I was told by the Mormon missionaries who proselytized me that I should read The Book of Mormon, and pray to the Holy Ghost to tell me if the Book of Mormon is true. If the Book of Mormon is true, I would get "a burning in my bosom." I did all that, but I felt no "burning in my bosom."
The Book of Mormon makes assertions that are clearly untrue. It says that the American Indians are descended from Jewish refugees who cross the Atlantic Ocean about 600 B.C, DNA evidence clearly links the American Indians to people living today in northern Siberia.
The Book of Mormon says that there were horses in the Americas, back then. The Indians had long since then hunted horses to extinction. The Book of Mormon claims that wheat existed in the Americas. Wheat did not get there until after the time of Columbus.
The Mayans had a system of writing when the Book of Mormon says that Jesus came to the New World. Mayan writing makes no mention of this.
A manuscript cannot have two very different meanings. The manuscript from which Joseph Smith claimed to translate The Book of Abraham has been found and translated by people who really can read ancient Egyptian. The manuscript makes no mention of Abraham. It mentions ancient Egyptian deities.
You were asked and invited by the Missionaries to pray to Father in Heaven, in the name of Jesus Christ, to ask them if the Book of Mormon is true. And, if you do so with real intent with your faith not wavering and without a double mind that the Holy Ghost would bear witness to you of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. You started off wrong by praying to the Holy Ghost. Comprehension must be a challenge? As far as the burning in your bosom, that is just one way the Holy Ghost can testify the truthfulness. Not the only way. Sometimes it's a still small voice. Sometimes its a punch in the face with a vision or Dream for older people. Sometimes it's just the calmness you feel as the Holy Ghost comforts you.
Your next statement is why you did not receive the testimony from the Holy Ghost. You read it with a double mind. You also misunderstand that those who made the trek from Israel to the Americas were the only migration of people to the Americas. They were not. In fact, there are other groups written in The Book of Mormon that came before Lehi and Ishmael's families, both of witch were not of Judah. They were of Joseph through Ephraim and Menasseh. Thus, why would there be any DNA of modern Jews in American Indians? The ten tribes were carried away and assimilated into the other parts of the old world. Thus, those American Indians who are related to Lehi and Ishmael would not be related to the current Jews in Israel because they are of the tribe of Judah.
As far as animals and vegetation, check out LDSFAQs at
https://www.jefflindsay.com/lds/
There are answers in there. You might want to brush up on current archeology as well. What we think of horses and what the ancient did in the America's may answer that question for you. As an example from Jeff's site, "By entering "*wheat*" as a search string on the new
USDA Plants database, I found that there are numerous native North American species with names comprising the word "wheat." Specifically, there are multiple varieties each of "wheatgrass," "buckwheat," and "cowwheat," and one species called "desert Indianwheat." I have no evidence that any of these were cultivated or would even be worth cultivating. The point, though, is that English speakers have used common names for grains (like "wheat" or "barley") to describe some native plant species - something that could easily have happened with other peoples as well."
There is also this idea that "all" of the current American Indians and Hispanics of Mexico and South America are descended directly from Lehi and Ishmael. And, that The Book of Mormon civilizations were Mayans, Incas, Aztecs. There is no proof of this and therefore using Mayan writings is really nonsensical as a reason that The Book of Mormon is false. There are millions of acres still not uncovered in the Americas that new technology is now uncovering. Perhaps there will be pockets of what we call horses found that survived the killings of horses 10,000 years ago. Of course, our fold of human life goes back only 6,000 years ago to Adam and Eve.
A manuscript can't have different meanings? Heck, there are 40,000 different sects of Christianity because of the interpretations of the Bible have different meanings to them. Not only that, you assume that the writings of the Pearl of Great Price came from a specific part of the scrolls. Refer back to Jeff Lindsay's writings on this subject. It's funny how so much recently has found strong points of the Book of Abraham. See, patience is a key and an attribute of Jesus Christ. Something we all should have as well. Enjoy the reading if you are truly seeking truth. If not, you should consider not using old outdated attacks.
