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====Rama = Ramah==== | ====Rama = Ramah==== | ||
− | As indicated [[above]], Ramah is a perfectly good Biblical name | + | As indicated [[Book_of_Mormon_place_names_from_North_America#Biblical_names|above]], Ramah is a perfectly good Biblical name. |
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+ | Critics claim, however, that "Rama, Ontario" was Joseph Smith's source for this name. However, it is on the opposite side of Lake Hurn, and today holds only a casino and about 500 inhabitants.{{ref|wikipedia3}} How likely is it that Joseph would have even heard of this obscure spot? | ||
==Conclusion== | ==Conclusion== |
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Critics claim that Joseph Smith is clearly the author of the Book of Mormon, because many Book of Mormon place names supposedly have clear evidence of "borrowing" from geographic locations in the United States and Canada.
Examples of this include:
Book of Mormon City | Claimed Source | Book of Mormon City | Claimed Source |
---|---|---|---|
Teancum | Tecumseh | Ramah | Rama |
Moron | Morin | Ogath | Ste Agathe |
Moriancum | Moravian | Angola | Angola |
Onidah | Oneida | Kishkumen | Kiskiminetas |
Jacobugath | Jacobsburg | Jerusalem | Jerusalem |
Alma | Alma | Land of Lehi-Nephi | Lehigh |
Shilom | Shiloh | -- | -- |
Answers portal |
Book of Mormon |
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General information: Book of Mormon & Bible: Criticisms: |
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Finding "parallels" between almost any subject is usually easy to do. Such parallels become more impressive if data which do not support the parallel are ignored, if only parallels (instead of parallels and "UNparallels" are considered), and if one does not consider alternate explanations.[1]
Joseph Smith was not well-travelled, and he almost certainly did not have access to detailed maps.
Despite these facts, to obtain this list of parallels, a huge geographical area has been scanned to obtain names like Rama, Ontario (over 100 miles north of Toronto, Canada); St. Agathe, Quebec (north of Montreal and Ottawa); Shiloh, New Jersey; Jerusalem and Jacobsburg, Ohio; and Alma, West Virginia. Five states and two Canadian provinces yield this little list of strained parallels.
Some of the names listed by the critics are, in fact, Biblical names. If one is going to suggest that Joseph plaigerized the names, why rely on obscure and sometimes distant American towns? It is clear that whoever wrote the Book of Mormon was familiar with the Old Testament, and so it is not surprising that some Biblical names were used:
Critics scour modern maps looking for "parallels," and so use some place names that didn't exist at all when the Book of Mormon was written in 1829.
As indicated above, Ramah is a perfectly good Biblical name.
Critics claim, however, that "Rama, Ontario" was Joseph Smith's source for this name. However, it is on the opposite side of Lake Hurn, and today holds only a casino and about 500 inhabitants. How likely is it that Joseph would have even heard of this obscure spot.
Tecumseh, the supposed origin of Teancum, requires considerable creativity to even make the words the same. (The critics rely on the fact that words which start with the same letter seem "the same" to us on a cursory glance.) To get Teancum from Tecumseh, one has to take off the last sylable, add "an" after the "Te," and there you have it. Tecumseh = Teancum. Kind of like John = Joshua!
But could Joseph have known about Tecumseh, Ontario? As a prophet of God, yes, but as a plagiarizer, unlikely. Tecumseh, Ontario did not get this name until until 1912. As Wikipedia explains:
Desparate to save this idea, other critics have suggested the town of Tecumseh, Michigan instead of the Tecumseh, Ontario, replacing a ridiculous candidate with one that is merely silly (and even further from Joseph Smith than its later Canadian cousin).
A check of the Michigan location reveals that this tiny Western suburb of Detroit had just barely been settled by a tiny handful of people in the late 1820s, but at least there was a village of Tecumseh in 1824. Insignificant and remote for those in Joseph Smith's area, it's hard to imagine Joseph being aware of that village and feeling some need to stick it on a mental map of the Book of Mormon. And while he may well have heard of the Indian warrior Tecumseh, it's still quited a stretch to get Teancum from that name.[3]
As indicated above, Ramah is a perfectly good Biblical name.
Critics claim, however, that "Rama, Ontario" was Joseph Smith's source for this name. However, it is on the opposite side of Lake Hurn, and today holds only a casino and about 500 inhabitants.[4] How likely is it that Joseph would have even heard of this obscure spot?
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