Is Lehi the father of the Polynesians?

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_Simon Southerton
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Is Lehi the father of the Polynesians?

Post by _Simon Southerton »

Polynesians represent a sizeable and rapidly growing proportion of the Mormon Church in Australia. Of the nations with the highest proportion of Latter-day Saints, six of the top ten are located in Polynesia, including the top four: Tonga (32%), Samoa (25%), American Samoa (25%) and Niue (15%).

At the time I left the church in 1998, virtually all Polynesians I knew believed (or rather knew) they were descended from Lehi. This was because (1) numerous prophets told them they were (2) many had patriarchal blessings that told them they were and that they belonged to the tribe of Manasseh (Lehi's tribe) (3) God essentially told them via numerous temple dedicatory prayers and (4) CES teachers will have indoctrinated many with the belief in their youth.

Lehi's DNA has vanished in the Americas. Sadly, its the same story in the Pacific. Some may be interested in a short post on my blog that describes the real origins of the Polynesians.
http://simonsoutherton.blogspot.com/201 ... sians.html

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_moksha
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Re: Is Lehi the father of the Polynesians?

Post by _moksha »

If only there was a corresponding study linking the people of Great Britain with the Kings of Numenor. Of course, despite my wanting such a study I have to remind myself that it is just a story and the study would be akin to Don Quixote tilting at windmills. I can still appreciate the story without the corresponding study.
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_ldsfaqs
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Re: Is Lehi the father of the Polynesians?

Post by _ldsfaqs »

Hey Southerton....

You claim yourself an "expert" yet you entirely ignore the fact that Lehi's DNA through Genetic Drift WOULD in fact ultimately be in nearly every single Native American, Islander, etc.

As such an "expert" in your field, I further don't know why you think that simply because you know someones "dominant" DNA, that you then know every single ancestor of that person, when in actual fact you don't. Your bigotry and bias betray's you, and you become no longer a professional in your field by your anti-mormonism, thus becoming instead simply a "quack", the very thing you all accuse LDS professionals of.

LDS scholars don't betray their professionalism, ethics, and ignore important facts in order to make their conclusions, but you anti-mormons certainly do.

Even more importantly, you entirely ignore the SPIRITUAL lineage that is the lineage the Church most oftens teaches, not a "literal" one. Not a single person that I know of generally "literally" believes their Patriarchal Blessing is "literal" in it's lineage expounding. Yet, YOU slim would have us believe that the Prophets have always meant "literal" when teaching Natives of the America's about their lineage and heritage.

I laughed when Murphy DNA came out, to his face even..... Because I had long already understood what the Book of Mormon in full and actually taught, and also the contexts of our leaders teachings. Even further, the sciences had long already contested this issue, and the answers were the same then.... DNA didn't change a single thing, except for being a "new spin" on an old anti-mormon claim.
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_Darth J
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Re: Is Lehi the father of the Polynesians?

Post by _Darth J »

Ldsfaqs---

In your own words, please explain what you think "genetic drift" is.
_Polygamy-Porter
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Re: Is Lehi the father of the Polynesians?

Post by _Polygamy-Porter »

ldsfags, wtf is "SPIRITUAL lineage"??
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_SteelHead
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Re: Is Lehi the father of the Polynesians?

Post by _SteelHead »

I am convinced that faqs is in fact talking about a completely different church. I served a mission in South America and those folks are taught and believe that they are the literal descendants of Lehi. Their patriarchal blessings only serve to confirm this.
It is better to be a warrior in a garden, than a gardener at war.

Some of us, on the other hand, actually prefer a religion that includes some type of correlation with reality.
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_zeezrom
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Re: Is Lehi the father of the Polynesians?

Post by _zeezrom »

Polygamy-Porter wrote:ldsfags, wtf is "SPIRITUAL lineage"??

Maybe spirits *can* procreate after all.
Oh for shame, how the mortals put the blame on us gods, for they say evils come from us, but it is they, rather, who by their own recklessness win sorrow beyond what is given... Zeus (1178 BC)

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_tapirrider
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Re: Is Lehi the father of the Polynesians?

Post by _tapirrider »

ldsfaqs wrote:Hey Southerton....

You claim yourself an "expert" yet you entirely ignore the fact that Lehi's DNA through Genetic Drift WOULD in fact ultimately be in nearly every single Native American, Islander, etc.

As such an "expert" in your field, I further don't know why you think that simply because you know someones "dominant" DNA, that you then know every single ancestor of that person, when in actual fact you don't. Your bigotry and bias betray's you, and you become no longer a professional in your field by your anti-mormonism, thus becoming instead simply a "quack", the very thing you all accuse LDS professionals of.

LDS scholars don't betray their professionalism, ethics, and ignore important facts in order to make their conclusions, but you anti-mormons certainly do.

Even more importantly, you entirely ignore the SPIRITUAL lineage that is the lineage the Church most oftens teaches, not a "literal" one. Not a single person that I know of generally "literally" believes their Patriarchal Blessing is "literal" in it's lineage expounding. Yet, YOU slim would have us believe that the Prophets have always meant "literal" when teaching Natives of the America's about their lineage and heritage.

I laughed when Murphy DNA came out, to his face even..... Because I had long already understood what the Book of Mormon in full and actually taught, and also the contexts of our leaders teachings. Even further, the sciences had long already contested this issue, and the answers were the same then.... DNA didn't change a single thing, except for being a "new spin" on an old anti-mormon claim.


Look at the words of Joseph Smith from his own journal. Smith must have been a liar or maybe the angel Moroni lied?

http://josephsmithpapers.org/paperSumma ... %931836#25
"he [Moroni] said the indians, were the literal descendants of Abraham"
_ludwigm
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Re: Is Lehi the father of the Polynesians?

Post by _ludwigm »

zeezrom wrote:
Polygamy-Porter wrote:ldsfags, wtf is "SPIRITUAL lineage"??

Maybe spirits *can* procreate after all.

Are "procreate" and "f___" synonyms?
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_Sethbag
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Re: Is Lehi the father of the Polynesians?

Post by _Sethbag »

ludwigm wrote:Are "procreate" and "f___" synonyms?

In regards to the technical act, yes, but don't think you can therefor use them interchangeably. ;-)
Mormonism ceased being a compelling topic for me when I finally came to terms with its transformation from a personality cult into a combination of a real estate company, a SuperPac, and Westboro Baptist Church. - Kishkumen
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