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SatanWasSetUp wrote:So this blows up the "Principal = most important" theory. It's a small defeat for the apologists but it actually ends up helping them in the end. This single sentence was the main stumbling block to their Limited Geography Theory. By making this change official, the actual leadership of the church have given the green light to the apologists and I expect the LGT to be worked into official lesson material, and all references to the hemispheric theory will be phased out.

Hi Folks,

There may be an article in the weekend SL Tribune on the recent change to the introduction of the Book of Mormon. I was asked for my opinion by a reporter and some of you might be interested. She posed 4 questions.

1) What do you think of the change?

I think the change is very significant and that it was inevitable. The manner in which the church has made this change disappoints me. No announcement, no acknowledgement of any error and no concern for thousands of members who struggle to accept the Book of Mormon as historical in the face of devastating scientific evidence that it isn’t.

2) What do you think it's significance is?

The Mormon Church is conceding that mainstream scientific theories about the colonization of the Americas have significant elements of truth in them. Since its founding the church has made numerous religious claims within the scientific domains of New World archaeology and anthropology. These claims have been so clearly exposed as false that the church is now retreating from them.

3) What do you think prompted the change?

From the moment the DNA evidence arrived it was inevitable that the original statement would have to go. Over 8,000 American Indians have been DNA tested and traces of Jewish ancestry have so far eluded the scientists. DNA has revealed very clearly how closely related American Indians are to their Siberian ancestors. The Lamanites are invisible, not principal ancestors.

4) Do you think this helps the LDS Church with the problems posed by DNA research?

Changing the introduction doesn’t change the book. The Book of Mormon itself gives the overwhelming impression to the reader that its people are central to the colonization history of the Americas. There is no mention of non-Israelite others, the New World is portrayed as an empty land preserved for Lehite inheritance and the book describes massive civilizations populated by descendants of Hebrews. Now the Hebrew Lamanites appear to have vanished.

I think the change raises more pressing questions for those seeking the truth. If science was right all along about the dominant Siberian ancestry of American Indians, are they also right about the timing of their entry? There is abundant evidence, some now coming from the DNA research, that their Siberian ancestors arrived over 12,000 years ago. How does such a date fit with other LDS beliefs, such as a universal flood?

Mercury wrote:http://www.sltrib.com/faith/ci_7403990

Not only do they acknowledge the change but they have one of the oligarchs confirm IT CAME FROM THE TOP.

Rollo Tomasi wrote:

Mercury wrote:http://www.sltrib.com/faith/ci_7403990

Not only do they acknowledge the change but they have one of the oligarchs confirm IT CAME FROM THE TOP.

This is a monumental concession, in my opinion. I feel bad for all those Native Americans who were proud to be "Lamanites."

Rollo Tomasi wrote:

Mercury wrote:http://www.sltrib.com/faith/ci_7403990

Not only do they acknowledge the change but they have one of the oligarchs confirm IT CAME FROM THE TOP.

This is a monumental concession, in my opinion. I feel bad for all those Native Americans who were proud to be "Lamanites."

Zoidberg wrote:

SatanWasSetUp wrote:So this blows up the "Principal = most important" theory. It's a small defeat for the apologists but it actually ends up helping them in the end. This single sentence was the main stumbling block to their Limited Geography Theory. By making this change official, the actual leadership of the church have given the green light to the apologists and I expect the LGT to be worked into official lesson material, and all references to the hemispheric theory will be phased out.

Hmm.. Church leadership finally gets it that there is no proof Native americans are descended from Lamanites - evidence that they are inspired!