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, February 28, 2018

Cumorah - 8e, walking in darkness at noon-day

I've published some long posts lately, and I have more scheduled, but today I thought I'd do something with graphics. 


Latter-day Saints grow up with the wonderful words of the song, "Teach me to walk in the light of His love."

We love the light.

We seek it.

The teachings of the prophets bright light to the world.

For example, Lorenzo Snow once wrote about his mission that "we knew that the work in which we were engaged was to carry light to those who sat in darkness."

We know that rejecting the prophets leaves people in darkness.

Sadly, many Latter-day Saints are walking in darkness at noon-day regarding the hill Cumorah. 

Because many LDS intellectuals have rejected the teachings of the prophets regarding the New York Cumorah, they don't know where Cumorah is.

Instead, they hold conclaves to discuss the question, relying purely on their own intellect and learning.

They speculate that Cumorah is in southern Mexico, or Baja, or Panama, or Chile, or elsewhere.

They even go on expeditions to Mesoamerica searching for Cumorah and debate about which mountain in Mesoamerica is Cumorah.

And they teach their students to follow them into the darkness.

Our intellectuals at BYU/CES take it a step further and teach their students that Cumorah is in a fantasy land.
BYU fantasy map, showing Cumorah in never-never land

They don't even give their students a chance to learn what the prophets have taught about Cumorah.

And when students discover the teachings of the prophets on their own, these intellectuals confuse their students by claiming that the prophets were only giving their personal opinions and that they were wrong.


Because thousands of LDS students have been indoctrinated into this confusion about Cumorah for decades, they are walking in darkness at noon-day.

There's a gothic-metal band called Walk in Darkness that released a new album a few weeks ago titled "Welcome to the New World."

The album cover evokes the concept of rejecting the light.

Think of this "New World" as the world people enter when they reject the light and intentionally walk in darkness.

This includes students taught by LDS intellectuals who reject the teachings of the prophets.



_____

Consider what the scriptures say about walking in darkness.

Below are the references from the Topical Guide. They speak for themselves.

I hope everyone in the Church reads Letter VII and the consistent, oft-repeated teachings of the prophets that reaffirm what Letter VII teaches: that there is one Cumorah and it is in New York.



Topical Guide - Walking in Darkness
neither shall ye walk in their ordinances, Lev. 18:3.
not walk in the manners of the nation, Lev. 20:23.
walk after other gods, and serve them, Deut. 8:19 (Jer. 13:10).
thy sons walk not in thy ways, 1 Sam. 8:5.
took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord, 2 Kgs. 10:31.
Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam, 2 Kgs. 17:22.
they walk on in darkness, Ps. 82:5.
walk not thou in the way with them, Prov. 1:15.
leave … uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness, Prov. 2:13.
fool walketh in darkness, Eccl. 2:14.
walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, Isa. 3:16 (2 Ne. 13:16).
that walked in darkness have seen a great light, Isa. 9:2.
they would not walk in his ways, Isa. 42:24.
walketh in darkness, and hath no light, Isa. 50:10 (2 Ne. 7:10).
we walk in darkness, Isa. 59:9.
burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods, Jer. 7:9.
walk after our own devices, Jer. 18:12.
ye … have not walked in my statutes, Ezek. 5:7 (11:12).
those that walk in pride he is able to abase, Dan. 4:37.
he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, John 8:12.
he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth, John 12:35.
in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways, Acts 14:16.
to turn them from darkness to light, Acts 26:18.
now walkest thou not charitably, Rom. 14:15.
are ye not carnal, and walk as men, 1 Cor. 3:3.
ye walked according to the course of this world, Eph. 2:2.
called you out of darkness into his marvellous light, 1 Pet. 2:9.
past … when we walked in lasciviousness, 1 Pet. 4:3.
them that walk after the flesh, 2 Pet. 2:10.
in him is no darkness at all, 1 Jn. 1:5.
say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, 1 Jn. 1:6.
hateth his brother … walketh in darkness, 1 Jn. 2:11.
mockers … who should walk after their own ungodly lusts, Jude 1:18.
hearken not unto the counsel of God, 2 Ne. 9:28.
people that walked in darkness have seen a great light, 2 Ne. 19:2.
he did not walk in the ways of his father, Mosiah 11:1.
did walk after the desires of his own heart, Mosiah 11:2.
would not give heed … to walk uprightly before God, Alma 45:24.
slow to walk in wisdom’s paths, Hel. 12:5.
walk after the pride of your eyes, Hel. 13:27.
walk in the pride of your hearts, Morm. 8:36.
every man walketh in his own way, D&C 1:16.
they are walking in darkness at noon-day, D&C 95:6.

keep not my commandments … walk in darkness, D&C 95:12.

So we see

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