Didn't you know there is scientific proof that the Book of Mormon is false?

I love science. I've taken university courses in biology, genetics, archaeology, astronomy, geology, anthropology, and so on - and enjoyed them all, despite their occasional challenges to the doctrines that I center my life on.

Unfortunately, I am not, in fact, a scientist. I don't have all of the tools to evaluate the science behind each of those arguments against my faith.  I have read many refutations by prominent LDS scientists, which are equally or even more (when viewed with faith) convincing.  But I can not claim the credentials to give a proper response to each argument.

One of those arguments, that the Book of Mormon is disproved by genetic research, is trumpeted around my town by a local Pastor (also not a scientist).  Doesn't it seem hypocritical for a person of faith to denounce another's faith on a scientific basis?

To those self-proclaimed Christians that are participating in that criticism, I would love to ask:

1. If scientific "proof" were produced by genetics, carbon dating, or archaeology that apparently undermined the Bible, would your faith be diminished? (Hint - such proof does exist, and abundantly.  Mormons aren't the only Christians being attacked by critical 'science'.)

2. If scientific "proof" were produced by genetics, carbon dating, or archaeology that supported the Book of Mormon, would it build your faith? (Hint - such proof does, once again, exist, and abundantly. There is a wealth of information that was unavailable to Joseph Smith buried in the Book of Mormon, that has now been substantiated scientifically. And it comes from additional disciplines too - astronomy, physics, linguistics, and so on.)

Ironically, many of those proofs supporting the authenticity of the Book of Mormon sprang from "infallible" scientific research that, just a few years before, seemed to contradict its authority.

So, my dear argumentative friend, I would be careful about trumpeting your objections too loudly, lest science - so much more fickle than faith - should turn on you.

The critic's version of science first loosens the skeptic's shoelaces as it rejects the Book of Mormon, then trips the feet of those who hoped that God still speaks to His children in modern times. Next it reduces the Biblical account to the status of mere mythology, and loosens the belt of moral authority as it repaints the prophets as fanatics. Then the whole person is laid bare. The seeming liberation from the restricting clothing of organized religion then exposes its practitioner to the elements, and no protection is offered from the shame and bitterness that plague the human condition. Finally its victim, shorn and unshod, is unable to flee from the real enemy of the soul.

Today I watched the final flight of the Space Shuttle Program, STS-135.  I can remember seeing its first flight in 1981, on a fuzzy (CRT?) television at school. I remember watching the Challenger disaster, live as it unfolded on television. There was a touch of nostalgia today as I watched, this time in High Definition over the internet, the orbiter lift one final time from Cape Canaveral. I am sad to see it end. But science will march on and evolve, and so will my love for it.

However, those things that have already withstood the test of time and criticism, those things that resonate deep within my mind and heart, those things that consistently produce the kinds of outcomes I want in my life, they will outlive science - eternal, unchanged, evermore.