The Book of Mormon is Scripture

Al of your responses to your metaphors leave much to be desired. Though temples are places of ORDINANCES, they are not groups of people, nor are specific groups of people assigned to them. Churches and then Stakes are. And just because you believe Joseph Smith was a child doesn't mean comic books are written by children. By the way, Christianity as a whole IS an Abrahamic religion. Whether or not YOU believe Mormons are Christian is a debate I've already won, and will not repeat with you. We, though, DO believe in being resurrected- and, because, as you've already stated, no one knows their language, for all you know it could be etymologically connected. If your status as a messenger of God has to be judged by your name, though, it seems that science has little to do with it. Joseph Smith was not allowed to share the Plates with anyone- when he shared even a portion with a loyal and trusted friend, it was lost forever. Though he did bring it to a language specialist somewhere.... but it's meaningless anyway. Also, if you remember, there were huge wars, earthquakes, fires, cities sinking into seas... all kinds of destruction that you must have read about, and we don't know what else the Lamanites did, or even what happened to them. With the steel connection, many have criticized the Book of Mormon for containing references to steel- for example, in this article: "Steel in Antiquity: A Problem in Terminology" [by Lenore O. Keene Congdon in Studies Presented to George M. A. Hanfmann, ed. David G. Mitten et al., Harvard University, Fogg Art Museum Monographs in Art and Archaeology, vol. 2 (Mainz, West Germany: Verlag Philipp Von Zabern, 1971), pp. 17-27]. However, steel is often mentioned in the bible (2 Sam. 22:35, Psalms 18:34, Job 20:24, and Jeremiah 15:12 in the Old Testament). Steel is a very close step after smelting Iron, and the Iron age began as early as the 12th Century BC. Actually, if we look at that, Steel is a metal almost exclusively European. It started with the experiments of Neolithic peoples, and the dry climate of the Fertile Crescent then could succor long fires, further progressing technology. I've made claims, but you haven't asked me for any more evidence. I asked you, and if you have a problem with mine, fix yours and ask me. Fortunately for you, I've attempted to remedy it- though it not only my responsibility, if you want to win. And we're not taking Science and changing it around to fit science, or taking only its descriptions instead of its facts. So please spare me the 'Lamanites are African' argument. That opens up a really odd and unpleasant can of completely unnecessary worms. And the Jaredites and Nephites did not intermingle with the Lamanites, the actual forbears of the Native Americans. Actually, the Nephites and Lamanites never even interacted with the Jaredites- they just found their bones and a book. In the Book of Mormon they refer to other plates, brought from Europe- and, actually, as I said before, a great deal of information was tragically lost. We lost the entire History section, retaining only the religious section. Also, a large part of the plates were bound, so there IS more information- we just don't yet have al of it. The Lamanites were not under the favor of God at all, and didn't make any discoveries since all good stems from his inspiration. This is a belief held by more than just Mormons, and would happen after the close of the Book o Mormon. Finally, you said miracles don't have anything to do with this- I say they do. The Scriptures are the word of God, and what God does is miracles. I've fought this on your scientific turf, but you have not taken miracles at all into account. We don't know all the will of God, some, indeed, he conceals from us, so it makes sense that he would not yet reveal to the entire world the whole of the Ancient American history. I mean, look already at what our science has done to mutilate religion. Thanks for debating.