How come archeologists cannot find a trace of..?

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Survive, secular and liberal Christian/Jewish archaeologists do not believe in the history of the Bible before King David’s time:

(Differences between secular and liberal Christian/Jewish archaeologists vs. religious conservative archaeologists with the Bible)
religioustolerance.org/chr_arhs.htm (with references)

“The Bible, as History, Flunks New Archaeological Tests” (New York Times)
nytimes.com/library/arts/072900david-bible.html

National Geographic on their website says that to this day, little evidence has been found for the Kingdoms of David and Solomon, which were supposed to be obvious kingdoms. news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/10/081028-king-solomon-copper-mine-missions_2.html (under the “Historical Extremes” section)

“The Bible Unearthed” (by a famous Israeli archaeologist Israel Finkelstein - he says there is no convincing evidence for the United Monarchy or anything before it)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bible_Unearthed
and found on the History Channel youtube.com/watch?v=v2HqrIwz0Pw&NR=1 (Survive, watch Part 2, 8:52 minutes, then you’ll understand why Latter-day Saints believe the Book of Mormon if you still believe the Bible being the Word of God)

Survive, you haven’t explained about the “Chaldeans”, “Philistines”, and “nomads on camels” for 2000 B.C.? Saying that the Philistines Abraham met could have been people living in the general area rather than the historical ones from David’s time just makes non-religious conservatives say it’s now unfalisfiable, and that a fundamental aspect of Archaeology is “testability”. The same can be done for every single part of the Book of Mormon that appears as a anachronism to non-Mormons; Mormon apologists say that you just have to see things from a different perspective. The Book of Mormon mentions “silk”. Although there wasn’t Old World silk in the Americas, the Spanish said that the Native Americans had a Native American type clothing silk which was made from moth larvae. Do you now see where Latter-day Saints are coming from, even if you don’t agree with them?
I really appreciate the enthusiasm you put into your posts here. Your biggest problem with your theory is that DNA has PROVEN THAT NOBODY has come from the middle east and settled in the americas. Your own mormons even proved that and has since been removed from your community. DNA can locate lineage down to ONE PERSON! Sorry the bom is proven as fiction and I don’t see much of a future for its members but the one true Church…The Roman Catholic Church.
 
Secular archaeologists say they don’t agree with Bible apologists responses with Bible difficulties, because archaeology is supposed to be falsifiable with publicly verifiable research; they say Bible apologists make it unfalsifiable by how they reason. The Bible apologists don’t set up predictions saying, “If this really isn’t a problem for the Bible, we prediction we’ll find this observation archaeologically later down the road; if we don’t find the prediction then that means that part of the Bible is false.” Bible apologists don’t do that, and so secular archaeologists call them pseudoarchaeologists.

Likewise, Book of Mormon apologists come up with similar reasons why things aren’t anachronisms, just like the Bible apologists do.

That’s part of my critical thinking. If the Book of Mormon needs to stand on it’s own with archaeology, well the Bible as a whole sure doesn’t. Big segments of it may, but as a whole it doesn’t. Everything before King David’s time doesn’t, parts off and on throughout the Old Testament after that conflict with archaeological evidence. The nativity event from the New Testament has some serious problems (Matt says Herod was around at the time of Jesus’ birth; Luke says all the world was taxed or registered; those who study history say Herod died 10 years before the event of all the world being registered; etc.)
hi, first, guess what, the reason we know the dating of the cities you mention is because they exist. For instance, in the case of Jericho, it was dated to within a 100 years of the Biblical time frame. Since the Bible has never claimed to be a historical record, I’d say this is more than good enough for me.

Second, we know it is the city of Jericho because the archaeological evidence supports this fact.

The city of Jericho is not a metaphor. It is really real.

Tell me, where is the city of Zarahemla, and where is the archaeological support for the location?
 
Likewise, I don’t see one anachronism from the Book of Mormon. Not even a SINGLE ONE! My reasoning, if not one of these Bible anachronisms is an anachronism, why should any of YOUR Book of Mormon “anachronisms” be anachronisms?

If the Bible says Joshua came after Abraham, and that Joshua destroyed Ai, Jericho, Hazor during a lifetime and after Abraham, and Abraham left the Ur of the Chaldeans before Jericho destroyed these places, and Abraham and Isaac interacted with the Philistines before Joshua conquered these cities, how is that not anachronisms?

Archaeologists say the Chaldeans didn’t exist until about 1000 B.C., with Ur being under their control to be called “Ur of the Chaldeans” until the 600’s B.C. The Philistines didn’t exist until 1100’s B.C. The city of Jericho was carbon dated to be destroyed 1500 B.C. (which comes before 1100’s/600’s B.C.). The city of Ai was carbon dated to be abandoned 2200 B.C., Hazor by fire 1250 B.C. (obviously not within a human lifetime of Joshua, and way before the peoples/cities mentioned for Abraham). The Bible mentions the Israelites leaving the city of Ramesees, who didn’t exist until the 1200’s B.C., way after Jericho and Ai.

That just doesn’t make any sense whatsoever how those are not anachronisms in chronology and time periods for any of those particular Old Testament stories to make any sense archaeologically, but then the Book of Mormon “anachronisms” are real anachronisms? The New Testament’s Luke chapter 3 and Matthew chapter 1 give the genealogy of the Old Testament as a real history, not metaphor, and why would a metaphor say Joshua came way after Abraham’s time, when it was really trying to say the exact reverse?

Explain??? :confused:
Like I asked. Pick One from the Old and one from the New. Horses in the Book of Mormon is an anachronism by the definition of the word. I think we both agree there are none in the New Testament and you don’t seem to be able to explain one from the Old Testament.
 
=ReligiousQuest;4843172]Survive, secular and liberal Christian/Jewish archaeologists do not believe in the history of the Bible before King David’s time:
(Differences between secular and liberal Christian/Jewish archaeologists vs. religious conservative archaeologists with the Bible)
religioustolerance.org/chr_arhs.htm (with references)
“The Bible, as History, Flunks New Archaeological Tests” (New York Times)
nytimes.com/library/arts/072900david-bible.html
National Geographic on their website says that to this day, little evidence has been found for the Kingdoms of David and Solomon, which were supposed to be obvious kingdoms. news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/10/081028-king-solomon-copper-mine-missions_2.html (under the “Historical Extremes” section)
“The Bible Unearthed” (by a famous Israeli archaeologist Israel Finkelstein - he says there is no convincing evidence for the United Monarchy or anything before it)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bible_Unearthed
and found on the History Channel youtube.com/watch?v=v2HqrIwz0Pw&NR=1 (Survive, watch Part 2, 8:52 minutes, then you’ll understand why Latter-day Saints believe the Book of Mormon if you still believe the Bible being the Word of God)
Survive, you haven’t explained about the “Chaldeans”, “Philistines”, and “nomads on camels” for 2000 B.C.? Saying that the Philistines Abraham met could have been people living in the general area rather than the historical ones from David’s time just makes non-religious conservatives say it’s now unfalisfiable, and that a fundamental aspect of Archaeology is “testability”. The same can be done for every single part of the Book of Mormon that appears as a anachronism to non-Mormons; Mormon apologists say that you just have to see things from a different perspective. The Book of Mormon mentions “silk”. Although there wasn’t Old World silk in the Americas, the Spanish said that the Native Americans had a Native American type clothing silk which was made from moth larvae. Do you now see where Latter-day Saints are coming from, even if you don’t agree with them?
**OK already, I’m a wishy washy Catholic, so to avoid this debate lets just jump to the New Testament!👍 😉 😃 **
 
I understand where you’re coming from. Where’s the evidence? Whether you agree with my reasoning or not, this is the critical thinking that I use:

Both Exodus and Numbers mentions that the Israelites had 600,000 men of age who left Egypt, not including the women and children; typically scholars estimate 2 million altogether but most say at least over a million Israelites in the Exodus is a very safe estimate. The land of Canaan was an Egyptian province until about 1200 B.C., and you had to get permission from the to settle, or even make an economic decision. Since they kept records of those who settled and there is no record from sources outside the Bible (including the Egyptians) of the Israelites settling the land of Canaan before 1200 B.C. (plus the Bible says almost 500 years passed between the Exodus and Solomon), secular archaeologists do not believe. The Egyptians had military posts all over the Sinai Peninsula and kept records of those who passed through. Since they were able to track all these others down, and they weren’t able to notice “over a million” Israelites passing through, that’s what archaeologists think of that. In the past 150 years, archaeologists also have not been able to track down archaeological evidence of a route of over a million Israelites; after many years of searching. Archaeologists also say if “over a million slaves” left Egypt, Egypt would have noticed their economy and something in their records would have noticed.
What is the difference between a scholar and on archaeologist? I thought an archaeologist was a scholar. You have them conflicting to some how make your case.
I think you need to start providing references to your claims!
 
Secular archaeologists say they don’t agree with Bible apologists responses with Bible difficulties, because archaeology is supposed to be falsifiable with publicly verifiable research; they say Bible apologists make it unfalsifiable by how they reason. The Bible apologists don’t set up predictions saying, “If this really isn’t a problem for the Bible, we prediction we’ll find this observation archaeologically later down the road; if we don’t find the prediction then that means that part of the Bible is false.” Bible apologists don’t do that, and so secular archaeologists call them pseudoarchaeologists.

Likewise, Book of Mormon apologists come up with similar reasons why things aren’t anachronisms, just like the Bible apologists do.

That’s part of my critical thinking. If the Book of Mormon needs to stand on it’s own with archaeology, well the Bible as a whole sure doesn’t. Big segments of it may, but as a whole it doesn’t. Everything before King David’s time doesn’t, parts off and on throughout the Old Testament after that conflict with archaeological evidence. The nativity event from the New Testament has some serious problems (Matt says Herod was around at the time of Jesus’ birth; Luke says all the world was taxed or registered; those who study history say Herod died 10 years before the event of all the world being registered; etc.)
Your critical thinking has a flaw especially with regard to evidence. Your basic claims is that if we don’t find evidence of a particular event in the bible therefore its false. This would be comprable to the story of Troy in Homers Illiad. For many years all educated people believed the story to be that one of pure fiction because there was no evidence of this event. Fair. It is resonable. I would have said the same thing in the early 1800. But when Troy was actually discovered they said it was at least partly true. Fair. This is how you approach the bible.
However, there is another part of any analysis if something is true or not. Evolution has been determined by most scientist to be true. How is this since no one observed natural selection over the millions of years required. It is determined by the scientific method. An initial thought is considered (Hypothesis) and testing is done. Over time if the outcome can be predicted with consistency the more viable the thought is eventually with more supporting evidence the Hypothesis jumps to Theory and ends in Law. When reviewing the bible we see that it tell the truth about the Assyrians, Bablyonian, Hebrews, Egyptians, and the events that they cover and can be crossed referrenced with other people’s writings and archeological finds. We find consistency with acheological finds (such as that at Qumran) in support of the bible. So since there are facts that can be verified and have been verified comparing the bible to acheolgical finds we can say with some confidence that there is validity to it. This cannot be done with the book of mormon.
 
hi, first, guess what, the reason we know the dating of the cities you mention is because they exist. For instance, in the case of Jericho, it was dated to within a 100 years of the Biblical time frame. Since the Bible has never claimed to be a historical record, I’d say this is more than good enough for me.

Second, we know it is the city of Jericho because the archaeological evidence supports this fact.

The city of Jericho is not a metaphor. It is really real.

Tell me, where is the city of Zarahemla, and where is the archaeological support for the location?
It’s funny how all the names the BOM gives things sound made up, Like, Maroni, Lamanites, Nephites, seer stone, Zarahemla. sounds like he was trying to make them sound like things from the Old and New Testament. Where is the original manuscripts or plates it was written on? What was the original language that he said he translated it from?
 
Your critical thinking has a flaw especially with regard to evidence. Your basic claims is that if we don’t find evidence of a particular event in the bible therefore its false.
That is not my claim. My claim is that part of the method used in archaeology is if archaeological evidence appears to directly contradict an event, it’s always possible to reason to see things in a different way so it no longer contradicts (ex. the Philistines not existing until the 1100’s B.C.? Some apologists say there could have been some others with the same name as “Philistines” 2000 B.C. and that technically Abraham hasn’t been disproved from this point of view).

Archaeology says if you have to do this, just like in Science, you have to find a way to test or falsify your new change of assumptions. You can’t just keep on changing your assumptions so that they fit the evidence. You have to find a way to test them in a new way. If you don’t do this, it doesn’t mean that it’s false, it just means that archaeology/science doesn’t accept it into their field of study, unless you find a way to turn the tides. They used to believe that rats would just appear out of nothing out of hay, spontaneous generation. Then Pasteur came up with some clever experiments to disprove. Now biologists don’t believe in spontaneous generation anymore. However, the only way to disprove for sure that rats can’t just appear out of the hay with no parents required, we’d have to observe every single rat birth throughout all time and everywhere. Since we can’t do that, technically we can’t disprove. Some could rationalize away coming up with reasons why it hasn’t been disproved, but without coming up with a new way to falsify, it doesn’t make it’s way back into biology again.

That’s how secular archaeologists see the reasoning from Bible apologists for the history before King David’s time. They say it’s possible, but goes against archaeology unless the Bible apologists come up with some ways to falsify, and their results can be verified by other archaeologists.

See what I’m saying? (In other words, I’m calling both the Bible before King David’s time and many parts of the New Testament events plus the Book of Mormon both pseudoarchaeology, but that the label doesn’t disprove one or the other)
 
Stephen, I read your link, and I like.

It says there were “six founding mothers”. If no one else has read this link, please read: news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/03/080313-AP-native-amer.html

I keep on saying this over and over again. Notice the third paragraph from your link says, “The finding does not mean that only these six women gave rise to the migrants who crossed into North America from Asia in the initial populating of the continent, said study co-author Ugo Perego.”

and paragraph seven:

“Perego and his colleagues traced the history of a particular kind of DNA that represents ‘just a tiny fraction of the human genetic material’ and reflects only a piece of a person’s ancestry.”

This is one of my many points that I have been trying to say all along. Mitochondrial and Y-Chromosome studies “never rule out a race” that a person’s ancestors may have been. They “can only confirm” a person had a certain race in their ancestry. I also keep finding again and again that after a few thousand years, everyone in a certain area can be related to everyone else.

Everything I’ve found says that there were more than just six women who crossed the land bridge, and these six mothers are just the source for the Native American mitochondrial DNA. Mitochondrial DNA only tracks a direct mother’s mother’s mother’s… line, and Y-Chromosome only tracks a direct son to father’s father’s father’s… line. That means most of your ancestors do not come into the picture!

If there was a group of 30 from the Middle East 600 B.C. who came to the Americas and mixed in with over a million Siberians, then their mitochondrial and Y-Chromosome DNA would have had an excellent chance of not showing, and most Native Americans by now could mostly be related to these 30, and even a direct descendant! Then that would mean DNA hasn’t disproved the modern Native Americans being direct descendants of the Lamanites, if our assumptions are correct!!!

The difference between DNA for the Book of Mormon vs. Bible is Genesis 5 and 11 give the genealogy from Adam to Abraham as a literal history; and Luke 3 brings up the genealogy again when he gives the genealogy for Jesus. Although you can’t rule out genealogies, you can confirm. If Adam was the first man, DNA confirms there were humans way before that time, if you get my point. The Book of Mormon only needs to have many Native Americans who are direct descendants, and since these studies can only confirm rather than rule out races of certain ancestors, then you see the difference. The Bible also says the Flood killed everyone except Noah, and give the literal genealogy with Noah included in the MIddle of it. Since DNA can confirm our most recent father being at a minimum of 60,000 years ago out of Africa rather than the time in exact years the Bible gives for Noah, well then you see the difference between the Bible vs. Book of Mormon in DNA.
 
He said there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang.
That doesn’t make any sense? By the standards you’re setting for the Old and New Testaments, why can’t that quote from the Pearl of Great Price be a metaphor?

Please please please read Genesis chapters 5 & 11. They say these are the generations from Adam to Abraham: (blank) amount of years between this generation, (blank) amount of years between this generation, etc. Then the New Testament, Luke 3 lists the generations from Adam to Jesus, using the same genealogy from Adam to Abraham that the Book of Genesis uses. How is this any less of a metaphor than the quote from the Pearl of Great Price you quote, which is much more vague?

See where my confusion is?
 
Over time if the outcome can be predicted with consistency the more viable the thought is eventually with more supporting evidence the Hypothesis jumps to Theory and ends in Law.
By the way, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences says that by definition a Theory can never become a Law.

A theory is an explanation for what we can observe (ex. a set of statements or propositions to explain natural phenomenon); a theory in Science isn’t the type of theory in common language where it means a hunch. A law is an observable principle (and is often given as a mathematical equation). The Law of Gravitation says that bodies of mass are drawn to each other, and is proportional to the mass involved and inversely proportional to the distance between them (an observable principle). The Theory of Gravitation is that there is a force field sucking things towards each other (Newton’s theory), or curvatures in spacetime (Einstein), or Quantum theory. So the Theory of Gravitation is an explanation, not an observable principle. The Theory of Gravitation cannot become the Law of Gravitation.

That’s why they say “Germ Theory”, or “Cell Theory”, and not “Germ Law”.

For more on why theories by definition cannot become laws: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory#Scientific_laws
 
By the way, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences says that by definition a Theory can never become a Law.

A theory is an explanation for what we can observe (ex. a set of statements or propositions to explain natural phenomenon); a theory in Science isn’t the type of theory in common language where it means a hunch. A law is an observable principle (and is often given as a mathematical equation). The Law of Gravitation says that bodies of mass are drawn to each other, and is proportional to the mass involved and inversely proportional to the distance between them (an observable principle). The Theory of Gravitation is that there is a force field sucking things towards each other (Newton’s theory), or curvatures in spacetime (Einstein), or Quantum theory. So the Theory of Gravitation is an explanation, not an observable principle. The Theory of Gravitation cannot become the Law of Gravitation.

That’s why they say “Germ Theory”, or “Cell Theory”, and not “Germ Law”.

For more on why theories by definition cannot become laws: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory#Scientific_laws
Still, the point is the more substantiation the more reliability. The bible has more substantial evidence in support of it than the book of mormon therefore more reliable. Until there is evidence in support of the claims of the Book of Mormon we must assume that it is false. However, the first evidence we obtain of these “lost peoples” we can then say it is substantiated. but until then we assume its false and fantasy.
 
Of course they did. Don’t you get this? I am saying the Olmecs were probably the descendents of the Jaredites.
There is problem with that theory.

The BOM reports that the Jaredite Nation was utterly destroyed (see Ether 15) - there were no surivors of the Jaredite civilization, except Coriantumr, who lived alone from that time on until he was an old man and was finally discovered by some Nephites from Zarahemla during the time of king Mosiah (see Omni 1:21).

No surviving Jaredite gene pool = no descendents of the Jaredites.

Paul
 
The Olmec civilization arose sometime between 1200 and 1000 BC. Around 300 BC, the Olmec vanished for reasons that vanished with them.

wsu.edu/~dee/CIVAMRCA/OLMECS.HTM
Originally Posted by mfbukowski
Of course they did. Don’t you get this? I am saying the Olmecs were probably the descendents of the Jaredites.
Hmmm, looks more like the Jaredites might be descendents of the Olmecs. Another Mormon myth busted!
 
"Pearl of Great Price:
He said there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang.
That doesn’t make any sense? By the standards you’re setting for the Old and New Testaments, why can’t that quote from the Pearl of Great Price be a metaphor?
Spencer W. Kimball:
Not until the revelations of Joseph Smith, bringing forth the Book of Mormon, did any one know of these migrants. It was not known before, but now the question is fully answered. Now the Lamanites number about sixty million; they are in all of the states of America from Tierra del Fuego all the way up to Point Barrows, and they are in nearly all the islands of the sea from Hawaii south to southern New Zealand. The Church is deeply interested in all Lamanites because of these revelations and because of this great Book of Mormon, their history that was written on plates of gold and deposited in the hill. The translation by the Prophet Joseph Smith revealed a running history for one thousand years-six hundred years before Christ until four hundred after Christ-a history of these great people who occupied this land for that thousand years. Then for the next fourteen hundred years, they lost much of their high culture. The descendants of this mighty people were called Indians by Columbus in 1492 when he found them here.
 
The problem is, that archaeology is not just finding old stuff and proclaiming AHA! Nephites and Lamanites!

The artifacts must be tied to a civilization. The artifacts found in ancient ruins of the Americas do not tie to the civilizations described in the BoM. And the described artifacts in the BoM do not tie to the ancient ruins of the Americas. For whatever reason, Mormons cannot seem to understand this.

The civilizations themselves, do not match what is described in the BoM. Cultural beliefs and social practices. There is no match.

Not to mention DNA. And if you tell me it is about 12 people, I’ll find you and kick you in the shins. You know very well that the BoM describes millions of descendants of the few people who came to the Americas. For there to be no DNA is to say that they and all of their descendants died off, completely. Which does not match at all to anything your church has ever taught about WHO the BoM is about.
Baloney. Answer these or forget about it. I have answered these a million times.
fairlds.org/apol/ai105.html
 
Dear friends ( Catholic and LDS )

Just a reminder to all as to rule 45 B section D of the " Catholic Answers Forum " rule book.

Rule 45 B Section D clearly states :

CAF members will not be able to kick the shins of another member. This rule is for members of ALL faiths and should be followed without exception. If anyone is caught in said kicking, they will be kicked in their shins by the moderating staff.

Just a friendly reminder 🙂

Peace,
CJ
CJ.
Thanks, but I can tell you are new here. When I went to Catholic school they had rules like that, but it really was more like a reformatory. This is no different. The board is in San Diego, just like the catholic school I went to (Saints). I bet at least some of the mods went there too.
 
😃

So you are saying the Mayan, the Incas, the Aztecs, and the Olmecs are the Nephite and Lamanite? If that is the case what are their connections? You know these were different peoples with different cultures. The Aztec stole a lot from the Mayans but they were different peoples and their is no connection of them to the description found in the BOM. None. There is no evidence that these people migrated at some point from the middle east (most likely eastern Asia). There are no connections. Compare the description no evidence. Also look at where Joseph Smith told us these “cities” were located. Not in the places where the Aztecs or the Inca’s lived. Particularily the Incas. Unless you’re talking about the planet Cobal.

So let me try this one more time. There is no archeological evidence that the BOM is correct. I don’t know how I’m going to get it into your head. 😃
Baloney.

Answer these line by line or foget about it. I have already answered all these- read the thread. How many times do I have to repeat it? Instead just go here and when you are ready to discuss it intelligently let me know.
fairlds.org/apol/ai105.html
PS there is no planet cobal. You can’t even get that right.
 
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