Another Reason For Book of Mormon/Lamanite Change

[_Infymus]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/18/world/asia/18islands.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&ref=science_&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

For years I was taught that the Polynesian people got there from Hagoth, the Book of Mormon builder of ships. They WERE LAMANITES. They were not categorized under the "Black" rule, therefore could receive the Priesthood.

Wait a minute... Woops! No Israelite DNA in the Polynesian people... Looks like they came from Taiwan instead.

Don't you just hate it when your Cult teaches you for decades, and then suddenly one day retracts their statement with a brush off like it is no big deal? Suddenly decades of lessons you were taught to believe are wiped away and you are just expected to go along with it - no questions asked.

Mormonism, isn't it grand?!

A great post on this from RFM from Nigel:

Polynesian dancing and singing was always the mainstay of the "Lamanite Generation" group at BYU.

General Authorities in the past always referred to Polynesians as Lamanites.

I personally know Polynesians who would "bear testimony" of their Lamanite heritage and the story of Hagoth.

Now, it's all an embarrassment for the Church. There will be no official retraction. There will be no official correction of incorrect doctrine.

As per the typical modus operandi of the LDS Church, there will be a hush and sweeping of traditional teachings under the rug. Remnants of the past generations of Polynesian Mormons will be allowed to continue talking to themselves about their Lamanite heritage. They will not be corrected or reprimanded by the Church leadership.

More importantly, though, they will also not be encouraged or supported in their traditional beliefs by the Church leadership. There will be no more talks by General Authorities that refer to Polynesians as Lamanites (except for the occasional aberration that may occur when a junior GA has failed to get the internal memo). There will be no more articles in Church publications that speak of Polynesians as Lamanites.

Eventually, the older generations of Polynesian Mormons will fade away and apologists will encourage their children to think that the stories about Hagoth and Lamanite heritage were just lovably kooky ideas that the older generation hatched themselves and that it was never doctrine or offical teaching of the LDS Church itself.

[_truth dancer]

Interesting article.

Is anyone familiar with the Polynesian Cultural Center?

Do they suggest the Polynesians are indeed Lamanites?

What is the current teaching/apologetic on this topic?

~dancer~

[_Sethbag]

Let me be the first to put words into Charity's mouth and say (for her) that if only 1 actual Lamanite reached the Polynesian islands (does it matter which one? uhh) then they're Lamanites because by that one Lamanite they inherit the blessings of Abraham, which makes Abraham their "principal" ancestor in order of precedence.

:-)

[Guest]

Interesting article.

Is anyone familiar with the Polynesian Cultural Center?

Do they suggest the Polynesians are indeed Lamanites?

~dancer~

I have never been to Hawaii or the Polynesian Cultural Center located there.

However, an associate from work went there on his honeymoon last summer.

He has a keen interest in cults and we have had many conversations about Mormonism. When he came back we were going through his photos and he did visit the Polynesian Cultural Center. I was very surprised when he said they did talk about the connection the Polynesians with the people in the Book of Mormon.

Of course, I corrected them and ended our conversation with a temple handshake for a good chuckle.

To clarify, it was the missionaries speaking with my friend that made the link Book of Mormon/Polynesian link, not the program.

[_Doctor Steuss]

Interesting article.

Is anyone familiar with the Polynesian Cultural Center?

Do they suggest the Polynesians are indeed Lamanites?

What is the current teaching/apologetic on this topic?

~dancer~

When I went in April of '98, there were no references to Lamanites.

[Guest]

Interesting article.
Is anyone familiar with the Polynesian Cultural Center?
Do they suggest the Polynesians are indeed Lamanites?
What is the current teaching/apologetic on this topic?

I was there this New Year's Eve, feasting on roast pig and pineapple at their luau.

The presentations stick with the cultural aspects of dancing, cooking and costume. We didn't talk with any missionaries, so I can't vouch for what they might say about Lamanites. What I did notice was that everything was 'mormonized,' by which I mean that the outfits were much more modest than what I would consider to be authentic, and all references to ancient gods were left out of the explanations. (I assume that the fire dances probably had something to do with the volcano gods.) But they did have plenty of... tattoos (scandalous)!

On a side note, one thing I thought was really bizarre was that in the New Zealand pavilion, the guy asked soldiers and their families to stand, and dedicated the Haka dance to them and to the "hope for peace." Two things struck me about this: One was that NZ is very anti-war, to the point of not allowing US nuclear vessels in their waters, so honoring US soldiers seems odd. The other was the part about associating an intimidating war dance with "peace."

[_The Nehor]

Who was Hagoth? Unlike Mormon he did not boast of being a pure Nephite. What stock was he? Mulekite (genetic mutts)? Nephite? Indigenous people already in America? Mix of the above?

Before I try to explain anything I'm waiting for the Genographic Project's results.

[_charity]

The BYU footbal team does a haka dance before each game. At the "firendly" team meeting before a bowl game (I think this years') a couple of guys on the opposing team were getting ugly about BYU doing that (saying it was disrespectulf to the culture), until a couple of guys with the Y team, with every right to perform it, stepped forward. The other team backed down really quickly.

It doesn't look like it has much to do with peace to me.

[_Ray A]

The BYU footbal team does a haka dance before each game.

Now that's interesting. The haka comes from New Zealand. The All Blacks do it before every game. Is there some New Zealand influence here, Charity?

[_charity]

The BYU footbal team does a haka dance before each game.

Now that's interesting. The haka comes from New Zealand. The All Blacks do it before every game. Is there some New Zealand influence here, Charity?

Check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYFTbVI3sOA