Hi There:

I just have to add my two cents. I’m so tired of the apologists trying to reason away the DNA evidence that Indian ancestors are descended from Asian rather than Israeli peoples;
that somehow the DNA has been lost down through the generations.; that the Nephites somehow lost their true DNA in the mix; that somehow members of the Church somehow got this doctrine mixed up. (As if it wasn’t preached to us over the pulpit by Presidents of the Church, Apostles, etc; that the Nephites resided mostly in Central of South America; that there were other peoples on this continent before the Jaredites were here. (When I say Nephites I mean both Nephites and Lamanites)

A while back one FAIRS apologist actually had the audacity to say that he could see how Joseph Smith could have got CONFUSED as to where the Nephites and Lamanites resided. And confused as to where the “REAL” Hill Cummorah was located.

Of course the Indians were in both North and South America – but the DNA just isn’t there to make them Israelites.

This Continent was PRESERVED for the Lord’s righteous people. It was NOT inhabited by other peoples – but SAVED for TWO civilizations. (Could get all the sources from the BOM, but anyone can look up.)

I have a letter that was written by JOSEPH SMITH to a Mr Wentworth, a newspaper editor in Chicago. This letter was published in the “Times and Seasons” in the March 1, 1842 issue. I think it was published in England in the “Millennial Star” but I don’t have that date.

But anyway JS begins his letter by telling where he was born and a little about his early life and describes his vision in the grove and his visits by an angel of God (Moroni, I assume, but doesn’t give that name).

Now to actual quotes from the letter: The capitals are mine.

“I was informed that I was chosen to be an instrument in the hands of God to bring about some of his purposes in this glorious dispensation. I was also informed concerning the ABORGINAL INHABITANTS OF this COUNTRY, and shown who they were, and from whence they came; a brief sketch of their origin, progress, civilization, laws, governments, of their righteousness and iniquity, and the blessings of God being finally withdrawn from them as a people was made know unto me. I was also told where there was deposited some plates on which were engraven an abridgement of the records of the ancient prophets that had existed on this continent . . .”

“Through the medium of the Urim and Thummin I translated the record by the gift and power of God.”

“In this important and interesting book the history of ancient America is unfolded, from its FIRST SETTLEMENT by a colony that came from the Tower of Babel, at the confusion of languages to the beginning of the FIFTH CENTURY of the Christian era. We are informed by these records that AMERICA in ancient times has been inhabited by TWO DISTINCT RACES of people. The FIRST were called Jaredites and CAME DIRECTLY from the Tower of Babel. The SECOND RACE came DIRECTLY from the city of Jerusalem about six hundred years before Christ. They were principally Israelites, of the descendants of Joseph. The Jaredites WERE DESTROYED about the time the Israelites came from Jerusalem, WHO EXCEEDED THEM IN THE INHERITANCE OF THE COUNTRY. The PRINCIPAL NATION of the SECOND RACE fell in battle towards the close of the fourth century. The REMNANT ARE THE Indians THAT NOW INHABIT THIS COUNTRY.

, , ,”that the people were cut off in consequence of their transgressions; that the last of their prophets who existed among them was commanded to write an abridgement of their prophesies, history &c., and to hide it up in the earth, and that it should come forth and be united with the bible for the accomplishment of the purposes of God in the last days…”

What is enclosed in quotes is verbatim from the letter.

Now I know the apologists are going to hide behind the argument that Joseph wasn’t speaking from the pulpit or this info in this form wasn’t given to Mr Wentworth in a revelation.

There is plenty of scripture to back this letter in the Book of Mormon and in other Joseph Smith and other Presidents of the Church, etc writings.

The Indians being descended from the Israelites is just another “eternal truth” down the drain.

Mariah

If would be foolish to say there were no other civilizations on the American Contenent. First Biblical scripture tells us squarely that God would bring the house of Israel to their own land.

Secondly, the Book of the Hebrew Historian Josephus, tells us many Iraelites left
Juerusalem, feeling they had been commanded by God to leave, even flee across the sea. That there were multiple groups who left the old land crossed the sea!

Our Bible says beyond the rivers of Etheopia….
(Book of Isaiah).

There is record in the New Testiment Paul among other deciples crossed the sea to that land, because he was invovled in a ship wreck…..

Jesus said, ” I come but for the Lost sheep of Israel ”
Jesus also said, “Other sheep I have not of this fold”

Of course there were other people besides Lehi and his family! There were many lost sheep….

Lastly the Book of Mormon confirms as Prophecied the bible, and the bible confirms the Book of Mormon.

The Book of Mormon tells of these people. Such as the Brother of Jared, who’m you’ve find in the Book of Genesis….

Larry P

I don’t think this publication is going to do that.

There was in the early seventies a person publishing a book saying that Chile and north along the Andes were the book of Mormon lands. There was also the quote by Joseph Smith about finding Zarahemla among the Yucatan so even at that ave there was thoughts about a very limited area.

I personally agree however that there were those who thought the whole land was Nephite, Lamanite land but as time has gone on, long before the advent of DNA dating. It just seems those who are against the Book of Mormon have just cottoned onto the fact.

I said that the article jogged my memory concerning this fact (the fact that the theories have been around a long time).

Perhaps I could have expressed myself better.

-Allen

The statement goes on to acknowledge that what has been found is evidence that great civilizations once thrived on the American continents. No one is disputing that.

The KEY statement is the one Zax bolds, yet apparently misunderstands. Some of those civilizations had their beginnings with Book of Mormon peoples. Of course, this also implies that some of those civilizations did not have their beginnings with Book of Mormon peoples — a clear acknowledgment that there were “others” than the Nephites and Lamanites. Zax would have us regard the interest of Latter-day Saints in the findings on both continents as evidence of a corresponding belief in a hemispheric geography. It plainly is not. One can be “interested” in the findings throughout the hemisphere without necessarily concluding that everything found is related to the Book of Mormon.

Furthermore, the writer of the article makes it abundantly clear that no later than 1956, it was recognized that the ruins in Central and South America represented other cultures besides that referenced in the Book of Mormon.

Great find Allen. I’m sure the die-hard critics will continue to make insipid arguments like Zax does above — they can’t hardly help themselves. But the statement you’ve cited is quite clear in its import and should take its place among the many other evidences that Latter-day Saints have always been quite open-minded when it came to their interpretation of the geography of the BoM, and that they, no later than 1956, were cognizant that it didn’t speak of all the ancient inhabitants of the Americas.

Maybe there is good evidence for LGT in Mormon thought fifty years ago, but I don’t see this particular example as support for that notion.