Book of Mormon: Time to Dwindling in Unbelief

[_Joseph]

mr space wrote: "It just seems to me like an extreme case of camel-swallowing to worry about such things"

Yep, why even read the book when you can find confusing crap like this? Next thing you know you will be criticizing Nephi for murdering a guy while burglarizing his house to get metal records so a whole nation would not dwindle in unbelief.

Nit picky anti-moron secret gut haters is all you guys are. Tommy the cookie monster visits widows and that proves everything is true and TinyTim is an example for all to follow.

[_Obiwan]

Hey BC,

There could be no discrepancy at all depending on what is meant by "dwindling". There was always a chance until Mormon and 130,000 of his followers, if not more, were utterly defeated and destroyed.

Hold the phone...

I thought apologists were united in their stance that the "Nephites," at most numbered around 1,000 folk. You know, just a tiny group of people hidden amongst the Maya?

(Brant Gardner stated this and DCP agreed).

~td~

Both Nephites and Lamanites became geo-political groups that the locals assimilated into. This obviously would cause their "size" to be much larger than the group they arrived as.

Think about this for a moment. If you look at Lehi's party, you find wealthy, successful, intelligent and highly skilled individuals. Such individuals inserting themselves into traditionally more primitive cultures would more than likely end up "leading" and "uniting" many of those cultures in the particular areas they were located. Thus, it is not surprising that they would grow a great deal as large peoples being known as Nephites and Lamanites.

[_Darth J]

Both Nephites and Lamanites became geo-political groups that the locals assimilated into. This obviously would cause their "size" to be much larger than the group they arrived as.

That is a fascinating assertion, Obiwan.

Where might I find this in the text of the Book of Mormon?

Think about this for a moment. If you look at Lehi's party, you find wealthy, successful, intelligent and highly skilled individuals. Such individuals inserting themselves into traditionally more primitive cultures would more than likely end up "leading" and "uniting" many of those cultures in the particular areas they were located. Thus, it is not surprising that they would grow a great deal as large peoples being known as Nephites and Lamanites.

In the absence of any evidence whatsoever, by default "thinking about it for a moment" is all we can do.

* Lehi and the other characters---I mean ancient real people---were wealthy and successful in Jerusalem. How did this wealth and success transfer to Guatemala or the Great Lakes or wherever you are placing the Book of Mormon?

* What would be the factual basis for asserting that these natives who are not ever mentioned in the Book of Mormon were more primitive than Lehi's party?

* Why would an already established polity allow a small group of people from the other side of the world who do not speak the language, do not know the local customs, do not practice the local religion, do not know the local ways of finding and growing food, and do not know the local terrain come in and rule them?

Sure, that happened with the Spanish, but the Spanish conquered them. That's why they were called conquistadores. Did Lehi and company conquer the natives with horses and swords and armor and firearms, like the Spanish had? (To be fair, the Book of Mormon does not mention firearms from the items on that list.)

* If I was curious about finding evidence that circa 600 B.C.E., a small band of refugees from Jerusalem took over the management of one or more Native Americans polities and got them to start following the Law of Moses (but also practicing Christianity) and speaking Hebrew---since this small group of refugees ended up "leading" and "uniting" these Native Americans---where would be a good place to read about it? Just a couple of your favorite respected, peer-reviewed journals to start with, if that's okay.