"Moroni's America" – The North American Setting for the Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon in North America
"Moroni's America" – The North American Setting for the Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon in North America
Any readers of this blog who use twitter ought to follow this user:
Source: About Central America
I often have conversations with other lawyers who greatly respect Oliver Cowdery and what he went through as a witness to the early events of the Church, as the Assistant President of the Church, and later as a humble member who sought no position or recognition.
The topic of Book of Mormon geography arises. Usually they say they believe there were two Cumorahs.
I reply that I’m fine with multiple working hypotheses, but they should at least be based on all the information.
Lawyers (and most other people) always agree with that premise.
Then I explain that for me the issue is simple: we either believe what Oliver taught or we don’t.
Although they are usually fairly well-versed in Church history and the various geography theories, they rarely know what Oliver had taught about Cumorah.
This is such a common experience in my discussions that I have to infer that the M2C citation cartel has successfully suppressed, censored, and eliminated Oliver’s teachings.
Most Latter-day Saints believe what Oliver said.
They know he was the only witness, other than Joseph, to the restoration of the Priesthood, the receipt of temple keys, and to most of the translation of the Book of Mormon. He was an Apostle, the Second Elder, and the Assistant President of the Church.
Nevertheless, certain scholars and their employees and followers have persuaded Church members to disbelieve Oliver when he talked about (i) Cumorah and (ii) the translation of the Book of Mormon.
I posted a chart about this on a page on this blog: http://www.lettervii.com/p/oliver-was-truthful-except.html
I realize Book of Mormon Central, the Interpreter Foundation, and others have employed sophistry to justify their repudiation of what Oliver taught about Cumorah. They likewise dismiss the teachings of subsequent prophets and apostles on the topic, rationalizing that Church leaders were merely speaking as men, that they were naïve and ignorant, and that they were wrong.
And all of this because the New York Cumorah contradicts their M2C theory, which was invented by RLDS scholars Stebbins and Hills in the early 1900s.
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For those who accept what Oliver taught, there is no question about Cumorah. There is no “two-Cumorahs” theory with a false Cumorah in New York and a true Cumorah in Mexico, or Baja, or Panama, or Chile, or Thailand, or Eritrea, or wherever.
Maybe it’s the simplicity of the New York Cumorah that makes it a stumbling block for the credentialed class in the Church.
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It’s always useful to remember what J. Reuben Clark taught:
You do have an interest in matters purely cultural and in matters of purely secular knowledge, but, I repeat again for emphasis, your chief interest, your essential and all but sole duty, is to teach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as that has been revealed in these latter days. You are to teach this gospel, using as your sources and authorities the standard works of the Church and the words of those whom God has called to lead His people in these last days. You are not, whether high or low, to intrude into your work your own peculiar philosophy, no matter what its source or how pleasing or rational it seems to you to be. To do so would be to have as many different churches as we have seminaries—and that is chaos.
https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/j-reuben-clark/the-charted-course-of-the-church-in-education/
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It’s easy to see how, if every Latter-day Saint accepted what Oliver and the others have taught about the New York Cumorah, we would have greater unity in the Church–and less chaos.
But somehow, unity doesn’t seem to be a priority for the M2C scholars who have repudiated these teachings.
Source: Letter VII
From Twitter:
Source: Book of Mormon Concensus
Ever since the May 2020 I’ve wondered why so many chapels we visit around the world still display the anachronous Chichen Itza painting.
(El Castillo, the stepped pyramid in the background, was built by the pre-Columbian Maya civilization between the 8th and 12th centuries AD. I’ve heard of people wondering if Christ visited Mesoamerica twice: once after his resurrection, and once 8-1200 years later.)
The May 2020 letter from the First Presidency set out guidelines, including 22 wonderful paintings approved for display. The letter did not include the Chichen Itza painting.
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/multimedia/file/reverence-for-savior-in-meetinghouses.pdf
The Chichen Itza painting reflects a Mesoamerican setting, although it could arguably reflect a hemispheric model (with the clouds representing North America).
A far better painting now is on display in the Conference Center. Let’s hope it gets added to the list of approved paintings and promptly replaces the Chichen Itza painting.
h/t to Gary Boatwright
https://twitter.com/gboatman12/status/1623906057851654145?s=20&t=RCPScgR08j94sswLIux2Yg
Source: About Central America
Today at breakfast (we’re in Fiji) we sat next to two Australian college students. We had a long conversation about lots of things. Although they now live in Sydney, one was born in South Africa and the other to Russian parents who emigrated to Australia about 20 years ago.
The South African commented that it seems like the world is collapsing with all the problems of the war in Ukraine, the disintegration of South Africa, covid, climate change, etc.
I told her that the world is much better than when I was her age. We had Vietnam, the Cold War, apartheid, the 1973 war in Israel, the oil embargo, etc. The Russian agreed that things had improved substantially in Russia (until the Ukraine war). She’s been to Russia many times to visit family, etc. She’s studying communications and psychology and several times pointed out how what we think is driven by what we’re told.
Her grandmother also emigrated to Australia but she doesn’t speak English well, so they set her up to watch Russian TV over the Internet. Now she strongly favors Putin and the war in Ukraine as a result of decades of Russian propaganda. The student and her parents hate Putin and the war. Her father’s friends in Russia are all having to fight in the war.
They said around 90% of the students at their university are Chinese, because Chinese pay full tuition and basically finance the Australian universities. The Russian had to do a presentation to her classmates, none of whom spoke English well enough to understand her. During covid, the universities lowered admission standards because the Chinese couldn’t come, etc.
Hopefully they left with more optimism for the future. College students (and students at all levels, apparently) are being fed an unending stream of doomsday fears (climate change), woke ideology, and despair for the future.
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This all reminds me of conversations I’ve had with young missionaries. Few if any of them believe Joseph Smith used a seer stone in a hat to produce the Book of Mormon, despite the efforts of LDS intellectuals and apologists to mainstream SITH. Most of them don’t even realize that the whole Mesoamerican setting is based on the “Two Cumorahs” theory, which they think is ridiculous.
Hopefully at some point the Church History Department will stop misleading the Latter-day Saints for their ideological purposes. All Latter-day Saints would benefit by learning what Joseph and Oliver actually taught, along with the evidence that corroborates and supports their teachings.
Time will tell…
Source: Book of Mormon Concensus
From the WSJ:
Mr. Will’s belief in the old “liberal” ideals of free speech and the settling of disputes by compromise has a corollary: He’s suspicious of too much concord. “On policy,” he says, “I’m much more alarmed by the consensus than the discord.”
Source: Book of Mormon Concensus
There have been two principal narratives about Joseph Smith, both supported by historical evidence.
One narrative sees him as an ignorant, uneducated farm boy who was plucked from obscurity to restore the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Another sees him as a clever religious manipulator who composed the Book of Mormon and adopted religious ideas from his surroundings.
People can believe whatever they want, and they can usually find some evidence to confirm their biases.
I find a third narrative more persuasive and better supported by the evidence. In my view, God prepared Joseph Smith for his future role as translator and prophet. His life-threatening leg infection led Joseph to become a young religious seeker. His pursuit made him well-informed and conversant on religious topics, enabling him to become an active translator of the engravings on the plates.
The “religious seeker” narrative not only accommodates all the available historical evidence, but it also addresses most of the anti-Mormon arguments. For example, when critics complain that the Book of Mormon includes anachronistic 19th century terminology and worldviews, the “religious seeker” narrative responds that as an active translator, Joseph necessarily used his own vocabulary and worldview to render the ancient text into English.
This example illustrates one of the problems with SITH (the stone-in-the-hat narrative).
Source: About Central America
Comments from D. Todd Christofferson for World Interfaith Harmony Week.
It’s World Interfaith Harmony Week, and I’ve been reflecting on the positive contributions that people of faith make in society. I hope that no matter what faith you choose to follow, you will be fully involved and strengthen those around you.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CoImiYhPk3n/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Source: Book of Mormon Concensus
Although we’re staying on the South Island, the big news from New Zealand is the flooding in Auckland and other parts of the North Island. Just Serve is organizing assitance.
https://news-nz.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/auckland-floods-how-to-help
Other news involves the rededication of the Hamilton temple in October.
We attended a delightful ward here in Dunedin last Sunday. They had two confirmations of new adult converts. The missionaries told us these were the first such baptisms in that ward in many years. The ward also had “Soup Sunday” after church during which everyone shared a lunch of soup and bread. Just an overall awesome experience.
The chapel houses two wards. It’s on a hillside overlooking the city.
The Dunedin stake was created in April 2016 and covers the southern part of the South Island. The Dunedin District had been created back in 1892.
In NZ overall, the average membership per unit is 508, which includes about 177 wards and 51 branches. The ward we attended had about 100 people in attendance, and the missionaries told us this was higher than usual because of the confirmations. We’ve attended other branches here in NZ with fewer than 20 members, which gives us an idea of the activity rates.
There are 6 wards and at least 2 branches in the stake. Here are photos of the branch in Queenstown.
Source: Book of Mormon Concensus
My co-author, Jim Lucas, did a podcast interview on Mormonland last week. He discussed our new book titled By Means of the Urim and Thummim: Restoring translation to the restoration.
Link:
Mormonland is available on podcasts everywhere.
The official release of the book will be later in February, but it is available on Kindle now, here:
https://www.amazon.com/Means-Urim-Thummim-Translation-Restoration-ebook/dp/B0BSWWNJ3H
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BTW, we’re traveling a lot so I’m not posting very often, but lots of cool things are happening.
Source: About Central America
