "truth."

Answer 9

Well, this is a valid point.. yes the Mormon religion is a bunch of BS.

However, having a map of the world during biblical times that the bible references does not prove the validity of God nor does it prove the bible. It just proves that the people that wrote it had a good understanding of their geography.

Answer 10

It is all about faith, not facts. Jesus raised people from dead, but would you really believe it wthout scientific explanation?
Who knows, maybe there are some hidden answers unanswered by science yet? How do you know that Indians aren't Lamanites?

Answer 11

The Book of Mormon is not a geography book, or a science book, or a history book. It is another TESTAMENT of JESUS CHRIST.

There is no archaeological proof that God exists, or that Jesus is the Christ. No where.