If the claims of the Book of Mormon were true, we would have every Mesoamerican researcher publishing papers saying "You know, it looks like we have a colony of Christ believing Hebrews here."
And, over the years, that belief would get more and more evidence, not less. There would be evidences of massive battles and wars of extinction around 400AD, metal plates with odd, Egyptian-like writing turning up in digs all over Mesoamerica, and vestiges of Biblical beliefs in Adam and Eve, Noah's ark, the tower of babel, and the atonement turning up in Central American murals and stelae.
And, the date of 33AD would be very, very notable for the huge change in population, and a consolidation of beliefs to pure, New Testament Christianity for hundreds of years over the entire proposed Book of Mormon geography.
FARMS would publish article after article about how there really were horses and chariots and steel swords back then, instead of explaining why not. --cinepro
If you never had the misfortune to have read the Book of Mormon, here are a few good reasons why you shouldn’t bother: First of all, it's dry as dirt.
Second, it's filled with nasty stories that little boys love, like chopping off heads and slashing off arms. Most of the details are cartoonishly implausible, like lopping off someone's head and then wearing their clothes around and pretending to be the dead guy to his own servants.
Finally, you’ll see that the doctrines in there are neither that deep nor original. Mormons don't even follow them, like Jacob's condemnation of polygamy. About the only original doctrine I can think of is 8 year old baptism, and I think that is way too young.
BTW, there are no love stories in the BofM. The Bible has several love stories, like Samson & Delilah, David & Bathsheba, Solomon & the Queen of Sheba, Joseph & Mary, Queen Esther. There are also several tales of brotherly love, like Ruth & Naomi or David & Jonathan. The relationships in the BofM are very 2-dimensional, and women are barely mentioned. The only woman I can name is Sariah, Lehi's wife. Nephi doesn't even bother to mention his wife, nor do any of the other "authors" down to Moroni.
It's almost as if it were written by one young man with no life experience....
Love your take on it all,vzgardner. Especially the last line about the "explaining why not".
What it all makes me recall is that I read once where Joseph's mother bragged what a great story teller he was as a child. If you leave the word "great" out then it's true--like you said:
"It's almost as if it were written by one young man with no life experience ...."
In the end it's just "Cowboys and Indians" all over again. Nothing I didn't see at the movies in the fifties when the "Indians" were most always the bad guys.