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Difference between revisions of "Countercult ministries/The Interactive Bible/Difficult Questions for Mormons/Book of Mormon Geography"
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|claim=Response to claim: "Did the Book of Mormon take place outside of Mesoamerica? The History of the Church records an incident from June, 1834 in which JS identified a skeleton found in an Indian burial mound in Illinois: ". . . the visions of the past being opened to my understanding by the Spirit of the Almighty, I discovered the person whose skeleton was before us was a white Lamanite, a large, thick-set man, and a man of God. His name was Zelph . . . who was known from the Hill Cumorah, or eastern sea to the Rocky mountains." (HOC 1948 ed., II: 79-80)." | |claim=Response to claim: "Did the Book of Mormon take place outside of Mesoamerica? The History of the Church records an incident from June, 1834 in which JS identified a skeleton found in an Indian burial mound in Illinois: ". . . the visions of the past being opened to my understanding by the Spirit of the Almighty, I discovered the person whose skeleton was before us was a white Lamanite, a large, thick-set man, and a man of God. His name was Zelph . . . who was known from the Hill Cumorah, or eastern sea to the Rocky mountains." (HOC 1948 ed., II: 79-80)." | ||
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==Response to claim: "Why don't any archeologists theorize any Hebrew or Egyptian linkages or influences in Mesoamerica?"== | ==Response to claim: "Why don't any archeologists theorize any Hebrew or Egyptian linkages or influences in Mesoamerica?"== | ||
Revision as of 14:25, 14 October 2016
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Contents
- 1 Response to "Difficult Questions for Mormons: Book of Mormon Geography"
- 1.1 Quick Navigation
- 1.2 Response to claim: "Why isn't the terrain of Central America described?"
- 1.3 Response to claim: "Why is it that numerous LDS books and papers describe proposed Book of Mormon locations for cities and the 'narrow neck of land'? No city has been identified as being Nephite, Lamanite, Jaredite, etc."
- 1.4 Response to claim: "Why didn't any of the place names from the Book of Mormon still exist when Columbus arrived?"
- 1.5 Response to claim: "Where was the Hill Cumorah? Was it in New York or Central America?"
- 1.6 Response to claim: "Why don't gaps exist in the archeological record of Mesoamerica if these missing people existed?"
- 1.7 Response to claim: "Did the Book of Mormon take place outside of Mesoamerica?"
- 1.8 Question: Does the story of Zelph have implications for Book of Mormon geography?
- 1.9 Response to claim: "Why don't any archeologists theorize any Hebrew or Egyptian linkages or influences in Mesoamerica?"
Response to "Difficult Questions for Mormons: Book of Mormon Geography"
| Book of Mormon Crops | A FAIR Analysis of: Difficult Questions for Mormons A work by author: The Interactive Bible
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Book of Mormon Script |
- Response to claim: "Why isn't the terrain of Central America described?"
- Response to claim: "Why is it that numerous LDS books and papers describe proposed Book of Mormon locations for cities and the 'narrow neck of land'? No city has been identified as being Nephite, Lamanite, Jaredite, etc."
- Response to claim: "Why didn't any of the place names from the Book of Mormon still exist when Columbus arrived?"
- Response to claim: "Where was the Hill Cumorah? Was it in New York or Central America?"
- Response to claim: "Why don't gaps exist in the archeological record of Mesoamerica if these missing people existed?"
- Response to claim: "Did the Book of Mormon take place outside of Mesoamerica?"
- Response to claim: "Why don't any archeologists theorize any Hebrew or Egyptian linkages or influences in Mesoamerica?"
Response to claim: "Why isn't the terrain of Central America described?"
The author(s) of Difficult Questions for Mormons make(s) the following claim:
Response to claim: "Why isn't the terrain of Central America described?"
FAIR's Response
Response to claim: "Why is it that numerous LDS books and papers describe proposed Book of Mormon locations for cities and the 'narrow neck of land'? No city has been identified as being Nephite, Lamanite, Jaredite, etc."
The author(s) of Difficult Questions for Mormons make(s) the following claim:
Response to claim: "Why is it that numerous LDS books and papers describe proposed Book of Mormon locations for cities and the 'narrow neck of land'? No city has been identified as being Nephite, Lamanite, Jaredite, etc. For example, Zarahemla was occupied for hundreds of years, but we still don't have any real evidence of it ever existing. The Book of Mormon describes a time period from 2000 BC to 400 AD and millions of people. No city they occupied has yet to be found."
FAIR's Response
Response to claim: "Why didn't any of the place names from the Book of Mormon still exist when Columbus arrived?"
The author(s) of Difficult Questions for Mormons make(s) the following claim:
Response to claim: "Why didn't any of the place names from the Book of Mormon still exist when Columbus arrived?"
FAIR's Response
Response to claim: "Where was the Hill Cumorah? Was it in New York or Central America?"
The author(s) of Difficult Questions for Mormons make(s) the following claim:
Response to claim: "Where was the Hill Cumorah? Was it in New York or Central America? If it was in Central America, why hasn't it been found? If it was in New York, how did they move that quickly and where are all the remains?"
FAIR's Response
Response to claim: "Why don't gaps exist in the archeological record of Mesoamerica if these missing people existed?"
The author(s) of Difficult Questions for Mormons make(s) the following claim:
Response to claim: "Why don't gaps exist in the archeological record of Mesoamerica if these missing people existed?"
FAIR's Response
Response to claim: "Did the Book of Mormon take place outside of Mesoamerica?"
The author(s) of Difficult Questions for Mormons make(s) the following claim:
Response to claim: "Did the Book of Mormon take place outside of Mesoamerica? The History of the Church records an incident from June, 1834 in which JS identified a skeleton found in an Indian burial mound in Illinois: ". . . the visions of the past being opened to my understanding by the Spirit of the Almighty, I discovered the person whose skeleton was before us was a white Lamanite, a large, thick-set man, and a man of God. His name was Zelph . . . who was known from the Hill Cumorah, or eastern sea to the Rocky mountains." (HOC 1948 ed., II: 79-80)."
FAIR's Response
Question: Does the story of Zelph have implications for Book of Mormon geography?
Joseph Smith was of the opinion that the natives of the area had something to do with Book of Mormon peoples
Whatever the case with the Zelph reports, Joseph Smith was of the opinion that the natives of the area had something to do with Book of Mormon peoples, calling them "Nephites." In a statement in a letter to his wife, dated June 3, 1834, he wrote:
The whole of our journey, in the midst of so large a company of social honest and sincere men, wandering over the plains of the Nephites, recounting occasionally the history of the Book of Mormon, roving over the mounds of that once beloved people of the Lord, picking up their skulls and their bones, as a proof of its divine authenticity, and gazing upon a country the fertility, the splendour and the goodness so indescribable, all serves to pass away time unnoticed.[1]
But keep in mind, that even in the Book of Mormon, groups such as the Mulekites and the people of Ammon joined the Nephite Nation over time and were called by the name Nephite, only because they had given their allegiance to that faction politically. This had nothing to do with ancestry in a great many cases. Therefore, Joseph Smith's use of the word here doesn't necessarily imply ancestry of the peoples in the area. Furthermore, Joseph Smith's opinions on these points are not necessarily based on revelation, nor are they necessarily any more reliable than the rest of the opinions previously held by other General Authorites, some of whom later held the same office that Joseph Smith held. Since their opinions were not all the same, there is no reason to assume that anyone had actual revelation on these points. Only future revelation can clarify these points.
Joseph Smith would also make later remarks that included Central America and its inhabitants as also being relevant to Book of Mormon geography and peoples
Joseph Smith would also make later remarks that included Central America and its inhabitants as also being relevant to Book of Mormon geography and peoples. (See Bernhisel letter and July 1842 Times and Seasons Wilford Woodruff, who wrote one of the Zelph accounts, also regarded a book on Central American ruins to be evidence for the Book of Mormon account (See City of Copan). Parley P. Pratt (March 1842 and Orson Pratt (August 1843) were of a similar view.
Response to claim: "Why don't any archeologists theorize any Hebrew or Egyptian linkages or influences in Mesoamerica?"
The author(s) of Difficult Questions for Mormons make(s) the following claim:
Response to claim: "Why don't any archeologists theorize any Hebrew or Egyptian linkages or influences in Mesoamerica?"
FAIR's Response
Notes
- ↑ Dean C. Jessee, The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, revised edition, (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book, 2002), 324.