Author: Jonathan Neville

http://bookofmormonconsensus.blogspot.com/2016/08/agree-and-agree-to-disagree-lists.html

I could add more sections now, but I’ll stick with the one from last year for now because it clarifies the issues pretty well. And after more than a year, it holds up pretty well.

I understand there are some Mesoamerican proponents who object to the way I’ve framed these issues, but no one has pointed out any factual errors or misstatements about the respective positions. If anyone knows of any such errors or misstatements, let me know and I’ll correct the chart.

When you go through the items, you can see why the unbelievers at FairMormon will never include such a chart on their web page. 

Same with the unbelievers at Book of Mormon Central, the Interpreter, Meridian Magazine, etc. 
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Earlier this year, I posted a decision tree that helps people decide which setting of the Book of Mormon they agree with. Because there are so many new readers here, maybe many of you missed it, so here it is again.

http://bookofmormonconsensus.blogspot.com/2017/02/cumorah-decision-tree-for-book-of.html

The last three items in the decision tree seem to be the ones that people have to really think about when they continue to insist on the Mesoamerican setting.

I could add more to those, as well, as could most readers of this blog.

By now, many LDS scholars and educators think they know my position about Cumorah. They think they know everything about the topic. And maybe they do, but there are still some points I haven’t published yet.

As I’ll explain below, I think it’s unwise to allow BYU scholars to keep Joseph on a track of adopting Oliver’s false traditions. By “allow” I don’t mean interfering with academic freedom; instead, I mean allow them to keep teaching their two-Cumorahs and Mesoamerican theories without being challenged by those who know Church history and who still believe what Joseph and Oliver taught about the Hill Cumorah.
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LDS literature freely quotes from statements attributed to Joseph Smith. (I’m referring here to statements not included in the scriptures; i.e., statements that have not been canonized.)

In most cases, these statements exist in only one source. I’ll call them “one-source statements.”

In rare cases, we have instances where Joseph Smith wrote, or helped write, material that he personally directed should be copied and reprinted multiple times. I consider these multiple sources because each reprinting Joseph directed was an explicit additional endorsement of the content.

In my view, this material has more credibility than material someone claimed Joseph said or wrote (a second-hand source).

Some of the one-source second-hand statements were picked up in History of the Church, which has traditionally been cited as a legitimate source. Historians have long known it was not exactly a reliable source. The compilers added comments based on inferences and conjecture. They often re-wrote original sources to convert them to first person quotations.

The most famous example of this is the quotation attributed to Joseph Smith that appears in the Introduction to the Book of Mormon (and is featured in the entry at the MTC in Provo):

“Concerning this record the Prophet Joseph Smith said: ‘I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.’”

The source for this quotation is not first hand and is not itself a quotation. The compilers of the History of the Church converted it from a summary statement in Wilford Woodruff’s journal into a first person quotation by Joseph Smith. I discussed this in more detail here:
http://bookofmormonwars.blogspot.com/2016/06/please-stop-citing-history-of-church.html

This is a minor objection, of course; we can assume that Woodruff correctly summarized Joseph’s teachings that day, and maybe Joseph even used those phrases, although Woofruff typically used quotation marks when he was directly quoting someone in his journal.

I think it’s misleading to continue using the first person quotation, however. It would be far better to quote Woodruff directly; i.e., “Joseph Said the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any Book on Earth & the key stone of our religion & a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts than any other Book.”
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Because of History of the Church, we have a first-person quotation attributed to Joseph Smith that actually was Woodruff’s personal summary of a day’s teaching. The quotation is ubiquitous, having been printed millions of times, quoted in General Conference, etc. It is universally accepted, even though it is not, technically, accurate.

By contrast, we have the eight historical letters written by Oliver Cowdery with Joseph’s assistance. Joseph specifically endorsed them at least three separate times. (We don’t have evidence that Joseph specifically encouraged his brother William to publish them, but William did publish Letter VII in New York City two days after Joseph’s martyrdom.) They’ve been republished on several other occasions, including in the Millennial Star and the Improvement Era. Parts of Letter I are included in the Pearl of Great Price.

I’m not aware of any other material that Joseph was so directly involved with and that he had reprinted so many times. One indicator of the value he placed on these letters was that he had both his brother Don Carlos and Benjamin Winchester reprint the letters even after Oliver Cowdery had left the Church. He thought they were important for Church members to know and understand.

Yet our modern LDS scholars and educators continue to reject what these letters teach about Moroni’s visit to Joseph and what Oliver and Joseph taught about the Hill Cumorah being in New York.
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If I had Mesomania and I wasn’t able to completely censor Letter VII, I’d try to come up with reasons for people to disbelieve what Joseph and Oliver taught. I’ve discussed some of these reasons before, here:

Lately, I’ve heard the rationale that we should disbelieve Letter VII because it has not been canonized. I know, that sounds like a joke, but it’s a serious claim by Mesomaniacs, so I discussed that one recently as well.

Those eight reasons really aren’t persuasive. So how about this one? How about a claim that Joseph didn’t write the letters, but that it was merely Oliver’s opinion, and Oliver was wrong?

Obviously, it’s a problem for Mesomaniacs to have Joseph Smith repeatedly endorsing the letters, even after Oliver left the Church. Mesomaniacs claim Joseph simply adopted a false tradition that Oliver started, but does any historian really believe that? D&C 28:11 is one of many examples in which Joseph corrected others whose teachings were false.

If we’re going to allow BYU scholars to keep Joseph on a track of adopting Oliver’s false traditions, we need to realize that track is on a slippery slope to oblivion, because Oliver was the only other witness to some of the most foundational events in Church history. 
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As long as we’re taking about tracks, here’s another one to consider.

The Lord designated Oliver Cowdery as a writer for the Church. In addition to being the principal scribe for the Book of Mormon, the Lord told Joseph Smith in 1831, “And let my servant Oliver Cowdery assist him [Phelps], even as I have commanded, in whatsoever place I shall appoint unto him, to copy, and to correct, and select, that all things may be right before me, as it shall be proved by the Spirit through him.” (D&C 57:13).

In fact, the Lord told Phelps that “you shall be ordained to assist my servant Oliver Cowdery to do the work of printing, and of selecting and writing books for schools in this church, that little children also may receive instruction before me as is pleasing unto me.” (D&C 55:4)

That Oliver took this charge seriously is evident from his Valedictory when he concluded his service at the Messenger and Advocate.

Here is a man called by revelation to copy, correct and select things that may be right before the Lord, as directed by the Spirit. He was directed to select and write books for church schools. He was ordained as Assistant President of the Church. He worked closely with Joseph Smith when he wrote the historical letters, including Letter VII. He specified that it was a fact that the final battles of the Jaredites and Nephites took place in the mile-wide valley west of the Hill Cumorah in New York.

And yet, our modern LDS scholars reject what Oliver taught purely because of their own theories about two Cumorahs and Mesoamerica.
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http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865687831/LDS-Church-History-Department-announces-newly-found-fragment-of-original-Book-of-Mormon-manuscript.html

Neilson commented, “When I see fragments of the original Book of Mormon manuscript, I’m reminded that it takes heavenly help and mortal messengers to bring the divine down to earth. This is a collaborative effort … in this case a collaboration between an angel and a fairly young man. It’s a reminder of the marvel that so many early Latter-day Saints discovered and celebrated, that the divine still is present in our lives. … It’s the intersection of the sacred and the profane, the worldly and the spiritual, the divine and the human.”

So far, I’ve had about 200,000 page views, not counting people who read the blogs on https://www.moronisamerica.com/moronis-america-blog/, which aggregates them (but doesn’t update them when I make changes on this blog), or people who read posts and comments on other web pages or Facebook and other social media.

The biggest audience is from the United States, with other countries in descending order:

United States
Russia
Canada
France
Germany
Ukraine
United Kingdom
Australia
Ireland
Brazil

Some posts are more popular in some countries than others. I think the “translate” button has helped a lot. I also think the Russian government’s position on LDS volunteers generated publicity that drove traffic to google, from where it came to my blogs.

Google and Facebook are the main traffic sources, apart from subscribers and shared links.

Readership continues to expand. If you like a particular post, feel free to share it by email, Facebook, Twitter or whatever.

As always, I invite readers to make suggestions, comments, corrections, etc. I often make corrections to my posts, even old ones, to make them as accurate as possible. 

I hope that on this day, when we commemorate Brigham Young’s death, we take another look at something important he taught just two months before he died because he feared it would be forgotten and lost.

I’m writing this post because if our BYU scholars have their way, this will be forgotten and lost to future generations.
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Brigham Young spent the last year of his life in a remarkable effort to organize and clarify the temple ordinances and to reorganize the Priesthood.

An excellent article titled “The Priesthood Reorganization of 1877: Brigham Young’s Last Achievement” starts off by observing this: “Death knocking loudly at his door, President Brigham Young labored restlessly in his last five months of life to reorganize the Church’s government structures.”

“Brigham’s failing health by 1877 made needed priesthood reorderings urgent. That April he confessed, “I feel many times that I could not live an hour longer.” Knowing the twelve would succeed him, he became very anxious to put the church in excellent order organizationally for them.”

In January, Brigham Young was in St. George to work at the temple, which he dedicated on April 6, 1877. On January 9, 1877, baptisms for the dead were performed in a temple for the first time since Nauvoo. On January 11, the first proxy endowments for the dead were performed and children were sealed to couples for the first time. These ordinances had not been performed previously any time in this dispensation.

Often, Brigham was so weak he often had to be carried through the temple.

He commissioned Wilford Woodruff and George Q. Cannon to write down the temple ceremonies for he first time. This was done between April and June 1877.

Next, he reorganized the Priesthood by establishing 7 new stakes. Prior to 1877, there were only 13 stakes in the Church, and six of the Twelve served as Stake Presidents. The Salt Lake Stake presidency and high council presided over other stakes and had 20,000 members with 45 wards. There were Stake Presidents and Bishops who didn’t have counselors, wards without Bishops, and the Priesthood quorums were disorganized.

In 1877, new stake presidencies were called; of sixty presidency members, 53 were new. 140 new wards were established, 100 new Bishops called, and 85 acting bishops were made Bishops.

The article explains: “the 1877 reordering was the single most important priesthood analysis and redirecting since the priesthood restorations of forty eight years earlier.”
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In addition to organizing the Temple and Priesthood, Brigham Young taught essential principles that remain relevant today. In his final sermon on August 19, 1877, he focused on the Sacrament, just as our current leaders have been doing.

“Previous to attending to the business to be presented to the congregation this afternoon, I feel to exhort the Latter-day Saints before me to try to realize the sacredness of the ordinance that is now being administered to them, which was introduced by our Savior, that his disciples might witness to the Father that they were truly his followers.”

In June, he told the Saints something that he was concerned would be lost and forgotten after he died. “I relate this to you, and I want you to understand it. I take this liberty of referring to those things so that they will not be forgotten and lost.”

What was this important topic?

It had to do with the Hill Cumorah.
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Just two months before he died, in the midst of reorganizing the Priesthood and setting in order the Temple ordinances, Brigham Young felt compelled to emphasize the reality of the Hill Cumorah by explaining that Joseph and Oliver and others actually entered Mormon’s depository. Starting on page 38, here, he said:

“I lived right in the country where the plates were found from which the Book of Mormon was translated, and I know a great many things pertaining to that country. I believe I will take the liberty to tell you of another circumstance that will be as marvelous as anything can be. This is an incident in the life of Oliver Cowdery, but he did not take the liberty of telling such things in meeting as I take. I tell these things to you, and I have a motive for doing so. I want to carry them to the ears of my brethren and sisters, and to the children also, that they may grow to an understanding of some things that seem to be entirely hidden from the human family.

Oliver Cowdery went with the Prophet Joseph when he deposited these plates. Joseph did not translate all of the plates; there was a portion of them sealed, which you can learn from the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. When Joseph got the plates, the angel instructed him to carry them back to the hill Cumorah, which he did. Oliver says that when Joseph and Oliver went there, the hill opened, and they walked into a cave, in which there was a large and spacious room. He says he did not think, at the time, whether they had the light of the sun or artificial light; but that it was just as light as day. They laid the plates on a table; it was a large table that stood in the room. Under this table there was a pile of plates as much as two feet high, and there were altogether in this room more plates than probably many wagon loads; they were piled up in the corners and along the walls. The first time they went there the sword of Laban hung upon the wall; but when they went again it had been taken down and laid upon the table across the gold plates; it was unsheathed, and on it was written these words: “This sword will never be sheathed again until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our God and his Christ.”

I tell you this as coming not only from Oliver Cowdery, but others who were familiar with it, and who understood it just as well as we understand coming to this meeting, enjoying the day, and by and by we separate and go away, forgetting most of what is said, but remembering some things. So is it with other circumstances in life. I relate this to you, and I want you to understand it. I take this liberty of referring to those things so that they will not be forgotten and lost. Carlos Smith was a young man of as much veracity as any young man we had, and he was a witness to these things. Samuel Smith saw some things, Hyrum saw a good many things, but Joseph was the leader.

Now, you may think I am unwise in publicly telling these things, thinking perhaps I should preserve them in my own breast; but such is not my mind. I would like the people called Latter-day Saints to understand some little things with regard to the workings and dealings of the Lord with his people here upon the earth.”
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Brigham Young emphasized how important it was to understand Cumorah. He prefaced his remarks by explaining these events took place right there in New York, where he lived.

But because of Mesomania, many LDS scholars and educators claim this was merely a “vision” of a hill in Mexico.

You may think I’m kidding, and I wish I was, but look at what FairMormon says about this:
 https://www.fairmormon.org/answers/Question:_Is_there_a_cave_in_the_Hill_Cumorah_containing_the_Nephite_records%3F.

My favorite part of FairMormon’s answer is this. “If, therefore, the story attributed to Oliver Cowdery (by others) is true, then the visits to the cave perhaps represent visions, perhaps of some far distant hill, not physical events.”

FairMormon and the Conclave generally excel in casting doubt on the Three Witnesses and their contemporaries, including Joseph Smith. You can see how readily and easily they say “If this story is true…” Then, after Brigham Young introduced this account by explaining how he lived in this area of New York, FairMormon says Brigham was either lying or telling about a vision of a hill in Mexico.

Now you see why I deplore FairMormon’s Mesomania and why I hope people don’t go to this site for answers about Cumorah, Book of Mormon geography, and Church history.

Obviously, if Mormon’s depository was in the New York hill, the entire premise for the Mesoamerican and two-Cumorahs theories is false.

Our Mesomania scholars desperately try to explain away what Brigham Young said shortly before he died. They try to explain away what David Whitmer said. They try to explain away what Oliver and Joseph wrote in Letter VII.

As I wrote at the outset, I hope that on this day, when we commemorate Brigham Young’s death, we take another look at what he feared would be forgotten and lost.

Because if our BYU scholars have their way, it will be forgotten and lost to future generations.
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Brigham Young’s final sermons:

June 17, 1877 – Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered at a Special Conference Held at Farmington, for the Purpose of Organizing a Stake of Zion for the County of Davis, on Sunday Afternoon, June 17, 1877
Trying to Be Saints—Treasures of the Everlasting Hills—The Hill Cumorah—Obedience to True Principle the Key to Knowledge—All Enjoyment Comes From God—Organization—Duties of Officers—Final Results

July 19, 1877 – Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Ogden, at a Meeting of the Relief Societies of Weber County, July 19, 1877.
Relief Societies—Talk to Mothers—Improvement Societies—Domestic Matters—Training Children—Home Production—Silk Interests

July 24, 1877 – Address by President Brigham Young, delivered to the Sunday School Children, in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City
Items of History—The Pioneers—Talking to the Children—Peace in Utah—God a Personage of Tabernacle—The Foolish Fashions

August 19, 1877 – Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered at a Special Conference Held in Brigham City, Box Elder County, for the Purpose of Organizing a Stake of Zion in Said County, on Sunday Afternoon, August 19, 1877.
The Lord’s Supper—a Word to Mothers—The Sacrament in Sabbath Schools—History of Some Things—Young Men to Preside—Home Manufactures

August 29, 1877 – Died in Salt Lake City