January 2020 Ensign

The January 2020 Ensign is awesome. It's full of helpful articles about Church history and the Book of Mormon.

You can download a .pdf file here:

https://media.ldscdn.org/pdf/magazines/ensign-january-2020/2020-01-0000-ensign-eng.pdf?lang=eng

The timeline titled "Seeing the Lord's Hand" starting on page 22 is a wonderful summary of world events leading up to the Restoration and the present day.

One of the nice features is the section that correlates with each week of the Come Follow Me curriculum.

This graphic on page 35 is a nice introduction to the world Lehi and his family left.

It points out that Jerusalem had a population estimated at 25,000, which was considered "big by ancient standards."

Keep that in mind as we study the Book of Mormon this year.

There's an article titled "Have the Greatest Year with the Greatest Book" that includes good idea about how to improve our study. One tagline reads "Decide now to make 2020 the year you and your family immerse yourselves in
the Book of Mormon."

I encourage people to read the Ensign regularly, especially this year when we're all focused on the Book of Mormon.
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As awesome as the January Ensign is, people have contacted me with concerns about the M2C artwork and revisionist Church history inside.

We have to expect this to continue. It's not a big deal. Most readers don't even notice. Some of our M2C intellectuals and their followers will claim this as a "victory" or something, which is bizarre.

One example is an article about the translation. If you want to know about the translation, you're far better off reading the original sources from Joseph and Oliver than the theories of others. Here's an excellent resource:

https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/site/the-gold-plates-and-the-translation-of-the-book-of-mormon

Back to the Ensign. On page 40, we read this:

Joseph himself did not elaborate about the process of translation, but Oliver, David, and Emma provided some additional information. Oliver said: “These were days never to be forgotten—to sit under the sound of a voice dictated by the inspiration of heaven, awakened the utmost gratitude of this bosom! Day after day I continued, uninterrupted, to write from [Joseph’s] mouth, as he translated with the Urim and Thummim, or, as the Nephites would have said, ‘Interpreters,’ the history or record called ‘The Book of Mormon’” ( Joseph Smith—History 1:71, note).

So far, so good. a quotation from the scriptures, written by Oliver Cowdery, unambiguously establishing that Joseph translated the text with the Nephite interpreters they called the Urim and Thummim.

Joseph not translating with the
Urim and Thummim

But then we read this:

The “interpreters” used by Joseph during the translation process included the “two stones in
silver bows” that were deposited by Moroni with the plates (see Joseph Smith—History 1:35.) In
addition to these two seer stones, Joseph used at least one other seer stone that the Lord had
provided.7 

The Lord provided? Where is there any evidence that Joseph, or Oliver, or anyone else claimed the Lord provided this stone? This is the seer stone Joseph allegedly found in a well.

Look at footnote 7.

See Richard E. Turley Jr., Robin S. Jensen, and Mark Ashurst-McGee, “Joseph the Seer,”
Ensign, Oct. 2015, 48–55. You can read that article here:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2015/10/joseph-the-seer?lang=eng

It's a great article, overall, but it started a theme that continues to cause a lot of confusion in the Church. For example, the article says In another Book of Mormon account, Alma the Younger gives the interpreters to his son Helaman. “Preserve these interpreters,” Alma counsels him, referring to the two stones in silver bows. But Alma also quotes a prophecy that appears to refer to a single stone: “And the Lord said: I will prepare unto my servant Gazelem, a stone, which shall shine forth in darkness unto light.”(Alma 37:21, 23). 

But the original version of Alma 37 did not say interpreters. It said directors. The language was changed in 1920. When Oliver Cowdery said "interpreters" he could not have been referring to Alma 37.

The article also claimed this: By 1833, Joseph Smith and his associates began using the biblical term “Urim and Thummim” to refer to any stones used to receive divine revelations, including both the Nephite interpreters and the single seer stone.17 This imprecise terminology has complicated attempts to reconstruct the exact method by which Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon.

Note 17 refers to the Wilford Woodruff account of seeing the Urim and Thummim in Nauvoo, but Woodruff never said he saw a seer stone.

Besides, as anyone knows who has read the 1834 book Mormonism Unvailed, there was a clear difference between the Urim and Thummim and the seer or "peep" stones that everyone understood. That's why it is significant--critical--that Joseph and Oliver always said Joseph translated with the Urim and Thummim and never said he translated with a seer stone.

The January Ensign article continues.

Cover based on content of translation article

David Whitmer, whose family provided a place for Joseph and Oliver to complete the work of translation, provided this additional information: “Joseph Smith would put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine. A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and on that appeared the writing. One character at a time would appear, and under it was the interpretation in English. Brother Joseph would read off the English to Oliver Cowdery, who was his principal scribe, and when it was written down and repeated to Brother Joseph to see if it was correct, then it would disappear, and another character with the interpretation would appear. Thus the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God, and not by any power of man.” 8

Look at footnote 8.

8. Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ, 12

Interested readers will naturally follow up with David Whitmer's book, available here, which teaches that "Joseph Smith... after being called of God to translate his sacred word--the Book of Mormon--drifted into many errors and gave many revelations to introduce doctrines, ordinances and office in the church, which are in conflict with Christ's teachings... Joseph Smith drifting into errors after translating the Book of Mormon is a stumbling block to many..."

Obviously, the Ensign does not condone that part of David Whitmer's book, but why accept uncritically any of that book? Why refer readers to it at all?

I'll have more to discuss on that in upcoming days.

Top 5 most popular posts of 2019

Here are the most popular posts of 2019 on this blog:

1. http://www.bookofmormoncentralamerica.com/2019/07/peep-stones-vs-urim-and-thummim-part-1.html

2. http://www.bookofmormoncentralamerica.com/2019/10/messengers-vs-philosophies-of-men.html

3. http://www.bookofmormoncentralamerica.com/2019/08/byu-education-week-peep-stones-vs-urim.html

4. http://www.bookofmormoncentralamerica.com/2016/05/simplicity.html

5. http://www.bookofmormoncentralamerica.com/2018/12/no-wise-493-artifacts.html

Lots of great stuff coming in 2020 for those who love the Book of Mormon.

Joseph Smith's Birthday - the Urim and Thummim

December 23 is an appropriate time to ponder some classics from churchofjesuschrist.org.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-joseph-smith/chapter-4?lang=eng

In response to the question, “How and where did you obtain the Book of Mormon?” Joseph Smith responded: “Moroni, who deposited the plates in a hill in Manchester, Ontario county, New York, being dead and raised again therefrom, appeared unto me, and told me where they were, and gave me directions how to obtain them. I obtained them, and the Urim and Thummim with them, by the means of which I translated the plates; and thus came the Book of Mormon.”³

History of the Church, 3:28; from an editorial published in Elders’ Journal, July 1838, pp. 42–43

“I was [told by Moroni] where were deposited some plates on which were engraven an abridgment of the records of the ancient Prophets that had existed on this continent. … These records were engraven on plates which had the appearance of gold; each plate was six inches wide and eight inches long, and not quite so thick as common tin. They were filled with engravings, in Egyptian characters, and bound together in a volume as the leaves of a book, with three rings running through the whole. The volume was something near six inches in thickness, a part of which was sealed. The characters on the unsealed part were small, and beautifully engraved. The whole book exhibited many marks of antiquity in its construction, and much skill in the art of engraving. With the records was found a curious instrument, which the ancients called ‘Urim and Thummim,’ which consisted of two transparent stones set in the rim of a bow fastened to a breast plate. Through the medium of the Urim and Thummim I translated the record by the gift and power of God.”

History of the Church, 4:537; punctuation modernized; paragraph divisions altered; from a letter from Joseph Smith written at the request of John Wentworth and George Barstow, Nauvoo, Illinois, published in Times and Seasons, Mar. 1, 1842, p. 707.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/js-h/1.35,42,52?lang=eng#p35

33 He called me by ^aname, and said unto me that he was a ^bmessenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Moroni; that God had a work for me to do; and that my name should be had for ^cgood and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people.

34 He said there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang. He also said that the fulness of the everlasting Gospel was contained in it, as delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants;

35 Also, that there were two stones in silver bows—and these stones, fastened to a breastplate, constituted what is called the Urim and Thummim—deposited with the plates; and the possession and use of these stones were what constituted "seers" in ancient or former times; and that God had prepared them for the purpose of translating the book.

...

42 Again, he told me, that when I got those plates of which he had spoken—for the time that they should be obtained was not yet fulfilled—I should not show them to any person; neither the breastplate with the Urim and Thummim; only to those to whom I should be commanded to show them; if I did I should be ^adestroyed. While he was conversing with me about the plates, the vision was opened to my ^bmind that I could see the place where the plates were deposited, and that so clearly and distinctly that I knew the place again when I visited it.

59 At length the time arrived for obtaining the plates, the Urim and Thummim, and the breastplate. On the twenty-second day of September, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven, having gone as usual at the end of another year to the place where they were deposited, the same heavenly messenger delivered them up to ^ame with this charge: that I should be ^bresponsible for them; that if I should let them go carelessly, or through any ^cneglect of mine, I should be cut off; but that if I would use all my endeavors to ^dpreserve them, until he, the messenger, should call for them, they should be protected.

62 By this timely aid was I enabled to reach the place of my destination in Pennsylvania; and immediately after my arrival there I commenced copying the characters off the plates. I copied a considerable number of them, and by means of the ^aUrim and Thummim I translated some of them, which I did between the time I arrived at the house of my wife’s father, in the month of December, and the February following.

Oliver Cowdery describes these events thus: “These were days never to be forgotten—to sit under the sound of a voice dictated by the inspiration of heaven, awakened the utmost gratitude of this bosom! Day after day I continued, uninterrupted, to write from his mouth, as he translated with the Urim and Thummim, or, as the Nephites would have said, ‘Interpreters,’ the history or record called ‘The Book of Mormon.’

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1 Now, behold, I say unto you, that because you delivered up those writings which you had power given unto you to translate by the means of the Urim and Thummim, into the hands of a wicked man, you have lost them.

(Doctrine and Covenants 10:1)

When the World Will Be Converted

An all-time classic from President Spencer W. Kimball, published 45 years ago, is worth re-reading.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1974/10/when-the-world-will-be-converted?lang=eng

Two key excerpts:

Now, we have the promise from the Lord that the evil one will never be able to frustrate totally the work that He has commanded us to do.

“This kingdom will continue to increase and to grow, to spread and to prosper more and more. Every time its enemies undertake to overthrow it, it will become more extensive and powerful; instead of decreasing it will continue to increase; it will spread the more, become more wonderful and conspicuous to the nations, until it fills the whole earth.” (President Brigham Young, April conference, 1852.)

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I have stated the problem. I believe there is a solution. I think that if we are all of one mind and one heart and one purpose that we can move forward and change the image which seems to be that “We are doing pretty well. Let’s not ‘rock the boat.’”
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I'm hopeful that we can all become of one mind and one heart and one purpose, which would include listening to and believing the teachings of the prophets--including the teachings about the New York Cumorah.

Until then, the message is hazy regardless of how advanced the technology is, or how flashy the graphics and videos are.

We don't know where Cumorah is?

I posted this 3 years ago today. How much have things changed?
__________

BYU's fantasy map that
teaches M2C because
the prophets are wrong

People are still making the claim, promoted by a group of LDS scholars, that we don't know where Cumorah is. 

This is occurring in classrooms around the Church right now: Gospel Doctrine classes, Gospel Principles classes, BYU campus Religion classes, various classes in the Institutes and Seminaries, and in homes or wherever else missionaries (and parents) are trying to teach the Gospel.

If you're a student in one of these settings, you deserve to know what your teacher thinks, so ask. Probably 99% of the teachers don't know enough about the topic to make an informed decision. They haven't read Letter VII or other recent developments in Church history. They've deferred to the handful of LDS scholars who continue promoting M2C against all reason and evidence.

Even worse than the claim we don't know where Cumorah is, I keep hearing reports of BYU professors still promoting M2C in their classes, such as by using the fantasy map. If you read the KnoWhys published by Book of Mormon Central America and republished by Meridian M2C Magazine, you'll see how devoted these people are to the two-Cumorahs theory.

It's actually a nice persuasion tactic for these scholars to say we don't know where Cumorah is. It makes them sound open-minded, when they're anything but that. 

Upton Sinclair wrote, "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!" 

In this case, it may not be salary, but any of a number of other factors, that cause these scholars and educators to not understand.

I've previously analyzed the intellectual history of the problem, including the development of the so-called "two-Cumorahs" theory. Basically, here's the argument:

1. First, some RLDS scholars concluded that the Book of Mormon took place in Central America (aka, Mesoamerica).

2. They determined that this setting meant New York was too far away to be the location of Cumorah. 

3. They concluded that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery started, or perpetuated, a false tradition that their successors have continued to perpetuate.

4. They rationalized that there are two Cumorahs; i.e., a fake Cumorah (Moroni's Cumorah) in New York which is merely the place where Moroni buried his plates, and the "real" Cumorah (Mormon's Cumorah) in Southern Mexico which is the scene of the final battles and the place where Mormon hid the repository of Nephite records (Mormon 6:6). Thus, we have the Mesoamerican/two-Cumorahs theory (M2C).

5. In the 1900s, some LDS scholars adopted the RLDS idea of M2C and began promoting it through books and courses at BYU. Their students accepted M2C and perpetuated it in their families and eventually to their own students.

6. Also in the 1900s, LDS Church leaders opposed M2C by reaffirming the teachings of their predecessors about the New York Cumorah.

7. The M2C scholars teach that whenever a prophet or apostle says something about Cumorah that contradicts M2C, that prophet or apostle was merely expressing his opinion and was wrong.

8. Other LDS scholars, relying on the two-Cumorahs rationale, have claimed Cumorah is in Baja California, or Panama, or Chile, or any of a number of other places around the world.

Here's a convenient chart for comparison purposes.

People who say Cumorah is in New York	People who say Cumorah is not in New York
Joseph Smith	LDS scholars who promote a Mesoamerican setting for the Book of Mormon
Oliver Cowdery	LDS scholars who promote a Baja Californian setting for the Book of Mormon
David Whitmer	LDS scholars who promote a Panamanian setting for the Book of Mormon
Lucy Mack Smith	LDS scholars who promote a Peruvian setting for the Book of Mormon
Brigham Young	LDS scholars who promote a Chilean setting for the Book of Mormon
John Taylor
Heber C. Kimball
Wilford Woodruff
Orson Pratt
Parley P. Pratt
Joseph F. Smith
Heber J. Grant
George Albert Smith
Joseph Fielding Smith
Marion G. Romney
Mark E. Peterson
Simple, clear, definitive	Mass of confusion

If you're a student anywhere in the Church, at any age, look at this chart and think for yourself.

Breaching the dam: Proctors and Dehlin, variations on a theme

Rice paddies in the Philippines

When I was a kid, we lived in the Philippines. 

Rice paddies are a boy’s paradise. Different levels of water, separated by banks of earth—you can imagine how excitedly a thoughtless kid would punch a tiny hole in a dam and watch the water trickle out, erode the sides, and soon gush out.

Fortunately, the Filipino farmers chased us out before we damaged their fields. One time they seized my little brother and made threats that scared us enough to never return.

I'm glad they did that. We had no business messing with their dams.

In the Church today, certain intellectuals have punched what they thought was a tiny hole in the dam of faith. 

M2C is a breach in the dam of faith.* It teaches faithful members, and the world as a whole, that the founding prophets of the Restoration misled the Church when they taught that the Hill Cumorah is in western New York. 

Apparently the M2C intellectuals still think they can control the flow out of the breach, but the side banks are eroding and the result is entirely predictable.

And no one is chasing them away from the fields.

But you can.

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Meridian Magazine, (aka “latterdaysaintmag.com”), is published by Scot and Maureen Proctor. It's a great magazine, full of useful news and inspirational articles. 

But they are deeply committed to M2C and promote M2C in conjunction with Book of Mormon Central, FairMormon, etc. That's why I refer to it as Meridian M2C Magazine.

They recently published a well-written, thoughtful article titled “It Wasn’t the Evidence that Broke Your Shelf.”

You can read it here:

https://latterdaysaintmag.com/it-wasnt-the-evidence-that-broke-your-shelf/

The article is a fascinating discussion of John Dehlin’s Mormon Stories podcast and web page, which has had a significant impact on many LDS members and prospective members.** 

Along with the CES Letter, Mormon Stories has raised “historicity” concerns that have led many prospective members to reject the Restoration and have led many LDS members to cease activity in the Church or leave entirely. 

In some cases, the problems stem from misunderstanding, bias confirmation, and unrealistic expectations. In other cases, the problems are being addressed by certain LDS intellectuals who basically agree with the historicity concerns because of their ideology. 

There are good alternative explanations that many people don't know about because the intellectuals dominate the conversation and censor alternative views. We discuss those on another blog. Here, we focus on the M2C problem.

_____

The article asserts that it is not “evidence” in the abstract that is the problem, but the subjective interpretation of the evidence that leads people to reach their conclusions.

That’s a valid point; by now we all know, or should know, that people don’t make decisions based on objective facts and sound logic. Otherwise, we’d all agree on matters of religion, politics, science, etc.

Instead, we select facts and reasons to justify the decisions we have already made for mostly emotional and social reasons.

Sometimes it's not even interpretation of evidence that is the problem; instead is the rejection of evidence.

When it comes to the Restoration, we have an example of rejecting important evidence.

We have faithful members who, because of their M2C ideology, actually agree with and support the critics who disbelieve the prophets. 

These two groups differ only in the extent to which they claim the prophets have misled the world.

To the Proctors and other M2C advocates, the difference between faith and disbelief depends not on whether the prophets have misled the world, but instead depends on how much and how often you think they have misled the world.

The "high-water mark of scholarship on the Book of Mormon," according to Terryl Givens, is Mormon's Codex. Here's what that book has to say about the teachings of the prophets regarding the New York Cumorah:

“There remain Latter-day Saints who insist that the final destruction of the Nephites took place in New York, but any such idea is manifestly absurd. Hundreds of thousands of Nephites traipsing across the Mississippi Valley to New York, pursued (why?) by hundreds of thousands of Lamanites, is a scenario worthy only of a witless sci-fi movie, not of history.”

John Sorenson, Mormon’s Codex (Deseret Book, 2013), p. 688.

Every proponent of M2C agrees that the teachings of the prophets about the New York Cumorah are wrong--"manifestly absurd" to be precise. 

Ask them and you'll see. 
Ask any of your friends that believe in M2C. 
Ask anyone at FairMormon, Book of Mormon Central, the Interpreter, BYU Studies, or Meridian Magazine. 
Ask your Seminary, Institute, or BYU teacher about the New York Cumorah and they will tell you the prophets are wrong because the "real" Hill Cumorah is in Mexico. 

Hence the breach in the dam.

The dark brown streak on the left side of the dam
near the gray bedrock is a leak.
M2C wasn't a significant problem, at first.

Think of the 1976 Teton Dam disaster as a metaphor* for what's happening right now.

M2C advocates take it as an article of faith that the prophets misled the world when they taught that the Hill Cumorah was in New York. 

They say that when Oliver Cowdery and Joseph Smith wrote Letter VII, declaring it is a fact that the Hill Cumorah is in New York, they were wrong.

The leak grows and mud gushes out.
General Authorities reaffirm the NY Cumorah,
but the intellectuals and their followers reject them.

They say that when Joseph and Oliver wrote that the final battles of the Nephites and Jaredites took place in western New York, they were merely expressing ignorant speculation and they were wrong. 

They say that all the Church leaders who have taught that Cumorah is in New York were also expressing their personal opinions and were wrong. Numerous articles in Meridian Magazine have asserted this claim.

Why?

Because, according to the M2C intellectuals, the "real" Cumorah of Mormon 6:6 is somewhere in southern Mexico.

Consequently, all the prophets and apostles who reaffirmed the New York Cumorah, including 

The dam nears collapse.
Peep stones replace the Urim and Thummim.

members of the First Presidency speaking in General Conference, misled the Church by teaching and testifying to the truthfulness of their own private, incorrect opinions.

_____

Most M2C advocates also embrace the teaching of the revisionist historians that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery misled the world when they said Joseph translated the engravings on the plates by using the Urim and Thummim that Moroni provided for that purpose. 

According to these intellectuals, Joseph didn’t even use the plates. He didn’t use the Urim and Thummim. Instead, he simply read words that appeared on a peep stone he put in a hat. According to them, all the prophets and apostles who said otherwise simply misled the Church.

For the Proctors and other M2C advocates, being a faithful member of the Church means accepting these two errors, but not other errors.

Mormon Stories and CES Letter agree with the Proctors. 

They also tell their followers to start with M2C and peep stones. But while the M2C advocates ask their followers to stop there, the critics encourage their followers to proceed from there. 

Then, once you add up enough errors, you can conclude that the entire traditional narrative of LDS history is false; therefore, the Book of Mormon is fiction, the divine interventions never happened, and Church leaders have misled the world ever since.

Teton dam disaster

IOW, the only difference between the M2C/peep stone “faithful” narrative and the M2C/peep stone “critical” narrative is telling yourself to stop inquiring beyond the M2C/peep stone.

That’s like telling the water, after the dam breaks, to stop midstream on its own.

_____

The alternative, of course, is to not break the dam in the first place.

In my view, there is abundant evidence that corroborates the teachings of the prophets, including the New York Cumorah and the Urim and Thummim translation. 

It’s not a question of “uncovering” evidence. It’s not a question of exposure to “uncorrelated information."

It’s a question of accepting the teachings of the prophets and then examining the evidence that supports those teachings.

The Proctors and other M2C/peep stone advocates reject the evidence that supports the teachings of the prophets. That’s why they think the prophets misled the Church about these two matters.

The M2C intellectuals have broken the dam, the water’s rushing out, and now it’s just a question of whether anyone is going to repair the dam, and if so, when.

_____

The answer, of course, is to fortify your own faith and then help others as you can.

President Eyring discussed an important lesson from the Teton Dam disaster that applies as well to the current situation.

I have seen that faith and courage many times when believing Latter-day Saints have faced fearsome trials. For one example, I was in Idaho when the Teton Dam broke on June 5, 1976. A wall of water came down. Thousands fled from their homes. Thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed. Miraculously, fewer than 15 people were killed.

What I saw there, I have seen whenever Latter-day Saints stand firmly on the rock of a testimony of Jesus Christ. Because they have no doubt He watches over them, they become fearless. They ignore their own trials to go to the relief of others. And they do so out of love for the Lord, asking no recompense.

For example, when the Teton Dam broke, a Latter-day Saint couple was traveling, miles away from their home. As soon as they heard the news on the radio, they hurried back to Rexburg. Rather than going to their own home to see if it was destroyed, they went looking for their bishop. He was in a building that was being used as the recovery center. He was helping to direct the thousands of volunteers who were arriving in yellow school buses.

The couple walked up to the bishop and said, “We just got back. Bishop, where can we go to help?” He gave them the names of a family. That couple stayed mucking out mud and water in one home after another. They worked from dawn to dark for days. They finally took a break to go see about their own home. It was gone in the flood, leaving nothing to clean up. So they turned around quickly to go back to their bishop. They asked, “Bishop, do you have someone for us to help?”

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2017/10/fear-not-to-do-good.html?lang=eng

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*Metaphors can help explain things because of similarities and patterns. They are not the thing being explained. 

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**The article features the inevitable references to Terryl and Fiona Givens, a couple of staunch M2C promoters. (Terryl wrote the Foreword to Mormon’s Codex.) I’ll comment on the Givens excerpts separately.