Mormon Heretic

The History Channel has a show called “Digging for the Truth.” In season 1, they did an episode called “The Lost Tribe of Israel”, which highlighted the Lemba Tribe in South Africa, which claims to be a Hebrew people who were displaced around 700 BC, about 100 years before Lehi left Jerusalem.  I couldn’t help but notice many similarities between their story, and the story of Lehi.

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A little more than 10 years ago, I was vacationing in Hawaii with a few friends.  While there, we attended a small branch and became good friends with one of the members there.  The member invited us over for family home evening, and introduced me to the idea that the Book of Mormon happened in South America.  I had never heard of this before, and became quite intrigued.

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I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the number of positive responses of the Malay Theory in my previous post.  In discussing the post with Ralph Olsen, the author of this theory, he has given me permission to post his unpublished manuscript!  Ralph is looking for a sort of “peer review”, where people give honest feedback about how the article could be improved.  He would also like to further promote the theory.  So, feel free to download it here, and post your comments, questions, thoughts, or concerns here.  (Please be patient!   The document is about 300 pages long, and nearly 20 MB in size, so it will take some time.)

Check out this map, and a few other links! Read more…

So, I’ve been checking my blog stats, and with Easter upon us, it seems my post from last year about why Mormon’s don’t celebrate Easter is getting the most hits.  While last year’s post was a little negative-that I think Mormon celebrations of Easter are lacking compared to other Christians’ Easter celebrations, I hope to talk more about some scholarly insights into Jesus this year as we discuss Easter.

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In the movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, the Nazi’s are looking for the Lost Ark of the Covenant.  They have an image of a map burned into the hand of a Nazi scientist, so they think they know where the Ark is.  However, there is a critical piece of information missing which is found on the other side of the medallion, which only Indiana Jones has.  Indiana exclaims, “They’re digging in the wrong place!”

Book of Mormon geography is one of my favorite topics, and it’s been a while since I talked about it.  Wouldn’t it be cool to find some archaeological evidence?  There are over 100 theories concerning Book of Mormon geography.  Since they can’t all be correct, obviously, some scientists are digging in the wrong place.  Let’s review some of the theories again.

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I’ve been talking about doing a post about Abraham for a long time. People often reference Abraham when talking about things like Joshua’s Unholy War, the Priesthood Ban, or polygamy. Usually the reference is to the sacrifice of Isaac.

So, this post is to serve two purposes: (1) to show some different perceptions about the sacrifice of Isaac, (as well as some other strange stories of Abraham), and (2) to introduce some new information from Muslim, Christian, Jewish, and archaeological scholars. I’ve had fun learning about it, and hope you do to. While I believe Abraham is a prophet, I find some things that Abraham did as troubling, and I’ll point them out below.

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After Lehi’s family left Jerusalem, they traveled in the Arabian Peninsula on their way to the “promised land.”  In 1994, an archeaological discovery in Yemen has the same name as mentioned in 1 Ne. 16: 34, “And it came to pass that Ishmael died, and was buried in the place which was called Nahom.

Critics of the LDS church have often chortled at the fact that there is no archaeological evidence in support of the Book of Mormon.  Well, that is now changing, and I would like to discuss what we know about an archeaological site called “Nahom.”

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I talked previously about the Wise Men and their part in the Christmas Story.  Not much is known about them, but there are quite a few interesting legends.  For example, we assume there are 3 Wise Men, but some ancient painting sometimes show as few as two, and sometimes as many as four.  Names and legends have even sprung up to provide more information about these men.

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In my quest to find out things that aren’t generally well known, I came across a DVD called Mystery of the Three Kings by Questar Entertainment.  I thought it brings up some really interesting points, some which really add to the Biblical story, while some details are a little strange.  Here are some of the interesting things I took from the video.

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Many critics of the Book of Mormon claim there is no archeologyical evidence.  The Bible is assumed to be completely true.  MSNBC has a link about a PBS show about archeaology of Bible that recently appeared on Nova. 

William Dever, from the University of Arizona, is one of my favorite scholars.  Let me quote from the PBS Article: Read more…

I came across this article in Newsweek, and archaeologists may have discovered King Solomon’s mine.  This could be a major discovery, and add real evidence to the Biblical references to King Solomon.

I’ve posted previously on the various BoM geography theories, and I have to admit, it is one of my favorite topics.  Very few Mormons realize how diverse some of the various theories are.  Mormon Times recently ran an article on the various theories, and gave some criteria for evaluating them properly.

So, which of these theories sounds most plausible to you?  I’ve studied quite a few, and am aware of both strengths and weaknesses of many of the theories.  I’d love to hear what you think.

I came across this article at the Mormon Times (part of the Deseret News) about an all day forum discussion the Central American theory of the Book of Mormon.  It sounds like an interesting lineup of speakers.

I would really like to go, but I will be working that day, and can’t go.  Is there anyone who wants to take notes for me and update me?  I’d be willing to pay half your $25 conference fee for good notes, or if you can get a fair recording, I’d be willing to pay the whole thing.  Here’s the details.

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