The Book of Mormon is Scripture

As I stated in the comments section of that "other debate" it is not my intention to "win", rather to inform. I know every Mormon on Debate. org, and at your local temple will jump on here to vote for you, but logic and truth will prevail and "someone" will learn and accept the truth. It is also not my intention to offend your religion, nor to convert you to any other religion. Let me start by addressing some of your points: "I would debate about the rest of Mormon scripture, but because you're so adamant about reading their entirety and I'm only working on the other two, I thought I'd keep it to the one I've read and our church is named after. " -This is one of my points in that comment. Mormons claim to be Mormon without knowing their entire religion- you can't believe in Mormonism without examining every aspect and measuring it against past scripture. You must compare the Book of Mormon to the bible, then to Doctrines and Covenants, and all three to The Pearl of Great Price before you can honestly say you "believe" what the Mormons teach. Otherwise you will have incidents like the one I described where I pointed out theology the missionary had not yet examined, and ,in his own words "who would believe that"? Though your premise says "The Book of Mormon is Scripture" and you go on to refer to it as "Mormon scripture", I will argue my point from the views of Judaism and Christianity from which your belief in "Scripture" should spring. Every comparison to "new Christian scripture" should be made against the Old and New Testaments, so as to examine the words of past prophets, accepted theology and doctrine, and the beliefs of other believers in Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon also makes claims against accepted anthropology and history, and so I will use science to debunk the historical points. "Another Testimony of Jesus Christ is written by several ancient prophets in America and edited by Mormon, another prophet, who it's named after. " -Prophets according to whom? What qualifies these figures as prophets? Is there any historical and/or anthropological correlation between their teachings and that of accepted anthropology and history? What nationality are these men? "While my potential opponent claims it's like a 'comic book', in addition to recounting the tale of ancient Americans and the spread of the church there (you know, like a history book), it constantly teaches doctrine, testifies of truth, and is written to the people of our time to teach us. It also does not include pictures. " -This was not a claim to be proved by me, rather I referred to it as a "comic book" because it is fictional and makes fantastic claims. It includes non-historic characters, makes historical claims not grounded in truth, and was written by a child. "Frankly, I'm surprised that my potential opponent got through 2 Nephi and still thinks it's as action-y as a comic book. " -I never claimed it contained "action" like a comic book. Read above statement. "It may be hard to believe in miracles, (especially when you're cynical) but that doesn't necessarily mean they didn't/don't exist. " -This isn't an examination as to whether or not miracles happen. This is an examination of scripture, and I will treat this debate as such. My beliefs are irrelevant as I will maintain a purely logical stance against the premise and your subsequent arguments. Lets examine certain aspects of the Book of Mormon, and claims made within it: Moroni is the "angel of revelation" in this "scripture"- There are several problems with this. First off, the "angel of revelation" generally accepted in Judaism and Christianity is Gabriel. He first appears in "The Book of Daniel", and appears several times throughout historical scriptures (Jewish, Christian, and Muslim) as the primary messenger of God. This is a consistency departed from in Mormonism which claims a man who died came back as an angel of revelation. Again, this is inconsistent with Abrahamic religions which reject outright the "consultation of the dead", and treat human spirits who speak to the living as "undesired". The book was written in "reformed Egyptian"- Again, several problems. No Egyptologist or linguist recognizes this as a "real" language, much less a historically "Egyptian" language. Furthermore, it would be the first "scripture" ever written originally in Egyptian of any form (except for maybe Ancient Egyptian which was known to Moses, and some of his writings "may" have originally been written in Ancient Egyptian, but that was 4,000 years before the time claimed by the Mormons in their own writings). Seer Stones- the "seer stones" Smith later claims to have used to translate the "golden tablets" were a novelty used in his area at the time, in a local culture known for a "craze for treasure hunting". Smith was occasionally hired to "act" as a "seer" for local treasure hunters. He later found his own "treasure". .. Writings on metal plates- Though there are sporadic examples of "some" writings on metal plates, the plates are relatively thin when compared to the description of those supposedly translated into the Book of Mormon. The longest of these writings is eight pages, and no ancient examples support a scriptural tradition or precedent, and there are no examples of this being done in Egyptian whatsoever. The metal plate theory just does not fit history. .. Conflict in messenger- Joseph Smith contradicted himself. He says the angel "Moroni" revealed the Book of Mormon in some writings, and in others claims it was "Nephi". Cumorah and Moroni- Though there is doubt risen by "believers", there is too much logical coincidence between the writings about William Kidd (a pirate) who purportedly buried treasure on Comoros Island, Joseph Smith's past "treasure hunting" experience and knowledge, and the fact that Moroni is a town on Comoros Island (Cumorah-Comoros, Moroni-Moroni, buried treasure, treasure hunting? ?? ). Nephites- According the the Book of Mormon, Nephites are decedents of a Hebrew prophet Nephi who left Jerusalem for America ca. 589bc. Several problems: there is no DNA correlation between ancient Hebrews and Native Americans. There is no anthropological, cultural, or otherwise physical evidence of their existence. There is no physical, circumstantial, or otherwise historical proof that Judaism was practiced in the Americas at the time, and later Christianity which Mormons claim the Nephits converted to in the 4th century AD. Lamanites- The Book of Mormon describes Lamanites as having "skin of blackness". It is often accepted that the Lamanites referred to in the Book of Mormon are "blacks" which are generally accepted as decendants of Africans, not Native Americans. There is no anthropological evidence of their existence, and all claims in the Book of Mormon as to their nature, culture, etc. are in direct contrast to accepted science and history. Jaredites- The Jaredites supposedly migrated to the Americas around the time of the Tower of Babel. This would mean there were Middle Eastern decendants in the Americas for thousands of years- a claim directly in contrast to accepted anthropology and history. Mulekites- Again, no physical, cultural, religious, or geneological evidence of their existence other than claims made in the Book of Mormon. It is important to note that nearly every claim of historical veracity in the Book of Mormon is not challenged outright by personal belief, rather by accepted history and anthropology. Though Judaism makes references to religions, cultures, geographical locations, historically verifiable persons (Rameses, Xerxes, Israel and his decendants, Egypt, Tigris and Euphrates rivers, Babylon, Mesopotamia, etc. etc. etc. ) as well as does Christianity (Rome, Paul, Caesar, Pontius Pilate, Egypt, Greece, Thesalonica, etc. etc. etc. ), the Book of Mormon does not.