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.

Table comparing 1 New York Cumorah to M2C

Here's a simple table comparing some aspects of 1 NY Cumorah (1NYC) to the Mesoamerican/two-Cumorahs (M2C) model. Obviously, it's an abbreviated version.


 

1NYC

M2C

Basic assumption

Prophets have been correct about NY Cumorah

Prophets have been wrong about NY Cumorah

Secondary assumption

Lucy Mack Smith explained that Moroni identified the hill as Cumorah the first night he met Joseph, and Joseph referred to the hill as Cumorah before he even translated the plates. 

OC explained to the Indians that Moroni called the hill Cumorah anciently. He also stated it was a fact that the hill in Cumorah is the Cumorah of Mormon 6:6 in Letter VII.

Brigham Young and David Whitmer related that JS and OC visited the repository in Cumorah 

JS, OC and David Whitmer interacted with both Moroni and Nephi (the messenger who took the plates from Harmony to Cumorah)

Luck Mack Smith related a false memory based on a false tradition about Cumorah.



OC started or related the false tradition. 


Brigham Young and David Whitmer related a false memory or else OC related a false account to them.


David Whitmer related a false memory based on a false tradition about Cumorah.

We know all these accounts were wrong because JS wrote or edited the anonymous editorials in the 1842 Times and Seasons.

Key drivers of geography

Teachings of JS and OC that Cumorah is in New York, plains of the Nephites are in the American Midwest, and the Indians of Northeastern US are the Lamanites (e.g., D&C 28, 30, 32), plus scholarly interpretations of the text (e.g., lots of possible “narrow necks” according to common usage)

Anonymous editorials in the 1842 Times and Seasons that claimed ruins in Central America were left by the Nephites, so New York is too far away for Cumorah, plus scholarly interpretations of the text (e.g., “narrow neck of land” must be in Mesoamerica)

Counter point

JS didn’t write or edit anonymous editorials in the 1842 Times and Seasons, but even if he did, they didn’t mention Cumorah and referred to ruins that post-dated Book of Mormon times. Plus, in the Wentworth letter JS rejected Orson Pratt’s hemispheric theory.

Joseph and Oliver claimed no revelation on these topics and misled the Church by speculating about the geography, but by 1842 JS changed his mind and deferred to scholars. The Wentworth letter embraces the hemispheric theory because “country” means “hemisphere.”

Cumorah match

The NY Cumorah fits the text and external evidence once we recognize that “ten thousand” is a military unit, not a literal count, and only two units were visible from Cumorah

The NY Cumorah does not fit the text and external evidence because there must be evidence of at least 210,000 dead Nephites plus equivalent Lamanites

Anthropology

Jaredites = Adena

Nephites = Hopewell

Jaredites = Olmec

Nephites = Mayans

Population-Jaredites

1 And it came to pass when Coriantumr had recovered of his wounds, he began to remember the words which Ether had spoken unto him.

2 He saw that there had been slain by the sword already nearly two millions of his people, and he began to sorrow in his heart; yea, there had been slain two millions of mighty men, and also their wives and their children.

(Ether 15:1–2)


The heading to Ether 15 has been misunderstood.

"Millions of the Jaredites are slain in battle" (Ether 15, Heading)


Coriantumr's recollection took place over four years before the final battle at Ramah (Cumorah). He was reflecting on the "nearly two millions" of his people who had been slain in battle in history; i.e., Jaredite history going back over 33 generations. 

Thus, the population at any given time did not number in the millions or anywhere near that.

Extrapolating backward from the enumerated numbers given in Ether 15:23-30 shows the total number was less than 10,000, which is how Oliver Cowdery described it in Letter VII.

The heading to Ether 15 has not been misunderstood.

"Millions of the Jaredites are slain in battle" (Ether 15, Heading)

Coriantumr's recollection about “two millions” refers to war deaths at or near Cumorah, showing that the Jaredite civilization numbered in the millions and therefore, the New York Cumorah cannot be the setting for the final Jaredite battle.

Instead of a mere "hill" Cumorah, the battle must have taken place on a large mountain in southern Mexico.

Population-Nephites/Lamanites

The final battle at Cumorah numbered in tens of thousands, not hundreds of thousands, as Oliver Cowdery explained in Letter VII.

The term "ten thousand" refers to a military unit, not a specific enumeration of soldiers.

The largest single enumerated Nephite army in the entire Book of Mormon was only 42,000, and that was after assembling the people, while the largest Lamanite army was only 44,000.  

(Mormon 2:7-9)

Many years passed with battles and retreats and attrition before these armies ended up at Cumorah. 

Mormon and Moroni could see only their respective military units (their "ten thousands") from the top of the hill Cumorah. (Mormon 6:10-12) 

In verses 13-22, Mormon lamented the loss of all the Nephites who had fallen during the decades of his military career, which started when he was only 14.

The final battle at Cumorah numbered in two hundred and thirty thousand Nephites alone, plus even more Lamanites, based on the list provided by Mormon in Mormon 6.

Instead of a mere "hill" Cumorah, the battle must have taken place on a large mountain in southern Mexico.

Writing

No writing would survive because Lamanites sought to destroy Nephite records from Enos through Moroni. One carved stone (from Coriantumr) was so unusual it was described in an otherwise brief record (Omni).

Extensive written language should exist because Nephites and Lamanites corresponded in writing. One carved stone (from Coriantumr) was just an example of stella found throughout Mesoamerica (Omni).

Meaning of “head of the river”

The term can refer to either a "source" or a "confluence" where two or more rivers meet.

The confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango rivers in Binghamton, NY, was commonly referred to as the "head of the river" by people who lived in the area. This site is about 25 miles downriver from Harmony, Pennsylvania, where Joseph Smith translated the abridged plates. 

The term can mean only a "source." Because the "head of the river Sidon" is north of the land of Nephi, it must refer to a north flowing river originating in the highlands of Guatemala.

City of Zarahemla on Sidon

Sidon = Mississippi

Sidon = Usumacinta

Text requires a north-flowing river from land of Nephi to land of Zarahemla

Assumes a separate river from Sidon, which it meets at the head of Sidon (confluence).

The confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers fits the North American setting, with the Tennessee River flowing north from the land of Nephi (Chattanooga area) into the Ohio River at the land of Zarahemla (Illinois).


Assumes only one river.

Usumacinta (north from Guatemala to Gulf of Mexico);




1 comment:

  1. This is a very nice table. However, please correct the LEFT column heading or the verbiage, "Here's a simple table comparing some aspects of 1 NY Cumorah (1NYC) to the Mesoamerican/two-Cumorahs (M2C) model. Obviously, it's an abbreviated version." MA1C is a new acronymn. I assume it means Moroni's America 1 Cumorah. Did you mean 1NYC?

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