Jasmine's M2C rationizations

Coming right after Moroni Day, and in the pursuit of clarity, charity and understanding, we continue to comment on social media influencers when people ask us about them. We assume everyone is acting in good faith, and we want to understand one another without any need to convince or persuade anyone of anything.

But clarity seems to be the big stumbling block for many influencers, especially those who don't seek to enable their audience to make informed decisions. 

Such as the ironically named podcast "Informed Saints."

Jasmine and the other so-called "Informed Saints," who are all wonderful Latter-day Saints and great people, continue to promote M2C with the same old arguments made by their predecessors and mentors, starting with RLDS scholar L.E. Hills over 100 years ago. See, e.g., https://www.bookofmormoncentralamerica.com/2021/04/the-greatest-student-is.html

Hills published the first map showing the Hill Cumorah in southern Mexico. He and his collaborator Stebbins decided that Oliver Cowdery and Joseph Smith and their contemporaries were merely speculating when they explicitly taught it was a fact that the Hill Cumorah/Ramah is the same hill where Joseph found the plates; i.e., western New York near Palmyra.

The Church recently rededicated the site as the Hill Cumorah.

But like Stebbins and Hills, Jasmine and the other "Informed Saints" continue to influence Latter-day Saints to repudiate the historical record in favor of their own interpretations of the text and the related extrinsic evidence.

Here is an example.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1386433376646974

Why Mesoamerica Is the Most Likely Location for the Book of Mormon

Speaker: Jasmin Rappleye

Posted: 4 June 2026

Duration: about 1 minute 48 seconds

Source: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1386433376646974

Also posted on YouTube Shorts as “Why Mesoamerica Is the MOST Likely Location for the Book of Mormon. According to me.”

Spoken text / caption

Original in blue, my comments in red.

This is my very brief crash course on why I think the Book of Mormon most likely took place in Mesoamerica.

This is not doctrine. This is just my opinion. But here it is.

First, what the text of the Book of Mormon says about its geography—the distances, the geological features, the relationships between cities—fits far, far better in Mesoamerica than any other proposed model.

Everyone who reads the Book of Mormon knows that the geography passages are vague and subject to multiple interpretations. That's why there are such diverse ideas about the setting. 

And that's why it is so important to recognize the one fact--the one unambiguous pin in the map--provided by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and their associates; i.e., the Hill Cumorah/Ramah is in New York.

But rather than work to corroborate what they explicitly taught, Jasmine and the "Informed Saints" work to repudiate what they explicitly taught. They work continuously to undermine faith in the plain and simple teachings that we've all inherited as Latter-day Saints.

In Baja, the distances are too small; in the Heartland, they’re really large; but Mesoamerica is just right.

Goldilocks is a good metaphor for how the M2Cers (and B2Cers) approach this topic because both M2C and B2C are merely tales based on the imagination of the proponents, who strive to convert their assumptions, inferences and theories into facts. 

Others prefer to start with the known Facts and separate them from their assumptions, inferences and theories. That's why we have the FAITH model. 

I think you can more logically and methodically place pins on the map for Book of Mormon sites in Mesoamerica, but with the other models, you more often have to stretch or outright contradict the text of the Book of Mormon to make it work.

As hard as they've tried for decades to reach "consensus," M2Cers don't even agree among themselves about the geography. This is the delusion of "relying on the text" as we've discussed before. 

https://www.lettervii.com/2026/09/delusion-of-forming-opinions-based-on.html

By rejecting the plain teachings about Cumorah, the M2Cers and B2Cers are "Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." (2 Timothy 3:7) They are never going to find Cumorah/Ramah in Baja or Mesoamerica, not matter how hard they try.

Second, the archaeology in Mesoamerica supports the kind of civilization the Book of Mormon talks about from 600 BC to 400 AD—large cities, fortifications, armies, social stratification, large battles, government.

The M2C interpretation of the text is driven by the archaeology of Mesoamerica, not vice versa. 

The available scholarship agrees that other models severely lack in this area.

The "available scholarship" outside of the M2C bubble thinks M2C is absurd. 

Third, understanding the Preclassic Maya cultural background of the Book of Mormon actually helps me understand the doctrine of the Book of Mormon better.

This is a persistent logical fallacy, based on cherry picking anecdotal information from Mayan culture that is common to most human civilizations, and then retroactively applying that to the Book of Mormon, all the while ignoring the elephant in the room: the complete absence of any Christian (or Hebrew) evidence from that same culture. Just look at these examples. 

Understanding Maya kingship rituals helps me understand the blood of Christ’s atonement discussed in King Benjamin’s speech. Other examples include execution practices that illuminate Abinadi’s testimony, and a Mayan pun in the story of Korihor that strengthens the theme of testimony in Christ. No other geography model offers the same explanatory value for the text.

Nevertheless, we can all agree with Jasmine that everyone is welcome to their own opinions. 

But not everyone agrees with Jasmine that everyone is welcome to their own facts. 

Which is why Jasmine and the other "Informed Saints" do everything possible to avoid informing their audience about the New York Cumorah/Ramah and the extrinsic evidence that corroborates the explicit, clear and uncontroverted teachings of the prophets about Cumorah.

So while everyone is welcome to their own opinions, and the Church does not take a position on geography, this is why I have come to the conclusion that Mesoamerica is the most likely location for the primary events of the Book of Mormon.

We always encourage people to watch how the B2Cers and M2Cers try to persuade Latter-day Saints to disbelieve Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery.

To learn more about the compelling reasons to take this model seriously, watch this episode of Informed Saints