The Book of Mormon

This is a bit late, but I have finally completed the Book of Mormon. That is the third religious text down on my adventures. Bible, Quran, Mormon. Of those three, the Book of Mormon is probably the easiest to read and has the fewest internal errors.

If you want a quick overview of the story and to get a feel of the the progression of events, there is a very colorful timeline available here.

I find the chronology of the book to be more interesting than say, the massive amounts of plagiarism. Modern archaeological and genetic understanding of the history of the First Nations of North America can give us quick refutation of pretty much the entire story found within the Book of Mormon.

A very quick summary for those who don't know. Around 600 B.C. a single family, joined later by a second, of Isrealites are led out of Isreal by their father Lehi and his son Nephi gets word from god to build a boat and sail to a new land where they will be saved from destruction of Babylon and preserved. They sail across the Atlantic ocean and into North America, near where New York state would be. The family eventually gets divided between those who follow Nephi and those who don't. Those who don't are cursed by God and their skin is turned dark. The two groups manage to quickly repopulate to the point where, within a couple hundred years, they are having wars where thousands of men are dying. Eventually Jesus comes after his work is done in Jerusalem and he unites all of the descendants of Lehi but a few hundred years after he leaves people become corrupted again and they go to war. The Christians are wiped out by the Lamenites (those whose skin was turned dark and didn't follow Christ).

Some points that stuck out a lot to me in this story are the use of scimitars. Shortly after they settled in the Nephites were using scimitars, they also had brass and bronze breast plates. The cities that they built were made of concrete. The list goes on. These are artifacts that were never found in any archaeological site in North America, to the best of my knowledge. Furthermore, there were remains of an older civilization, the Jaredites, who were those saved from the destruction of the Tower of Babel, which the Church of Later Day Saints places at about 2200 B.C., and wiped out before Lehi arrives, and they had similar marvels that haven't been found by any archaeologist to this day.

We also have some animals running around, wild and native to North America, that wouldn't have been there at that time. The horse, though having evolved in North America, were effectively extinct in both North and South America between 8 and 10,000 years ago. They were not re-introduced until the Spanish arrived in the 16th century.

The two other animals that stood out were the cow and elephant. Both animals make great appearances and are not native to the Americas, but brought over.

The last thing I want to point out is that in recent years, thanks to DNA sequencing, we can effectively prove that Native Americans are not of Jewish decent. I am sure they have come up with some excuses for that one, but honestly... I don't think I want to go there.

I am still considering which books to go after next. Hindu or Buddhist both are interesting, though Buddhism doesn't really have a single text to get through, and there are a wide range of sutta and dhamma that I could read. So, who knows what will be next at the moment.

Either way, have a great day.