DNA Vs Mormonism

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The practices are not totally missing and for hopefully the last time. I don’t see how everyone can miss this.
OK, so what Jewish practices were retained by Native Americans?
ONLY IF THE GUYS WHO CAME TO THE AMERICAS HAD THE MARKER(S) COULD THE MARKER(S) NOW BE FOUND.
The line of reasoning I keep hearing runs like this. There is a flu epidemic in a city therefor everyone in the city must have the flu. Its not logically sound.:confused:
I don’t think you know very much about genetics.
 
I really hate to be rude, but um hello?
There is a genetic marker that is often passed down. If people in place one have it and people in place two have it. We have reason to believe they are related.

If the marker was found it would be evidence that there is a relationship. Not finding the marker means that we don’t have that evidence, but given the very real possibility that the original people leaving the Middle East may have not had the marker it’s not being in the New world does not tell us that these people did not come from the Middle East.
How many came? If it was a large enough sample, the marker should ahve been present. If the marker was a common one, say present in 80% or more, it would have been found. How many came and how prevelant was the marker?
 
Here are some thoughts from IRR.org:

In 600 BC there were probably several million American Indians living in the Americas. If a small group of Israelites, say less than thirty, entered such a massive native population, it would be very hard to detect their genes today. However, such a scenario does not square with what the Book of Mormon plainly states and with what the prophets have taught for 175 years.

Right, because the BoM says that the Lamanites were the principal ancestors of Native Americans. The whole mythology is built on this.

Here’s two reasons why the “what if the guys who came to America didn’t have the marker” argument is silly:
Code:
				We know that Lehi and his associates in the Book of Mormon  					were Israelites, and we know a great deal about the DNA  					lineages of living people whose ancestors were Israelites  					reaching back 2600 years ago. Israelite DNA lineages belong  					to the same family groups found in European populations: the  					H, I, J, K, N, T, U, V, W and X groups. Essentially all  					Europeans and Israelites possess one of these lineages. In  					fact, other Middle Eastern populations such as the Syrians,  					Egyptians, Lebanese and other Arabic groups have similar  					mitochondrial DNA lineages belonging to these families.  					There is a smattering (<0.4%) of lineages in American Indian  					populations that are clearly, exclusively of European  					origin, most probably from Spain rather than from the Middle  					East. However, scientists justifiably assume that these  					lineages represent post-Columbus intermixing. The lineages  					in question are most common in North American tribes that  					had the greatest impact with Europeans and are very uncommon  					in Mesoamerica, which FARMS claims is the only "plausible"  					site for the Book of Mormon. In addition, European  					mitochondrial lineages are extremely rare in Polynesia.
				If the number of Israelites traveling to the New World was as big as it would have had to be, then at least SOME of "the guys" would have had "the marker."
Finally, this little factoid is, to me, one of the more damning to the Mormon position:

The amount of DNA variation found in each of the five American Indian female DNA lineage families indicates that they have been present in the Americas for at least 15,000 years, possibly longer. This predates the existence of Israel by many thousands of years.
 
The primary group had people from 3 families. Lehi and his kids Ishmel and his kids and one other guy named Zoram. Zoram was a server/slave of some kind and may not have been a native of the region?

But even so we are talking about 3 family lines. with an 80% chance that a person would have it its not a long shot for 3 guys to not have it and you can’t pass on what you do not have.
 
The primary group had people from 3 families. Lehi and his kids Ishmel and his kids and one other guy named Zoram. Zoram was a server/slave of some kind and may not have been a native of the region?

But even so we are talking about 3 family lines. with an 80% chance that a person would have it its not a long shot for 3 guys to not have it and you can’t pass on what you do not have.
Primary? How many groups came over? Also, how many were there? Isreal had 12 sons, so a family may be bigger than two adults and 2.5 children.

Besides, if it was such a small group, say less than 100, why should we think that they had ANY effect on Native American Culture? That makes no sense.
 
Here are some thoughts from IRR.org:

In 600 BC there were probably several million American Indians living in the Americas. If a small group of Israelites, say less than thirty, entered such a massive native population, it would be very hard to detect their genes today. However, such a scenario does not square with what the Book of Mormon plainly states and with what the prophets have taught for 175 years.

Right, because the BoM says that the Lamanites were the principal ancestors of Native Americans. The whole mythology is built on this.

Here’s two reasons why the “what if the guys who came to America didn’t have the marker” argument is silly:
Code:
				We know that Lehi and his associates in the Book of Mormon  					were Israelites, and we know a great deal about the DNA  					lineages of living people whose ancestors were Israelites  					reaching back 2600 years ago. Israelite DNA lineages belong  					to the same family groups found in European populations: the  					H, I, J, K, N, T, U, V, W and X groups. Essentially all  					Europeans and Israelites possess one of these lineages. In  					fact, other Middle Eastern populations such as the Syrians,  					Egyptians, Lebanese and other Arabic groups have similar  					mitochondrial DNA lineages belonging to these families.  					There is a smattering (<0.4%) of lineages in American Indian  					populations that are clearly, exclusively of European  					origin, most probably from Spain rather than from the Middle  					East. However, scientists justifiably assume that these  					lineages represent post-Columbus intermixing. The lineages  					in question are most common in North American tribes that  					had the greatest impact with Europeans and are very uncommon  					in Mesoamerica, which FARMS claims is the only "plausible"  					site for the Book of Mormon. In addition, European  					mitochondrial lineages are extremely rare in Polynesia.
				If the number of Israelites traveling to the New World was as big as it would have had to be, then at least SOME of "the guys" would have had "the marker."
Finally, this little factoid is, to me, one of the more damning to the Mormon position:

The amount of DNA variation found in each of the five American Indian female DNA lineage families indicates that they have been present in the Americas for at least 15,000 years, possibly longer. This predates the existence of Israel by many thousands of years.
That is quite the claim. But as I’ve sad before DNA is a fairly new science. When peoples jobs are on the line to show evidence that they can do cool stuff with what hey do I tend to question the validity of their work. Finding a marker or not is a st right forward concept. How long how many people lived where on DNA alone I guess I’m just not that religious.
 
The primary group had people from 3 families. Lehi and his kids Ishmel and his kids and one other guy named Zoram. Zoram was a server/slave of some kind and may not have been a native of the region?

But even so we are talking about 3 family lines. with an 80% chance that a person would have it its not a long shot for 3 guys to not have it and you can’t pass on what you do not have.
But if these people are the principal ancestors of all Native Americans as the BoM claims, then their DNA would be easily identified, because if they were the principal ancestors their DNA would be everywhere. It wouldn’t be rare. If I am following your reasoning, since there is no Middle Eastern DNA to be found among Native Americans and very little DNA that is not of Asian origin, it is most likely the Lehi and the gang were from Northern Asia, since that is the most common DNA among Native Americans. Which, again, isn’t anywhere near compatible with the LDS mythology.
 
That is quite the claim. But as I’ve sad before DNA is a fairly new science. When peoples jobs are on the line to show evidence that they can do cool stuff with what hey do I tend to question the validity of their work. Finding a marker or not is a st right forward concept. How long how many people lived where on DNA alone I guess I’m just not that religious.
Oh my goodness. So all genetic researchers are making things up to discredit the LDS church? Do you trust the National Geographic Society?

www3.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/
 
Primary? How many groups came over? Also, how many were there? Isreal had 12 sons, so a family may be bigger than two adults and 2.5 children.

Besides, if it was such a small group, say less than 100, why should we think that they had ANY effect on Native American Culture? That makes no sense.
3 known fathers in the primary groups (Mulek came latter, but we have no information as to how many people he had with him or even much reason to assume where they came from genetically.)

With a 1 in 5 probability having 3 people come up without is very possible and even half a dozen is not unreasonable.

Lehi had 6 sons and some daughters Ishmel had 2 sons I think, and Zoram. But if the 3 fathers did not have the little do hicky on their Y their sons could not either (assuming mom was behaving and not rapped which is reasonalbe).

They spent about 8 years getting from the Jerusalem area to the sea. His the new world broke into two groups and on from there.

They had a record and kept the ability to write. Assuming that after awhile they start running into others here and their the ability to write would give a group a big upper hand on those who could not. Keep in mind also that all of this was over and done over a thousand years before Columbus got the urge to take a trip west.

I’m not arguing that the Book of Mormon should be accepted on scintific grounds, but I’ve still not seen anything that makes it improbable.
 
3 known fathers in the primary groups (Mulek came latter, but we have no information as to how many people he had with him or even much reason to assume where they came from genetically.)

With a 1 in 5 probability having 3 people come up without is very possible and even half a dozen is not unreasonable.

Lehi had 6 sons and some daughters Ishmel had 2 sons I think, and Zoram. But if the 3 fathers did not have the little do hicky on their Y their sons could not either (assuming mom was behaving and not rapped which is reasonalbe).

They spent about 8 years getting from the Jerusalem area to the sea. His the new world broke into two groups and on from there.

They had a record and kept the ability to write. Assuming that after awhile they start running into others here and their the ability to write would give a group a big upper hand on those who could not. Keep in mind also that all of this was over and done over a thousand years before Columbus got the urge to take a trip west.

I’m not arguing that the Book of Mormon should be accepted on scintific grounds, but I’ve still not seen anything that makes it improbable.
The pen is mightier than the sword, unless you are facing a sword with nothing but a pen. The ability to write would not keep them safe from bows, arrows, axes, etc.

So less than 30 people had an effect on the culture of millions? Nope. Not likely. They would have been swallowed up or killed off.
 
But if these people are the principal ancestors of all Native Americans as the BoM claims, then their DNA would be easily identified, because if they were the principal ancestors their DNA would be everywhere. It wouldn’t be rare. If I am following your reasoning, since there is no Middle Eastern DNA to be found among Native Americans and very little DNA that is not of Asian origin, it is most likely the Lehi and the gang were from Northern Asia, since that is the most common DNA among Native Americans. Which, again, isn’t anywhere near compatible with the LDS mythology.
Lehi and company known jewish gene marker free.

Others also come to Americas and inter marry
 
The pen is mightier than the sword, unless you are facing a sword with nothing but a pen. The ability to write would not keep them safe from bows, arrows, axes, etc.

So less than 30 people had an effect on the culture of millions? Nope. Not likely. They would have been swallowed up or killed off.
head to head at 30 vs a million yes.

but if you had relative isolation for awhile say 150 years and than ran into a lot of small groups with inferior political and cultural organization fewer and weaker weapons. They could have had a major impact. Heck Cortez only had like 60 men small pox and a few cool new toys.
 
I’m saying that the “sciance” of concluding who lived where and other such details based solely on DNA is very questionable.
well luckily we don’t have to accept only DNA, we have linguistics, cultural anthropology, archaeological evidence. we know how when and where the american continents were populated and by whom. no hebrews! saying that BoM is true because Joseph smith said so is even more questionable. praying with the sincere hope that it’s true as fervently as you can and interpreting whatever feelings you may then have as a spiritual revelation confirming it is little better. look the BoM is as easy to disprove from what it DOESN’T say as what it does. it simply does not describe any pre-columbian civilization.
 
head to head at 30 vs a million yes.

but if you had relative isolation for awhile say 150 years and than ran into a lot of small groups with inferior political and cultural organization fewer and weaker weapons. They could have had a major impact. Heck Cortez only had like 60 men small pox and a few cool new toys.
Small pox and the new toys killed.

Let’s say that they were isolated as you say. How was there no genetic defects from sucha small breeding population? We see TaySachs in many isolated Jewish communities. Wait, ignore that. Let’s look at it like this. At some point, the group would have left an indelible mark in some way. There is no mark. No pottery, no culture, no legends of the tribe over the hill. Nothing. No proof.

You can say it is a matter of faith and so be it, but the evidence is not compelling to me to accept it. IN fact, the evidence is against it.
 
I’m waiting to hear why it’s questionable to trace human movements via DNA. Someone should tell the National Geographic Genographic Project that they are indulging in junk science. 😛
 
Explain why, please.
Um lets see. Oh yeah we’ve only known that there was DNA for just over 100 years. We still have not ID a lot of major factors relating to disease, but somehow we know how many generations back a person moved out of town. To assume that sort of information is stored in DNA and we can retrieve it accurately is a leap of faith not a scientific project. I’m fine with faith I think ti is great, but call it what it is.

It can’t be tested outside of its self. It is like asking people to believe the bible is the word of God because the Bible says it it.
 
I’m saying that the “sciance” of concluding who lived where and other such details based solely on DNA is very questionable.
This post answers one question I had, namely, how would Mormons responded now that DNA could prove Joseph Smith right, or give strong evidence that he made everything up. Denial of the scientific validity of DNA.
 
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