I know people say there’s no evidence in Central or South America but what if we’re looking in the wrong place? What if the story really took place in the jungles of Africa? (Around the Congo region).
They’ve never looked there before I would argue. Idk I’ve been reading the book again and a lot of me thinks it makes sense if it took place in Africa. It’s a wild idea I know. I’m just throwing it out there.
Well, if it was in Africa, they could have walked, wouldn't have had to build a boat for Lehi and Co. or submarines for the Jarediites.
The land they supposedly found was uninhabited, as it was preserved for them. Humans originated from Africa. It was populated.
It aligns nicely with the Columbus discovering the new world.
While they maybe haven't looked in the Congo for the BOM, they've looked for other things and it's been well explored. If they found evidence of the BOM, we'd know about it.
Its common knowledge over almost 2 centuries of church history that it was in the Americas.
And even if the story took place in the Congo, it isn't true. Or are you implying it might be true because they haven't looked in the Congo for it yet?
God said in the D&C that the church should send people into the borders of the Lamanites in Missouri. So it isn't just a series of prophets who got it wrong, this is God's doing.
Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.
Africa it is! Heck, you've got the Comoro Islands right off the African coast, and I'm sure we'll eventually learn that a simple typo in Adamic changes "island" to "hill".
Yeah. Could be. You go to Africa and start looking. We'll be there as soon as we can.
Me? I'm going to first start looking in Liguria with Headquarters at the Splendido Hotel in Portofino. Will join you in Africa as soon as I confirm that there are no Nephite chariots in Northern Italy.
The sealed portion of the BOM contains the following verse....
5th Nephi 2:4 And it came to pass that I came upon a man that was exceedingly white and delightsome and I approached the man and I did extend my hand in friendship unto him and said, "Dr. Livingston I presume?" And he did answer, "yes."
Plus the fact that Africans skin color doesn't change to white and back again to dark depending on obedience to christian teachings, unlike American Indians /s
The problem is that there hasn't been evidence of a large civilization that keeps records on metal plates using a language that is supposedly derived from egyptian. There's no evidence that said large population worshiped a christian-ish god in that area either as far as I know.
If there were evidence of such a thing, Christianity would have said so by now.
Keep in mind, the problem that the LDS church has with "evidence" is that the events of the BOM would have left a major impact no matter where they took place. There were battles where huge numbers died. Large civilizations which had roads, governments, and religions that covered large areas, if they happened as described. These things leave footprints, that should stand out fairly easily.
And then there's the problem others have stated. No less than Joseph Smith himself has started that the events happened in the Americas. The whole point of which is to say that the US is a blessed nation just for being in North America. The whole of Mormonism is Amero-centric. If you don't believe that, be a missionary in Korea (like I was) trying to tell how Lehi was led to the America's because it was a blessed land.
The best (and funniest) explanation for the lack of evidence I've heard yet is that God wanted to keep things ambiguous to keep the LDS religion "Faith based" so he magically wiped out all evidence on purpose. Why he didn't choose to do the same with Biblical locations, no one knows, but, now that I think of it, that might explain the whole "historical Jesus" controversy.
I'm thinking a trip into outer space may be needed. I think there might be a distinct possibility if we do that of asking God himself for the evidence.
A space trip indeed! Perhaps a satellite could find images of large temples buried under centuries of jungle growth in the Congo.....and a chariot pulled by a Tapir.
Sure. Moroni crossed the Atlantic before burying the plates in a stone box in the hill Cumorah.
There are several narratives in the BoM that are physically impossible. Maybe you can use miracles to justify them, maybe, if you really want to believe, but since Joe was a known con man I wouldn’t bet money on it. All of the evidence taken in totality really proves that the BoM was made up in the 19th century. We know how and why. Can’t prove who, but have a list of suspects. Ruling out the impossible is your first step in figuring out what the church really is.
in any way support that wild-eyed speculation, you may be on to something.
I look forward to hearing back from you on this after you have spent 10 years or so digging around the Congo for Book of Mormon evidence. It will be interesting to see what you come up with.
I think I already know that some of the evidence will be things like the following:
(1) In the Book of Mormon, Alma 53:4, we read about dirt. So dirt was one of the first things I was looking to examine in order to determine whether the region of the Congo was likely the location where the Book of Mormon events played out. Amazingly, it did not take long to find the evidence. Dirt was literally everywhere. Sometimes it was concealed by jungle overgrowth, but with just a little effort I could find dirt under the overgrowth. The odds of dirt existing both in the places mentioned in the Book of Mormon AND in the Congo region are astronomical. You may think that I would be satisfied with this incontrovertible evidence, but I wanted more....
(2) In the Book of Mormon, Alma 49:2, we can read about dirt, stones and arrows. So I figured if I could find evidence of all three of these items in the region of the Congo, that would be the clincher...the perfect trifecta of mutually corroborating evidence. I had already found dirt in abundance. But would I also find evidence of the existence of stones and arrows having existed in the region of the Congo in ancient times? I was worried that such evidence may have been lost. But when I interviewed some pygmies, each pygmy whom I interviewed confirmed to me that, according to their tribal traditions and stories, their ancestors had done things with not only stones, but also arrows.
Stay tuned.... Next week I will reveal even more evidence of uncanny parallels between the Book of Mormon and the region of the Congo, including a discussion of the significance of bodies of water.
Well, there's the real one in the Indian Ocean, the fake one in upstate New York, the one the apologists tell us exists in Latin America and from which the plates were teleported to NY, and now a fourth one in the Congo. I think that is what East Coast Exmo was getting at.
I'd just suggest that anyone going to that part of Africa had better take his vitamins since there's an epidemic of Ebola there right now. Maybe God isn't yet ready to expose the BoM ruins to the light of archaeological day.
Lot's Wife Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Maybe God > isn't yet ready to expose the BoM ruins to the > light of archaeological day.
Well, he took the single most important artifact of proof of The Book of Mormon away via angelic messenger.
Of course, we can find the great cities of Congohah and Zuluhemla.
But wait… what about Antarctica? No one's ever looked there either, right? Ever notice how the big polar peninsula points directly toward South America? Clearly that's the "narrow neck of land" that partially submerged during all the face o' the land rearranging during the 3 days of darkness in 3 Nephi. And penguins are cureloms and walruses are cumoms! It all fits!! OMG, someone call FairMormon!
Years ago there was someone writing in Sunstone with the crazy idea that the whole thing took place in Malaysia. I'm not sure if this was serious, or just written in the language of "very serious people" as means of illustrating the absurdity of the the contemporary FARMS apologetics.
If someone can assemble a bunch of points of evidence (some stretched like a rubber band about to be shot off your finger) suggesting it is at least possible that the Book of Mormon took place in Malaysia--then no wonder FARMS can do the same with the Americas. I mean Malaysia--that's far fetched, but it is closer to Jerusalem.
When a limited geography theory helps use that, but feel free to use evidence on any point from all of North and South America--whatever it takes to make sure your reader doesn't lose their testimony!
Remember. Besides locating "Congohah and Zuluhemla," Haha, (thank you Henry B. Eyeroll--still laughing), the area must be populated with dark skinned indiginous people with plenty of Jewish DNA. This is non-negotiable. And, they must not be enticing. This is critical. God made them dark so the Nephites wouldn't be tempted. Didn't seem to work too well though. God's curse was a little on the weak side as they all seem quite enticing.
According to Moroni 9:9-10 The Nephites were so wicked that they went and raped the young Lamanite girls and then killed em all and ate their flesh like wild animals. Even so, God did not turn the Nephite skin to black. I tell ya, when you are one of God's favorites you are gonna stay white. Just look at he Gerontocracy.
And they all lived happily ever after. (Fairy tales always end that way.)