Author: Jonathan Neville

Recently I heard a new complaint. Some Mesoamerican supporter claims that I’m “ignorant of the relevant literature.”

I wonder how widespread that belief is. Obviously, it’s a form of cognitive dissonance; i.e., the person believes that I must not be familiar with the “relevant literature” because I don’t agree with his/her views on the topic. IOW, I would be convinced by the “relevant literature” because he/she is convinced by it.

That’s a classic logical fallacy, but it’s not uncommon. It’s similar to the way missionaries can’t understand how anyone could read the Book of Mormon and not be convinced. Or how my Muslim friends can’t understand how people can read the Koran and not become Muslim. Or how Democrats can’t understand Republicans and vice versa.

These differences are not due solely to ignorance of what the other side deems “relevant literature,” although certainly, that may be an important cause for disagreement.

But it’s not the issue with respect to Book of Mormon geography.

Anyone who thinks I’m “ignorant of the relevant literature” should let me know, specifically, what he/she thinks I have not read.
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The first question is, what is “relevant?” 

I have been frankly astonished in the last two years at how ignorant Mesoamerican proponents are of a simple document in Church history: Oliver Cowdery’s Letter VII. Joseph Smith helped write it, had it copied into his personal history, and had it republished so every member of the Church in his day could read and understand it. Letter VII unequivocally declares, specifically as a fact, that the final battles of the Nephites and Jaredites took place in the mile-wide valley west of the Hill Cumorah in New York and that Mormon’s records repository was located there.

Letter VII is the most clear and authoritative statement we have about Book of Mormon geography. It was accepted by all of Joseph’s contemporaries and its teachings have been repeated multiple times in General Conference, including by members of the First Presidency.

Yet today, if you ask a Mesoamerican supporter about Letter VII, you’ll get a blank stare. Actually, you’ll get a blank stare if you ask most Church members, but the Mesoamerican supporters hold themselves out to be better informed and more sophisticated, so their ignorance of Letter VII is inexcusable.

Except, it’s not really inexcusable from the Mesomania perspective.

It’s intentional.

For a Mesoamerican supporter, Letter VII is not relevant. That’s why you’ll never find it in their literature.

Why?

Because it obliterates both the “two-Cumorahs” and the “limited geography Mesoamerican” theories.

Mesomania scholars and educators say Letter VII is not relevant because Joseph and Oliver were ignorant speculators who misled the Church by adopting a false tradition that Cumorah (the Cumorah of Mormon 6:6) was in New York.

Just like that, they explain it away.

Nothing to see here, folks. Move along.

Actually, the Mesomania scholars and educators are doing everything possible to cast doubt on Letter VII. I’ve addressed seven of their arguments on another blog, here: http://www.lettervii.com/2017/01/why-some-people-reject-letter-vii.html

I invite anyone interested in the topic to read Letter VII in its historical context, along with the corroborating statements by every prophet and apostle who has commented on Cumorah, and then decide whether you want to accept the New York Cumorah or accept the Mesomania dogma that Joseph and Oliver were ignorant speculators who misled the Church.
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Some people don’t believe that LDS scholars and educators have suppressed Letter VII. I’d be very interested in any publication or presentation by a Mesoamerican proponent that quotes from Letter VII and analyzes it any differently from the standard claim that Joseph and Oliver were ignorant speculators who misled the Church.

There is really no alternative for the Mesoamerican proponents. That’s why I adapted a Dilbert cartoon that summarizes the psychology involved:

Mesomania scholars and educators encounter Letter VII

One good example is the seminal book, In Search of Cumorah by David A. Palmer, which is frequently cited by the citation cartel. Even though his book purports to be about Cumorah, he doesn’t even mention Letter VII by name, let alone quote it for readers (although he does put it in a footnote as part of his claim that Oliver Cowdery first labeled the hill as Cumorah in 1835). Palmer also wrote the “Cumorah” entry in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, which, of course, also censors Letter VII. It was this article that was plagiarized for an alleged fax from the “office of the First Presidency” that is often cited by Mesoamerican proponents.

Think about this for a moment. Because of Mesomania, the article on “Cumorah” in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism does not even mention that Oliver Cowdery, while Assistant President of the Church, stated it was a fact that the final battles of the Nephites and Jaredites took place in the valley west of the Hill Cumorah in New York, and that Mormon’s repository (Mormon 6:6) was in that same hill. The article doesn’t mention that Oliver himself had visited that repository multiple times, according to Brigham Young and others. This is raw censorship, made worse by the promotion instead of the author’s own theories and his own book.

Although Letter VII was republished in the Messenger and Advocate, the Gospel Reflector, the Times and Seasons, the Millennial Star, and the Improvement Era, it has never been published in the Ensign. Instead, the Ensign has published plenty of Mesoamerican-promoting articles, demonstrating the editorial posture of that magazine.

If not for the Joseph Smith Papers, which had to publish Letter VII only because Joseph had it copied into his personal history, Letter VII would not be available to most members of the Church today. Even then, it’s fairly obscure unless you know what you’re looking for.

Think of this. Most members of the Church might think reading the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, the Ensign, and the Church manuals would give them a solid background in Church history. But Letter VII has been completely censored from these publications.

It can’t be overemphasized that Joseph thought this was important enough to have it republished multiple times so everyone would be familiar with it.

Now, no one knows about it.

Outside of the LDS scholars and educators who know about Letter VII but suppress it, the only Church members who know about Letter VII are those who have read my blogs or my little book or some of the other materials by supporters of the North American geography.

Another good example of censorship is Mark Allen Wright’s otherwise excellent article, published in the Interpreter and elsewhere, titled “Heartland as Hinterland: The Mesoamerican Core and North American Periphery of Book of Mormon Geography.” He writes, “The best available evidence for the Book of Mormon continues to support a limited Mesoamerican model…. I introduce the Hinterland Hypothesis and argue that it can harmonize the Mesoamerican evidence for the Book of Mormon with Joseph Smith’s statements concerning Nephite and Lamanite material culture in North America.” He discusses Zelph and the plains of the Nephites, and while I think his approach is ineffective for several reasons, at least he addresses these issues.

Of course, he never once mentions Letter VII.
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From the Mesoamerican perspective, Letter VII and other material that support the North American setting for the Book of Mormon are ignored because they are deemed “not relevant.” That’s why Book of Mormon Central, which raised a lot of money on the initial premise that they would be a central repository for all Book of Mormon related research, instead refuses to include anything that does not promote their Mesoamerican ideology.

Actually, they have to do this; their corporate owner, BMAF, has the primary goal “to increase understanding of the Book of Mormon as an ancient Mesoamerican codex.”  Obviously, Letter VII would undermine that corporate goal.

To its credit, Book of Mormon Central did upload an early first edition of my little book on Letter VII, which I gave them royalty-free to distribute. But then they uploaded attack articles without giving me a chance to respond, which is exactly how the entire citation cartel has operated for years.

When a Mesoamerican supporter claims I am “ignorant of the relevant literature,” the term “relevant” always refers to “the literature that supports the Mesoamerican theory.”

Anything that contradicts their theories is not considered relevant.

The Mesomania approach would be laughable if only this ideology hadn’t become the “consensus” among LDS scholars and educators.
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The second question is, what “relevant literature” have I read?

In my college classes, I tell students not to plagiarize because I’ve read the entire Internet and I will recognize anything they copy. It’s a joke, of course, but in the context of Book of Mormon geography, I’ve been reading, studying, listening and attending for decades.

I was raised with the Arnold Friberg paintings, the old CES materials about Ancient America that focused on Central and South America, etc. I still have my old Book of Mormon (pre-1981) that contains not just the photos of the real Cumorah in New York, but photos of artifacts and locations in Central and South America. We used to watch Ancient America Speaks, which you can see on youtube now in English and Spanish.

At BYU, I took a class from Ray Matheny, who appears in the film, as well as John Sorenson and others. Everyone I knew accepted the Mesoamerican theory, especially after the Ensign published Sorenson’s articles in 1984.

Until FARMS was dissolved, I used to read all the FARMS newsletters and publications. I have most if not all of the issues of BYU Studies for the last couple of decades, and I subscribe to the digital version. I’ve read the Interpreter, Meridian Magazine, BMAF, FairMormon, Book of Mormon Central, and many of the related blogs. That’s how I came to realize it’s all a big citation cartel; i.e., the same people quoting one another (and themselves) over and over.

I’ve read all of Sorenson’s books and articles that I’m aware of. Same with the writings of other Mesomania supporters. Same with detractors, who have made some good points, such as the CES Letter and Earl Wunderli’s An Imperfect Book that focus on what I consider the false tradition of Mesomania (as do most critics, including former, non- and anti-Mormon authors).

Early on, I commented on specific articles, but people got offended. I’m not trying to offend anyone. I just want people to consider all the evidence, not just the evidence that Mesomania scholars and educators deem “relevant.” I made my points, so I haven’t done these reviews for a while.

Not that there is a lack of material.

I’ve signed a “comity” agreement which provided that I not name specific individuals, and I don’t want to implicate or offend anyone. (Sorenson didn’t sign it, and anyway it’s difficult to discuss the issue without mentioning him. And I acknowledged his positive influence in Moroni’s America.)

A few of the books I used in writing The Lost City of Zarahemla

Let’s just say that any book or article that promotes the Mesoamerican theory and has been cited by the citation cartel is probably in my library, physical or digital, but if not, I’ve read it on loan or online.

Let me repeat: If anyone can think of one they don’t think I’ve read, let me know. Maybe I have overlooked one, and if so, I’d like to know about it.

I have Mesoamerican books that I’ve annotated quite extensively but have never published my comments because we’re all trying to get along and I signed the comity agreement.

Besides, I don’t think beating a dead horse tapir makes sense.
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I’ll finish this post by recognizing the same logical fallacy that I addressed above; i.e., I don’t expect everyone who reads Letter VII to be convinced that Cumorah is in New York.

Plenty of people have read Letter VII and still think Joseph and Oliver were ignorant speculators who misled the Church.

If that’s your opinion, that’s fine with me.

But don’t assume you know everything just because you’ve been indoctrinated your entire life by Mesomania and then reached out to read a few passages from Letter VII, accompanied by all the anti-Letter VII material published by the citation cartel.

I think the vast majority of LDS people will accept Letter VII when they read it, especially when they read it in context. It’s even more persuasive when we study the relevant archaeology, anthropology, geology, geography, etc.

And as always, I welcome your input.

Here’s the graphic. I’ll explain it below.

Converts per 1,000 members. Graph by David Allan.

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Most people know that much of the growth of the Church now is in Africa; in fact, nearly 10% of convert baptisms in the Church in 2015 were in the Africa West Area alone (24,409 converts out of 261,862 total throughout the Church).

I think the numbers are higher than 10% because so many “convert” baptisms in the U.S. are children baptized when they are older than 8, as well as part-member families, which legitimately count, but are not “converts” in the sense that we usually think; i.e., people coming from another religious tradition.

The Africa West Area consists of Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria, where total Church membership is only around 270,000. This means the Africa West Area had a conversion rate of about 90 converts per 1,000 members.

Overall in the Church, the conversion rate is about 16 per 1,000 members. (261,862/15,900,000)

Other areas in Africa have comparable conversion rates to the Africa West Area. In 2016, 100 stakes were created. 40 were in the U.S., 21 in Africa, 7 in Central America, and 11 in South America. 16 of the 30 new districts were also in Africa. These statistics show that because Africa has relatively few members, the conversion rate per 1,000 members is far higher than elsewhere in the world, looking at regions or areas.

In 2017, 33 new stakes have been created, with a projection of 20 more to be created. 26 are in Africa, 8 are in Central America, 4 in the Philippines, 11 in the U.S., 2 in South America, 1 in Canada, which reflects relative growth in those areas.

This means the conversion rate outside of Africa is well below 16/1,000.

Here’s a graphic depicting the trends. Note that converts in Africa didn’t increase significantly until around the year 2000. The graphic would depict a much steeper decline if not for Africa.

Chart prepared by David Allan

It would be interesting to see this chart on a regional or Area basis, but that information is not publicly available. No doubt, there is considerable variation among the various Areas. You can read about trends and statistics here: http://cumorah.com/

The statistics on converts per missionary reflect similar trends.

# conversions per missionary from https://www.timesandseasons.org/index.php/2016/04/converts-per-missionary/

# convert baptisms from https://www.timesandseasons.org/index.php/2016/04/converts-per-missionary/

We can think of as many explanations for these trends as we want, and every ward, stake and Area has unique circumstances, but I’d like to point to an interesting development. Of course, correlation is not causation, but in this case, I think there are significant elements of causation.

The reason: Mesomania requires you to reject the most obvious and clear data on the question of Book of Mormon geography.
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If you’re still evaluating alternative models of Book of Mormon geography, you might be persuaded by the idea that one model or another will do “whatever the data says.”

Here’s a Dilbert cartoon that explains what Mesomania scholars and educators really mean when they say “We’ll do whatever the data says.”

http://dilbert.com/strip/2017-07-10

Don’t forget that our Mesoamerican friends have already made up their minds–their #1 goal has nothing to do with following the evidence.

Instead, they say, “Our goals are (1) to increase understanding of the Book of Mormon as an ancient Mesoamerican codex.” Such a goal is entirely inconsistent with following the evidence.

Beyond that problem, the question is, what data?

The only specific, detailed, and unambiguous declaration about Book of Mormon geography that I know of is Letter VII. Oliver Cowdery, with Joseph’s assistance and subsequent endorsement multiple times, made three major points.

1. The final battles of the Nephites and the Jaredites took place in the mile-wide valley west of the Hill Cumorah in New York.

2. Mormon put all of the original records in the repository in the New York Hill Cumorah.

3. Mormon gave his son Moroni only his (Mormon’s) abridgment of the original records.

Through Letter VII, Joseph and Oliver established that there is one Hill Cumorah, that it is in New York, that Mormon’s repository was there, and that Joseph Smith actually translated two separate sets of plates (because Moroni did not have the plates of Nephi to put in his stone box).

Who accepts this data?

Only those who accept the New York Cumorah.

IOW, proponents of Baja, Panama, Chile, Mesoamerica, Eritrea, Sri Lanka, and everywhere else don’t accept this data.

How is this possible, you wonder?

Easy. They don’t consider Letter VII “data” because it was just the work of Joseph and Oliver, two men whom, they insist, never had a revelation about Cumorah. Instead, they claim Joseph and Oliver were ignorant speculators who misled the Church about the New York Cumorah.

Those of us who accept Joseph and Oliver note that these two men had personal experience inside Mormon’s repository in the Hill Cumorah in New York. We find it irresponsible to reject their unambiguous teaching about Cumorah just because, in the eyes of the scholars, the experiences Joseph and Oliver had inside the repository cannot have been real because it contradicts their theories.

Why do the scholars reject this data?

Purely because it contradicts their Mesoamerican and two-Cumorahs theories.

They seek to accomplish their goal of by suppressing and rejecting any data that contradicts it.

This is no way to reach a consensus.

Some LDS scholars and educators are still trying to persuade people that the “real” Cumorah is in Mexico. They advocate the “two-Cumorahs” and “Mesoamerican” theories that claim Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were ignorant speculators who misled the Church with a false tradition about Cumorah being in New York.

[Some people don’t believe our LDS scholars and educators teach these things, but anyone who teaches the limited Mesoamerican geography models teaches exactly what I wrote in the preceding paragraph. You’ll see it in BYU Studies, the Interpreter, Mesomania Meridian Magazine, FairMormon, the old FARMS stuff, everything published by the Maxwell Institute, BMAF, Book of Mormon Central (America), etc.]

Those who have read Letter VII are inoculated against these theories. That’s why you won’t see Letter VII being taught at BYU, CES, or in anything published by the citation cartel.*

Here’s a simple example.

Orson Pratt, Brigham Young, Wilford Woodruff, Heber C. Kimball and others explained that Mormon’s repository (Mormon 6:6) was in the same Hill Cumorah in New York from which Joseph obtained the plates from Moroni. There were two departments in the hill. Moroni’s stone box was in one location, while the repository of Nephite records was in another location. I’ve provided the references plenty of times.

Letter VII explained this first, though.

Mormon, “by divine appointment, abridged from those records, in his own style and language, a short account of the more important and prominent items, from the days of Lehi to his own time, after which he deposited, as he says, on the 529th page, all the records in this same hill, Cumorah and after gave his small record to his son Moroni, who, as appears from the same, finished, after witnessing the extinction of his people as a nation.”

Here’s the link from Joseph  Smith’s own history: http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1834-1836/91
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Bonus clue. Those who are familiar with the two sets of plates scenario will recognize that Oliver is telling us about that here as well. Oliver says Mormon gave “his small record” to Moroni. Mormon’s “small record” consisted of the abridgment, “in his own style and language.” Mormon deposited all of the original records in the hill Cumorah in New York. The abridged records are the ones Joseph took to Harmony, where he translated them all (except the sealed portion), through the last leaf (the Title Page).

But in D&C 10, the Lord tells Joseph he has to translated the plates of Nephi to replace the lost 116 pages.

The plates of Nephi were not abridged. They were original records. Consequently, it is not only the title page and all the other evidence that informs us that Joseph did not have the plates of Nephi in Harmony, but here, Oliver tells us the same thing.

Mormon did not give any original plates to Moroni.

Joseph did not get the plates of Nephi from Moroni’s stone box. He never had them in Harmony. He didn’t get them until he arrived in Fayette.

We just have to pay close attention to understand what Oliver is saying, but it’s as clear as words can be.
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*The sole exception of which I am aware is Book of Mormon Central, which, to their credit, did put the first edition of my short book titled Letter VII: Oliver Cowdery’s Message to the World about the Hill Cumorah, into their database. But then they added critical articles without giving me a chance to respond or even including my responses that they know about. Unsuspecting readers who go to Book of Mormon Central think they are getting both sides of the issue of Letter VII, but instead they are getting a false, incomplete presentation of the issues with the editorial thumb firmly on the Mesomania side of the scale.

For this reason, I no longer even try to work with Book of Mormon Central. They are unabashed advocates of the two-Cumorahs and Mesoamerican theories, exactly as I described in the first paragraph. 

In case Google updates the satellite photo, here it is:

 In the view below, you get some additional ground-level photos of two Cumorahs!

Of course, our favorite location for Cumorah doesn’t show up on Google Earth yet. It never will, actually, because it’s the mythical map being taught to every new BYU student, shown at the left in close-up. This is the map invented as a response to the official policy at BYU to stop teaching the two-Cumorahs and Mesoamerican theories. The staff simply used the traditional Mesomania interpretations of the text and used actual North and South instead of the Sorenson translation in which North means West, etc. Then they avoided the many problems presented by variations of the Mesomania models by making their own assumptions and creating a video-game version of the imaginary Book of Mormon lands.