“Plates” you said?!! Is some one offering DINNER?!! I’ll be right there…lol.
Well, the one good thing that could be said of Joseph Smith is that he was an inspirational DICTATOR. ( Pun intended!)
Sadly, you can’t argue “beliefs”… & in retrospect, why would one?

Wouldn’t it be of benefit to stick to the FACTS of this remarkable discovery and not tarnish it with religious beliefs or worse use it as an opportunity to APOSTATIZE?!
Why, it might lead one to a “Clouded Conclusion” … couldn’t it? Now, that’s funny!

For goodness sakes people, this was a archeological discovery.
It’s a wonderment on its own… let us NOT add mysticism to it.

Concerning the cloud people in other ther parts there was also a mention of white people like for instance on Easter Island where a group lived and who according to records practiced circumsicion. Here genetic testing in my opinion loses some credibility because it flies against well documented eyewitness acounts of these people and perhaps the sience of genetics is not as perfected as some belief it is.

There were two very different and distinct people with very different customs nad physical features, one had a written language and the Polynesians who were later immigants not. Today one can still see some of the unique features including a distintive nose on some Polynesians whose foregfathers mixed and features which are remarkably Middle Eastern.

Thor believed they were Hittitites.There is evidence that links these people to the mainland, that they were outcasts including their unique stonework. When this group was wiped out in a war with the Polynesians the statues which has made them so famous in modern times were toppled and the work stopped seeing that the Polynesians were not master in this.

I am going to ad a theory that the Polynesians and these folk were in fact genetically related but as one finds in any family many times children have different features because of variables. Ive even heard of black people being born to white parents. Somewhere in their past there was a seperation and because of a lack of genetic diversity polynesians developed the very features they are known for today. perhaps someone can elaborate on this and compare it to existing groups who have evolved certain faetures because of a lack of new genetics migrants. I think of Arab and Eastern groups.

Its always an interesting subject. Id of course encourage all to read the Book of Mormon and test it, discover it. Other than that both critics and members will not be able to prove anything beyond a doubt(archeoligically) because of a lack of credible witnesses and people can only speculate on events they were not able to witness personally. The surest thing I know is to ask God and recieve a testimony through the Holy Spirit.

The cloud people is an interesting story. I can’t wait to read about all the findings from the site in Peru—including the dna Haplotypes from the remains of the “cloud people”..