Fence Sitter wrote:On the other board Cinepro started a thread called The Book of Mormon Challenge.
Here is his OP.
In another thread, cdowis made the following observation:
"Even to suggest that [The Book of Mormon] is possibly historical is to admit the possibility of existence of a deity and angels. Atheists can accept parts of the Bible, but it is impossible to give any quarter to a book delivered by an angel.
Even if the Nephites had recorded absolute proof of [The Book of Mormon's] historicity, this is a fool's errand to try to convince the world to even read it, to take it seriously. It is in the realm of religion and cannot be considered as a historical document, as the Smithsonian states."
Well, to be fair, most people couldn't care less about the history of ancient America (meso or heartland), so you're already in the realm of stuff people don't care about. But for those who are interested, what are they missing out on by not accepting the Book of Mormon as an ancient history?
So here's the challenge: suppose you got a phone call from Richard Adams, author of the textbook "Prehistoric Mesoamerica", and he said he was updating his book and wanted to include the information in the Book of Mormon as part of the history in the textbook. What would you tell him to include?
To keep it simple, what would be the five facts about ancient America that would be included in the new version of the textbook based on the historical reading of the Book of Mormon? For the sake of argument, these claims in the textbook will be referenced as "Indisputable Fact", and footnoted as such. This information will be presented as historical truth for the students.
1.
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5.
Certainly if this book is historical there should be at least five facts that could be so stated.
Crickets so far.
1. There are entire sunken cities the Caribbean waters. (somebody put the kibosh on the discovery off Cuba?????) (3 Nephi)
2. The Amazon Basin was filled with water and a far out to sea delta (not really called a delta, I forgot the actual word) of immense size proves that water escaped underground for thousands of years before a collapse opened up the Amazon river. (Book of Mormon we are on an island of the Sea, the entire face of the land was changed. Amazon began to drain after the time of Christ)
3. The Asian ancestry of most Native Americans settled in Peru first in the America's oldest known city culture. (Book of Mormon Jaredites established China before America.)[They were followed by a huge camp who did not make the voyage. Ancient Chinese tradition speaks of a leader obtaining lighted stones from a mountain top.]
4. The city of Zarahemla and the River Sidon (Book of Mormon) are the city of Cajamarca, Peru and the Marana River of Peru.
5. One Book of Mormon city was buried in the sea, three became lakes of water, five were buried in the earth, six were burned with fire. Eight of the Twelve greatest volcanic eruptions of all time took place in the Parana River area of Northern Argentina. These were are so enormous that nothing recent can compare. The Book of Mormon claims all of South America was disrupted by earthquake and whirlwinds and volcanic ash and debris that buried at least five cities. The Patagonia uplift and the drainage of the Amazon may have both taken place at the time of Christ's Crucifixion and made for the catastrophe recorded in the Book of Mormon.
Off the tippy top of my head. Amen.
