By Jack H. West, 1954.
Now, in this session we are going to spend some time with the experts. We are going to the finest leaders in the fields of archaeology, zoology, ethnology, philology, and anthropology to get their testimony regarding their findings here in the Americas. We are going to stay completely with the scientists who are not members of the Church. I have consistently felt that our case was stronger if we stayed with those experts who have no interest in proving the Book of Mormon true, indeed, who in many cases, I am sure, have no intention of proving any part of the Book of Mormon true by the giving of their testimonies. But if, as we go to their expert knowledge and testimony, we find that they are verifying the story of the Book of Mormon, if as we explore the ruins on this continent of two of the greatest nations ever to occupy the earth – if we find these things substantiating the Book of Mormon, surely that should be wonderful external evidence for the authenticity of the book.
For quick and easy reference at this time, we are going to use just one reference volume for our quotations, “The Americas Before Columbus,” by Dewey Farnsworth.*
Now, at the outset, may I caution you on two points.
First: Although the Book of Mormon tells of two main groups of people who migrated to this country in very early times, nowhere does it say that there were not others; in fact it mentions a third group, the Mulekites, and undoubtedly there have been still other migrations.
Second: Not all scientists are agreed as to what these ancient ruins on this continent mean, and what the things they find here imply, but as we go to some of the greatest men in their fields, we find them coming closer and closer, year by year, to an agreement that falls right into lines with the testimony of the Book of Mormon.
I have been what some may call, an “armchair archaeologist” for about twenty five years – (I can give a lot of “advice” from the side lines, but I do not set myself up as an expert at all) and I have been thrilled by the things the experts have said about the archaeology, ethnology, and so forth, of this continent. And I have watched, as many have, how time after time scientists have swung around, point by point, until they are right in line with what the Book of Mormon says. I have a testimony of the truth of the Book of Mormon, as I am sure most of you have, and I do not feel at all chagrined to refer to those experts who are agreeing with the Book of Mormon and use their quotes very freely. And after such a presentation, if there are a few who still do not completely agree, then I must by-pass them. They will either deny themselves the marvelous truths, or injure themselves with their own erroneous assumptions – or else come around to the Book of Mormon line of thinking, and that has happened countless times.
*If you want to get one volume which will give you not only pictorial evidence of the ruins on this continent, but also dozens and dozens and dozens of quotations from some of the greatest scientists having to do with the study of the ancient people of this continent, I don’t know where I could refer you to any one volume that would make it perhaps simpler for you to get at these facts than The Americas Before Columbus. The Deseret Book Store or most Seventy’s quorums of the Church will have it. Don’t confuse it with the one, Evidences in the Ancient America. Also see Bibliography, page 104.
Act III
The prosecution had charged that the Book of Mormon could not be true because it made so many ridiculous statements. How they wished they had not made that charge! Our answer was that many statements which sounded ridiculous in the year 1830, had since been proven true. And I testify to you that any statements in the Book of Mormon which sound fantastic, are prophecy or fact of the yet unknown past and they will yet be proven true. We have just one example of a “ridiculous” statement which has come true. Now we will continue.
Let us go to a whole group of claims of the Book of Mormon, which, when the book first came off the press, (1830), sounded fantastic, beyond belief. You will have to go back with me over a hundred years before some of these things sound fantastic.
The first claim that we will consider today is the story of the book, that this continent in early times was peopled by two main groups of people. Remember, the Book of Mormon does not claim that the two main groups of people were the only ones to ever come to this continent. The book tells us that the first great group of people was the Jaredites, coming from the Tower of Babel, at the time of the confusion of tongues. That was about 2200 B.C. Now the book isn’t quite clear as to which ocean this group crossed in coming here. All we know from the record is that the Jaredites went northward out of the valley of Shinar in Asia. I have felt, and I give it to you as my personal thinking only, that they went to the closest ocean; therefore, they would have come across the Atlantic Ocean, and this, I believe, checks with the Indian legends. We do know that they landed somewhere north of “the narrow neck of land” as they called it in the Book of Mormon, the narrow neck between the continent to the north and the continent to the south. The narrow neck then, was the dividing point, and somewhere north of that point they landed.
The Jaredites became a tremendous nation, according to their record as it is in the Book of Mormon. Jesus Christ testified that it would be the greatest nation up to that time on the face of the earth. They peopled the northern part of the land from sea to sea and coast to coast keeping the southern part mainly for hunting ground. They had been promised if they kept the word of God, they would prosper in the land; if they did not, they would be destroyed and another people would take their place.
EXTERNAL EVIDENCE
| Claims of Book of Mormon | References | External Evidences |
| 1. Peopled by two main groups.Jaredite 2200 BCNephite-Lamanite 600 BC | Title page,Book of Mormon | Lowry (4) Spinden (12) Galatin (10) Putnam (17) Bancroft (10) Combined Brinton (6) Statement (3) Jordan (6) |
| 2. Had Laban’s plates of brass | 1 Nephi 3:3-4 | De Roo (41) De Roo (65) Colton (26) Kingsborough (18) Lee (21) |
| 3. Christ appeared on this continent after resurrection | 3 Nephi 11:8-10 | Rosales (36) De Roo (41) Kingsborough (36) Brinton (42) |
| 4. Wrote on gold plates in reformed Egyptian and Hebrew | Mosiah 8:9 Moroni 9:32 |
Saville (65) Jones (22) Picture (60) Jones (18) Willard (140) Marett (22) |
| 5. Built with cement | Helaman 3:7-9 | Picture (55) Gann (39) Willard (38) |
| 6. Hardened copper | Jarom v:8 | Bradford (140) Nadaillac (142) Picture (150) Charnay (142) |
| 7. Had machinery and wheels | Jarom v: 8 | Picture (39) Boidexter (116) Picture (94) Picture (38) Mason (124) |
| 8. Had horses and elephants | Enos v: 21 Ether 9:17-19 |
Brea Tar Pits L.A. Museum (skeletons) Murray (157) Times Encycl. (157) Ency. Brit. (158) New Am. Ency. (1956) |
| 9. Great cities | Alma 50:13-15 | Morley (104) Picture, Chichen Itza (6) Mason (78) Picture, Palenque (58) |
| 10. Sunken and destroyed cities | 3 Nephi 8:5 through 9:2 |
Bancroft (41) Gann (72) Baldwin (41) Picture (63) Spinden (57) |
| NOTE: For ease of reference, numbers in parenthesis refer to pages in The Americas Before Columbus, by Farnsworth, where quotes of these experts also appear. See Bibliography. | ||
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