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And no you are correct the Bible doesn't say the Earth was flat, the Church said that. And the Church's view on things (ie Religion) changes time and time again. See the Church is forced to "interpret" the Bible because the Bible is painfully vague on details and frequently contradictory.

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No. Archaeological evidence does not support the BOM.

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ETH,

I think the point (not well made) of the thread is the lack of [b][red]any[/b][/red] archaeological evidence relating to the BofM, as opposed to the Bible.

 The Old Testament speaks of the Egyptians having Hebrew slaves under Ramses.  Archaeologists have found inscriptions on monuments from Ramses' time that talk about having Hebrew slaves.

 The recent James osuary with the Aramaic inscription "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.  That's my take on it.

 As for Mormons being good people, that's undisputed.

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Guys, this is the only post for me on this topic. I have read responses on two separate discussions, both appear to me to inflame and bash a religion, not ask legitimate questions. I have read good comments on Mormons and outrageous comments on Mormons.

[red]At least two other discussions were started by spectre on the GD board, both in reference to the topic "what's up with Mormons are they whacko?", or something to that effect.

Reposes to Spectres post included, "What's a matter, are your sacred panties in a knot?" Spectre correct me if I am wrong, but the purpose of these post was to illustrate the stupidity of asking an inflaming question about a person religion.[/red]

Everyone here think about this, if I slammed your church and called you a whacko or cultist or heathen, you would be pissed and attack me. Those who do not believe in God or a higher power, if I called you a sinner and told you that you were going to hell, you would attack me back and say those are my beliefs and that you are doing just fine.

You know what, belive in God or don't believe in God. Believe in Christ don't believe in Christ, whether you are a Fundamentalist, Catholic, Methodist, Jew, Dance with snakes, or don't believe anything, that's fine that's your right as guaranteed by the constitution.

Why are we bashing each others religion on a board that we come to to learn about the AR15. You know what, you want to learn about each others religion, go to your neighbors or their church leaders. Why would you want to learn about a persons belief from a board that has members located around the world.

Sean(I am a convert to the LDS faith, but do not care how you worship)Vanover

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You are spot on Sean !!  And a well stated post.
As I said before, religions, ALL RELIGIONS, rely on the faith of the individual to believe in a higher power. NO RELIGION can PROVE 100% that theirs is the one and only and that their particular deity ACTUALLY EXISTS !!
The only people who know for sure aren't talking....they're dead.
So like I said before, whatever religion you choose, great, good for you and enjoy it, but how about you spend your time learning and studying YOUR RELIGION and quit wasting your time trying to tear down someone elses.
That would be time well spent. I see all these people and websites mentioned here whose only goal in life is to tear down a particular religion. I pity these people if thats all they have to do in their pathetic lives.
As for you wolfy, I was pretty sure you were either an atheist or agnostic. It's always easier to believe in nothing than to believe in something.

NO RELIGION can PROVE 100% that theirs is the one and only and that their particular deity ACTUALLY EXISTS !!

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from what I can gather it seems to be a different Jesus Christ than the one I read about in the Bible

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Or next time you stay in a hotel, you can just steal one! [:D]

I might just pick up a copy and read it. I don't pray well though, so it might not "take"

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Give the man a kewpie doll. He got it right. Thanks for the help.

 The Old Testament speaks of the Egyptians having Hebrew slaves under Ramses.  Archaeologists have found inscriptions on monuments from Ramses' time that talk about having Hebrew slaves.

As near as I have heard, there is no such evidence. I could be wrong, but that's what I have consistently heard.

 The recent James osuary with the Aramaic inscription "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.  That's my take on it.

I, along with most scholars I have read about, would take that as interesting but not conclusive about anything. Those were common names and it could have been another family. Also, even if it was that family, it would indicate they existed, not what their role in society might have been. (It also makes me wonder what it must have been like growing up with your big brother as the Messiah, but never mind.)  

 As for Mormons being good people, that's undisputed.

I wouldn't dispute that, either. The vast majority of Mormons that I have met are good people. Like with every other group, there were some that weren't. They wouldn't be the first people I would invite to an all-night party, and I find their lifestyle a little odd at times but, by and large, they are good people.

What a statement. A mans life work, one of the most important discoveries of his time, and he is forced to recant it and renounce his work by the Church. Yeah I can't see how that would have bothered him a bit. But to give you some pespective, what if the same thing had been done to Paul? Would that have been ok?

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Where does it say that in the bible?  Nowhere in mine.  You are naming two beliefs that happened to be held by some medieval catholics.  Jesus never taught it.

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As I stated earlier, I think it comes from the passage where Joshua asks for more time to slay his enemies (!!!!) and then the Bible states that the "sun stood still" (or words to that effect). Naturally, if the sun stands still -- the sun being the object that is moving -- then the sun goes around the earth.

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As I said, my understanding of the Jews in Egypt was that there was no evidence, and that scholars had come to the conclusion that the Exodus never happened as a result.

As for the ossuary, I kinda wonder how they estimated who could afford ossuaries and make a determination whether Jesus' family would fit into that category. The story I have always heard is that Jesus was from a pretty poor family. The picture that has always been portrayed to me (admittedly, that's a lot of Christian folklore in there) was that Jesus' beginnings were too humble for that sort of thing.

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Oh come on, that's quite a stretch.  You accuse theologians of making weak arguments (and many do) but you seem to be doing the same thing.

This question arose in another thread a while back, and all I can say is that it is physically acceptable to say what the bible says.  People almost always speak from the perspective of their own reference system.  Saying the sun moves around the earth is [i]perfectly acceptable[/i] as long as you are viewing things from the earth.  The physics changes quite a bit (see Chapter 5, "Noninertial reference systems" in [b]Analytical Mechanics[/b] by Fowles and Cassidy), but it is physically accurate to say things as the bible did.  I am a physics student that had to make these calculations far too often last semester.