long ago ideas

“When we are tired, we are attacked by ideas we conquered long ago." - Friedrich Nietzsche. Long ago, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery conquered false claims that the Book of Mormon was fiction or that it came through a stone in a hat. But these old claims have resurfaced in recent years. To conquer them again, we have to return to what Joseph and Oliver taught.

Wednesday, September 30, 2020

Maxwell Institute podcasts

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. 

Monday, September 28, 2020

When they are learned...

People wonder why those who are young and educated are most adamant about M2C. 

Partly this is a result of imprinting; they have been taught M2C their entire lives, both directly and subliminally. They "can't unsee it" as one of the prominent M2C scholars explained.

Partly it is the process of maturation; nothing is more stereotypical than the young scholar who believes he/she has it all figured out, having adopted a particular way of thinking from an esteemed role model; i.e., his/her professors.

A recent study indicates that the credentialed class is more closed-minded than less educated people, and younger people are more closed-minded than more mature people. 

Jacob described this nicely: When they are learned they think they are wise (2 Nephi 9:28).

Those who are more experienced know how the maturation process works because we've all been through it. Young people cannot possibly know because they are at the beginning stages of the maturation process. Many of them think they understand because of what they've read, or what someone has told them, but that's precisely why they are so closed-minded.

_____

For example, the fine young scholars employed by Book of Mormon Central are the most active in promoting M2C on the Internet. This is perfectly normal. Young educated people are more closed-minded than most people. The more educated they are, the more closed-minded they are. The combination of youth and education is the worst.

That might sound counterintuitive, but it turns out that higher education correlates with overconfidence in one's own ideas. The more educated a person is, the less likely that person is to change his/her mind, be open to new or different ideas, etc. 

This is so well known that purveyors of political and social theories who seek to change society have focused on the universities. They know that if you indoctrinate impressionable students, it will be very difficult for these students to change their worldviews in the future. That's how you change society organically. That's how the Academic Cycle works.

The more education you have, the less concerned you are that the news you get might be biased.













This helps us understand the ongoing censorship by the M2C citation cartel. Because of their credentials, they deem themselves "gatekeepers." They have appointed themselves as qualified to filter the world of information to keep out what they consider to be bad information, such as the teachings of the prophets about the New York Cumorah and the teachings of the prophets about the translation of the Book of Mormon.

_____

The credentialed class come to view those who disagree with them as worthy of contempt.

This creates a common institutional problem. The credentialed class, overconfident in their own beliefs, become the gatekeepers for decisionmakers. They wrap silk threads around leaders, creating a cocoon to "protect" them from incorrect beliefs and information.

By depriving decisionmakers of relevant evidence and alternative perspectives, the credentialed class channels decisions in the direction they desire. 

_____

Readers of this blog (apart from M2C advocates) are open-minded and happy to consider alternative points of view. We have a healthy skepticism about what we read and hear, and we don't accept what the credentialed class serves up without first comparing it to the teachings of the prophets.

We're also happy to let everyone think and believe whatever they want. We invite people to consider every point of view, every fact, every theory, and then make up their own minds. 

We like it when people make informed decisions. We think extrinsic evidence leads us to support, not repudiate, the teachings of the prophets.




Friday, September 25, 2020

Book of Mormon geography in one graphic

Here's a summary of the entire debate over Book of Mormon geography in one graphic. People accept one assumption or the other, and then confirm their biases accordingly.

It's very simple.

Of course, it's not only Oliver Cowdery who was wrong or correct. The New York Cumorah has been taught by every prophet/apostle who has addressed the topic of Cumorah. But Oliver takes the blame/credit for putting it into print (even though historical evidence shows Joseph taught it even before he got the plates, which he could only have learned from Moroni.)

Book of Mormon Central (BMC) and the rest of the M2C citation cartel assume Oliver was wrong, and everything they produce flows from their obsession with offering evidence to oppose what Oliver taught. Their employees and followers amplify the message. 

BMC employees know perfectly well that M2C is based on the assumption the prophets were wrong and have misled the Church. You can see them on the Internet trying try to justify their position. As good employees, they promote the BMC message and pretend their M2C theory is "evidence driven." Some of them may actually believe that, but everyone outside their M2C bubble recognizes bias confirmation when we see it. Not only because M2C repudiates the prophets, but because M2C relies on a series of logical and factual fallacies. 

Many of the followers of M2C don't (yet) realize that their beliefs are based on this simple assumption, but more and more are learning the facts.
_____

Those of us who assume Oliver was correct offer equivalent evidence to support what Oliver has taught. 

We think it's more useful to find and share evidence that corroborates what the prophets have taught than to find and share evidence that repudiates what the prophets have taught.

The question about Book of Mormon geography boils down to this: Which assumption do you accept?
_____

BTW, this is part of a presentation that I did recently which will be included in the online conference that starts today.

https://firmfoundationexpo.org/



Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Scholars vs Prophets: M2C expands into Egyptology

Because I sometimes visit the web page of Book of Mormon Central for their archive material (as I recommend everyone should), I get the follow-on ads.

Lately, I've seen this one:


I'm all in favor of scholarship. But if you look closely, you'll notice the mark of M2C. This is the Mayan glyph, placed along side Hebrew (OT) Greek (NT) and Egyptian (Book of Abraham) that announces to the world that the Book of Mormon is a Mayan codex.

Right.


This mark of M2C lets us know this is ad comes from an M2C advocacy group, not an academic organization. Book of Mormon Central is merely a public front for BMAF, a non-profit that has been pushing M2C for a long time. 

Hence, caution is advised. 

Their paid employees push M2C at every opportunity. They use millions of dollars raised from faithful Church members to promote M2C. We see them on the Internet, some of them fine young scholars who have bought into the Groupthink of the M2C citation cartel that also leads them to justify outright censorship of alternative ideas. It's the opposite of scholarship and academics, but they hold themselves out as "experts" to whom we should defer. 

Then we wonder, why is an M2C advocacy group focusing on "Egyptologists" to discuss the Book of Abraham?

_____ 

Apparently, this M2C advocacy group has been tasked with responding to the public criticisms of the Book of Abraham from well-known advocacy groups such as MormonStories and CES Letter. If you see one of these ads and click on it, you arrive at "Pearl of Great Price Central."


Yes, that is actually the mark of M2C again. 

Immediately you know it's not a real academic institution. It's just another tendril of M2C.

As you navigate the site, eventually you discover there are three LDS scholars who have PhDs in Egyptology who are in a debate with the larger community of Egyptologists (including the professors who taught them) about the interpretation and relevance of the facsimiles and papyri involved with the Book of Abraham.

We'll discuss all of that another time. For now, when I see this advertisement, I ask myself, why are we asking intellectuals about the Book of Abraham? 

Definitely, there's a place for academic inquiry, research, dialog and publication. But why these intellectuals who explicitly reject what the prophets have taught about the New York Cumorah? 

We've seen what a hash the M2C advocates have made of Book of Mormon geography. It looks to me like they're fumbling the Book of Abraham, too.

Instead of hearing from a bunch of Groupthink M2C intellectuals and their employees, I would much rather hear from the prophets about the Book of Abraham. 

_____

The other day, I quoted one of the LDS Egyptologists, who made an awesome declaration about academics in general. If you didn't see it, I recommend it. 

http://www.bookofmormoncentralamerica.com/2020/09/book-of-mormon-central-finally-explains.html 

The statement explains why it is foolish to expect any of these intellectuals to be more wise, reliable, credible, or dependable than the prophets. The "credentialed class" are a poor substitute.

Which is why I prefer to believe what Joseph and Oliver said than what these intellectuals and their employees say. 

It is sad to watch the M2C citation cartel's desperate resort to sophistry, logical fallacies, false accusations and ad hominem arguments to try to persuade members of the Church to disbelieve what the prophets have taught. But they've been doing it for a long time. They think it's a success to censor the teachings of the prophets. They understand the Academic Cycle, and they've managed to imprint M2C on the minds of most Church members.

But not on all of us.

Tuesday, September 22, 2020

"It's not my theory"

The other day I gave a presentation at a conference about the Title of Liberty. I discussed five topics. One was the concept of "the land of promise." I briefly mentioned and quoted from President Marion G. Romney's talk "America's Destiny."

During the Q&A, someone asked me for scriptural support for my theory about the New York Cumorah. It's a valid question. However, the premise if false.

I replied, "It's not my theory. It's not even a theory. I just happen to believe what Joseph and Oliver said."

Apparently the individual had never heard of Letter VII, so I explained you can go to the Joseph Smith Papers, search for "Letter VII," and see for yourself, right out of Joseph Smith's own history, that Oliver Cowdery declared it was a "fact" that the final battle of the Jaredites and Nephites took place in the mile-wide valley west of the hill Cumorah where Joseph found the plates.

This misconception that the New York Cumorah is "my theory" or the "theory" of anyone else is fake news peddled by the M2C citation cartel. It was never a "theory." 

It has been fascinating for me to observe the gyrations that the M2C citation cartel has gone through to frame the New York Cumorah as a "theory." 

Framing the New York Cumorah as a "theory" began in the late 1800s when RLDS authors decided the LDS prophets were wrong because, to make their "limited Mesoamerican geography" work, Cumorah had to be in southern Mexico. This is the Mesoamerican/two-Cumorahs theory, which I call M2C.

Gradually, some LDS scholars adopted the RLDS theory. By the time FARMS was founded in 1979, M2C became widespread among LDS intellectuals, despite the reaffirmation of the New York Cumorah by prophets and apostles in General Conference in 1975 and 1978.

Through the academic cycle, the M2C intellectuals trained a generation of LDS students to interpret the Book of Mormon as a "Mesoamerican Codex" that contradicted what Joseph and Oliver said about the New York Cumorah. Now, M2C has become the de facto position of the Church, despite the supposed "no position" position set out in the Gospel Topics entry on Book of Mormon Geography. (More on that later this week.)

Our current revisionist LDS historians have done everything they can to accommodate their M2C colleagues, but facts are facts. We can all read Letter VII, Lucy Mack Smith's history, David Whitmer's statements, Brigham Young's explanations, etc. Every one of Joseph's contemporaries and successors in Church leadership who has addressed the issue publicly has reaffirmed what Joseph and Oliver taught about the New York Cumorah.

Despite these historical facts, our M2C scholars and revisionist historians employ a variety of tactics to confuse members of the Church (as well as nonmembers). 

In a day when the Church is supposed to be more open than ever, these intellectuals have taken the opposite course.

They redefine words, they characterize early Church members (including Joseph and Oliver) as ignorant speculators, and they conflate the issue of Cumorah with the question of Book of Mormon geography generally. 

[It's funny to me that some of my critics resort to falsely representing my position to criticize me. They miss the basic point that as far as I'm concerned, everything other than Cumorah is a theory. Such theories are open for further study, discussion, and even revelation. Settings other than Cumorah involve probabilities and interpretations, but mostly bias confirmation. I don't even exclude Mesoamerica, although I think that's one of the least likely settings proposed so far. But "least likely" is not the same as "impossible."] 

The most common tactic used to enforce M2C is censorship. Book of Mormon Central and the other members of the M2C citation cartel are merely M2C advocacy groups who censor even faithful interpretations of the text if they challenge M2C. 

One of the worst examples of the influence of M2C is the Saints book, volume 1. To accommodate M2C, the authors and editors of the Saints, Volume 1, censored the term Cumorah to create a false historical narrative present. This is a technical term they use which means they claimed they presented Church history from the perspective of the people involved. That's fake news. Instead, the Saints book deliberately and falsely represents Joseph, Oliver and their contemporaries as having made no declarations about the New York Cumorah, as if it was just "a hill in New York" that had no relationship to the Book of Mormon. 

But in few seconds of searching on the internet, anyone can see that the Saints narrative is false. 

This week we'll discuss how M2C has influenced the Book of Mormon videos. This is even more unbelievable than the Saints book.

As for scriptural support, the Book of Mormon is full of references to geography that corroborate the New York Cumorah. Sections in the Doctrine and Covenants corroborate it also.

Interpretation of any text usually boils down to bias confirmation. Lawyers litigating contractual disputes and Constitutional issues try to persuade the factfinder (judge, jury, arbitrator) to confirm the bias of their clients. Politicians try to persuade voters to confirm their biases. Most of what we read in the media is an author's attempt to persuade us to confirm his/her bias. Modern journalism has degenerated into advocacy, easily detected by word choice, omission of relevant facts (censorship), and other rhetorical tactics. 

It's just as easy to recognize M2C as fake news, especially when the M2C advocates claim neutrality.

Recognizing this, I have repeatedly explained my bias: I believe what Joseph and Oliver taught about the New York Cumorah. Starting with that belief, I have found abundant extrinsic evidence that corroborates what they said. I've "confirmed my bias" on this issue. 

In the process of doing so, I have found the tactics of our M2C intellectuals, their employees and followers, ridiculously misleading. M2C "boils down" to repudiating the teachings of the prophets in favor of the theories of intellectuals. 

_____

I've also explained that I don't care what others believe. I'm not trying to persuade anyone to believe what Joseph and Oliver taught. If I was, I'd resort to the same tactics employed by our M2C intellectuals and revisionist historians.

Instead of censorship, I encourage people to read the material published by Book of Mormon Central, the Interpreter, et al. Read Saints, Volume 1, and see for yourself. 

Every individual, LDS or not, who is interested in the topic of Cumorah can read what Joseph and Oliver taught and make a decision whether to accept or reject what they said. That decision becomes your bias. Then you can find abundant extrinsic evidence to confirm your bias, whatever it is.

The claim that "the evidence" contradicts the New York Cumorah is a ruse. It is bias confirmation disguised as "research" that succeeds only by obfuscation and censorship.

That's my biggest problem with the M2C intellectuals and revisionist historians. If they were honest and forthright, I'd have no problem. I'd stop blogging about this topic. 

To be sure, they have stated their bias clearly. They all admit they don't believe Joseph and Oliver. But they do it subtly, and they get angry when I point it out.

I'd like to see this entire topic clarified this way. Imagine a large field with two big tents. Or a university campus with two lecture auditoriums. The public can decide with tent or auditorium to enter. Signs outside explain.

Before entering a venue, you must decide whether you believe or disbelieve what Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery taught about the New York Cumorah. This requirement reflects the principle of faith as well as the human psychology of bias confirmation.

Once you've made a decision, you may enter the appropriate venue.

If you believe what Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery taught about the New York Cumorah, enter tent/auditorium Number 1. 

If you disbelieve what Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery taught about the New York Cumorah, enter tent/auditorium Number 2.

Each tent/auditorium will present extrinsic scientific evidence that confirms your belief so you can leave the field/campus with your beliefs fortified.

Once you have completed work in one of the venues, you are free to visit the other one to understand what others think. 




Monday, September 21, 2020

Book of Mormon Central finally explains that "scholarship" is merely bias confirmation

Finally, Book of Mormon Central has published an explanation of how scholarship works. We should give them credit, even if this was an unintentional admission that scholarship boils down to bias confirmation.

Here's an excerpt from a post on Book of Mormon Central regarding the Book of Abraham:

6) As a subset of this, I believe that regarding the Book of Abraham there are no unbiased researchers. Everyone starts with an initial assumption. They either believe that Joseph Smith could possibly receive divine aid to translate ancient documents or he could not. This original assumption will color how every other piece of evidence is interpreted. Responsible scholarship will recognize that there is a beginning, foundational assumption, and be transparent about it. Anyone who does not recognize their starting point is being intellectually dishonest, both with themselves and their audience. They also misunderstand scholarship. Anyone who pretends that scholarship is not affected by these kinds of views also fails to understand the scholarly process.

https://bookofmormoncentral.org/blog/resources-from-egyptologists-for-studying-the-book-of-abraham-authenticity-translation/?utm_source=MaxConnect&utm_medium=Display&utm_content=RM&utm_campaign=MaxConnect_BOAEvidence

I completely agree with that statement, as far as it goes. 

_____

Let's apply that statement to the question of Cumorah.

6) As a subset of this, I believe that regarding the New York Cumorah there are no unbiased researchers. Everyone starts with an initial assumption. They either believe that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery told the truth about the New York Cumorah or they did not. This original assumption will color how every other piece of evidence is interpreted. Responsible scholarship will recognize that there is a beginning, foundational assumption, and be transparent about it. Anyone who does not recognize their starting point is being intellectually dishonest, both with themselves and their audience. They also misunderstand scholarship. Anyone who pretends that scholarship is not affected by these kinds of views also fails to understand the scholarly process.

_____

Book of Mormon Central and the rest of the M2C citation cartel, as well as the revisionist LDS historians, have firmly and unequivocally declared that they do not believe that Joseph and Oliver told the truth about the New York Cumorah.

What do you believe?

The starting point of M2C is the conviction, shared by M2C intellectuals, that Joseph and Oliver were ignorant speculators who misled the Church about Cumorah for decades--until these intellectuals came along to rescue the Church from the errors of the prophets. Everything they've published seeks to promote that "foundational assumption." Book of Mormon Central, especially, is raising and spending millions of dollars every year to promote M2C. 

Fortunately, none of us have to believe these intellectuals. We can rely on the teachings of the scriptures and the prophets instead.

_____

Next, let's apply the original statement to the question of the translation of the Book of Mormon.

6) As a subset of this, I believe that regarding the translation of the Book of Mormon there are no unbiased researchersEveryone starts with an initial assumption. They either believe that Joseph Smith translated the plates with the Urim and Thummim that came with the plates, as he and Oliver Cowdery declared, or he did not. This original assumption will color how every other piece of evidence is interpreted. Responsible scholarship will recognize that there is a beginning, foundational assumption, and be transparent about it. Anyone who does not recognize their starting point is being intellectually dishonest, both with themselves and their audience. They also misunderstand scholarship. Anyone who pretends that scholarship is not affected by these kinds of views also fails to understand the scholarly process.

_____

Book of Mormon Central and the rest of the M2C citation cartel, as well as the revisionist LDS historians, have firmly, unequivocally declared that they do not believe that Joseph translated the plates with the Urim and Thummim that came with the plates.

What do you believe?

There are thousands of Latter-day Saints who still believe the teachings of Joseph and Oliver instead of the teachings of the intellectuals. 

_____

Now that Book of Mormon Central is on record, they have no legitimate excuse to continue censoring alternative faithful interpretations, especially those that corroborate and support what Joseph and Oliver taught.


Friday, September 18, 2020

Constitution Day - the operating system for the U.S.


Yesterday, September 17, was Constitution Day in the United States. 


Years ago I won some prizes on a radio show because I was the first caller who knew the Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787. On that day, 39 of the 55 delegates from the States signed the Constitution. Some declined to sign because there was no bill of rights (later added by the first ten Amendments) and because the Constitution permitted slavery (later banned by the 13th Amendment). 

But those who did sign rejected the tyranny of the existing forms of government in most of the world, consisting of kings who were unaccountable, or barely accountable, to the people. The signers created the United States of America and set up an "operating system" that was sturdy and flexible enough to produce many future iterations, all leading toward "a more perfect union."

Would you have signed the Declaration of Independence and/or the Constitution? 

There's a cool webpage that let's you add your own signature. Go to 

_____

In commemoration of Constitution Day, I'm speaking on the topic of "The Liberty of Righteousness" at an online forum tomorrow on the Title of Liberty.

https://4mevents.org/

_____

The U.S. Constitution is the operating system for the federal government. Congress enacts apps (laws and regulations) to work on the operating system, but when they don't work, the Supreme Court declares them unconstitutional. 

The Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme law of the United States. Empowered with the sovereign authority of the people by the framers and the consent of the legislatures of the states, it is the source of all government powers, and also provides important limitations on the government that protect the fundamental rights of United States citizens.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/the-constitution/

_____

Here is another way to look at an operating system for the country as a whole:

"Patriotic education" in schools is, in essence, the Operating System for the United States. You have to get the OS right to make any of the other apps operate.way to look at it is this: 

"Patriotic education" in schools is, in essence, the Operating System for the United States. You have to get the OS right to make any of the other apps operate.

https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/1306938291153854465

Yesterday, President Trump announced a highly significant initiative - the 1776 Commission.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ey8VJJc8FQg

Trump discussed the “left-wing indoctrination” in many American schools as well as curriculum that “views every issue through the lens of race." The 1776 Commission will lead to “patriotic education,” in connection with a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities to develop a ”pro-American curriculum that celebrates the truth about our nation's great history."

_____

This all leads me to wonder, what is the operating system for the Church? 

We'll discuss that more next week.



Thursday, September 17, 2020

Rationalizing censorship: The authoritarian left never rests

Peter Hitchens, a former leftist revolutionary, explains in this video why he once sought to restrict the free speech of others and how the left has changed Western society. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbfKBXpHNUU&t=676s

Be sure to turn on CC (closed captions) to follow more easily.

The general left-wing belief which is held by the elites of most Western countries now is also a belief in their own virtue. And if you believe very strongly in your own virtue, and your virtue is based on, sort of a caricature of justification by faith alone, you are a good person because you hold certain opinions, therefore if  you hold other opinions you are a bad person. And I think that makes dialog pretty much impossible if you think your opponent is bad, not just wrong but bad, why should you listen to a word he says? Well, they don't...

The ideas of cultural, moral and social revolution not by violent overthrow, not through dictatorship of the proletariat, not even through seizure or sequestration of industries and banks but through the capture by the long march through the institutions of the television studio and the university and the newspaper office and the publishing house and the school, so that after 30 or 40 years of that you would control pretty much the public mind and you would be able to get pretty much what you wanted. It's clever, and you have to concede to these people some admiration for their endless determination, their deep belief in what they want and their subtle and clever organization to achieve. It has been very well exercised revolution.

This is a good explanation of the tactics of the academic cycle that promotes M2C, SITH, and other ideas that reject what the prophets have taught. By continuing to suppress alternative faithful ideas, the M2C citation cartel makes dialog impossible.

Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Swept off America

Yesterday we discussed one of the problems with using the fake fantasy maps from CES and BYU to teach the Book of Mormon. 

Ether 2:9 is meaningless if the land the Jaredites occupied is imaginary.

“And now, we can behold the decrees of God concerning this land, that it is a land of promise; and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall serve God, or they shall be swept off when the fulness of his wrath shall come upon them. And the fulness of his wrath cometh upon them when they are ripened in iniquity.” (Ether 2:9)

Portraying the Book of Mormon in a fictional setting hardly inspires confidence that the book Joseph translated is an authentic history. 

And yet, all LDS youth today are learning this fictional setting for the Book of Mormon in seminary, institute, and at BYU.

This fictional setting is based on the M2C premise that the prophets are wrong because the Hill Cumorah of Mormon 6:6 is in southern Mexico, not in New York. 

The M2C citation cartel has established its own M2C interpretation as the de facto official interpretation of the Book of Mormon. They are imprinting this fictional setting on the minds of LDS students around the world.

This is a slow-moving disaster. 

But there is an alternative.

There is a sound interpretation of the Book of Mormon that fits the real world and includes the Hill Cumorah in New York. http://www.moronisamerica.com/maps/
_____

President Marion G. Romney showed a better way to teach Ether 2:9 when he spoke about America's Destiny many years ago in General Conference. 

You can read some of his talk here, but for some reason it is truncated.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1975/10/americas-destiny?lang=eng

You can read all of his talk here:

http://www.bookofmormoncentralamerica.com/2019/04/conference-classic-destiny.html

You can watch his talk here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te4F9rWaSAk

Excerpts:

Among the questions frequently raised in connection with our upcoming national bicentennial is “Can we maintain our basic freedoms, peace, and prosperity for another 200 years?”

The answer to this question is yes, if we shall individually repent and conform to the laws of the God of this land, who is Jesus Christ....

It is my purpose in making these remarks to point out from the record of ancient inhabitants of America that the foregoing decrees have been carried out.

In the western part of the state of New York near Palmyra is a prominent hill known as the “hill Cumorah.” (Morm. 6:6.) On July twenty-fifth of this year, as I stood on the crest of that hill admiring with awe the breathtaking panorama which stretched out before me on every hand, my mind reverted to the events which occurred in that vicinity some twenty-five centuries ago—events which brought to an end the great Jaredite nation....

As I contemplated this tragic scene from the crest of Cumorah and viewed the beautiful land of the Restoration as it appears today, I cried in my soul, “How could it have happened?”...

Pursuant to this decree concerning the land of America, the Jaredites were swept off in the manner we have reviewed, because, rebelling against the laws of Jesus Christ—the God of the land—they “ripened in iniquity.”

Nor were they the only people who anciently were divinely led to this choice land to grow in righteousness to be a mighty nation and then to deteriorate in wickedness until they ripened in iniquity and were, pursuant to God’s decree, swept off....

This second civilization to which I refer, the Nephites, flourished in America between 600 B.C. and A.D. 400. Their civilization came to an end for the same reason, at the same place, and in the same manner as did the Jaredites’. From the account of their death struggle, I quote:

“And now,” says Mormon, their historian, “I finish my record concerning the destruction of my people, the Nephites. And it came to pass that we did march forth before the Lamanites … to the land of Cumorah. … And when … we had gathered in all the remainder of our people unto the land of Cumorah, … my people, with their wives and their children, did … behold the armies of the Lamanites marching towards them; and with that awful fear of death which fills the breasts of all the wicked, did they await to receive them....

The tragic fate of the Jaredite and the Nephite civilizations is proof positive that the Lord meant it when he said that this “is a land of promise; and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall serve God, or they shall be swept off when the fulness of his wrath shall come upon them. And the fulness of his wrath cometh upon them when they are ripened in iniquity.” (Ether 2:9.) ...





Tuesday, September 15, 2020

swept off what land?

The Book of Mormon gives us several warnings, such as this one:

“And now, we can behold the decrees of God concerning this land, that it is a land of promise; and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall serve God, or they shall be swept off when the fulness of his wrath shall come upon them. And the fulness of his wrath cometh upon them when they are ripened in iniquity.” (Ether 2:9)

But we're told by our M2C scholars that the Book of Mormon took place in an imaginary land:



Maybe people aren't repenting because there is no downside to being "swept off" a fantasy map?

For those of us who still believe what Joseph and Oliver taught, as well as what the prophets who reiterated those teachings taught, the warning about being swept off the land remains serious and all too real.

1975 President Marion G. Romney.
In the October 1975 General Conference, President Romney, then First Counselor in the First Presidency, gave a talk titled “America’s Destiny” that included these statements:

In the western part of the state of New York near Palmyra is a prominent hill known as the “hill Cumorah.” (Morm. 6:6.) On July twenty-fifth of this year, as I stood on the crest of that hill admiring with awe the breathtaking panorama which stretched out before me on every hand, my mind reverted to the events which occurred in that vicinity some twenty-five centuries ago—events which brought to an end the great Jaredite nation.

You who are acquainted with the Book of Mormon will recall that during the final campaign of the fratricidal war between the armies led by Shiz and those led by Coriantumr “nearly two millions” of Coriantumr’s people had been slain by the sword; “two millions of mighty men, and also their wives and their children.” (Ether 15:2.)

As the conflict intensified, all the people who had not been slain—men “with their wives and their children” (Ether 15:15)—gathered about that hill Cumorah (see Ether 15:11)....
Thus perished at the foot of Cumorah the remnant of the once mighty Jaredite nation, of whom the Lord had said, “There shall be none greater … upon all the face of the earth.” (Ether 1:43.)

As I contemplated this tragic scene from the crest of Cumorah and viewed the beautiful land of the Restoration as it appears today, I cried in my soul, “How could it have happened?”
...
"The tragic fate of the Jaredite and the Nephite civilizations is proof positive that the Lord meant it when he said that this “is a land of promise; and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall serve God, or they shall be swept off when the fulness of his wrath shall come upon them. And the fulness of his wrath cometh upon them when they are ripened in iniquity.” (Ether 2:9.)"


http://www.lettervii.com/p/byu-packet-on-cumorah.html





Monday, September 14, 2020

Journalism vs advocacy

People everywhere in the world trust journalists less than ever before. I noticed this when I was working in China last year. China Daily is the official English-language newspaper approved by the government. We were allowed to use it with our students to help them learn English. In many respects, it provides useful news. 

But it is also strongly biased, and even our students could tell. Here are samples from China Daily.










Here in the U.S., Americans recognize that the major media sources have become activists instead of journalists. They make and frame the news instead of reporting it. 

Jonathan Turley wrote this article about how a Stanford journalism professor rejects objectivity even as a goal or ideal.

https://jonathanturley.org/2020/09/14/stanford-journalism-professor-rejects-objectivity-in-journalism/

"It is now common to hear academics and reporters reject “both sideism” as a trap and even a form of racism. Even the publishing of opposing views is now considered dangerous."

_____

Book of Mormon Central (BMC) has chosen this advocacy model. Instead of providing people interested in the Book of Mormon with a range of faithful perspectives, BMC continues to push M2C while censoring alternative faithful interpretations. 

BMC reminds me a lot of China Daily.

Friday, September 11, 2020

Firesides, presentations, FHEs, etc.

People are asking me to do more Zoom presentations. Most are private, but if you're interested, send me an email at lostzarahemla@gmail.com and if the hosts have room, I'll be glad to give you a link so you can join in. Topics include Church history and Book of Mormon issues.

If you'd like a presentation or discussion for your own group, I'm happy to participate depending on timing. Just email me and we can try to set something up. 

I'll also have three presentations open to the public at the Book of Mormon Evidences conference later this month.  

_____

I took this photo from the window at my home office last Wednesday. On 9/11, it's nice to remember how beautiful this planet is. 



Thursday, September 10, 2020

Fires and misc.

This is a little preview of something I'm going to write about next week involving change.

Many readers here know that my wife and I live on the Oregon coast. People are asking if we're okay with all the fires and smoke. The short answer is, we're fine.

We left last Friday, before the fires started in Oregon. 

Some friends who were visiting stayed at the house, though, and they experienced the smoke, red skies, and falling ash on Tuesday and Wednesday.

A fire started about 3 miles outside our town but was quickly controlled, fortunately. 

Lincoln City, a town about 40 miles north of us, was evacuated yesterday. We were in Lincoln City about 10 days ago and it is unimaginable how serious the situation is.

This photo is one of many on the Internet. It is not retouched, photoshopped, or shot with a filter.

The situation is the culmination of a "perfect storm" of conditions. Unusually strong easterly winds, like the ones that struck northern Utah this week, knocked down trees and power lines. 

The downed power lines started fires. 

Because it has been hot and dry all along the Pacific Coast recently, fires spread quickly.


_____

I flew from Portland, the scene of over 100 days of sometimes violent demonstrations, to Rochester, NY. The night I arrived in Rochester was the second night of demonstrations that have continued through last night. Protesters have invaded restaurants and forced diners to leave, etc. The police chief and the rest of the police command staff have resigned.

After a few days in Palmyra, Harmony, Fayette and other places, I flew to Salt Lake City to see the destruction caused by the strong winds, including downed trees and people without electricity. 

These were the first flights I had been on since March. Airports are mostly deserted. The flights I was on (2 flights each way) were at about 50% or less capacity. This was a stark contrast to January-February, when we went on 27 flights among 10 countries in southeast Asia and Australia/NZ. 

We all know how much life has changed during the COVID 19 outbreak. People are moving out of cities for more rural areas. Where we live in Oregon, there is a lively real estate market with lots of homes for sale and lots being bought. I checked last night. There is only one house for sale, plus two new homes under construction listed. Those who live in Utah know how active the housing market is. We're getting cold calls from agents asking if we'd consider selling our home in Salt Lake.

Many more changes are imminent. In the U.S., we have a lively election underway. Big changes are happening all around the world, including political, economic, and social changes. Individually, people everywhere are reassessing their priorities and futures. 

This is a tremendous opportunity for the spread of the Gospel and the establishment of Zion. However, there is also a "perfect storm" of conditions that impede progress.

We'll discuss that more in upcoming days.

  



Thursday, September 3, 2020

The M2C citation cartel endures

Apparently some of the members of the M2C citation cartel continue to read this blog. They consider the acronym "M2C" pejorative, and they think the term "citation cartel" invokes images of drug cartels in Latin America.

Such paranoia is a good example of how members (and employees) of a citation cartel think and operate. The credentialed class all too often take personal offense to differences of opinion, resort to academic bullying, and employ censorship to protect their intellectual cartels.

I personally like every LDS scholar I've met, regardless of any disagreements I have with them over specific issues. They're all great people. I don't take such disagreements personally and I'm always eager to change my mind when presented with better, more complete facts and logical arguments.

Furthermore, I respect everyone who engages in discussions about LDS issues, regardless of their point of view or agenda.

My objection to the M2C citation cartel is based on their ongoing censorship of alternative ideas, perspectives, and approaches to the issues. Their censorship represents an intellectual elitism that I consider indefensible and counterproductive, but it is hardly unique to M2C (see below). And, more importantly, that doesn't mean the members of the cartel are not smart, faithful, thoughtful, and awesome people. 
_____

M2C is merely descriptive. I coined the acronym M2C to avoid having to retype the term "Mesoamerican/Two-Cumorahs" every time I refer to the theory that the events of the Book of Mormon in the New World took place within a "limited geography" confined to Mesoamerica, with the Hill Cumorah of Mormon 6:6 found somewhere in Southern Mexico.

M2C is not pejorative unless the Mesoamerican/Two-Cumorahs theory itself is problematic. 

And notice: the acronym is M2C, not M. Some of my critics are confused by this. I've always said Mesoamerica is on the table; it's the 2C (2 Cumorahs) that I don't consider viable. While I think it is difficult to justify a limited Mesoamerican geography, I don't say it is impossible.

For branding, M2C is important to help readers know the editorial bias of a particular publication or article.

No one who reads BYU Studies, for example, should be unaware of the editors' bias in favor of M2C. Only readers who understand the M2C bias can make a fair assessment of the credibility and reliability of the publication.







It's the same with the Saints books. Readers who are unaware of the bias of the editors in favor of accommodating M2C will not recognize, let alone understand, the censorship of references to Cumorah.


Everyone who reads or donates to Book of Mormon Central also needs to understand the M2C bias. The organization is a subsidiary of Book of Mormon Archaeological Forum, a long-time advocate of M2C.


As I often say, these and other members of the M2C citation cartel provide high-quality, useful materials. I refer to them often and encourage others to do so as well. The sad reality, though, is that they are all controlled by an interlocking network of M2C advocates who continue to censor alternative ideas.

Which leads to the meaning of "citation cartel."

I didn't coin the term "citation cartel." It is a common term for a well-known tendency in academic publications.

The term "cartel" has a simple definition. "A cartel is a group of independent market participants who collude with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the market. Cartels are usually associations in the same sphere of business, and thus an alliance of rivals. Most jurisdictions consider it anti-competitive behavior."

If there's a better term to describe the interlocked LDS publications and web sites I've identified as part of the M2C citation cartel, I'd be happy to adopt it.

Here are some examples of the application of the term outside of the M2C context.

"These so-called citation cartels have been around for decades, as the publishing consultant Phil Davis has pointed out. Thomson Reuters, which until recently owned the Impact Factor for ranking journals, has even sanctioned periodicals for evidence of cartel behavior.... For authors, the payoff is clear: The more citations your articles generate, the more influential they appear. And journals have similar incentives: Encourage authors to cite papers that appear in your pages and you’ve created the illusion that your journal is highly influential."

https://www.statnews.com/2017/01/13/citation-cartels-science/

Here's an explanation that I think applies directly to the M2C citation cartel:

In our experience, a citation cartel differs from the ordinary in that it usually involves one or more or all of the following: i) a small number, often just two or three, journals are involved; ii) similarly, the diversity of authors involved is small, i.e., smaller as one would expect for a healthy research community; iii) often there is a large overlap of editors in the journals that sustain a particular cartel.


One more example. 

"In this perspective, our goal is to present and elucidate a thus far largely overlooked problem that is arising in scientific publishing, namely the identification and discovery of citation cartels in citation networks. Taking from the well-known definition of a community in the realm of network science, namely that people within a community share significantly more links with each other as they do outside of this community, we propose that citation cartels are defined as groups of authors that cite each other disproportionately more than they do other groups of authors that work on the same subject." 

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphy.2016.00049/full

Wednesday, September 2, 2020

Fragility of Goodness, Church history, and M2C

Butterfly theory
It's interesting to look back at history and see inflection points, tipping points, butterfly wings flapping, and the fragility of goodness.

What made me think of this was yesterday, the Utah Jazz of the NBA (National Basketball Association) lost the seventh game in a best-of-seven playoff series by 2 points. A last-second shot by Mike Conley would have won the game but the ball rimmed out.
A terrific article by Andy Larsen discussed the game with a philosophical bent:

One inch, maybe two, determines whether that Mike Conley 3-point shot goes down.

If it does fall through the net: it’s ecstasy.... Since it didn’t: The Jazz blew a 3-1 series lead.
...

Of course, it’s not just Conley’s shot. If the Jazz shoot more than 23% from deep in Game 7, after absolutely setting the nets on fire for the rest of the series, they win. If they get one more foul on a Mitchell drive, the game likely goes to overtime. If Juwan Morgan, of all people, makes his free-throws they win. If Jokic misses one more moonbeam of a shot. If a foul is called on the shot pictured above. If the Jazz lose their focus defensively on one fewer possession in the first half. You can do this kind of thing all night. Quin Snyder will.

But we’re all living small margins away from disaster....

There’s a phrase that I like for this idea in modern philosophy: The Fragility of Goodness. I’ve thought about it a lot over the last six months, as our world has become unfamiliar and difficult due to small things ballooning into big things. What happens if one random bat’s coronavirus doesn’t jump to one human? It wasn’t inevitable. 

_____

The concept of the Fragility of Goodness seems related to the Butterfly Effect, described this way:

In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which a small change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state.


Think about what initial conditions--what butterfly wings flapping--have led to the larger, difference today when we have LDS scholars who directly and openly repudiate the teachings of the prophets about such basics as the New York Cumorah and the translation of the plates with the Urim and Thummim.

1. One was Joseph's decision to not record a history until 1832, and then only an abbreviated history. Joseph's contemporaries who heard him speak and who succeeded him in the leadership of the Church all believed and taught the basics about the New York Cumorah and the Urim and Thummim, but by not making it explicit enough, Joseph and Oliver and the others left the door open just enough that these teachings have now been de-correlated and replaced by the theories of intellectuals (M2C and SITH).

2. Another butterfly was the decision to publish speculative articles in the 1842 Times and Seasons about Book of Mormon geography anonymously. Had William Smith and/or W.W. Phelps identified the author instead of merely writing "Ed" at the end of the article, we would know whether it was Joseph Smith or Benjamin Winchester (or someone else) who wrote these articles that led believers to look to Mayan ruins in Central America for evidence of the Book of Mormon. Instead, we're left with assumptions, comparisons, phony wordprint analysis, and similar speculations.

3. Another butterfly wing flapping was Joseph Smith's decision to omit "New York" and "ancient" from the letter he wrote, first published in the 1842 Times and Seasons and later canonized as D&C 128:20.

20 And again, what do we hear? Glad tidings from [ancient] Cumorah [in New York]! 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! The voice of Michael on the banks of the Susquehanna, detecting the devil when he appeared as an angel of light! The voice of Peter, James, and John in the wilderness between Harmony, Susquehanna county, and Colesville, Broome county, on the Susquehanna river, declaring themselves as possessing the keys of the kingdom, and of the dispensation of the fulness of times!
(Doctrine and Covenants 128:20)

All of his readers knew the Cumorah he referred to was the Cumorah of Mormon 6:6 near Palmyra, NY. Letter VII had been republished in the 1841 Times and Seasons (as well as the Millennial Star, Gospel Reflector, and Messenger and Advocate). But because Joseph did not reiterate the common knowledge, modern-day intellectuals rationalize away what he wrote as either a reference to a false tradition that Joseph embraced or a reference to an unknown hill in Southern Mexico.

4. In 1834, Joseph and Oliver published a declaration that Joseph translated the Book of Mormon with the Urim and Thummim, a refutation of the claim that Joseph used a peep stone. But because of the butterfly wing that they did not specifically also say he did not use the peep stone, they left open the door for modern LDS scholars to teach that Joseph didn't actually use the Urim and Thummim after all, but instead used a peep stone. 




 

Tuesday, September 1, 2020

A Hill Becomes Cumorah

There are a lot of new readers here, many of them are faithful, active LDS who find the persistence of M2C puzzling. We've discussed it a lot on this blog, but we'll review it briefly again, with links for more information at the end.

We wonder, why would LDS intellectuals reject the consistent, persistent teachings of the prophets about the New York Cumorah? Why would they insist that the events in the Book of Mormon took place in the confined area of Mesoamerica? Why would they teach their students and followers that the Nephites were Mayans, that the Book of Mormon describes Mayan culture, and that Joseph Smith didn't translate the book correctly because he was unfamiliar with Mayan culture?

On this blog and in my books, especially Mesomania, we've discussed these issues but today I'd like to mention one particularly influential explanation. This is the idea that the New York Cumorah, along with the Urim and Thummim and other elements of early Church history, were invented communal stories that early LDS created to understand their world.

Brant A. Gardner, a thoughtful scholar and faithful LDS who is a great guy, is deeply committed to M2C. He is one of the more influential M2C promoters due to his involvement with the M2C citation cartel and his activity on the Internet. He curates comments at the Interpreter and has written several M2C-promoting books and articles.

The basic premise of M2C is that the "real" Cumorah of Mormon 6:6 is in southern Mexico. This means that the Three Witnesses, each of whom identified the "hill in New York" as Cumorah, were mistaken.

Not only them, but Joseph Smith (as related by others, and D&C 128:20), as well as all the LDS Church leaders who reiterated the teaching about the NY Cumorah, were expressing personal opinions based on a false tradition and they were wrong.

That sounds incredible to many faithful LDS, but you can ask any M2C believer and see for yourself. Usually, they will try to avoid the question. Most CES and BYU teachers, for example, have been told to say something such as "I don't care about the geography, because the purpose of the book is to testify of Christ."

No faithful person disagrees with that, of course; it's a red herring fallacy, sometimes used to imply that anyone who does care about the setting of the Book of Mormon is unfaithful, belligerent, contentious, or naive. And yet, we have a long list of prophets who have taught that Cumorah was in New York. It was a key defense of the Restoration in Oliver Cowdery's letters IV, VII and VIII.

http://www.lettervii.com/

Both CES and BYU use an M2C-inspired fantasy map to teach the Book of Mormon, so their protestations that geography doesn't matter ring hollow. If you persist in seeking their explanation for their belief in M2C, it will come down to their conviction that the prophets were wrong.

And so we wonder, why do they think the prophets were wrong?

One reason is the rationale offered in Brant's book, The Gift and Power: Translating the Book of Mormon. Published in 2011, the book is divided into three parts that explain Brant's views on

(i) the translation process,

(ii) what kind of translation the Book of Mormon is, and

(iii) how Joseph translated with a seer stone.

Sample chapters include:
Understanding Joseph: Magician or Prophet?
What is a Magic Worldview?
Joseph's Two Palmyras:
  Christianity and Christian Magic in Joseph's Palmyra
  The English Heritage of American Magic
Magic in Palmyra: Divining Rods and Seer Stones

and, finally:

Important Stories, Told Importantly
  A Transcript Becomes a Sealed Book
  Interpreters Become the Urim and Thummim
  A Hill Becomes Cumorah
  Indians Become Lamanites
  Reformed Egyptian Becomes Hebrew
_____

Like many other LDS historians, Brant proposes that the accounts of early Church events were the product of a process of creating a communal story.

The process of working out the communal story explains a number of items from the early Church histories. Theirs was a living community that was building its self-identity in the face of strong persecutions. Their stories helped make sense of their present community, even though they were stories told of previous times. This is simply a normal process of memory. As Michael Schudson... explains, "Memory selects and distorts in the service of present interests..."

The second explanation is how the Saints constructed their past. It was a manipulation intended to make sense of the present.

In the section titled "A Transcript Becomes a Sealed Book," Brant explains that when Martin Harris visited Professor Anthon, Martin "had to recall something fairly close to the reported phrase [from Isaiah] or he and Joseph would not have so completely connected the Anthon incident with the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy... After studying Isaiah further, the association was made complete and the remember phrase became precise. From that point on, the Book of Mormon became important as a sealed book. The internal references to a spiritual sealing were transformed into  physically sealed portion."

In "Interpreters Become the Urim and Thummim," Brant says that "The communal association of Urim and Thummim with any of the instruments used in the translation became such a common description that it fed into Joseph Smith's vocabulary and descriptions. Not only did the community use that description, but Joseph, who certainly knew what a seer stone was called, eventually used the terms Urim and Thummim for them as well. That name for the interpreters or seer stones was inserted into sections of the Doctrine and Covenants instead of other possible names."

In "A Hill Becomes Cumorah," Brant explains the origin of the supposedly false tradition of the New York Cumorah. He writes, "Joseph's use of the term [Cumorah] in 1842 is similar to his use of Urim and Thummim for the interpreters and the seer stones. Although he was in a perfect position to know a different name and to correct the Saints, what we see is that the Saints' communal interpretation of history also fed Joseph's vocabulary and therefore influenced descriptions of that history. Joseph not only allowed the communal creation of the Church's history; he embraced it. The sacralization of the New York hill by association with Cumorah tapped into the miraculous nature of the discovery and translation of the plates. Nevertheless, the connection appears to have been made upon a misreading of the text."

Brant doesn't address Letter VII or the teachings of the prophets, but he does mention David Whitmer's statement about the messenger who took the Harmony plates to Cumorah. Here is his explanation:

"This report would be much more conclusive had it not been recorded nearly fifty years later. The passage of time and the accepted designation of 'Cumorah' as the name of the New York hill by the time of the recollection argues against this second-hand report from Whitmer as being a definitive statement."

Although this account was provided nearly fifty years later, the specificity of David's recollection--that this was the first time he heard the word Cumorah--is a strong indicator of accuracy and veracity. Besides, there is evidence David was relating this incident on the road to Fayette as early as 1832. We discussed that before here:

http://www.bookofmormoncentralamerica.com/2016/05/note-on-cumorah-david-whitmer-and-zina.html

There are numerous other accounts from early Church history about Cumorah, including one that Lucy Mack Smith quoted Joseph saying in early 1827 before he even got the plates. For more info, see

http://www.bookofmormoncentralamerica.com/2015/08/david-whitmer.html

http://www.bookofmormoncentralamerica.com/2020/06/glad-tidings-from-mexico.html

http://www.bookofmormoncentralamerica.com/2016/07/the-hill-cumorah-storehouse-and.html

http://www.bookofmormoncentralamerica.com/2019/02/great-example-of-persuasion-vs-education.html

http://www.bookofmormoncentralamerica.com/2019/06/dan-bmc-and-deferring-to-scholars.html