El Libro de Mormón/Lamanitas/Se hace referencia en la Doctrina y Convenios

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¿Los indios americanos en América del Norte lamanitas?

Dado que en la Doctrina y Convenios, el Señor se refiere a los indios americanos en América del Norte como "lamanitas" (por ejemplo, DC 28:8-9,14, DC 30:6, DC 32:2, DC 54:8),hay problemas para la Geografía Teoría o emisiones de datos genéticos amerindios Limited?

En el momento en la Doctrina y Convenios fue escrito, los descendientes de Lehi tuvieron tiempo suficiente para migrar y casarse con el gran número de "nativos" postuladas por la LGT. Estos descendientes son los "lamanitas" en al menos tres sentidos:

1. All ascendencia compartida de Lehi, hasta cierto punto.
2. Ninguno abrazó realeza nefita o su doctrina de Cristo, lo que los "lamanitas" políticamente.
3. Todos eran elegibles para recibir las bendiciones del pacto prometidas a los descendientes de Lehi, si se arrepienten.

sí, y ésta fue su fe: que mi evangelio, el cual les entregué a fin de que lo predicasen en sus días, llegara a sus hermanos los lamanitas, y también a todos los que hubieren llegado a ser lamanitas a causa de sus disensiones. (DC 10:48)

Y así iréis a las regiones del Oeste, a la tierra de Misuri, hasta las fronteras de los lamanitas. (DC 54:8)

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José Smith fue inspirado por el Señor a utilizar el término "lamanita"

Utilización de José de la expresión "lamanita" para describir a todos los habitantes nativos de América, incluidos los de Missouri, fue inspirado por el Señor. José, y muchos profetas de los últimos días, ya que, han descrito a los habitantes nativos de América del Norte y del Sur continentes como lamanitas. Así que, ¿cómo estas declaraciones hechas por los profetas vivientes se alinean con la posibilidad de que el Libro de Mormón se produjo dentro de una región geográfica limitada? Examinaremos esto en las siguientes secciones.

Teoría de Geografía Limitada (TGL) y la Doctrina y Convenios

El Libro de Mormón define "lamanitas", como los que eran no nefitas

La TGL no es una doctrina de la Iglesia y no hay necesidad de aceptarla como la única interpretación del texto del Libro de Mormón. Los que aceptan la LGT lo ven como la única teoría que sea consistente con las descripciones geográficas y las distancias que se encuentran en el Libro de Mormón. La verdad del Libro de Mormón no depende, sin embargo, en demostrar o apoyar la LGT.

La LGT supone que un pequeño número de leítas se introdujeron en un "mar" más grande de los pueblos originarios, la mayoría de los cuales eran de presumiblemente de origen asiático. Los críticos confunden el uso del término "lamanita" que exige la descendencia de Lehi a través de su hijo, Laman. Pero, desde muy temprano en el Libro de Mormón, es evidente que el término "lamanita" no se refiere al descenso, pero la afiliación política y religiosa:

...I shall call them Lamanites that seek to destroy the people of Nephi, and those who are friendly to Nephi I shall call Nephites, or the people of Nephi, according to the reigns of the kings. (Jacob 1:14)

So, any person who wasn't a Nephite was, by exclusion, a Lamanite. Lamanites were not confined in any geographic sense at all.

The Lamanites occupied a region far greater than the limited geography described in the Book of Mormon

The LGT holds that the story of the Book of Mormon and the peoples with which it is concerned were confined to a narrow region, since this is all the area with which the authors of the Book of Mormon were directly concerned. Yet the Book of Mormon has several references that suggest a knowledge of and interaction with a much greater geographical area. The story of Hagoth (Alma 63:4-9) speaks not only of the shipbuilder and his movements northward (out of the general area referred to in the Book of Mormon) but also others that migrated to the north. In Helaman 3 we find other references to people migrating to the north:

And it came to pass in the forty and sixth [year], yea, there was much contention and many dissensions; in the which there were an exceedingly great many who departed out of the land of Zarahemla, and went forth unto the land northward to inherit the land. And they did travel to an exceedingly great distance, insomuch that they came to large bodies of water and many rivers. Yea, and even they did spread forth into all parts of the land, into whatever parts it had not been rendered desolate and without timber, because of the many inhabitants who had before inherited the land. (Helaman 3:3-5)

The migration was out of the general area of the Book of Mormon story and is referred to as "an exceedingly great distance." This gives opportunity for Lamanites and Nephites to be found in all parts of the western hemisphere. There is no reason not to believe that similar migrations could have occurred to the south. Migrations to both the north and to the south were possibly more common than is recorded in the text.

The native Americans in the region where Joseph lived were Lamanites

Some people who first hear about the LGT wonder if this theory means that most modern native Americans are not actually descended from Laman. But the LGT does not imply this at all. Even under the LGT it is likely that every single native American in the hemisphere was a descendant of Laman by Joseph Smith's day. This would have been true even if Laman's direct descendants inhabited only a small area somewhere in the Americas in A.D. 400.

This doesn't mean that modern native Americans get the majority of their DNA from Laman or even that some genetic marker from Laman could be detected anywhere in the Americas. The LGT predicts that essentially every native American would be a literal descendant of Laman to some degree and yet all native Americans would have predominantly Asian DNA markers.

The nature of quotations found in the Doctrine & Covenants

Many readers assume that revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants in which Joseph Smith speaks in God's voice to be direct word-for-word quotations from God. The recently published second volume of the Joseph Smith Papers REVELATION BOOK 1 (April 1829-B [D&C 8]), released by the Church's official Church History Press, provides greater insight into the process by which the revelations in the D&C arrived in their present form. The Church notes revisions in the revelations from their earliest form. A good example of this is the revelation concerning Oliver Cowdery's "gift"—this revelation was edited by Oliver Cowdery, William W. Phelps, Sidney Rigdon, Joseph Smith, John Whitmer, and one other unidentified editor. The Church has identified which specific edits each of these individuals made to the original revelation which eventually became D&C Section 8.

Joseph didn't claim to be hearing a voice or that he was simply taking dictation. Rather, impressions would come to him, which he would put into words. Joseph clearly did not consider them word-for-word quotations from God, since he, and others, felt comfortable revising them prior to publication.

The use of the term "Lamanites" to describe the American Indians was Joseph's word choice based upon inspiration. The few personal statements he made on Book of Mormon geography indicate that he believed it took place on a hemispheric scale, so it would follow that he believed that all Native Americans were pure descendants of Laman, and hence were literal "Lamanites." Even so, as noted in the preceding section, all of the inhabitants of the North and South American continents are considered to be Lamanites, and can likely count Lehi among their ancestry.