A couple more short comments from Jenkins. I have added responses from me in Blue
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I don’t think I can pose this question in simpler or more straightforward terms.
1. Do you believe that any or all claims about the New World in the Book of Mormon are supported by any form of objective, verifiable evidence?
Of course there is. It is not an ontological problem. It is an epistemological one. What are the criteria by which we can distinguish a Nephite pot, house, or tool from a Maya pot, house or tool?
2. If so, what is that evidence?
3. If you believe that a great deal of such evidence exists, please just give a couple of examples.
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“Third, sparsity of inscriptions in the norm in ancient times, not the exception. The Near East is unique in all the world for its vast number of surviving ancient inscriptions.”
Indeed so! And that is what we would expect of peoples who were the direct inheritors of that Near Eastern culture, like the mighty Jewish-derived Nephite civilization of Central America, or wherever the alleged experts were locating them as of last Tuesday. But they didn’t leave any traces whatever, did they? And this causes you no problem?
None at all. Some cultures make inscriptions (it has been called the “epigraphic habit”) and some don’t. Also, inscriptions painted on wood, stone or stucco rarely survive.