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.

Monday, November 15, 2021

M2C Education Week - Monday

November 15, 2021, is the 100th anniversary of the First Presidency distancing the Church from M2C (referring to the RLDS First Presidency and the RLDS Church). See the announcement below, which was published in the Saints Herald.

M2C Education Week begins on November 15, 2021, to commemorate that anniversary.

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There are lots of opinions about Book of Mormon historicity and geography, ranging from complete belief in what the prophets have taught about the New York Cumorah, to complete disbelief in everything about the Restoration and everything in between. 


Once we accept the idea that the prophets were wrong about Cumorah, it's easier to conclude they were wrong about other things. 

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Among faithful Latter-day Saints, the two most common approaches are the Heartland/New York Cumorah (NYC), which accepts what the prophets have taught about Cumorah, and the Mesoamerican/Two-Cumorahs (M2C), which rejects what the prophets have taught about Cumorah..


NYC started when Moroni visited Joseph Smith and told him the records were written and deposited near his home in the Hill Cumorah about 3 miles from his house. 

Moroni told Joseph, "the record is on a side hill on the Hill of Cumorah 3 miles from this place remove the Grass and moss and you will find a large flat stone pry that up and you will find the record under it laying on 4 pillars of cement​."




Meanwhile, M2C started in the early 1900s when RLDS scholar L.E. Hills produced a map showing Cumorah in southern Mexico. He published it in 1917.

Hills promoted M2C other RLDS members. Some LDS found M2C attractive as well.

Eventually M2C became the favorite theory among LDS scholars.
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On November 15, 1921, the First Presidency of the RLDS church distanced themselves from Hills' M2C theory.

Nevertheless, some RLDS members embraced M2C, just as many LDS scholars did.

That's the origin history. For the rest of this week, we'll look at how M2C developed and the impact it has had and continues to have.

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