Author: Jonathan Neville

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Mormons Open New Century of their Faith at Cumorah

On September 22, 1923, President Heber J. Grant celebrated the first 100 years since Joseph Smith’s first vision by assembling atop “Mount Cumorah” with his counselor Joseph Fielding Smith and Elder James E. Talmage and President Rudger Claweson of the Twelve, and 500 Latter-day Saints. A Rochester paper, the Democrat and Chronicle, noted the occasion.

“Proudly the purple, gold and blue of ‘Cumorah-Ramah,’ banner of the Mormon belief, was raised beside the Red, White and Blue of the National colors, each signifying a never-ending struggle for liberty of thought and speech, for in the 100 years since Joseph Smith, Jr., received his vision, the history of Mormonism is one of oppression from many sources.”

I find it quite interesting that President Grant used the banner “Cumorah-Ramah.” This is a specific designation, tying the hill in New York to the Jaredite record. I posted the full page illustrated article, published on October 7, 1823, below.
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The St. Louis Star and Times and other newspapers reported on the anniversary with a syndicated piece.
“One hundred years ago Joseph Smith, prophet, founded the “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.” He received from heaven gold plates, mysteriously engraved, and from them, divinely guided, translated the book of Mormon.
“At least, that’s his story. His followers say it should not be questioned by Christians that accept a similar story from Moses, about the tablets of the law.
“Those that wisely respect all religions, denying none, are interested especially in the changes that hve come over Mormonism, still full of vitality after 100 years. Joseph Smith made a particular virtue of many wives for one man–so did wise King Solomon, by the way.
“Modern Mormonism, rallying under the purple, blue and gold banner, ‘Cumorah-Ramah,’ says ‘One wife is enough.’ That does not mean repudiating Joseph Smith. Many good Christians tone down Jonah and the whale and, knowing that the earth is round, do not insist that the four angels actually stood at the four corners of the earth. All life is a compromise.”
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Here is the full-page ad, with details.

Source: Letter VII

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Why some people reject Letter VII

Since I published my commentary on Letter VII (Letter VII: Oliver Cowdery’s Message to the World about the Hill Cumorah, here), there have been several efforts to persuade members of the Church to disbelieve what Oliver Cowdery wrote about the Hill Cumorah being in New York.

Before I get to the objections, consider these aspects of Oliver’s letters. Part of Letter I is included in the Pearl of Great Price. Oliver’s letters give us the first quotations of what Moroni told Joseph. They give us the first account of John the Baptist conferring the Priesthood. They give us the first detailed accounts of most of what happened when Joseph found the plates. They were written with Joseph’s assistance and reproduced multiple times in Joseph’s day at his personal direction. Until I started encouraging people to read Letter VII, the main objection to these letters was from anti-Mormons who said Joseph and Oliver made up everything so we shouldn’t believe these letters. Now, we have LDS scholars and educators telling us not to believe them, all because of the New York Cumorah statements in Letter VII.

The Objections to Letter VII.

1. The first objection is that Joseph and Oliver never had a revelation about the Hill Cumorah. This one relies on a couple of logical fallacies, but at its heart is the idea that Joseph and Oliver were merely speculating about the location of Cumorah, that they were wrong, and that they thereby misled the Church for a century, so much so that every one of their contemporaries, including all of Joseph’s successors as Presidents of the Church in the 19th century at least, were misled by Letter VII. I don’t find that persuasive in the least. But the logical fallacies show why the argument doesn’t hold up.

First is the self-evident fact that we don’t have records of everything Joseph and Oliver said and did. The most we can say is that we do not have a record of a specific revelation that the Cumorah of Mormon 6:6 (the site of the Nephite records repository) was in New York. But because we don’t have a record doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. We do have Letter VII; what we don’t have is a separate document specifically explaining the factual background for what Oliver wrote about Cumorah.

Second, even better than a revelation is personal experience. For example, Joseph didn’t dictate a revelation that God and Christ were two separate beings; he had a personal experience with them. Joseph and Oliver didn’t record a revelation about the restoration of the Aaronic priesthood by John the Baptist; they related a personal experience with him. In the same way, they didn’t record a revelation about the Nephite repository in the New York Hill Cumorah; they related personal experiences with that repository. (On this point, those who reject Letter VII say Brigham Young and the others who related this account are not trustworthy, or are reporting a vision of a hill somewhere in Mexico. Think of those two explanations a moment. Brigham Young is now making stuff up? Or Oliver related a vision of a hill in Mexico that he visited three times, with physical artifacts described in terms of how many men it would take to carry them or what kinds of wagons?)

2. The next objection is that it is impossible to have a cave or room in the New York Hill Cumorah because it is a glacial moraine; i.e., a pile of rocks. It may be unlikely to have a natural cave there, but when you read the accounts of the repository, several terms are used, not just “cave.” It was a space inside the hill that had a rock shelf, a table, and plates piled everywhere. There is no reason why a man-made room could not be built into the hill Cumorah. There is the one we have photos of, for one thing. Plus, when they dug the foundation for the Moroni monument, they broke into a room that they filled with cement. So again, reality trumps theory. [Even if you don’t want to believe these modern accounts, there is no physical reason why Mormon could not have built a room in the New York hill.]

3. Another objection is that Letter VII has not been quoted in General Conference. I haven’t taken the time to verify that, but I’ve pointed out on this blog that as recently as 1975, President Romney of the First Presidency, in General Conference, spoke about Cumorah (in New York) as the scene of the final battles. Three years later, Elder Petersen of the Quorum of the Twelve did likewise. So the follow-up objection is that none of the current members of the Twelve and none of the current First Presidency have quoted Letter VII in General Conference, and no Presidents of the Church have done so in General Conference while they were President. (Being President of the Quorum of the Twelve doesn’t count, if you’re Joseph Fielding Smith; you have to restate it a third time during the 18 months you are actually President of the Church for you to be credible and reliable, even though you quoted it specifically as a 20-year Apostle and Church Historian, and repeated it 20 years later as President of the Quorum of the Twelve, because those two times don’t count.) Therefore, we can’t rely on Letter VII or any prior statements about Cumorah being in New York. This is a fascinating objection. It would mean that we should not be reading, let alone relying on, anything said in General Conference prior to the current Q12 and 1P, except for talks given by Presidents of the Church. No more Neal A. Maxwell. No more J. Reuben Clark. No more… well, you get the idea. If people want to take that position, fine. But I can’t make sense of it. This is not a one-off oddball theory, but a frequently published and discussed teaching that originated with Oliver Cowdery, at least, and part of the set of letters specifically endorsed by Joseph Smith.

4. Another objection is that there was a typo in Letter III that Oliver corrected in Letter IV. In Letter III, Oliver had referred to Joseph’s age as being in the 15th year. In Letter IV, he wrote, “You will recollect that I mentioned the time of a religious excitement, in Palmyra and vicinity to have been in the 15th year of our brother J. Smith Jr’s, age-that was an error in the type-it should have been in the 17th.-“

It’s difficult to imagine how correcting a typo in one letter means we should disregard the letter that contained the typo, let alone all the rest of the letters. If anything, the correction of this typo shows Oliver’s attention to detail and his desire to be as accurate as possible.

Besides, when Winchester reprinted the letters in the Gospel Reflector, he corrected the obvious typo in Letter III and omitted Oliver’s reference to the correction in Letter IV. Don Carlos Smith, who republished the letters in the Times and Seasons in 1840-41, changed Letter III to read “the thirteenth year” but left the correction in Letter IV the same as I’ve shown above, an odd detail for sure. The Prophet followed the Winchester versions of both Letter III (June 1, 1844) and Letter IV (June 8, 1844).

Related to this objection is the alleged problem that Oliver seemed to be referring to the circumstances leading up to the First Vision when he was actually describing the circumstances of Moroni’s visit, and that Oliver gave a different reason for Martin Harris’ visit to New York with the so-called Anthon Transcript.

In the first place, Joseph’s well-known accounts of the circumstances leading up to the First Vision postdated these letters. (He did write a preliminary version in 1832 that barely touches on the circumstances.) IOW, this is the earliest account of those circumstances. In the second place, Oliver learned about these circumstances from Joseph; if there are mistakes, they can hardly be attributed to Oliver who expressly relied on what Joseph told him (and on other documents we don’t have today). Historians who claim the dating is wrong rely on an incomplete record anyway; Dr. Lamb may have made unrecorded visits to the area.

Oliver was aware of the difference between fact and conjecture, as he explained throughout the letters. He was also aware of the difficulty of relating details exactly.

In Letter VI, Oliver wrote, “I may have missed in arrangement in some instances, but the principle is preserved, and you will be able to bring forward abundance of corroborating scripture upon the subject of the gospel and of the gathering. You are aware of the fact, that to give a minute rehearsal of a lengthy interview with a heavenly messenger, is very difficult, unless one is assisted immediately with the gift of inspiration.” IOW, Oliver was relying on Joseph’s memory, or possibly documents we don’t have now (as Oliver claimed he did).

Some parts of these letters involve events that occurred before Oliver got involved, for which he had to rely on what Joseph told him. But the parts of the letters that relate Oliver’s own experiences he characterizes as fact. This includes the Letter VII descriptions of Cumorah, which Oliver knew from his own experience was in New York, as related by Brigham Young.

5. Yet another objection is that you can’t resolve Book of Mormon geography by referring to a single anecdote in Church history. That is axiomatic, and no one I know of claims otherwise, certainly not me. However, an extensive, detailed discussion of the final battles at Cumorah is hardly an anecdote. This is an explicit statement, officially republished many times for nearly 100 years. Second, I don’t think Letter VII resolves anything because people are free to believe it or not. Third, Letter VII only establishes the New York location of Cumorah for those who trust Oliver (and Joseph, who helped write it and endorsed it multiple times). It says nothing about a limited or hemispheric geography. People are still free to believe whatever they want about geography.

6. Another objection is that Joseph let mistakes go without correcting them, such as the statement in the April 15, 1842 Times and Seasons that it was Nephi instead of Moroni who visited Joseph Smith. Maybe Joseph didn’t care about the error, or maybe he didn’t notice it. (I think this is evidence that Joseph wasn’t editing the Times and Seasons by this point, so it has nothing to do with his oversight.) There was another error in the Book of Commandments regarding a date on one of the revelations that Joseph supposedly reviewed but didn’t bother to change. Again, maybe he didn’t care about such details, or maybe he didn’t notice, or maybe he forgot the original date. But those one-word details hardly compare with Letter VII’s extensive and detailed description of the Hill Cumorah and the final battles, especially when Joseph specifically endorsed the letter multiple times and mentioned Cumorah in D&C 128 in connection with other events that took place in New York.

7. An objection related to the first one is that Joseph adopted a false tradition started by unknown persons at an early date. True, there were things that Joseph believed at one time that he later changed his mind about, such as phrenology. He didn’t object to smoking tobacco until he received the Word of Wisdom. He may have given bad medical advice. But these are peripheral matters compared with the location of Cumorah, and there are no accounts of him changing his views on Cumorah. Nor did any of his contemporaries, all the way through the 1879 footnotes in the Book of Mormon. In Feb. 1844, Oliver’s letters were published as a pamphlet in England. Later that year they were published in New York in The Prophet. There is no hint of opposition by Joseph to the contents of Letter VII or the other letters; instead, portions of Letter I were canonized in the Pearl of Great Price. It’s true that Letter VII was not canonized, but does that make it a false tradition? In my view, it does not. We have lesson manuals full of the teachings of Joseph Smith that were never canonized.

8. The final objection I’ll address here is the idea that maybe this was Oliver’s statement on his own, without input from Joseph. People forget that Oliver was the Assistant President of the Church when he wrote Letter VII. I’ve gone through his qualifications before. A few months after writing Letter VII, he and Joseph received the Priesthood keys from Moses, Elias and Elijah in the Kirtland temple, along with the visitation of the Lord Himself. Even assuming Joseph didn’t tell Oliver to write about Cumorah, Oliver is independently a credible, reliable and personal witness of these events, which is why Brigham Young and others relied on what he said about the repository. Not to mention, we all rely on Oliver’s credibility and reliability as one of the Three Witnesses (and the translation, and John the Baptist, Peter, James and John, and so much more). When people choose to single out Letter VII as Oliver’s one big falsehood, a statement of fact that was not actually a fact, and they do so purely because they disagree with Oliver, I don’t find that a persuasive argument.
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To review: there are two basic reasons to reject what Oliver Cowdery wrote about Cumorah in Letter VII.

First is the basic anti-Mormon reason, that Oliver made the whole thing up, conspiring with Joseph to deceive people, so everything in his letters is false.

Second is the position of those who object to Letter VII because they object to the New York Cumorah because they believe a theory of Book of Mormon geography that is inconsistent with the New York Cumorah; i.e., they disagree with what Oliver wrote, and isolate the Cumorah issue as the one falsehood he wrote because it contradicts what they prefer to believe about Cumorah.

Of course, people can believe whatever they want. I’m perfectly fine with that. I just want to clarify the issues for those who read Letter VII so people can make informed decisions about whether or not to accept what Oliver wrote.

When the only reason a person rejects Letter VII is because he/she disagrees with Oliver Cowdery’s statement about Cumorah, I find that puzzling to say the least.

For me, it’s an easy choice.

On one hand, we have people living in the 21st century who think they know more about Cumorah, the plates, and all the circumstances of the translation and interaction with angels in New York than Oliver did because of what they’ve read.

On the other hand, we have Oliver, who was there when Joseph translated, who handled the plates, who saw the angels, who had been in the repository of Nephite records in the hill in New York, and who collaborated with Joseph on these letters.  I think I’ll go with that guy.

Source: Letter VII

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When the Church purchased Cumorah

Letter VII featured prominently when the Church purchased the Hill Cumorah. Here’s an example from the Deseret News. When Elder Roberts wrote this article, he cited some evidence for the credibility and reliability of the letters, but apparently people didn’t know that Joseph had instructed his scribes to copy Oliver’s letters, including Letter VII, into his personal history as part of his life story, or that Joseph had given specific permission to Benjamin Winchester to publish these letters in the Gospel Reflector. Of course, as we’ve seen, Joseph’s brothers Don Carlos and William both republished the letters in their respective newspapers, the Times and Seasons in Nauvoo and The Prophet in New York.

B. H. Roberts The Deseret News, 3 March 1928
     
           Ramah-Cumorah in the Land of Ripliancum: A Jaredite-Nephite Historical Landmark Identified with Western New York and the Region of the Great Lakes,” Written for the Deseret News by B. H. Roberts.
           Map Shows Western New York: The Region of the Land of Cumorah and of Ramah; the Land of “Ripliancum,” Large Waters,–To Exceed All.” Below is a Photograph Reproduction of the Hill Cumorah with Its Landscape Foreground, and the Statue of the Angel Moroni on the East Center Tower of the Salt Lake Temple.
           The recent purchase of the Hill Cumorah by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints awakens wide spread interest in the sacred depository of the record called the Book of Mormon. . . .
           First as to “Ramah,” Moroni, speaking of the approaching great battle in the civil war among the Jaredites and the gathering together of the hosts of that nation under the leadership of Shule and Coriantumr respectively: “And it came to pass that the army of Coriantumr did pitch their tents by the hill Ramah, and it was that same hill where my father Mormon did hide up the records unto the Lord which were sacred.” (Ether Chap. 15) It seems in the battles preceding this about the Hill Ramah where Mormon had hidden the records that the Jaredite armies had been maneuvering northward about the waters called by them–the Jaredites–“Ripliancum, which by interpretation is large, or to exceed all.” Then after this region of the large waters, which exceed all, Coriantumr and his forces retreated southward until they came to this Hill Ramah, where they made their last stand and around which the Jaredites perished early in the fifth century B.C. This is about all that is said of Ramah in the record of the Jaredites.
           Now we take up “Cumorah” and find much made of it in the sixth chapter of the Book of Mormon . . . It is to be noted that this description of Mormon’s as to the land of Cumorah being a land of many waters, rivers, and fountains is in strict accordance with the description of Ramah as the land of many waters, “Ripliancum, which by interpretation is large or to exceed all.” . . .
           It is urged by some that this hill in which Mormon deposited these many records of the Nephites was not necessarily located up in what we now call the western part of New York, and where Joseph Smith directed by Moroni, found the single collection of plates known as the Book of Mormon. It is held that Moroni in his peregrinations after the death of his father and the destruction of his people in his effort to keep out of the hands of his enemies the Lamanites, might have wandered far away from the hill Ramah-Cumorah and that possibly Ramah-Cumorah may have been in some part of Central America, where topographical conditions may be found which would correspond with the description of this place given in the Book of Mormon. Strangely enough there is little that the Prophet Joseph Smith has left on record that speaks of this Hill Cumorah where he found the Book of Mormon under the direction of Moroni. And this only in an esctatic[sic] review of early events in the Church: “And again what do we hear? Glad tidings from Cumorah. Moroni, an angel from heaven, declaring the fulfillment of the prophets–the Book to be revealed. (Doc. and Cov. sec 128:20)
           But while this direct testimony from the Prophet himself is lacking, it is not lacking from those who are competent to speak on the subject–and who did speak of it and who published their statements, and one of these in the life time of the prophet, Oliver Cowdery, close associate with Joseph Smith in bringing forth the Book of Mormon, and his chief amanuensis in the translation of it, declares this hill from which the Book of Mormon was taken to be the Hill Cumorah, the place where Mormon deposited “all the records in his possession, except his abridgment from the plates of Nephi which he gave to his son; and also emphatically declares it to be the scene of the destruction of both the Jaredite and Nephite people. This statement Oliver published in the Church organ at the time, called the “Saints Messenger and Advocate,” Kirtland, Ohio, 1834. There are nine letters published under the title of “Early Scenes and Incidents in the Church.” These letters were reproduced in the Improvement Era, Vol. II, 1898-9.
     [QUOTE FROM 1834 ARTICLE BY OLIVER COWDERY–see 1834 notation. This is Letter VII.]
           The importance of this statement lies in the fact that it is made by the second elder of the Church, when it was organized; he was Joseph Smith’s amanuensis in the translation of Mormon’s record. It is written and published in the life time of the Prophet Joseph Smith, with his knowledge and approval; It is published in the Saints Messenger and Advocate, the organ of the Church at that time, 1834; and it is inconceivable that the Prophet Joseph would permit the publication of such an article identifying this hill where he found the record called the Book of Mormon with the hill called Ramah by the Jaredites, and Cumorah by the Nephites, and the scene of the successive battles which destroyed both of these nations in the region; and also identifying it with the hill in which Mormon deposited “all of the Nephite records” which had been given into his custody–if it did not state the truth.
           A testimony also comes from David Whitmer, one of the three witnesses to the truth of the Book of Mormon. When Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery found it necessary to move from Harmony, Pennsylvania, to Fayette, New York, David Whitmer drove them from Harmony to the home of his father in Fayette. Before starting on this journey Moroni came to the Prophet and took possession of the plates in order to insure their safety in transit to the Whitmer home. On the way the three brethren, Joseph, Oliver and David overtook Moroni carrying the plates. (see note#1) Joseph suggested to David that he ask the “stranger” to ride. David stopped his team and invited him to ride, if by chance he would be going in their direction. “No,” said the one addressed, very pleasantly, “I am going to Cumorah.” “This name was somewhat new to me,” says David, “and I did not know what ‘Cumorah’ meant.” They all gazed at him and at each other. When David looked around again, after turning to Joseph for instruction or information, the man had disappeared. “It was the Messenger (Moroni) who had the plates, who had taken them from Joseph just prior to our starting form Harmony.” says David Whitmer in closing the story of the incident. (See Orson Pratt and Joseph F. Smith’s report of an interview with David Whitmer. Millennial Star, Vol,. 40, pp. 769-774. The report bears date of September 17, 1878.
           Another circumstance which verifies all that is here said about this hill in western New york from which Joseph Smith obtained the Book of Mormon, being identical with Ramah-Cumorah of the Book of Mormon, is the fact of agreement between the description in the Book of Mormon of the Hill Ramah-Cumorah and the region round about, and the topography of western New York. It is a region of “many waters”–“Ripliancum” by interpretation “large, or to exceed all”; and here in western New York, immediately to the north of Cumorah, is Lake Ontario; to the west and northwest are Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan and Lake Superior–the greatest group of fresh water lakes in the world, while immediately to the south of Cumorah are the noted “finger lakes” of New York, beginning on the east side of the region is the lake bearing the modern name of Otisco; and moving westward the following named lakes: Skaneateles Lake, Owasco Lake, Cayuga Lake, Seneca Lake–with its elongation, Keuka Lake; Canadaigua Lake and a number of others westward in the same line. All these, and beside them numerous streams and rivers throughout the whole region.
           The identification both in the recorded facts of the Book of Mormon about the Hill Ramah-Cumorah and the physical characteristics of this region of western New York–extending westward to include the whole great five lake basin–“Rippliancum[sic]”–“to exceed all”–is sufficient to eliminate all doubt about the hill recently purchased by the Church, being the very site of the destruction of both the Jaredite and the Nephite people, also the place where Mormon deposited the great collection of sacred records which had been entrusted to him and where later his son Moroni kept concealed the gold plates of the Book of Mormon.
           And now, behold, how fortunate it is that the Church has possessed herself of so many of the sacred places connected with the coming forth of the new dispensation of the gospel in these last days. . . . The Smith farm near Palmyra, New York . . . Scant three miles away is the Hill Cumorah, surrounded by several hundred acres of farm lands including the whole of the hill Ramah-Cumorah, the sacred depository of Jaredite and Nephite records, including the Book of Mormon gold plates given to Joseph Smith to translate for the enlightenment of the world and also the site of the destruction of the two great peoples of ancient America–the Jaredites and Nephites.
           Eastward less than a score of miles is the old “Peter Whitmer Farm,” in Fayette township near the present prosperous town of Waterloo, where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized on the sixth of April, 1830, with its six charter members, an event soon to be a century old. The Carthage prison . . . How complete is the circle of sacred places, now in possession of the Church, connected with the life and mission of the prophet of the new dispensation! The Saints should be thankful for possession of these sacred places.

Source: Letter VII

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"Divers ways"

This is the first post of the new year, and I want to clarify a very important point that sometimes gets lost in the discussions.

When he finished the Book of Mormon, Moroni added a sermon his father gave about how to discern good from evil. He explained:

Moroni 7:24 And behold, there were divers ways that he did manifest things unto the children of men, which were good; and all things which are good cometh of Christ; 

In the context of the Book of Mormon, there are divers ways (many or diverse ways) that God works with people. They are all good.

Specifically, there are many different opinions and theories about Book of Mormon geography. People have strong testimonies of the Book of Mormon regardless of which theory they accept. I had a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon during the decades when I believed the Mesoamerican theory. For me, the North American theory worked better and enhanced my testimony and understanding, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t have a testimony when I believed the Mesoamerican theory, and it doesn’t mean that those who still believe in the Mesoamerican theory don’t have strong testimonies. Sometimes we confuse our testimony of the Book of Mormon with our belief in a particular geography theory and that’s an enormous mistake.

Let me emphasize this: you can have a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon regardless of which theory you believe, and just because someone else believes a different theory than you doesn’t diminish their testimony or enhance yours. 

Mormon made another key point in this sermon:

Moroni 7:16 – for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.

Throughout this blog, I’ve tried to emphasize that there are alternatives to the predominant Mesoamerican theory that invite people to do good and to persuade people to believe in Christ. You don’t have to accept any particular theory to have a strong, vibrant, deepening testimony of the Book of Mormon. I know that from personal experience, as well as the experience of many, many other members who have shared that experience. For us, the North American setting works better, and we are the ones for whom I write this blog.

But this is not to say that other people don’t find just as much value in other theories.

If we apply the test Mormon asked us to, I think we’ll all see that so long as a theory of geography (and Church history) invites people to do good and to persuade to believe in Christ, it is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ.

No believer in the Book of Mormon should reject the faith and beliefs of another believer in the Book of Mormon, especially not over a geography question. There is evidence to support the Book of Mormon throughout the Americas, more than enough to support all the various theories that are out there. We should rejoice in all of this evidence and support one another.

I realize I have taken some strong positions at times in this blog, but it was all with the intent to demonstrate that there is merit in non-Mesoamerican theories, and that they can and do support strong faith in the Book of Mormon that brings people to Christ. I started this blog because I felt the academic world had unfairly attacked and excluded faithful members of the Church who believe in the North American theory. But now I see that changing. There is a much more accepting attitude developing, a more inclusive and loving approach that I want to be part of. I think that as this approach takes hold and everyone supports one another, we will see a flood of evidence come forth to support the Book of Mormon. And I’m pretty sure that’s what we all want to see.

Of course, the most important thing is the impact the Book of Mormon has on individual lives. It’s the tool the Lord gave to bring people to Christ in our day. When it serves that purpose, we all rejoice. That’s the goal of everyone who knows and loves the Book of Mormon. I think we’re at a place now where we can recognize that the Lord works in divers ways, and we don’t have to insist that the way the Lord works with us is the way he should work for everyone.

To the extent my blog or books may have come across as denigrating someone else’s theory, I apologize. It took much longer than I thought it would to make the point that alternatives to the Mesoamerican theory have merit and value in the lives of faithful members of the Church. My intent has been to support and validate those who accept the North American theory, the New York Cumorah, and all that goes with it. But I don’t say or imply that those who think differently don’t have a testimony of the Book of Mormon, of the restoration, or of Christ. I want people to realize that there are legitimate alternatives to the prevailing consensus among scholars because, in fact, the Lord does work in divers ways.

In other words, to the extent I comment on Book of Mormon geography in the future, it will be to celebrate any and all evidence from wherever it comes. I have seen in my own life that the Lord works in divers ways, and I’m sure that’s true of everyone who reads this blog.

Let’s spend 2017 supporting one another and doing all we can to share the Book of Mormon and our testimonies of Christ with the world.

Source: Book of Mormon Wars

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The Illusion of Knowledge

Yesterday Scott Adams (Dilbert) posted an awesome comment about how both sides of the climate science debates look 100% convincing to the under-informed. Here’s his post:
http://blog.dilbert.com/post/155121836641/the-illusion-of-knowledge

Although he was writing about the climate debate, it’s an interesting parallel to the Book of Mormon geography debate. Look at what he says here and see how it compares:

“So how did the public respond to my claim that BOTH sides of the debate look convincing? They berated me for not sufficiently researching materials from ONE side of the debate that happens to be their side. Many people suggested that I could simply do some homework, on my own, and get to the bottom of climate science.

“That is a massive public illusion.”

The parallel to the Book of Mormon geography issue should be obvious. People from both sides of the issue think their own side is right because they have SO MUCH EVIDENCE!

As long as Book of Mormon geography remains an academic debate, there is no limit to the number of alternatives that can be dreamed up.

Adams explains this very well:

“You can’t change my mind by telling me exactly what I just told YOU. We both agree with you that your argument is 100% convincing. Just like the argument that says you are totally wrong. Both excellent.
“And so we have an odd situation in which both sides of the debate are in deep illusion, even if one side is right and the other is wrong. The illusion is that one side is obviously correct – and the belief that you could see that too, if only you would spend a little energy looking into it on your own. If you hold that belief, no matter which side you are on, you can be sure you are experiencing an illusion.”
_________________

Because of my long involvement with climate issues, I think Adams makes an excellent point here. Both sides are convinced they have overwhelming evidence to support their positions. Both sides think they are being objective and scientific.

He goes on to point out that this is simple psychology.

Non-scientists don’t have the tools to form a useful opinion on climate science. What we usually do instead is look at one side of the debate, ignore the other side, and use confirmation bias to harden our illusion of certainty. That’s how normal brains work. So if you are both normal and you have a strong opinion about climate science, I can say with confidence that you are hallucinating about your certainty.

Adams’ point here applies to many, and maybe most, aspects of our lives. If we have a strong opinion on politics, this explanation definitely applies. If we have a strong opinion about relative brands (Apple vs. Samsung), best places to live, or sports teams, we’re probably confirming our biases. (Okay, those might be more emotional and subjective preferences, but anything purporting to be even quasi-scientific or objective fits within Adams’ explanation pretty well.)

Now, think about where you stand on Book of Mormon geography and see if that fits. In many cases, it does. It has become a purely academic debate. That’s why the difference of opinion persists.

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But is the Book of Mormon geography question really a purely academic one?

I don’t think so.

Remember, when I say “both sides” I’m not ignoring the complexity of the issue, with all the varieties of proposed geographies. To me, there are only two sides of the geography debate:

Cumorah in New York vs. Cumorah not in New York

If you think Cumorah is not in New York, it makes no difference to me where it is because you have just labeled Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery as confused speculators who misled the Church. Plus, you’ve labeled their successors as people who have perpetuated a false theory, including in General Conference.

I simply don’t see a way around this. Take President Marion G. Romney’s address in the 1975 General Conference. If you think Cumorah is not in New York, how do you deal with what he said? Do you say he’s just a man giving his opinion, and he’s wrong because you disagree with him? Seriously?

The difference between the climate debate and the Book of Mormon geography debate is that no scientists are relying on prophets and apostles for guidance on this issue. But the Book of Mormon issues are inherently religious, and Joseph and Oliver–the President and Assistant President of the Church, on whose joint testimony the reality of the restoration of the Priesthood and all the keys relies–were explicitly clear about the issue of Cumorah.

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I realize some LDS scholars and educators reject Letter VII because they think in requires a hemispheric model, which they can’t reconcile with the text. I’m sympathetic to that view as far as it goes, but there’s a major disconnect here: Joseph and Oliver didn’t explicitly and repeatedly claim the hemispheric model was a fact.

Others reject Letter VII because they think Joseph and Oliver were speculating, and they think that has no bearing on everything else they said.

But consider this.

The first account we have of John the Baptist conferring the Aaronic priesthood was in Oliver’s letters.

Critics of the Church say Oliver and Joseph invented the restoration of the Aaronic priesthood years after the fact, and that’s why it doesn’t appear until Oliver’s letter was published. IOW, critics undermine that foundational story on the ground that Joseph and Oliver were making stuff up.

If you reject Letter VII on the same grounds–that Joseph and Oliver were making stuff up–then you’re making the same argument as the critics who say John the Baptist never appeared to them and never conferred the Priesthood on them.

The difference between the climate scenario that Adams discusses in his blog and the Book of Mormon geography question is that our prophets and apostles have taken a position on Cumorah being in New York.

It’s not a question of whether a horse is a tapir or a tower is a pyramid. Those are academic debates, and those arguments never end even among the academics. Non-academics have no way to determine which side is right on the basis of academics alone.

But we don’t have to be scholars to understand what the prophets and apostles have said.

And yes, I’m fully aware that a few of them have said, in various settings, that the Lord has not revealed the geography. But that’s a different question from the long-resolved question of where Cumorah is. With Cumorah in New York where Joseph and Oliver said it was, the rest of the geography is wide open. You can believe it took place from Tierra de Fuego to Hudson Bay, or you can believe it all took place in western New York, or anywhere in between.

The extent of Book of Mormon geography beyond the New York Cumorah is, for now, a legitimate academic question. I have my opinions, and others have theirs, and it can be a fruitful discussion, along the lines Adams’ points out in this piece.

But the New York Cumorah, IMO, is long-settled by the prophets and apostles. That the New York location is so well corroborated is simply a bonus.

Source: Book of Mormon Wars

Uncategorized

some ideas are so absurd that only intellectuals believe them

The title of this post has been attributed to George Orwell, but I don’t know if he really said/wrote it. He did write this, though: “An intelligent man may half-succumb to a belief which he knows to be absurd, and he may keep it out of his mind for long periods, only reverting to it in moments of anger or sentimentality, or when he is certain that no important issues are involved.”

Tonight at a dinner party a few people mentioned to me that the idea of the Book of Mormon in Central America never made sense to them. “Cumorah is in New York,” they inevitably say, “so why would Moroni haul the plates thousands of miles?”

That’s nearly a universal opinion among members of the Church–except among the intellectuals and the fewer and fewer people who believe them.

I’ve commented on this topic on this blog for much longer than I expected to. I thought the issue would get resolved much faster than it has. I’ve addressed almost every issue I can think of, and there are reasons why I haven’t addressed the few that remain. If anyone has a question about Book of Mormon geography that I haven’t addressed, please email me. (I had to change comments to require approval because I started getting spam–that comes when the readership grows as much as it has–and I don’t usually have time to approve comments, but I do check email regularly because it pops up whether I want it to or not.)

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I have a new book scheduled for release next week, and another one about two weeks after that (in both cases, assuming all goes well). I’ll mention those here on the respective release dates and give a preview. I think you’ll like them. They both involve Church history. One deals specifically with Book of Mormon geography in a new way. New for me, at least. And certainly new for the reviewers who have been going through it.
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After decades of reading the publications of LDS scholars and educators, attending lectures and conferences, and having discussions with members around the world, I find that the majority of what LDS scholars and educators are doing is helpful and insightful. The only category that I find perplexing is the absurd theory that the Book of Mormon took place in Mesoamerican (or any of the other proposed locations that reject the New York Cumorah).

If Orwell’s clever observation applies anywhere, it applies to these non-New York Cumorah theories.

Frankly, I’m not even sure the intellectuals believe them. I think it’s more a matter of them wanting to believe (due to Mesomania) and doing everything possible to figure out a way to vindicate that belief.

That said, I’m always open to new ideas. Maybe someone somewhere sometime will come up with an argument for the Mesoamerican theory that doesn’t portray Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery as clueless speculators who misled the Church about Cumorah. So far, I haven’t seen it. 

I’m not going to hold my breath for that one, either.
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On Saturday I’m going to announce my new Church history blog. I think we’re going to have some fun with Church history in Gospel Doctrine classes this year. I hope to be able to keep up with all the lessons. I covered last years lessons on the Book of Mormon on my Sunday School blog. A lot of gospel doctrine teachers around the Church found it useful. I think this year’s posts on Church history will be even better.

Here’s looking forward to a wonderful 2017.




Source: Book of Mormon Wars

Uncategorized

Two Cumorahs on display at Temple Square

Today I used a new image in a presentation I did and thought my readers would like to see it.

There seems to have been a little confusion about my post on the two-Cumorahs display in the North Visitors Center on Temple Square. Those who haven’t physically visited the site may have difficulty imagining how the Church could possibly be teaching the two-Cumorahs theory, especially at the most prominent Visitors Center in the world.

I took another photo recently and labeled it to clarify the situation. You should be able to click on it and download the full-sized picture.

Lower level, North Visitors Center, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Utah, December 2016
The labels are mine but are easily inferred from the displays and their placards.

Of course, if we still believed Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, these displays would be combined on one hill–the New York Cumorah. As Orson Pratt described it, Moroni buried the plates in a different compartment of the same hill where Mormon kept the repository of Nephite records.

While we’re at it, we’d recognize that Moroni told Joseph that the record was written and deposited not far from his home. Moroni didn’t say it was written 1,600 miles away and then deposited near Joseph’s home.
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These displays are even worse when you see them in context.

Especially if you happen to be there to see children learning that Mormon was a Mayan, while Moroni, by himself, hauled the plates all the way to the distant “hinterland” of New York.

And imagine the millions of investigators walking through the area, concluding Mormons must be crazy.

Seriously, I can’t overemphasize how devastating these displays are to the faith in the Book of Mormon. As Joseph Fielding Smith said, this theory causes people to become confused and disturbed in their faith in the Book of Mormon.

Okay, I realize some LDS scholars and educators love this display because they think Joseph and Oliver were clueless speculators who misled the Church. Thanks to the efforts of these scholars and educators, a lot of people have Mesomania (including the designers of this display). Some of them stay active in the Church by suppressing their cognitive dissonance, but more of them leave. Or refuse to talk to the missionaries in the first place. Or cancel appointments as soon as they get on the Internet and realize what the Cumorah deniers are saying about Joseph and Oliver.

On the good side, more and more people are rejecting this Mesoamerican nonsense. But not fast enough.

It’s especially, should I say ironic, to have these displays right next to the display on Joseph Smith and the Doctrine and Covenants. Both Joseph personally and the Doctrine and Covenants scripturally refuted the two-Cumorahs theory, but there they are, adjacent to the most conspicuous implementation of the two Cumorahs imaginable.

Because I don’t know when this travesty of a display was installed, I don’t know how many millions of people have been exposed to this exposition of the two-Cumorahs theory. One person is too many, but millions?

It would be comical if it wasn’t such a serious topic.

Actually, I think this is a trial of our faith. Each of us needs to ask ourselves, are we going to follow the scholars who reject the one Cumorah in New York, or the prophets and apostles who have repeatedly taught the one Cumorah is in New York?

Source: Book of Mormon Wars

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December 23

December 23

Joseph Smith was born on December 23, 1805. This was the day after the winter solstice that year; i.e., Joseph was born on the day after the shortest, and darkest, day of the year. 

Beautiful symbolism for the light he helped bring to the Earth and all of humanity.

It’s up to each one of us to help bring light to the Earth through the our actions and words. 

I hope we each take a moment today to think about whether we’re adding light or extinguishing it.

For Joseph, the Hill Cumorah was never far from his thoughts. In 1842, at one of the most stressful points of his life, he wrote a letter to the Saints about joy and optimism that pointed directly to Cumorah. 

It has been designated as Section 128:

19 Now, what do we hear in the gospel which we have received? A voice of gladness! A voice of mercy from heaven; and a voice of truth out of the earth; glad tidings for the dead; a voice of gladness for the living and the dead; glad tidings of great joy. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those that bring glad tidings of good things, and that say unto Zion: Behold, thy God reigneth! As the dews of Carmel, so shall the knowledge of God descend upon them!
 20 And again, what do we hear? Glad tidings from Cumorah! Moroni, an angel from heaven, declaring the fulfilment of the prophets—the book to be revealed. A voice of the Lord in the wilderness of Fayette, Seneca county, declaring the three witnesses to bear record of the book! 

Source: Letter VII

Uncategorized

December 23

Joseph Smith was born on December 23, 1805. This was the day after the winter solstice that year; i.e., Joseph was born on the day after the shortest, and darkest, day of the year. 

Beautiful symbolism for the light he helped bring to the Earth and all of humanity.

It’s up to each one of us to help bring light to the Earth through the our actions and words. 

I hope we each take a moment today to think about whether we’re adding light or extinguishing it.

For Joseph, the Hill Cumorah was never far from his thoughts. In 1842, at one of the most stressful points of his life, he wrote a letter to the Saints about joy and optimism that pointed directly to Cumorah. 

It has been designated as Section 128:

19 Now, what do we hear in the gospel which we have received? A voice of gladness! A voice of mercy from heaven; and a voice of truth out of the earth; glad tidings for the dead; a voice of gladness for the living and the dead; glad tidings of great joy. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those that bring glad tidings of good things, and that say unto Zion: Behold, thy God reigneth! As the dews of Carmel, so shall the knowledge of God descend upon them!
 20 And again, what do we hear? Glad tidings from Cumorah! Moroni, an angel from heaven, declaring the fulfilment of the prophets—the book to be revealed. A voice of the Lord in the wilderness of Fayette, Seneca county, declaring the three witnesses to bear record of the book!

Source: Book of Mormon Wars

Uncategorized

Why "correspondences" don’t work

One way to reach consensus is to boil down arguments to their essence and test them.

If you read arguments in favor of the Mesoamerican setting for the Book of Mormon, you see they basically fall into one of three categories:

1. Analogies.

2. Appeal to Experts.

3. Word thinking.

None of these are persuasive to most people who have any awareness of the North American setting for Book of Mormon geography. That’s why the LDS scholars and educators who promote the Mesoamerican theory suppress information about the North American setting as much as they can, and fight against it when they have to address it.

The one thing they will never do is give their readers and students a fair and open side-by-side comparison.

Here’s why their arguments fail.

1. Analogies, such as identifying “correspondences” between Mayan and Nephite culture, are imperfect because they focus on one feature while overlooking–or hiding–others. The issue becomes the quality of the analogy instead of the merits of the underlying substance of the Mesoamerican theory and the two-Cumorahs idea it is based on.

2. Appeal to experts is not persuasive when there is at least one expert who disagrees, and in this case, every non-LDS expert disagrees with the LDS Mesoamerican advocates regarding the correspondences to the Book of Mormon. Appealing to experts always raises the question of who is an expert and who gets to decide what experts are credible in the first place. In this case, a handful of LDS Mesoamerican scholars provide information and analysis that a much larger group of LDS scholars and educators rely upon to promote the Mesoamerican theory, but the latter group are not experts in Mesoamerica. This leaves the LDS Mesoamerican scholars as a tiny minority of all Mesoamerican scholars in seeing the Book of Mormon as a Mesoamerican document. At the same time, other LDS scholars find the North American setting to be more in harmony with the textual descriptions as well as relevant archaeology, anthropology, geology, and geography.

In the past, many Mesoamerican promoters relied on Church history experts who cited the anonymous 1842 Times and Seasons articles, but that argument has faded in the light of new understanding of Church history. Actually, the Church history argument has turned sharply against the Mesoamerican theory, at least to the extent it relies on the two-Cumorahs claim, now that Letter VII has been more widely acknowledged.

In the LDS context, the appeal to experts is even less persuasive than normal because by definition, most LDS defer to the prophets and apostles as the experts regarding Church doctrine, including Book of Mormon issues. Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery are by far the most authoritative sources on the Book of Mormon because of their roles in the translation itself, their interaction with numerous heavenly messengers, and their status as Apostles and President and Assistant President of the Church. The two-Cumorahs theory is a repudiation of Joseph and Oliver, and therefore most LDS people apply a heavy burden of proof on LDS scholars to overturn what Joseph and Oliver taught.

3. Word thinking. Some LDS scholars have sought to support the Mesoamerican theory by adjusting the definition of terms. A classic example is Joseph Smith’s identification of the remnant of Lehi’s people as “the Indians that now inhabit this country.” Joseph was writing to Mr. Wentworth, who, like Joseph, was a resident of Illinois. The two men lived about 200 miles apart. Both lived in the United States.

But to justify their Mesoamerican setting, LDS scholars have interpreted Joseph’s use of the word “country” to mean the entire hemisphere, or at least an area that encompasses Mesoamerica, which was 1,700 miles away and in a different country.

The LDS scholars and educators also use word thinking to say Joseph mistranslated the plates by dictating horses when he should have dictated tapirs, towers when he should have dictated pyramids, etc. They also engage in work thinking with their circular arguments about volcanoes and geographical features.

This type of word thinking is unpersuasive, especially when combined with the other two categories.

Source: Book of Mormon Concensus