Native Americans from Middle East

[dandycustard]

I kid you not, the following article was the first thing I saw on my Facebook feed this morning:

http://natives-today.com/2017/01/20/dna ... le-east-2/

The caption? "Hmm... Are you telling me there might be some truth to that little thing called the Book of Mormon... ? Interesting."

I wish people would do what I am guilty of at times and not read the headline but the actual article. From the article:

"The Cherokees have lived in the Southeastern United States for over 10,000 years."

Utterly impossible to reconcile with the Book of Mormon.

"...the Cherokees as a mighty nation controlling more than 140,000 square miles with a population of thirty-six thousand or more."

A total population of 36,000? That would have been the stewardship of just one fallen captain in the battle at the Hill Cumorah.

The article gets even better. Anyone ever hear about John Adair? He wrote a book in 1775 explaining his theory that the Native Americans built the mounds and were the descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes. Sounds kind of familiar.

http://olivercowdery.com/texts/1775Adr1.htm

Anyway, sorry for the rant. This stuff drives me nuts. Plus, the site may very well be fake news, the design and all doesn't look professional by any means. At any rate, seeing this stuff is just a little frustrating.

[Just This Guy]

The title for this showed up for me as: "Native Americans from Middle Ea". What does it say when the first thing I thought of was "Native Americans from Middle Earth?"

Now THAT would be interesting.

[Not Buying It]

Ah, some members are so desperate for the Book of Mormon to be true they jump on any glimmer of hope for some evidence, no matter how small or contradictory.

[Vlad the Emailer]

Shockingly, the link to the source says "maintenance, please check back soon".

We're all aware that middle eastern DNA can be found in some native Americans and we also know that that DNA predates Asian DNA. In other words, just part of a very gradual eastern migration, all of which took place tens of thousands of years before the alleged Lehite civilizations.

This issue was the first real crack in my shelf. As soon as any respected non-Mormon DNA analyst comes up with something consistent with the BoM chronology, I'll be interested. Until then, there's just this type of stuff for Mobotes to salivate over, while it is inevitably discovered that the particular "scientist" that has made the startling findings just happens to be Mormon (and perfectly willing to ignore the blatant chronology problems while they're at it).

Then, of course, there is the fact that the book, it's creator, and his church have historically been more than clear and adamant that Lamanite and Native American are the same. That there are Native Americans because there were Lamanites. I don't know which bothers me more, the DNA issue or the revisionist history.

[Gatorbait]

Interesting stuff here, that's for sure.

For some of us who don't know a whole lot about DNA, apart from the stuff we have gleaned from a few sources, some more reliable than others, it seems strange that a group of LDS intellectuals still refuse to set the Book of Mormon aside, pat its head, and leave it be....forever.

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that a lot of lifelong members judge themselves, and others, on how many times they have read the book. One person, who I consider quite bright, still holds that the BofM is his favorite book. His favorite parts the wars and battles....hmmm. What is wrong with this picture?

In any case, it seems that a lot of LDS faithful couldn't care less that there are hundreds or even thousands of contradictions in the BofM. They don't care and further more, they don't want to know. A few years back one TBM said that looking at or reading anything that discredits the BofM is as bad as looking at porn. Good grief, I'm not making this up, and he specifically cited New Order Mormon. Yikes.

I guess the term, "the truth will make you free" has little merit to some TBMs. (sigh)

[wtfluff]

"The Cherokees have lived in the Southeastern United States for over 10,000 years."

10,000 year-old Cherokees doesn't just disprove the Book of Mormon, but the Bible also.

Seems the Cherokees have been around longer than Adam and Eve.

[Hagoth]

I have noticed a tendency for Mormons to pass these things along based solely on the headline. It appears that they don't really want to know the truth as much as they want easy answers sound bites that add points to their score card. The article says that Cherokees have been around for at least 10,000 years and that they interbred with Europeans after contact. There is nothing in this article that even remotely confirms the Book of Mormon once you get past the headline (which, apparently, the people passing this thing around fail to do).