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Heartland Model of Book of Mormon geography
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| Model Name | Date Proposed | Scope | Narrow Neck | Land North | Land South | Cumorah | River Sidon | Nephi's Landing | Religion | Type of model
Model name: Meldrum 2003Date proposed: 2003? |
|---|
This geography was originally based on a DVD presentation (which is in turn based on fireside presentations) produced by Rodney (Rod) Meldrum: Rodney Meldrum, DNA Evidence for Book of Mormon Geography: New scientific support for the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon; Correlation and Verification through DNA, Prophetic, Scriptural, Historical, Climatological, Archaeological, Social, and Cultural Evidence (Rodney Meldrum, 2007), mail-order DVD. ( Index of claims ).
Other works and sources include:
- Bruce H. Porter and Rod L. Meldrum, Prophecies and Promises: The Book of Mormon & The United States of America (Salt Lake City, UT: Digital Legend, 2009), 1–.
- Rod Meldrum, Rediscovering the Book of Mormon Remnant through DNA (Honeoye Falls, NY: Digital Legend Press, 2009), 1–.
- The FIRM Foundation
- LDSPromisedLand.com [this company was formed by Meldrum, Bruce Porter, Wayne May, and LDS Travel president Brian Mickelsen]. Despite being president of this group, Meldrum has opted to conduct his own seminars in competition with this group because of financial reasons. According to Bruce Porter:
- (Meldrum) felt that he needed to pull away from that company [ldspromisedland.com] because he could make more money doing it on his own. And that was a business decision that he made…. but it's what Rod does for a living, and everybody has a right to earn a living.[1]
Heartland model
FAIR Reviews
FAIR has a review of some of the contents and tactics used by this presentation:
- Full Review html
Other reviews
- Jerry L. Ainsworth, Dr. Ainsworth responds to Rod Meldrum DVD, mormonsites.org blog, 20 September 2008. FAIR endorses no Book of Mormon geography, and does not necessarily endorse all the conclusions in this off-site link. It is provided to properly credit the source.
- Anonymous, "Errors of Rodney Meldrum," bookofmormongeography.info (no date, circa April 2009). FAIR endorses no Book of Mormon geography, and does not necessarily endorse all the conclusions in this off-site link. It is provided to properly credit the source.
- Book of Mormon Archaeological Forum, "Great Lakes 'Heartland' Model" (summary page)
- Joe V Andersen, "A critical Review of Wayne N. May's This Land: Zarahemla and the Nephite Nation."
- Douglas K. Christensen, "The Hopewell Culture of Eastern North America."
- Chris Heimerdinger, "Revelatory Stewardship and the Book of Mormon."
- John L. Lund, "Where Was Joseph Smith between March 1, 1842 and Nov 15, 1842."
- John L. Sorenson, "A Whole Bunch of Reasons Why Book of Mormon Geography Could Not Have Included North America."
- Ted Dee Stoddard, "'Thick Darkness,' 'Vapor of Darkness,' and 'Mists of Darkness': Indications of Weather and Climate in the Book of Mormon."
- Ted Dee Stoddard, "'The Whiteness of the Driven Snow': An Evaluation of the Word 'Snow' in the Book of Mormon."
- Ted Dee Stoddard, "Joseph Smith and John Lloyd Stephens."
- Ted Dee Stoddard, "The Need for Evidence of a High-Level Written Language in the New World."
- Ted Dee Stoddard, "'I Write unto All the Ends of the Earth': The Need for Evidence of a High-Level Written Language in the New World."
- John A. Tvedtnes, "A Brief History of the Limited Geographic View of the Book of Mormon."
- Brant Gradner, "This Idea: The "This Land" Series and the U.S.-Centric Reading of the Book of Mormon (A review of "This Land: Zarahemla and the Nephite Nation; This Land: Only One Cumorah!; and This Land: They Came from the East" by: Edwin G. Goble and Wayne N. May; Wayne N. May; and Wayne N. May)," FARMS Review 20/2 (2008): 141–162. off-site wiki
Blog posts
- FAIR Blog: Allen Wyatt, "A Faulty Apologetic for the Book of Mormon" (3 July 2008) FAIR link
- FAIR Blog: Gregory L. Smith, "Advice from a Nobel Prize Winner" (6 July 2008) FAIR link
- Mormanity: Jeff Lindsay, "Misguided Zeal: DNA Evidence for Book of Mormon Geography," (4 July 2008) off-site
- FAIR Blog: Allen Wyatt, "Examining the Secular Side," (3 Sept 2008) FAIR link
- FAIR blog: Scott Gordon, "Helping Those Struggling with Anti-Mormonism," (3 Sept 2008) FAIR link
- Dr. Jerry Ainsworth responds to DVD, blog, 20 September, 2008.
- Steven Danderson, Using and misusing scholarship and revelation…. (October 5, 2008)
- Robert White The Truth Will Out At Last (October 7, 2008)
- Steven Danderson, A look at Meldrum’s revised DVD…. (March 31, 2009)
Other resources
- Kristen Moulton, "Book of Mormon geography stirring controversy," Salt Lake Tribune (25 March 2010) off-site.
- Michael De Groote, "Mormon geography conferences to compete this weekend," Deseret News (29 March 2010) off-site
- Rod Meldrum/FIRM Foundation homepage off-site
- LDS Promised Land off-site
Plagiarism?
Ed Goble has also charged that this model plagiarized elements from his first geography (Goble-May 2002) without attribution.[2]
Note: Goble has since retracted his old belief in the US Heartland Model in favor of a new setting, the "Two Heartland" theory (Goble-2004). Also, more recently, Goble now realizes that his initial charge against Meldrum's model was too emotionally-based, and that excessive fault-finding about minutia is unproductive. Also, Goble now realizes that any new geographical model based in any particular setting is bound to build upon the former models, and it is understandable how it is that it can be difficult to give credit where each idea one builds upon comes from.
Conclusion of DVD uses the Michigan relics as evidence. The DVD elsewhere refers to these artifacts as "a person on a cross" which makes their identity clear (Meldrum, DVD (2007), Sect #14, 7:56.) For more details, see subheading "Michigan Relics as Evidence," in FAIR:Reviews of DNA Evidence for Book of Mormon Geography:Identifying the Nephites.
After the initial charge had been made about Meldrum's geography, the head of the FIRM Foundation (Rod Meldrum) replied:
- “Seek first to understand, then to be understood” would be a good idea for this last post. You have obviously not seen Meldrum’s DVD as he has no Michigan artifacts in it and he came to his DNA conclusions long before encountering Wayne May.[3]
The former claim is false, since the Michigan forgeries are in the presentation (see screenshot image)
The head of the FIRM Foundation later told Goble:
- This geography was not plagerized [sic] from you at all, as you so indicated in your rant. You called ALL of the Great Lakes ‘Sea West’, you claim the ‘Nephite North’ is a highly skewed angle nearly making Lake Ontario and Lake Erie north/south of each other (see p.75 of your book) which completely changes your geographic ideas. I do not espouse either of these arguements [sic]. If you had seen the DVD, you would have known that out [sic] geographies are substantially different, if not unrelated. Your unsubstantiated claim that I copied your geography is not true. I began to research North American geographies after I had worked on the DNA evidence. I had come to many preliminary conclusions prior to my meeting Wayne May. I found his geographic ideas were the closest to what I had found, and so went to one of his presentations to learn more. Again I am being accused without evidence in fact. I agree with you, your geography doesn’t work and I don’t blame you for abandoning it. The proposed geography of my DVD has many things that need to be addressed as well, and I am hoping for competent help in establishing a more complete understanding.[4]
It has, however, been pointed out that Meldrum's enthusiasm for Goble's book was much greater than his statements might lead us to believe, from a testimonial posted on Wayne May's website:
- “Wayne May’s book series provides the 'most comprehensive compilation of Book of Mormon background history, geography, logical research, and artifacts (complete with photographs), of any book on the subject to date….Open your mind and heart to the information contained in these books, and you will gain a renewed love for the prophet and the Book of Mormon itself. Truth will prevail.”[5]
Goble has pointed out that one of his ideas is quite unique, and matches the Heartland model's claim:
- “The idea of a confluence of rivers making up the head of the Sidon is lifted from MY book, Mr. Meldrum. That was MY idea.”[6]
This can be compared with The FIRM Foundation's identical idea.[7]
Index of geographical claims made in the DVD DNA Evidence for Book of Mormon Geography
The following tables respond to specific geographical claims made in the DVD. Only the geographical claims are treated here. For other issues related to this DVD and the presentation "Introduction to Book of Mormon Evidences," see the following:
A note about DNA claims
It is claimed in the DVD and associated seminars that criticisms related to DNA and the Book of Mormon have not been addressed by LDS scholars. This is incorrect. For a detailed discussion of DNA related claims, see the following:
| Heartland (Meldrum) Geography claims |
- DNA_Evidence for Book of Mormon Geography (DVD)
- Book_of_Mormon_geography/Models/Limited/Meldrum_2003
- Book_of_Mormon_geography/Models/Limited/Meldrum_2003/Introduction
- Book_of_Mormon_geography/Models/Limited/Meldrum_2003/Section 1:DNA
- Book_of_Mormon_geography/Models/Limited/Meldrum_2003/Section 2:Geography
- Book_of_Mormon_geography/Models/Limited/Meldrum_2003/Section 3:Joseph Smith
- Book_of_Mormon_geography/Models/Limited/Meldrum_2003/Section 4:Promised Land
- Book_of_Mormon_geography/Models/Limited/Meldrum_2003/Section 5:Prophesies and Promises
- Book_of_Mormon_geography/Models/Limited/Meldrum_2003/Section 6:Tents, Temples, and Teepees
- Book_of_Mormon_geography/Models/Limited/Meldrum_2003/Section 7:Weather and Climate
- Book_of_Mormon_geography/Models/Limited/Meldrum_2003/Section 8:Buffalo Evidence
- Book_of_Mormon_geography/Models/Limited/Meldrum_2003/Section 9:Chronological Evidence
- Book_of_Mormon_geography/Models/Limited/Meldrum_2003/Section 10:Nephite Defenses
- Book_of_Mormon_geography/Models/Limited/Meldrum_2003/Section 11:Nephite Structures
- Book_of_Mormon_geography/Models/Limited/Meldrum_2003/Section 12:Mound Builders
- Book_of_Mormon_geography/Models/Limited/Meldrum_2003/Section 13:Nephite Culture
- Book_of_Mormon_geography/Models/Limited/Meldrum_2003/Section 14:Nephite Implements
- Book_of_Mormon_geography/Models/Limited/Meldrum_2003/Section 15:Book of Mormon Lands
- Book_of_Mormon_geography/Models/Limited/Meldrum_2003/Section 16:Travel Indications
== Notes ==
- [note] Michael De Groote, "Mormon geography conferences to compete this weekend," Deseret News (29 March 2010) off-site
- [note] Ed Goble, comment on FAIR blog, (5 Sept 2008, 20h22) off-site
- [note] DNA Truthseeker [Rod Meldrum], MADB message board post (12 May 2008, 2h11) off-site
- [note] Rod Meldrum, comment on FAIR blog, (8 Sept 2008, 19h24) off-site
- [note] Rod Meldrum, (date?) off-site
- [note] Ed Goble, comment on FAIR blog, (5 Sept 2008, 20h22) off-site
- [note] "The Book of Mormon index indicates the Sidon River flows north into a sea, is this correct?," FAQ, bookofmormonevidence.org (accessed 9 April 2009) off-site