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| BYU map showing that Cumorah is definitely not in New York |
https://virtualscriptures.org/book-of-mormon-map/
You can still see the old site here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20210303204715/http://bom.byu.edu/
The map itself hasn't changed. It still teaches students that the prophets were wrong about the New York Cumorah, including President Oliver Cowdery, and Joseph Smith's own mother, close associates, and successors, as well as members of the First Presidency speaking in General Conference.
Notice how they've changed the description of their map. The new description is an improvement in the sense that they have stopped claiming their fantasy map "matches" the text "as closely as possible."
However, they are still putting their finger on the scale of "neutrality" by teaching students that the Hill Cumorah cannot be in New York as the prophets have taught.
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Original |
New (July 2022) |
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The
Church and BYU stay neutral in questions of exactly where the Book of Mormon
took place. The Lord could have removed all questions regarding the exact
locations of these events but he did not. For that reason, our design team
has chosen to develop an internal map that shows relational directions and
approximate distances that match the approximately 550 geography
descriptions in the text as closely as possible. These are artistic renditions. |
The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not officially endorse any
one particular geographical model for where the events in The Book of Mormon
transpired in the New World. For that reason, we have designed and prepared
this artistic rendering in such a way that you can get a basic idea of approximate directions and theoretical relationships
between various geographical features mentioned in the stories. |
Notice also the distinction between "any one particular geographical model" and their outright repudiation of the New York Cumorah. This is a euphemism, of course. A "model" is a framework for the overall geography.
The prophets have always taught that we don't know where Book of Mormon events took place, with the exception of the Cumorah of Mormon 6:6. That makes sense because other than Cumorah, there are numerous ways to interpret the text and the extrinsic evidence; i.e., multiple working hypotheses.
Even when we accept the New York Cumorah, there are multiple working hypotheses about the rest of the locations mentioned in the text.
Although people have a variety of interpretations regarding geography, the New York Cumorah was well established as a fact if you read authentic documents from Church history. It wasn't until L.E. Hills published a map in 1917 that scholars began teaching that there must be "two Cumorahs."
By now, "two Cumorahs" is the de facto standard because it is being taught throughout the Church.
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| L.E. Hills 1917 map |
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| L.E. Hills book |
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| Cumorah detail from L.E. Hills |
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Cumorah detail from BYU's map
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| Cumorah detail from CES map |
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