Another test we should put to the Book of Mormon is the Test of Archaeology. This would be a test against history.
The Book of Mormon is full of supposed history – civilizations that lived in and populated cities in what is known as the Americas.
Though the Bible wasn’t written as a history book, it also contains much history. When we read of great cities and battles in the Bible, archaeology continues to prove that the Bible is an accurate representation of history.
What about the Book of Mormon?
Latter-Day Saints use Ether 15, where “two million” of the Jaredites were slain in battle. In this battle, “men, women and children were armed with weapons of war, having shields, and breastplates, and head plates.”
The previous chapter says, that “so swift and speedy was the war that there was none left to bury the dead.” Bodies were “strewn upon the face of the land.”
2 Nephi 5:15 “to work in all manner of wood, and of iron, and of copper, and of brass, and of steel, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious ores, which were in great abundance.”
In Alma 11:5-6, it explains how the people had their own monetary system, including unique coins and measurements of gold and silver.
Considering the cities and millions upon millions of people (Nephites, Lamanites, People of Zarahemla, Jaredites, Jacobites, Josephbites, Zoramites, Ishmaelites, People of Zeniff, People of Alma, Amlicites, Amalekites, and others) who had metal weapons, armor, and currency, one would expect the Americas to be littered with archaeological confirmation.
Is, there any historical evidences that prove these civilizations existed at all?
Not so far.
As of today, there is zero evidence of any of the groups of the Book of
Mormon.
On the other hand, every year in the Holy Land, archaeologists are discovering weapons, coins, animals, cities, and civilizations mentioned in the Bible.
By the way, where are the gold plates the Book of Mormon was reported to be translated from?
They were returned to the angel Moroni by Joseph Smith, when he was finished with the translation.
In comparison – the Bible is the most attested book of all antiquity. There is an abundance of Hebrew and Greek manuscripts that helps us place the Bible in history and show that even though the Bible is 2,000 years old, we have every reason to believe what we have now is complete.
How many Book of Mormon plates do we have access to? Zero!
Why would God allow us to find thousands of manuscripts for the Bible, but then claim the plates for the Book of Mormon were too precious to be kept on earth?
Maybe, because God wanted us to believe in the Book of Mormon based on faith alone. They say.
Without a trace of evidence of its history? Doesn’t seem logical to me.
One more thing – the Book of Mormon claims to have originally been written in what language?
It says in Mormon 9:32 “reformed Egyptian.”
And, no historian or language expert has ever found evidence of such a language.
You see Elders, Christians are happy for historians to put the Bible on trial. In fact, the more that happens, the more the Bible is proven.
However, every time that historians put the Book of Mormon to the test, it always fails.
