How True do you think the Book of Mormon is?

[SeattleUte]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski

Boy, are you on a roll lately. You said:

When I was a missionary a major portion of the discusisons was adapted from his theories.

So the church missionary dept. rewrote the discussions based on his theories? And I was teaching those theories but was just too ignorant to know better?

Wow. And all this time I thought it came from the BOM.

That's my point. You thought Quetzaquatl was Christ in America. All that Quetzaquatl stuff came from Hyerdahl.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

You were right after me. You just thought you didn't know about his theories. Read the Wiki article I posted. He started all that stuff about aborigines thinking Europeans were white gods returning. If you showed Christ in America, Ancient America Speaks, etc., you were teaching stuff adapted from Hyerdahl.

A couple more points:

1) I don't need to read the wiki article. As I mentioned above, I have visited the Hyerdahl museum in Oslo. And no, it wasn't any kind of religious pilgramage. Just happened to be one of our stops in Oslo.

2) If I am understanding you correctly and you are in fact claiming that his theories had a major impact on the missionary discussions, then I hereby submit this to be the biggest whopper you have EVER posted under the genre "1970's LDS doctrine and culture, as remembered by SU from his active days".

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

That's my point. You thought Quetzaquatl was Christ in America. All that Quetzaquatl stuff came from Hyerdahl.

Prove that by any reasonable standard.

We have pretty good evidence even in the first edition that the BoM taught Christ visited America. It seems as if that seems to substantiate the claim Mormons taught and/or believed Christ came to America before Hyerdahl was born.

Show me the linkage. Or did Hyerdahl hear of LDS claims and create a myth for himself?

[SeattleUte]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski

A couple more points:

1) I don't need to read the wiki article. As I mentioned above, I have visited the Hyerdahl museum in Oslo. And no, it wasn't any kind of religious pilgramage. Just happened to be one of our stops in Oslo.

2) If I am understanding you correctly and you are in fact claiming that his theories had a major impact on the missionary discussions, then I hereby submit this to be the biggest whopper you have EVER posted under the genre "1970's LDS doctrine and culture, as remembered by SU from his active days".

Do you remember "Christ in America" and "Ancient America Speaks?" Do you think that Quetzaquatl stuff was part of the mainstream? It was adapted from Thor Hyerdahl and people who he influenced. It wasn't real science.

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

That's my point. You thought Quetzaquatl was Christ in America. All that Quetzaquatl stuff came from Hyerdahl.

You've had one too many my friend if you're willing to believe that. Now I served in Europe in 1979 to 81 and the Christ in Americas was rarely used. Why? Europeans didn't care if Christ visited America so it didn't do much to use that selling point.

So Hyerdahl influenced missionary programs in Europe, Asia and elsewhere how?

Maybe we can see why you fancy Brodie so much as storyteller, loose with facts and evidence.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

Do you remember "Christ in America" and "Ancient America Speaks?" Do you think that Quetzaquatl stuff was part of the mainstream? It was adapted from Thor Hyerdahl and people who he influenced. It wasn't real science.

No, I don't remember "Christ in America", but I do remember (vaguely) a filmstrip titled "Ancient America Speaks". Score yourself a point on that one. But I can guarantee you that there was nothing on that topic in the official version of the missionary discussions that I was instucted to teach for two years.

[Archaea]

Here is some stuff on Quetzaquatl from a nonMormon page on Aztec Gods.

http://www.crystalinks.com/aztecgods.html

http://www.crystalinks.com/aztecgods2.html

"He is sometimes depicted as a white skinned god with a black beard. Recent scholarly theories suggest that the man-god may have been a wandering Viking who had lost his way."

[SeattleUte]

Originally Posted by Archaea

You've had one too many my friend if you're willing to believe that. Now I served in Europe in 1979 to 81 and the Christ in Americas was rarely used. Why? Europeans didn't care if Christ visited America so it didn't do much to use that selling point.

So Hyerdahl influenced missionary programs in Europe, Asia and elsewhere how?

Maybe we can see why you fancy Brodie so much as storyteller, loose with facts and evidence.

Christ in America and Ancient America Speaks were a centerpiece of our discussions in Ecuador. Those films weren't just about the Book of Mormon saying Christ visiting America. They had drawings of Hawaiian natives falling down and worshiping Capt. Cook, Mayan hyrogliphs allegedly showing a white god coming down from the sky to visit them, etc., etc. This was supposedly empirical proof the Book of Mormon was true. Hyerdahl tremendously influenced development of this argument. Here is a link to a conference talk by Apostle Peterson from those days (he talks about Christ being a "white God"; as if Christ looked like a European):

http://www.lds-mormon.com/christ_i.shtml

Here is a missionary brochure from those days (see the picture of the Hawaiian natives adoring Captain Cook a ways down the brochure):

http://members.tripod.com/~ronniesim/book_of_mormon.htm

All this stuff was adapted from Hyerdahl's phony science whether Mormons knew it or not.

Peterson does cite a lot of other phony science.

[SeattleUte]

Originally Posted by Archaea

Here is some stuff on Quetzaquatl from a nonMormon page on Aztec Gods.

http://www.crystalinks.com/aztecgods.html

http://www.crystalinks.com/aztecgods2.html

"He is sometimes depicted as a white skinned god with a black beard. Recent scholarly theories suggest that the man-god may have been a wandering Viking who had lost his way."

Look, Indy's the one who introduced Hyerdahl here, linking that article, for his "mustard seed."

[Archaea]

Not vouching for the scholarship of this link but ...

http://www.crystalinks.com/aztechistory.html

By the end of Tenochtitlans rule, in 1520, 38 conquered tributary provinces had been made, who had to make payments. However, some of the tribes at the borders stayed strongly independent. This made it easy for the Spanish captain, Cortez to defeat them. The priests reported signs of doom, but Montezuma, the Aztec ruler, thought Cortez was a returning god. When the Spanish saw the gold presents Montezuma offered to them as presents, they wanted to conquer the city. The Spanish defeated the Aztecs and the Catholics felt that it was their duty to destroy every trace of the Aztecs. The few Aztecs that remain have carried on their culture today. "