Is there any DNA evidence that would prove the Book of Mormon to be true?

Question

The Book of Mormon describes two distinct Semitic migrations to the Americas. Surely if this were true some DNA evidence would be left behind. Thanks for your help!

Answer 1

The DNA studies have not proved anything conclusively and you can use what is available to argue whatever side you want.  I'll give a few arguments that seem to add supporting evidence to the Book of Mormon.

DNA studies show that they have eastern asian roots.  The Book of Mormon describes a group of people who left Babel, resided in eastern asia for a lengthy period of time, and then crossed the ocean to the Americas.  Many believe these were the Olmecs.

We know little about the heritage of the groups that did arrive.  Ishmael's family traveled with Lehi's.  Zoram also was with them.  There may have been some others.  We can't know for sure what their genetic makeup was.  

When they arrived, it's very possible that they mixed with other existing groups and intermarried.  We don't know to what extent this might have occurred.  

Haplotype X shows up in about 3% of American Indian populations.  It does not show up in Asian populations, however, it does show up in European and Semitic populations.

The Book of Mormon describes the destruction of the Nephites.  We don't know what comes of the Lamanites from about 400 AD until now.  That's 1600 years.  

Lastly, there have been populations that have been KNOWN to be closely related, yet, when they attempt to use DNA methods to prove that they're related they fall short.  

Frankly, I don't think the lack of a DNA link proves anything.  Obviously a strong DNA link to semitic origins would build the case for the Book of Mormon, but lack of it does not prove the Book of Mormon false.  

Here are a few links:

http://jefflindsay.com/LDSFAQ/DNA.shtml

http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/v/in...

http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/

http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDSFAQ/smiths...

Hope that helps.  

It's worth mentioning that there are lots of other evidences that offer support to the Book of Mormon, but that's a topic for another post or something that you could easily google.

Answer 2

The DNA evidence indicates the contrary.

Answer 3

Here's how it was explained to me.

You have half your DNA from your mom and half from your dad.

You have one fourth from each of your grandparents.

You have one eighth from each of your great grandparents.

You have one sixteenth from each of your gggrandparents.

One thirtysecond from your ggggrandparents.

Now, in my case, if you go back to my ggggrandparents, we are talking about the middle to the end of the 19th century. It would be next to impossible to get any DNA from one of them, let alone all 32 of them. And you would need that to make some sort of comparison, and even then it probably wouldn't be 100% conclusive. I mean, even with your parents, the best they can do is about 98-99%.

Now, let's take the DNA of one of today's Native American Indians. First, how hard is it to find a FULL BLOODED Native Amerindian? You can probably find a few, but even then, they have mixed tribal blood, so we don't know for sure how "pure" the DNA is.

And then, take the DNA of one of today's Jews. How sure are we that we can find an ethnic Jewish person who can trace their linage with ALL of their ancestors back to Judah? Because THAT is a TRUE Jew, that's how they got the name "Jew". While others of the houses of Israel follow the Law of Moses, not all were Jews. And Lehi was of the house of Joseph, not Judah, so he was not an ethnic Jew. And we don't even know what his wife was, or the others that came with him. It could be that none of them were of the tribe of Judah.

Then, when did the Book of Mormon supposedly end? 421 A.D. That was, wait, about 1500 or 1600 years ago. How many generations is that? the DNA would have been watered down about a couple hundred thousandths? And how many years did the Book of Mormon supposedly span? 1000 years? That's another couple thousandths.

Now, how accurate would any actual TESTING be?

And guess what? There was no ACTUAL TESTING done on this! And you know, I don't know how there ever COULD be.

There was a test done in Iceland, where almost all the people there could trace their ancestry back hundreds of years. But, actual DNA testing showed that you only had to go back 150 years to find that DNA didn't show up between then and now. That meant that the DNA taken from a person living now compared to the DNA of their KNOWN ancestors (and the legal documents are there to PROVE that said ancestors were theirs) showed NO (NONE, NADA) DNA evidence of familial relationship. That means that if I compared my DNA to that of, say, my ggggrandparents, there is NO WAY that DNA could prove that we were related. At all.

One LDS scientist who is an expert with DNA said that he would be as skeptical of DNA "evidence" that is FOR the Book of Mormon as he is of DNA "evidence" that seems to be against it.

Answer 4

No -- actually, there is much evidence against it.

Do some research on this. You'll find that many animals mentioned in the Book of Mormon were not living in America at the time, and there is a great lack of archeological evidence supporting what the Book of Mormon claims. It's astounding that anyone still believes in it, actually.

Answer 5

Actually, using DNA to prove or disprove the Book of Mormon is bad science.  The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.  The Book of Mormon never claimed that the Hebrews were the only ancestors of native Americans.  And, in fact, describes them runnign into people's that were already here and mingling and marrying them.  That, plus time and the influx of European, Asian, and African bloodlines into native American populations over time makes it impossible to make a 100% determination based on DNA.

That said, there have been Hebrew DNA markers found in native American populations, but these scientist recognize and say that it doesn't prove the Book of Mormon true.