Author: Jonathan Neville

We’ve been discussing Brother Sorenson’s Source Book. Today we’ll look at how it frames the issues. Brother Sorenson did a great job articulating a useful approach to the issues, but then he stumbled by making M2C-driven assumptions within a few pages of pointing out how such assumptions should not be made!

Bottom line: The M2C citation cartel defies Brother Sorenson’s reasonable framework because they do not want Church members to make informed decisions.

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page 210.

If we are to progress in this task, we must chop away and burn the conceptual underbrush that has afflicted the effort in the past. 

Among the conceptual underbrush is the assumption that Joseph and Oliver were ignorant speculators who misled the Church with a false narrative about the New York Cumorah. But what does Brother Sorenson write in the very next sentence?

We must stop asking, as so many do, what have the Brethren said about this in the past? It is clear enough (see Appendix A) that none of them knew the answer (which is what some of them have said often enough).

While Brother Sorenson included Letter VII in Appendix A, look at how he edited it:

p. 372.

Oliver Cowdery. Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate, July 1835, p. 158-159. (Reprinted in The Times and Seasons 2,1841, page 379, and again in The Improvement Era 2,1899, pages 729-734.)

Re. the New York hill Cumorah: “At about one mile west rises another ridge of less height, running parallel with the former .. . between these hills, the entire power and national strength of both the Jaredites and Nephites were destroyed.

Here is the unedited passage:

At about one mile west rises another ridge of less height, running parallel with the former, leaving a beautiful vale between. The soil is of the first quality for the country, and under a state of cultivation, which gives a prospect at once imposing, when one reflects on the fact, that here, between these hills, the entire power and national strength of both the Jaredites and Nephites were destroyed.

By omitting Oliver’s statement that the New York Cumorah was a fact, Brother Sorenson accommodated his theory that this was merely Oliver’s (incorrect) opinion. 

Today, most M2C followers I’ve discussed this with have never heard of Letter VII, but even those who have heard of it say it was merely Oliver’s opinion. To the extent they’re relying on the Source Book, you can see why they think that.

Brother Sorenson didn’t mention that Letter VII was also copied into Joseph’s history, although he might not have known that. You can see it now in the Joseph Smith Papers, here:

https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1834-1836/90

He also didn’t mention that Letter VII was republished in the Millennial Star, the Gospel Reflector (with the express consent of Joseph Smith), and the Prophet (by Joseph’s brother William), but maybe he didn’t know all of that, either. Other than the scriptures themselves, these essays on Church history that Oliver wrote with Joseph’s assistance were the most republished articles in the Church during Joseph’s lifetime. Everyone knew about them, including the fact of the New York Cumorah.

There is nothing in Appendix A that suggests, let alone supports, Brother Sorenson’s claim that “it is clear enough that none of them knew the answer” about the New York Cumorah. Like all M2C believers do, Brother Sorenson conflates the issue of Cumorah with the rest of the geography issues.

This is a favorite tactic of my critics, too. I’ve always said that while I don’t think Mesoamerica makes sense for several reasons, I don’t categorically reject it or any other geography, so long as the proposed geography retains the New York Cumorah of Mormon 6:6. That’s the only definite pin in the map the prophets have provided, and everything beyond that is open for discussion.

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Continuing at page 210:

Where we must begin is with the words of Mormon and his associates who kept the original records.

On page 216, Brother Sorenson writes, “6. I assume too that all the relations and phenomena known in present day nature prevailed in Book of Mormon times. That is, water ran from mountains to seas, the “headwaters” of the river Sidon had to be higher in elevation than any point downstream, and the river ultimately debouched into a sea….

“Headwaters” is not a term in the text. It is not one of the “words of Mormon and his associates.” 

This is an example of what I call the Sorenson translation. I once had a conversation with a well-known M2C author who referred to the “headwaters” and I said, “That’s not a term in the text.” He replied, “Of course it is.” I asked him to show me. He actually looked! Of course he couldn’t find it. After a while, he found “head of Sidon,” which, as I pointed out, is a different term that has more than one meaning. There are other examples of the Sorenson translation throughout the Source Book. 

Look at the very next sentence: 

From their words we must derive every scrap of meaning; I assume that their knowledge of geography was so integral and holistic that meanings are tucked into their records at a level below intention.

This is Brother Sorenson’s rationale for developing his own translation of the text, which every M2C believer has accepted. They are looking through the text at the hidden meanings that only they, the M2C scholars, can discern. It’s fascinating from an psychological perspective to see this degree of lack of self-awareness. 

We must sift for these. We cannot omit any of them, for crucial clues may occur in or between words or lines where we had not seen them before. 

This is good analysis, but not always adhered to. Worse, the hidden meanings come to take precedence over the text itself. 

To summarize, the following steps are necessary, and no other set of steps nor any other order for accomplishing them can solve our problem:

1. Purge our minds as far as possible of preconceptions about where the Book of Mormon lands were.

One well-known BYU scholar has said he “cannot unsee” Mesoamerica when he reads the Book of Mormon. Most, if not all, members of the Church educated by CES or BYU (or Book of Mormon Central) would have to say the same thing because the M2C interpretation has been deliberately imposed on Church members from a young age. 

As most members of the Church to draw a Book of Mormon scene and they’ll start with a Mayan pyramid. 

Nearly every time when I show or discuss the Moroni’s America framework, people respond by saying “I’ve never seen that before, but it makes sense.” 

In any rational scenario, Church members would be fully educated about alternatives. They would know what the prophets have taught about Cumorah. They would understand why the scholars repudiate those teachings. They would be able to roughly sketch both Mesoamerican and North American settings.

But the M2C citation cartel doesn’t want Church members to make informed decisions.

The M2C citation cartel continues to deliberately censor alternatives to M2C. They openly defy Brother Sorenson’s step number 1 in solving the problem of Book of Mormon geography. 

The worst of the bunch is Book of Mormon Central, which is spending millions of dollars to enforce M2C and censor alternatives. Their business model only works so long as Church members are kept in ignorance.

2. Analyze as freshly and completely as possible every geographical fact and sound inference which the texts require or make likely.

Once the LDS scholars decided the prophets were wrong, and the RLDS scholars were correct, on the issue of Cumorah, the LDs scholars abandoned any thought of analyzing anything freshly and completely. It has been pure bias confirmation ever since. 

3. Realizing that in fact we cannot completely rid ourselves of preconceptions or make inferences without some factual or logical errors, we should guard against hidden biases or errors by displaying for examination by other students as much of our mental processing as we are able. 

The M2C citation cartel has abandoned this step as well.  

This requires writing out our work in detail; only written communication permits the careful examination by others that such work demands. (The resulting volume of writing may seem tedious to those not sufficiently motivated to the task.)

4. Mutual criticism (again ideally in writing) is essential to reveal points where different students can agree or where they need to improve their thinking or information. This criticism need not be uncharitable, although truth must be the ultimate standard.

The M2C citation has hired fine young scholars to fill the internet with uncharitable, ad hominem attacks against anyone who dares question M2C. They have repudiated Brother Sorenson’s reasonable framework just as completely as they have repudiated the teachings of the prophets. 

5. By this repetitive process all should move toward consensus. However, the end result may be a conclusion that the text does not provide enough information, as read at this time, to come to full consensus on a single-text based model. That can only be learned by trying.

The M2C citation cartel has definitely moved toward consensus; that’s their justification for ongoing censorship of alternatives. A far better approach is the nominal neutrality articulated by the Gospel Topics Entry on Book of Mormon Geography, which unfortunately is not observed in practice.

6. So far as a single model emerges from this effort, then one-half—the prerequisite half—of the equation has been prepared. Only after this has happened can a definitive search for external correlations be carried out. Until then anything said about external geography, archaeology, linguistics or the like for any location in America can only be prejudicial to the suspension of opinion that we ought to maintain.

The M2C citation has managed to enforce the M2C interpretation of the text that, predictably, produces an M2C “model” reflected by the BYU and CES fantasy maps. The problem, of course, is that the M2C interpretation doesn’t really fit the real world; hence the fantasy maps. 

Certainly there are numerous “real-world” maps based on the M2C citation, such as the one on the BYU Studies web page (which guides the editors so they properly comply with M2C in BYU Studies, just as they did in the Saints book). 

But the goal of generating an “internal map” relies on a cascading series of assumptions. It’s easy to see why. Imagine someone generating an “internal map” of the Bible with no reference to the real world. No two people could possibly develop similar maps using the scanty geographical information in the text. 

That’s why the only rational basis for constructing a map of the Book of Mormon is to start with the one known pin in the map, as declared by the prophets: the New York Cumorah.

Now that the M2C scholars have persuaded everyone to repudiate the teachings of the prophets, though, we end up with the BYU and CES fantasy maps, based on the M2C interpretation, which both implicitly and explicitly teaches students to think of the Book of Mormon in a fictional framework. 

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The end.

Source: About Central America

Yesterday I mentioned my pivot to my favorite topic: the establishment of Zion.

Readers here know that I’ve lived and worked and traveled all over the world. I’ve worked with and lived among people of many religions, languages, cultures, ethnicities, etc. Among them are all sorts of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

People everywhere (not just Americans or Latter-day Saints) yearn for the fulfillment of the powerful words, 

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, 

that all men are created equal, 

that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, 

that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

The U.S. Constitution was a major step toward the realization of that aspiration, but it is inadequate. Other countries have developed systems for their respective cultures that also work, more or less, but all are inadequate. Societies everywhere have serious problems, and while in many respects live keeps getting better around the world, the same human weaknesses lead to the same social, economic, and moral failures.

What people everywhere seek is what Zion promises. But, as Joseph Smith taught, “they know not where to find it.” (Doctrine and Covenants 123:12)

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I decided to name the blog “How to Zion” because while Zion is both a place and a people, it ought to be a verb. “How to” books are a major category in the publishing field for a good reason. People want to know “how to” do lots of things.

A lot of people want to know how to establish Zion. By making it a verb, I hope to focus on action instead of theory.

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It seems obvious to me that one of the impediments to the establishment of Zion is disunity among the Latter-day Saints on certain topics. There are some LDS who accept what the prophets have taught, some who reject what the prophets have taught, and some who don’t care or know what the prophets have taught. (And some who claim the prophets never taught what they actually taught.)

As readers here know, I have spent a lot of time in the last few years on topics of Book of Mormon geography and Church history. This was partly a result of my long-term interest in these topics, and partly an experiment to understand the psychology of LDS apologists.

After years of following the debates, I got involved publicly because of what I saw as abuse by the credentialed class of other faithful Latter-day Saints. 

LDS apologetics have a well-deserved reputation for abrasiveness and counterproductivity. One survey of former LDS pointed to these apologetics backfiring as one of the reasons they left. For years I watched the type of rhetoric and tactics employed by well-known LDS apologists and I was curious how they would respond to a faithful alternative to their theories. 

The results are now obvious to everyone. (My book on LDS apologetics will come out early next year.) 

My overall objective was to see if it was possible to develop an approach that corroborates and supports the teachings of the prophets. I think the answer is yes. Many Church members find this approach useful.

In some cases, my approach challenges or contradicts the scholarly consensus. As I’ve explained in recent posts, much of what passes for “evidence based” scholarly study and publication in these areas is merely bias confirmation. That’s why, to many Latter-day Saints and to people throughout the world,  it is both unpersuasive and unattractive.

An alternative to the illusory “evidence based” approached borrowed from academia, a faithful approach starts with the teachings of the prophets and finds evidence to support and corroborate those teachings. 

In my view, the only “way to Zion” is to accept the teachings of the prophets and unify behind them. 

Others disagree, and that’s fine. We all make our own decisions and believe whatever we want. To me, none of this is personal. I sincerely like and respect everyone involved with these topics, regardless of what they think. 

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As I pivot toward a focus on how to Zion, I invite readers to subscribe to the new web page and engage in the topics. 

https://howtozion.blogspot.com/

Source: About Central America

The first time Orson Pratt and Joseph F. Smith (JFS) visited the Hill Cumorah near Palmyra, New York, was in September 1878. Orson was 68 years old and had testified about the Hill Cumorah many times but had never had the opportunity to see the hill or visit historic sites in the area.

At the time, Orson was Church Historian. President John Taylor had sent him and JFS on a fact-finding mission to sites of early Church history. An overview of their trip is here:

https://rsc.byu.edu/joseph-f-smith-reflections-man-his-times/excavating-early-mormon-history-1878-history-fact-finding

The two men were traveling together from Utah to New York City. They sent reports of their trip to the Deseret News that were published as installments. The report of their visit to Cumorah is here:  

https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/MStar/id/27192

In the following installment, they discuss their interview with David Whitmer on 7–8 September 1878. This is the interview in which David Whitmer describes the angel who showed them the plates, surrounded by glorious light. Later, he describes the divine messenger, a heavy-set old man in a brown wool suit, who was taking the abridged plates to Palmyra. These were unmistakably different individuals.

https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/MStar/id/27175

David explains it was this same messenger who showed plates to his mother, Mary Whitmer. (She said he called himself “Brother Nephi.”) These were the plates Joseph translated in Fayette, which means they were the original plates of Nephi (the so-called “small plates.” 

Notice that David saw both the angel and the messenger and never said or implied they were the same person.*

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Orson Pratt died on October 3, 1881 at the age of 70 (he was born September 19, 1811, in Hartford, New York.) He was the last member of the original Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to die. 

The next year, The Contributor posthumously published an article written by Orson about the Hill Cumorah. You can read it here:

https://archive.org/details/contributor0312eng/page/356/mode/2up

This is a reprint of an article Orson published in the Millennial Star in 1866.

https://cdm15999.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/MStar/id/11828

In this article, Orson explains there were two departments in the hill of Cumorah.

The Hill Cumorah is situated in western New York between the villages of Palmyra and Canandaigua about four miles from the former. It is celebrated as the ancient depository of the sacred gold plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated. Cumorah was the name by which the hill was designated in the days of the Prophet Moroni who deposited the plates about four hundred and twenty years after the birth of Christ.

The prophet Mormon, the father of Moroni, had been entrusted with all the sacred records of his forefathers engraved on metallic plates. New plates were made by Mormon on which he wrote, from the more ancient books, an abridged history of the nation, incorporating therewith many revelations, prophecies, the Gospel, &c. 

These new plates were given to Moroni to finish the history. And all the ancient plates Mormon deposited in Cumorah, about three hundred and eighty-four years after Christ. When Moroni, about thirty-six years after, made the deposit of the book entrusted book entrusted to him, he was, without doubt inspired to select a department of the hill separate from the great sacred depository of the numerous volumes hid up by his father. 

The particular place in the hill, where Moroni secreted the book, was revealed, by the angel, to the Prophet Joseph Smith, to whom the volume was delivered in September, A.D. 1827. But the grand repository of all the numerous records of the ancient nations of the western continent, was located in another department of the hill, and its contents under the charge of holy angels, until the day should come for them to be transferred to the sacred temple of  Zion.

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*Even though David said the published Testimony of the Three Witnesses “is strictly and absolutely true,” we have some current LDS scholars who, because of M2C, teach that the angel and the old man were the same person: Moroni. 

Yes, they are teaching their students (and the world) that resurrected beings have the ability to shape shift.

Accordingly, I offer the revised Testimony of the Three Witnesses:

Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, unto whom this work shall come: That we, through the grace of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, have seen the plates which contain this record, which is a record of the people of Nephi, and also of the Lamanites, their brethren, and also of the people of Jared, who came from the tower of which hath been spoken. And we also know that they have been translated by the gift and power of God, for his voice hath declared it unto us; wherefore we know of a surety that the work is true. And we also testify that we have seen the engravings which are upon the plates; and they have been shown unto us by the power of God, and not of man. And we declare with words of soberness, that an aged man, about 5’10”, with a long white beard, around 70 years old and wearing a wool suit, brought and laid before our eyes, that we beheld and saw the plates, and the engravings thereon; and we know that it is by the grace of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, that we beheld and bear record that these things are true. And it is marvelous in our eyes. Nevertheless, the voice of the Lord commanded us that we should bear record of it; wherefore, to be obedient unto the commandments of God, we bear testimony of these things. And we know that if we are faithful in Christ, we shall rid our garments of the blood of all men, and be found spotless before the judgment-seat of Christ, and shall dwell with him eternally in the heavens. And the honor be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, which is one God. Amen.

Source: Letter VII

I’ve mentioned the excellent Maxwell Institute podcasts before. Here is the latest. I highly recommend it.

https://mi.byu.edu/mip-bti-becerra/

I listen to a lot of podcasts on a variety of topics, and I think Blair Hodges is one of the best interviewers anywhere. He is always well prepared and always asks great questions. 

Source: About Central America