The M2Cers* have constructed an elaborate theoretical scaffolding inside the M2C bubble to support their theory that the prophets were wrong about the origin and setting of the Book of Mormon.
To understand how and why, we first have to clarify that the question of Book of Mormon geography has two knowns and one unknown.
Known #1: The prophets have always taught that the New World setting for the Book of Mormon is "the Americas," which is a modern term that encompasses the terms used in Church history sources, including General Conference: "this country," "America," "this continent," the "Western Hemisphere," etc.
Known #2: The prophets have always taught that the hill Cumorah/Ramah (Mormon 6:6, Ether 15:11) is the same hill that Moroni identified as the location of the record that was "written and deposited" not far from Joseph's home near Palmyra, New York. There are multiple working hypotheses based on the known location of Cumorah/Ramah.
Unknowns. All the other locations in the New World that are mentioned in the text of the Book of Mormon. Apart from a few indications from Church history (the plains of the Nephites, Zarahemla, etc.), the prophets have always taught that we don't know the specific locations of Book of Mormon cities and features. This makes sense because so many archaeological sites throughout the Americas have been destroyed, disturbed, overbuilt, etc.
It is the unknowns that have led to a wide range of theories about "Book of Mormon geography," as the entry on Book of Mormon geography explains.
https://www.ldshistoricalnarratives.com/p/book-of-mormon-geography-essay.html
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Key point: because Known #2 (Cumorah/Ramah) does not fit their models, the M2Cers have transferred Known #2 into the realm of the Unknown. They have accomplished this through a series of cascading assumptions, starting with the premise that Joseph and Oliver and their contemporaries and successors must be wrong about Cumorah because...
well, because the New York Cumorah just doesn't fit the geography models based on the M2C interpretation of the text!
There is no other reason to reject what the prophets have taught about the New York Cumorah/Ramah.
We are happy for people to believe whatever they want. But the M2Cers claim to be the intellectual superiors among Latter-day Saints. In any other context, the irrationality of the M2C approach would be quickly recognized and M2C would be rejected.
The New York Cumorah/Ramah doesn't eliminate Mesoamerica, per se, as one of multiple working hypotheses. I've seen several hypotheses about Book of Mormon geography that include both the New York Cumorah/Ramah and Mesoamerica.
But as for M2C itself, we are reminded of what George Orwell once wrote: "One has to belong to the intelligentsia to believe things like that: no ordinary man could be such a fool."
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*M2Cers are those scholars and their followers who have adopted the Mesoamerican/two-Cumorahs theory that originated with RLDS scholar L.E. Hills in 1917.
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| RLDS scholar L.E. Hills, 1917 |
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| BYU Studies map |
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CES map
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| Scripture Central map |
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