What will the Mormon Church do about DNA ancestry tracing?

Question

A Mormon woman from the pacific islands told me that her church teaches that her people, and American natives as well, came from Israel, and that she has darker skin because she was cursed by God.

I replied that DNA evidence shows that Polynesians and American natives migrated from Mongolia long before biblical times, that she has darker skin because her people have evolved a natural, healthy sun protection. I suggested she check the National Geographic website.

What will her church do? Will they rewrite their beliefs to match with scientific knowledge, or will they ignore the scientific evidence and continue teaching people that they are cursed?

A Mormon woman from the pacific islands told me that her church teaches that her people, and American natives as well, came from Israel, and that she has darker skin because she was cursed by God.

I replied that DNA evidence shows that Polynesians and American natives migrated from Mongolia long before biblical times, that she has darker skin because her people have evolved a natural, healthy sun protection. I suggested she check the National Geographic website.

What will her church do? Will they rewrite their beliefs to match with scientific knowledge, or will they ignore the scientific evidence and continue teaching people that they are cursed?

https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/atlas.html

Early American human samples found in Alaska aged over 15000 years old, long before Biblical times. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070202-human-migration.html

The ancestral roots of New Zealand's Maori population and the Polynesian peoples of the Pacific probably lie in China: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/148892.stm

To the person who said Sudanese are related to the Israelis.... they're right next door, so wouldn't that be quite reasonable? Secondly, it was DNA testing which finally confirmed this, so I think you should be arguing WITH the scientists, not against.

Hibby, you seem to be arguing that because nobody knows the real truth, then the theory that Polynesians came from Israel is just as good as any. If that's the reasoning, why not just say they came from another planet, another star, a magical teapot in never never. We don't know everything with certainty, but we can certainly still reason that Polynesians came from somewhere nearby, like Asia, not from half way around the world a few thousand years back.

Also, saying the Polynesians come from a cursed ancestry, it seems just too much like saying the colonial natives are lesser creatures than white people, and therefore justifies ruling over them and taking their lands. Doesn't it just point to CoLDS as being another colonial religion, this time not from industrial Europe, but from 19th Century America.

And to the people who just posted a link and told me to go read it, you should learn how to present a proper argument. References shouldn't be your argument (in this case no argument), they should only back up what you are saying. You won't get thru life telling people to go read other stuff, do you own arguing please.

And "Pono" who still thinks that science is telling us that 'we evolved from monkeys', do your research if you (ever) want to be taken the slightest bit seriously, and stop quoting scientists so unfairly.

Answer 1

DNA has proven nothing. There is nothing carved in stone as to where the peoples of the Pacific came from. There hasn't even been any specific testing done on this. From what I understand, mDNA is the best one to test for and that only is for the mother. We don't even know what the DNA of Lehi's wife, or Ishmael's wife or daughters or whatever, was. And you WOULD need their DNA to do any proper testing.

The man who first came up with the hypothesis that Indians were not related to the American Indians. What they don't know is what exactly WAS the DNA of the ancient peoples, and how many different cultures were there?

One LDS scientist, an expert in DNA, says that he would be just as sceptical of someone who said that they had DNA proof that the Book of Mormon was true, as he is of those who say DNA proves it false.

Oh, and P.S. The church has NEVER denied what happened at Mountain Meadows. Only that it was not at the instigation of Brigham Young.

Answer 2

The Book of Mormon is comprised of 4 different groups of people that arrived at different times to the Americas over a period of about 2600 years.

It makes no claim that these were the ONLY people that arrived. Additionally, we know little to nothing about the original DNA....so how could we possibly prove much of anything?

The DNA that has been studied brings up interesting issues (on both sides of the issue) but is far from conclusive.

Basically, you can use DNA to argue for or against the Book Of Mormon ....it just depends on your assumptions and which side you're trying to defend.

Keep in mind that her assumptions may not have been accurate either.

We don't know exactly how these 4 groups (and others) intermingled, intermarried, and mixed. Too bad Cortez burned the Aztec libraries.

Your assumption is that "scientific knowledge" is always correct. Now, scientists are better at claiming what is a theory and what is a fact, however, scientific facts change fairly regularly.

Additionally, most of us non-scientists accept many of their hypothesis and theories as fact, when they're simply the best guess of (some members) of the scientific community.

As for this woman, she has a misunderstanding. God cursed her ancestors. He marked the cursed individuals with a darker skin. They reproduced. Their children had darker skin, but were never cursed by god. She was not cursed. She may believe that, but the LDS church doesn't teach that.

Answer 3

i'm not sure the link you gave is the right one- or you didn't pay very close attention. I watched the whole thing, and it says nothing about polynesians migrating from mongolia. What i did find though, is that all human race started in africa (egypt) and then migrated from there throughout the world. What i would also like to point out, is that in the book of mormon- lehi and his family (the ones that migrated) did this long before the birth of christ. But more importantly- since your link did not give the information that you claim- i did a little yahoo searching on the origin of polynesia. What i found was that researches still disagree on where they came from completley. The DNA evidence was not confirmed as the actual Start of polynesians and american indians. Many reaserchers believe that the polynesia is directly connected with the ancestry of the americas, but they are not 100% certain of where either started. A lot to do in part of there not being as long of a research history of the polynesians. Also- science also wants us to believe that we all evolved from monkeys- so please forgive me if i don't base all of my religous faith and belief on science. But please upload the correct link, or tell me where it was you found your information, because i read everything, and i found nothing. I'm actually interested in reading it- thanks

*EDIT- oh okay, excuse me- the ape theory has been debunked- but for years, and years that was the theory that was taught, so why was it debunked? Okay everyone say it with me..."because science was WRONG!!!" huh, where have i heard that before? - oh just about a thousand times when countless other theories also got debunked for new age theories...so what's stopping this from being scratched out a few years down the line? nothing- it actually seems to be the pattern of scientific research.

Answer 4

How to trace my family tree 1. start with yourself. Birth certificate. It will have the names of parents and ages of the parentsand some times where they were from. 2. If parents are still alive ask them questions about there parents. get the names of there parents. 3.Once you have traced your family back to any one born before 1930"s in America you can find them in the census. It can take you back to the 1850's where they started to put every ones name on the census. make shure you write every thing down. where born and where parents are born. I have found many wives parents because the person next doors was born where she said they came from. 4. Another thing you can do is type on web search is the marrage john smith-mary jones or john smith birth date some times other have histories of families . 5. After the 1850's you will have to find county records or cemetery records of the person. In the old days if they had a will it will usualy tell the names of there children and also if they had land in other places. 6. Once you get that far you can go to your neiborhood MOrman church and ask them for help. They have been doing it for many years. and would be glad to help you preceed futher.

Answer 5

Actually, Jeff Lindsey does not speak for the Mormon church. He is an apologist for his Mormon faith. The DNA evidence has not proven anything other than it is unlikely (notice that I didn't say impossible) that the American Indians came from the Jews.

No, this isn't a "smoking gun," but when you add it to all the other evidence against the historical basis for the Book of Mormon, it is much more likely that the whole thing was made up by a very imaginative and charismatic individual.

Answer 6

For 60 years prior to the creation of the state of Israel a group of Sudanese Africans claimed to be Jews. Israelis did not believe them, they came up with "genetic" evidence that they were not Semitic. For this reason they denied these Sudanese the opportunity to emigrate to Israel. In 1983 I believe, they found a haplogroup on the Y chromosome of these "African Jews" (obviously only the men) which matches 84% of genotype indicators on those of Israeli Jews.

These Sudanese are now allowed to emigrate to Israel.

Point of the story: Science NEVER PROVES ANYTHING. Science lends enough evidence to tentatively conclude something is NOT FALSE until further information is found.

Answer 7

DNA testing is neither conclusive or explains everything. Its clear that Native Americans are not a homogeneous population but heterogenous. They have different languages, cultures and are different from each other.

As far as the church rewriting their beliefs? No.

The church does not teach people they are cursed. Sorry, but that's incorrect information you've got there. Either she told you incorrectly, or you misheard her.

Answer 8

Mormons do believe that Polynesian people and also African Americans are cursed by God. I lived in Salt Lake for awhile and heard that very thing. It's so sad and ignorant!

Answer 9

What happens to a person's DNA when God puts a curse on them that changes there skin color?

Some put their faith in science, and some put their faith in God.

Answer 10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SStDH3SCj4Q
new discoveries on DNA journal of pols of genetics, comprehensiver surveys of variation across the world.