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Joseph Smith Jr. was instructed by an angel of the Lord to go to a nearby hill where he was further instructed to un-earth a stone box, in which he would find ancient scriptures written on Gold Plates. The discussion of Angels is discussed in another portion of this web site so we will not discuss that aspect of this account here. While we will not be able to fully satisfy the discussion points of this topic due to the vast amount of information available, we will discuss at least briefly the viability of his claim and why this is important.
When Joseph Smith Jr. shared the account with his friends and associates, they found it very difficult to believe because it was an extraordinary story. He was mocked and ridiculed primarily because of the claim regarding the Gold Plates. They believed that surely there was no way this incredible event could really have happened. Yet many of those same people that "didn't believe him", shadowed his every move and waited for the day when he would bring home those Gold Plates of which he talked about. Isn't that interesting?
Additionally at that time, the world of archeology believed that no such people ever existed on the American continent during the timeframe in which these records were originally recorded. Yet we have since found literally hundreds of validating discoveries that repeatedly support his story that he so readily shared to anyone that would sincerely listen.
Being somewhat a science enthusiast, throughout my life I have paid close attention to scientific discoveries of all kinds. Especially those that provide additional scientific evidence and validation to things like this that I already know to be true in my heart and soul.
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I will share some of these evidences with you, with the caveat that we all fully recognize that there is no amount of scientific evidence that can fully prove this or any gospel to be true, to give you a testimony of the Savior, this church, this belief or any other. These evidences are strictly to show that there is in fact solid verifiable scientific evidence to support these accounts shared by not only Joseph Smith Jr. but also the writings found in The Book of Mormon (translated from those Gold Plates by Joseph Smith Jr.). This is not an attempt to prove to you or anyone else of the truth of the doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, nor should these things ever be used as such. I want to share what I have learned in hopes that you will not allow a lack of understanding regarding these scientific evidences to get in the way of allowing you to properly and fully consider the far more important spiritual elements of this wonderful Gospel of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.
Spiritual understanding is only attained by spiritual means. All faith and testimonies are gained only from spiritual means.
So there's my disclaimer, and with that said I'll jump right into some of the key evidences and validating archeological discoveries that I'm aware of that further substantiate the writings in the Book of Mormon.
Stone Box
In the early 1820's to 1830's, when Joseph Smith first shared these things, there was very little known about the ancient world and even less about ancient America. So when he talked about finding ancient records written on gold plates as well as other artifacts preserved in a stone box, this was completely unheard of at the time. However since this time, there have been numerous discoveries of various ancient records and artifacts being buried and preserved in stone boxes.
Gold Plates
Like the Stone Box, at the time of Joseph Smith there were no known discoveries of ancient people using any type of metallic plates to preserve their record. This point alone was one of the greatest causes of contention and ridicule among the people of the day for which Joseph Smith was mocked frequently and beaten brutally by mobs many times. Since that time however there have been many discoveries of various ancient records that were recorded on metal plates. Here are a few just to prove the point.
The Byblos Syllabic inscriptions are one of the earliest known surviving examples of writing on "copper plates". They date to the eighteenth century B.C., and are from the city of Byblos on the Phoenician coast.
Silver plates were discovered in Jerusalem dating to just before the Babylonian captivity. This would be about the same timeframe as when Lehi and his family left Jerusalem. These particular records are of great value because as Michael Coogan put it, "they are the earliest inscriptions containing a text also found in the Bible." (Michael D. Coogan, 10 Great Finds," Biblical Archaeology Review 21/3 (May-June 1995): 36-47)
The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship has the following article:
"Gold plates are not new to the ancient regions of Mesopotamia (Iraq) and Persia (Iran). The Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian kings left inscribed records on gold, silver, and bronze plates deposited in stone boxes buried beneath the foundations of their palaces. [1] Now a new set of gold plates has been unearthed at Bardak-e Siah, near Borazjan in the southern Bushehr province of Iran. The find consists of three thick plates of pure gold folded over, according to Iranian archaeologist Eshan Yaghmai, who has been working at the site for a number of years. Yaghmai believes that it is likely that, once unfolded, the plates will be found to be inscribed. The three plates, weighing a total of 6.6 pounds, were unearthed in April 2005 and, based on other datable artifacts found in association with the plates, are from about 500 BC." (read the Full Article)
A Dark Skinned & Light Skinned People
Among the art of the ruins of ancient Central and South America, you will frequently find pictorial depictions representing two groups of people. One group has light skin and the other has dark skin. This is interesting to note because these images weren't discovered by the archaeological world until the late 1800's to early 1900's. However the Book of Mormon that Joseph Smith translated in the 1830's clearly talks about these two groups of people. The Nephites, or the descendants of Nephi and those who followed him, had light skin. There were also the Lamanites, who were descendants of Laman and those who followed him, who had the dark skin. According to the Book of Mormon, the Lamanites were given the dark skin as a mark to differentiate and to keep the two groups of people from inter-mingling together.
Tree of Life
The Lehi Stone is an archeological artifact that was discovered in 1941 by archaeologist Matthew W. Stirling. The carving has been dated to the Preclassic Guillen Phase between 300 BC and 50 AD. While both LDS and Non-LDS scholars continue to debate the interpretation of the carving, it's hard to ignore its striking similarity to Lehi's dream referred to as the "Tree of Life" as found in the Book of Mormon - 1 Nephi chapter 8. Some of those similarities to Lehi's dream include the tree of life, the people eating fruit, and over 130 others, not to mention the location in which it was found, and it being dated exactly when The Book of Mormon characters would have been. Individually or even a handful of these evidences would be interesting, but all of these together makes this an intriguing validating testament of Book of Mormons authenticity.
Ancient City Fortifications
An article recently posted by the Associate Press written by Randolph E. Schmid, talks about settlements that were recently discovered in the jungles of Brazil. These 28 villages date back 450 years ago and as far back as 1500 years ago and were much more structured in their layout than the archeological community had previously believed they were capable of. They consisted walled cities that were connected by roads and canals. While this is interesting, the more interesting element is the striking similarity of how these cities were walled and fortified.
"Villages were distinguished by surrounding ditches, with berms on the inside made from material dug from the ditch and topped with a wooden palisade wall, Heckenberger reported." ("How the Amazon's lost cities worked", by Randolf E. Schmid, Associated Press, Thurs., Aug. 28, 2008)
This part is interesting because that is exactly what is described in the Book of Mormon of how Captain Moroni fortified those cities which he was protecting (Alma ch. 48-49). It is understood that the time periods here are later than those discussed in the chapters of Alma, but it is very likely where they originally learned the practice.
Many More Evidences...
There are many more archeological discoveries that also provide various levels of validation to the Book of Mormon record. However as I mentioned at the beginning of this page, these evidences are not to convince you that The Book of Mormon is true, but simply to remove this as an argument that there isn't any archeological evidence to substantiate the existence of the people and civilizations found in The Book of Mormon.
So if you want to find out if the Book of Mormon is really the word of God, there is, and always will be, only one way in which you can really find out the truth. You must pray to God and get an answer directly from him.
Please don't just take my word for it. I can tell you that it has been my experience and that of millions of others, that if you are sincere in your desire to know the truth about these things and you pray with real desire, he will answer your prayers and let you know what is or isn't the truth.
Spiritual understanding is only attained by spiritual means. All faith and testimonies are gained only from spiritual means.
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