Timewaster's Guide Archive

First off, I'm a huge fan of Mr. Sanderson and didn't even realize the Mormon leaning of himself and this forum until I found this thread. I understand that so far the discussion has been mainly between the philosophical views of Mormons, but I would like to challenge the religion based purely on what we can relate to, historical documents and peoples. I couldn't find a better spot to do so than this thread, so sorry in advance for thread-jacking. 

To start off with is an interesting documentary created by the Living Hope Ministries.
http://www.lhvm.org (should be the main video on the site: THE BIBLE VS THE BOOK OF MORMON)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1mFdO1wB08& (youtube link)

The video is one hour and six minutes long, so I'd suggest snacks while you watch.

This documentary, produced by the Living Hope Ministries in Brigham City, Utah, remains faithful to its explicit purpose: to determine if the Book of Mormon truly is comparable with the Bible. While the individuals behind the film are Christians, as they readily admit, this is not really an examination of faith per se. What it really tries to do is put both the Book of Mormon and the Bible in context alongside geographical, historical, and scientific facts. To put it in a nutshell, this video succeeds in proving that there a single piece of evidence for the factual basis of the Book of Mormon. It is not an attack on the Mormon faith in and of itself, as faith is by definition unquantifiable, but the implication is about as clear as can be - if the Book of Mormon is riddled with factual errors, it cannot be the inspired word of God.

It is an incontrovertible fact that not a single piece of evidence has been found to substantiate the factual basis of the Book of Mormon. In consultation with a diverse group of geologists, anthropologists, historians, archaeologists, linguists, and other experts, the makers of this documentary walk the viewer through the evidence step by step. There is plenty of evidence to support the historical authenticity of both the Old Testament and the New Testament - non-Biblical sources referring to Biblical figures (including Jesus Christ), ancient manuscripts containing some or all of the various Books of the Bible, verifiable locations of important events, evidence of past cultures in the region during the right times, etc. As one expert succinctly puts it, the Bible is archaeologically sound.

In contrast with the Bible, there is no factual basis for the Book of Mormon. There are no ancient manuscripts pre-dating Joseph Smith's discovery in 1830 of the golden plates (which themselves are not extant for any type of investigation). We are told of three large civilizations in the ancient Americas and written records produced over the course of a thousand years, but there is no evidence that any of these large civilizations existed - no ruins, no skeletal remains, no tools or handcrafts. Where are any of the 30+ major cities the Book of Mormon talks about? Why can't the LDS produce a single map corresponding with anything resembling earth's geography? Why have no sites been discovered containing the slightest bit of evidence for the metallurgical accomplishments spoken of in the Book of Mormon? We are told that the Nephite civilization spoke and wrote in the language of Reformed Egyptian, a language that simply never existed on this earth. Not a single one of the metallic coins reportedly used for over a millennium have been found, nor any sign of metallurgical advancement dating back to that time. Why is there no applicable evidence whatsoever from Cumorah, the site of two intense battles that reportedly left hundreds of thousands of warriors dead? Where are the chariot pieces, steel swords, mass graves, etc.? And what of all those horses the warriors rode into battle hundreds of years before horses were first introduced to the New World by the Europeans?

When you break down some of the most basic "facts" contained in the Book of Mormon, it's obvious that many of them are categorically wrong if not impossible. The book talks about animals and plants that were not in that region; there is no evidence of even the most basic metallurgy, let alone steel swords and golden tablets; there's not even the first arrowhead found at the site of two fierce, large-scale battles. Setting aside religion altogether, it's obvious that the Book of Mormon is simply riddled with factual errors. This stands in contrast to the Holy Bible, which is archaeologically, geographically, and historically sound. Whether or not you are a Christian and follow the teachings of Jesus, you can be assured that the people and places referred to in the Bible actually existed; if you are a Mormon, you have to have blind faith in a "Scripture" that is provably false. The primary purpose of this documentary is to challenge Mormons to take a good, hard look at their faith - and it succeeds admirably in doing just that. Two of the most effective interview subjects are LDS anthropologists who set out to prove that the Book of Mormon was factual and ended up leaving the church after failing to come up with a single piece of evidence.

Source: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1FZJ4FZIC5R25/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

I would appreciate a discussion with those who believe in Mormonism about their thoughts of the video and what it brings forth after watching it. Is the video inaccurate or wrong? Is it correct and what does that then mean? Etc.