Here's a biblical history quiz: What date was the Fall of Adam? In which year did the Flood occur? How about the Tower of Babel? And the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt?
Depending on your religious tradition - and whether you believe the Bible to be factual, mythological, or a combination of both - the answers will vary greatly. Consequently, so will your understanding of "time," in a biblical sense.That's one reason genealogist Lyman Platt has set out to put concrete dates on biblical events. By doing so, he hopes that at some future day the entire human family - from Adam forward - can be connected accurately in one supersize family tree. That's the ultimate genealogists' dream - and one members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in particular would welcome with open arms.
Platt, who spent 17 years working for the Genealogical Society of Utah (now known as the LDS Church's Family History Department) and is a devout Mormon, has used a combination of LDS scriptures, writings on biblical archaeology and secular archaeological and historical research to "date" biblical events.
With a doctorate in Latin American History from Columbia Pacific University, Platt is considered a world expert in Latin American genealogy and has published 38 books, along with hundreds of articles and pamphlets. He currently serves as chief genealogist for Broderbund Software and developed the first commercial genealogical compact discs.
Working from his home library in St. George, Platt has recently published the first in what he plans as a "multi-volumed work" on early world genealogies and genealogical history.
In "The World Book of Generations: A Genealogical History, Vol. 1," Platt lays out his case for combining information from spiritual texts - including the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price - with secular research.
He contends that by laying "a foundation in world history prior to the birth of Jesus Christ on which key dates could be placed with confidence," at some point researchers may be able to connect in the currently nebulous gap in records that exists from where the New Testament leaves off through much of the Dark Ages.
Underlying premises include that the Bible is a an actual - albeit at times inaccurate - history, that the theory of evolution can be disproved and that the Earth has passed through nearly 6,000 years of temporal existence, with another 1,000-year period needed to complete God's "divine plan." A distinction is drawn between "prophetic time" and "Earth time," with the Gregorian calendar ahead of the "prophetic" calendar by a specific number of years, based on mathematical calculations.
Another premise is that "all circulating pedigrees back to Adam are currently incomplete and many are false." Why?
"There are a lot of false pedigrees circu
lating throughout the world because people copy other people without knowing what the documentation is," Platt said. "One of the things I wanted to do in my life is lay the foundation for the early pedigrees so people could separate supposition and speculation from fact."
He details his rationale with examples from hundreds of sources by focusing on research surrounding particular biblical events and linguistic history. Platt concludes by establishing approximate dates for events including the Fall of Adam, the Flood, the Exodus and the birth of Christ. An explanation is also given for genealogical relationships and missing links between some biblical figures, including Moses, Abraham, Joseph, Ramses II.
"I've been able to show where there were two major gaps in pedigrees of the Bible, and explained why they were there and how they can be understood."
Platt believes his use of Mormon scripture - believed by Mormons to be compilations of ancient records of events on the American continent as well as translations of Abrahamic and Mosaic texts - sheds legitimate light on many events that can't be understood otherwise.
Such a stance may give his work wider credence among some LDS audiences than elsewhere, because Latter-day Saints feel a particular urgency to research family lines from the present day back several centuries to identify names, dates of birth and death and the locale of their progenitors.
With one of the world's most complete genealogical libraries and constantly updated computer technology, LDS Church leaders constantly encourage members to seek out their family members. The work is done based on a divine mandate in which Latter-day Saints are responsible to identify their progenitors and perform vicarious religious ordinances for each of them - baptism and marriage among them.
Such baptisms and marriage "sealings" for the dead are performed in LDS temples, now being built at a record pace worldwide. Mormons believe the ordinances must be performed for every person who ever lived, and several million names have already been sought out and the ordinances completed for them.
In that context, Platt's work provides a unique field of inquiry for Mormons, most of whom have traditionally worked backward in time trying to identify their progenitors.
Yet Mormons definitely aren't the only ones interested in it.
Platt says he is currently negotiating with Harper and Row to distribute the book, with the only stumbling block being the percentage the large publishing house will take.
Linda Taylor, owner of Agreka Books, says she's happy to hear about his negotiations. Taylor owned a small publishing company in St. George a few years ago and originally published Platt's book in 1996.
"We thought it had great potential. We received orders from different distributors - but he wouldn't put the book out there. I don't know what to say. If you're really going to put a book out there, you have to deal with distributors. We finally just stopped trying to get it out. We still get calls from around the country for the book and we just refer them to him."
"I think he's a sharp fellow, very deep, but conservative when it comes to marketing his book . . . I think it's a book that could have gone really big in that (genealogical research) world. He wanted to set up his own Web site and just try it that way.
"He has done some unique research. Not very many people have the combination of backgrounds he has to promote what he's promoting in his book . . . I've often thought that if he had the proper promotion - and of course that's big bucks - he could really make a name for himself around the world. I hope he does get a big publisher behind him because I think he's got a real future. He's not arrogant at all but very humble and very learned. . . . I think he has great potential - he would be a real credit to Utah."
John Kitzmiller, a local professional genealogist who has published books and lectured around the world, said the book "was very well-researched. There's a lot right now coming out about early Egyptian genealogies - there are segments of it all over the place. . . . but no one has really tied it together as well as Lyman has so far."
"One of the main mix-ups in ancient history is the dating of certain Egyptian dynasties. Bible chronology and ancient Near Eastern history is based upon this. Mr. Platt reaches some interesting and perhaps startling conclusions about this. Egyptian family genealogies and interactions can help explain the dynastic mix-ups. In turn, biblical genealogies can be sorted out and correctly dated. Platt's book is well-referenced and a fascinating insight into our early biblical ancestry."
Gathering his information over years of research, Platt says he came to a few surprising conclusions by crunching it all together. "One of the real finds that baffled me - it appears that Moses was the `heretic' pharaoh that destroyed all the gods of Egypt. I show numerous ties between his temple and worship of the Israelites - names, artifacts, on and on."
Yet for all his work, he acknowledges that his reliance on religious texts not widely accepted outside the LDS Church will continue to create skepticism. How does he feel about that?
"I took the premise as a Mormon - which doesn't fly well the in the scholarly field. I just said there's some eternal empirical evidence which because of my belief system has to be stated as that. I tried to keep the LDS viewpoint in the background but didn't apologize for it.
"I had a Southern Baptist call and ream me out (after he read the book). I bore my testimony to him over the phone, and it's been a great experience to see him get baptized and come into the church. We went to the temple with he and his wife recently where they were sealed.
"I've had a few negatives, but most people agree it's an interesting work. I've had some fairly interesting scholars look at it. Most of the criticism is that I shouldn't have anything religiously oriented, but I'm not going to apologize for the process. I have several hundred sources backing up the statements that I have made.
"A lot of scientists make circular reasoning when talking about how man comes from southern Africa. They reason basically that because old fossils are there, then that proves that man is old. That reasoning is so much worse than anything I have done that it's laughable.
"For example, there have been whales in quite extensive numbers found in the middle of the Sahara. (As the book argues), there's no way for them to get there except for a massive flood. Or lime deteriorations at the base of the Sphinx in Egypt. That would require that height of the Nile be (partially submerging) the Sphinx for 300 to 400 years, making the rise of the river 30 to 40 feet higher than it's ever been for the last 400 years. If that's not true, there's no other explanation but the great Flood."
Platt says he's tried to point out such archaeological discrepancies "without being offensive in the book. I'm not interested in arguing but establishing a true basis for genealogy. I have documented my sources and they're either valid or they're not. I didn't make any personal conclusions unless I could back them up other than through the belief system that I have in modern revelation."
Platt believes as scientists continue to acknowledge, as many have recently, that there may be a god-like person or intelligence orchestrating the universe, his work will have increasing interest for some willing to accept a higher power.
Others, he says, may always view his work with a jaundiced eye.
"We have a local judge here who believes firm and fast in the time frames of geology. After I mentioned the book to him, he and his wife stopped coming to visit us. It just depends on the mind-set of the individual. Good historians and geologists don't let their biases get in the way of their research. I hope that's what I did - that was my intent."