The idiots at The FIRM Foundation are now plugging British Israelitism (see Ron Abel’s biblical refutation of this nonsense thesis [yes, some early LDS held to a form of it, but many, including Bruce McConkie, would [correctly] reject it]). Tanner Johnson’s comment on the thread, as of writing, remains, but in case it is deleted, here it is:
This entire blog post is ridiculous, and it would be funny if so many people didn't take it seriously. I'll address only a few things.
1. "The word British is a compound Hebrew word. BRT in Hebrew means Covenant. Ish in Hebrew means man. Thus Britishish [sic] means Covenant Man, pointing back to the Abrahamic and Israelite covenants found in scripture."
Nonsense. The etymology of "Britain" has nothing to do with Hebrew "brt." It has been reliably traced to the old Brittonic word "Pritanī," which means "island." This was then modified by Latin and Old French to become "Britannia," and then "Britain." To say that the English suffix -ish has anything to do with the Hebrew word for "man" is disingenuous, because you speak English yourselves and know what it denotes. Your entire argument for this boils down to "I see 'brt' in the word followed by -ish."
2. "The Union Jack is an overlay of two symbols. The Christian Cross and the crossed X symbol which symbolized the crossed arms of Jacob as he blessed Joseph’s sons Ephraim and Manasseh."
It's called the Union Jack because the flag design came from the union or overlay of the flags of Scotland, England, and Ireland. The X symbol has nothing to do with the crossed arms of Jacob during his blessing. That is absolutely not what it represents. This is what happens when you obsessively comb something for parallels that support what you already believe.
3. "The Anglo Saxon tie to Great Britain is undeniable in history. The meanings of the words, Anglo and Saxon tell the story. Anglo means messenger and Saxon means Sons of Isaac, Sac’s sons. Thus the Anglo Saxons are messengers of the sons of Isaac."
"Anglo" comes from the Latin word "anglia," which means "English." It has nothing to do with being a messenger. And claiming that "Saxon" has anything to do with being "Isaac's son" is laughable. Really? You think the modern English word "son" is hiding in that word? Is that what you think this means? As with everything else in the blog post, this connection could only be made by an English speaker trying to project their Heartlander dogma onto the book of Genesis and European history.
Such rampant confirmation bias and thinly veiled American Exceptionalism is a big part of why people don't take you seriously.
For their consideration, I would like to propose that the Irish are also members of a long lost tribe. The following was something I came up with “on the fly” but it still is more scholarly than anything the FIRM Foundation can ever produce on any topic:
"Irish" is derived from "ish" (man) and a corruption of Asher (Ir), no doubt based on ayeh asher ayeh (Exo 3:14). In other words, "Irish" means "Man of Yahweh" or even "Yahweh is a man." Furthermore, Tara, the hill kings held their coronation, is a corruption of Torah (Law). Furthermore, Jesus had 12 drinking companions, lived with his mother until he was 30, and believed his mother was a virgin as she believed he was God--all characteristics of most Irish men today. Ergo, Jesus visited Ireland and the Irish, like the British, are part of the house of Israel.
A Review of the Annotated Edition of the Book of Mormon (Part 1): Introduction
A Review of the Annotated Edition of the Book of Mormon (Part 2): Archaeology
A Review of the Annotated Edition of the Book of Mormon (Part 3A): "This Land"
A Review of the Annotated Edition of the Book of Mormon (Part 3B): "choice land"
A Review of the Annotated Edition of the Book of Mormon (Part 3C): Lamanites
A Review of the Annotated Edition of the Book of Mormon (Part 3D): Zarahemla
A Review of the Annotated Edition of the Book of Mormon (Part 3E): Zelph
A Review of the Annotated Edition of the Book of Mormon (Part 4): Parallelomania
A Review of the Annotated Edition of the Book of Mormon (Part 5): Unsubstantiated Claims
A Review of the Annotated Edition of the Book of Mormon (Part 6): DNA
A Review of the Annotated Edition of the Book of Mormon (Part 7): Miscellaneous Errors
