Jaredites = Myth

The Jaredites are a myth. They were made up by Joseph Smith when he was crafting the Mormon's version of the Bible, or the Book of Mormon.

As evidence to support this claim, I present ... [nothing]

Who else agrees? Be loud and proud.

Who disagrees? please present more evidence than I have, which is no evidence, that they actually existed. I don't think you'll get any further than me.


[edit on 5/28/2007 by runetang]

I agree just because of what I know of Joseph Smith; the man didn't even attend his own cult after forming it, he stayed in the Methodist church. I loved the South Park episode about mormons, it was great, making fun of Joseph Smith and the whole damn religion, oops, I mean cult.

Maybe try reading
This

I've read the Book of Mormon. Great read. Along with all the other
religious text I've perused.

All are works of man.

Man has a great imagination.

Just my 2 cent,
Lex

(from that link...)



Nathaniel Wilkerson, a man of Native American descent writes:

"I think the biggest shock for me after sorting through all of the historical problems with the church, was more than anything was the realization that I'm not a descendant of Lehi (or Mulek). It's kind of like my special status as a Lamanite was wiped away. When you've grown up your entire life believing and being taught that you are a special people (or cursed people for that matter, dark skin)etc... its kind of a shock to all of a sudden come to different a conclusion.

I've read pretty much every book I can get my hands on, after reading Southerton's book on the DNA research it really made me realize that us native americans are of mongolian descent, not descendants of some tribe of Isreal. Our cultures and languages are so diverse because we have been on this continent for a very long time, somewhere on the order of 10,000 to 15,000 years. Which also proves that there is something wrong with the BoM story, there is no way the number of languages and cultures could have developed over such a short period of time (1000 years, 400AD to 1400AD).

I'm interested to know what others experiences are with regards to this. Have you encountered other native members who are now questioning their "Lamanite" status?

Its funny that this has recently become an issue for me since I've also become more involved in my traditional artwork and I have some members of my extended family who are trying to look for a connection between the myths and legends of the Gitxsan people (and other native tribes) back to the principles, stories and doctrines taught in the BoM. I don't know what to tell them.

I'm an ex-Lamanite too. The DNA issue was the last straw for me. - by Can't log in here

Finding out that DNA showed that I'm not Hebrew necessarily but descended from Mongolian stock made sense, though. People always ask me if I'm Asian. It made me angry, however, to think that I had been duped into believing that the BOM was in any way relevant to my people and their history. I can't believe I ever thought that. "

To think native americans and south americans were ancient semitic peoples is downright INSANE. Forget silly, dumb, or imaginative, try insane. Crazy. Koo-koo. No evidence to back it up whatsoever, and plenty to disprove it.

Native Americans even resemble Northeast Asian peoples of Asia slightly, as do Southern Americans pre-Spanish conquest looked much like the North American Indians, with some added redness to the skin because of the climate change effect over thousands of years living so close to the equator. I'm talking Inca, Maya, Aztec. For Northern tribes I'm talking Iroquos, Cherokee, Apache, Commanche, etc.

I agree totally, and the link was intended to show that.

BTW, I'm 1/4 Seminole.

Lex

I have a hunch that part of Joseph Smith's encounter with the angel had some truth to it. It would be a small bit only.

The Northern ten tribe kingdoms of Israel fell away long before the two tribe southern kingdoms and so during that time the northern tribes blended in with the Phoenicians. The Phoenicians sailed to the Americas and traded with the Mesoamerican people. Some may have intermarried but the cultural impact would have been hardly noticed.

There's no surviving culture in the Americas to verify J. Smith's claim.
The Bible has a better chance because places like Egypt and Babylon are mentioned by other cultures or are still in existence.

Originally posted by runetang
The Jaredites are a myth. They were made up by Joseph Smith when he was crafting the Mormon's version of the Bible, or the Book of Mormon.

Just so you know, the Mormon's version of the Bible is... the Bible. The Book of Mormon is supposed to be another testiment to Jesus Christ.

I'm not Mormon but, I am from Utah. I'm actually agnostic but, I think everyone is entitled to their own fantasy. Be it Mormons, Muslems, Jews, Hindus or what ever gets you through the day. Sure the book of Mormon is made up, so is the rest of it though. Before you knock somebodys faith because it's not yours realize one thing, there's more valid truth in a Spider-man comic than there is in the bible or almost any religious text.

www.stansdad.com...