What is in a Direction? Are Directions Important?

This map of Mesoamerica shows the cardinal directions of north, east, south and west as they relate to the Mesoamerican Theorists' model. They maintain the Nephites did not know the cardinal directions, though in scripture they are quite clear as stated by Mormon who had been throughout the Land of Promise, was a military General of the Army at 16, and a prophet of the Lord.
This is the division of lands the Mesoamerican Theorists, such as John L. Sorenson, use, despite that in Alma 22, the ancient prophet wrote “And it came to pass that the king sent a proclamation throughout all the land, amongst all his people who were in all his land, who were in all the regions round about, which was bordering even to the sea on the east and on the west, and which was divided from the land of Zarahemla by an narrow strip of wilderness, which ran from the sea east even to the sea west…”

In this passage found in verse 27, Alma is describing first, a notice the king sent to all his people, and second, that his people encompassed a very large area south of Zarahemla and from sea to sea. Following this statement, Mormon, during his abridgement, decided to make sure the future reader understood the vastness of the Lamanite lands, and also where those lands were in relation to the Nephite lands.

Beginning in the following verse, Mormon interjects a geographical outline of those lands and where the Lamanites and Nephites were at the time. He tells us:

1. The original landing site of the Lehi Colony, and now the land of the Lamanite’s first inheritance was south in the Land of Nephi, along the west coast (vs 28)
2. The Nephites held all the lands to the north of the Land of Nephi (vs 29)
3. The Land of Zarahemla was to the north of the Land of Nephi (vs 29)
4. The Land of Bountiful was to the north of the Land of Zarahemla (vs29)
5. The Land of Desolation was to the north of the Land of Bountiful (vs 30)
6. The Land of Desolation extended so far north, it bordered on the land of the Jaredites (vs 30)
7. The land on the north was called Desolation and the land on the south was called Bountiful (vs 31)

Mormon goes on to outline these lands through the end of the Chapter. The question arises, why did Mormon insert this additional information, giving the future reader a better understanding of where these lands lay, who peopled them, their history, etc.? And why did Mormon bother to make such a point of inserting directions? Is it possible that he thought it important for the future reader to know where these lands lay in relation to one another?

Certainly, Mormon did his best to describe the location of these lands as well as possible short of drawing a map. He made it quite clear that, moving from south to north, the Land of Promise was divided into lands starting with the Land of Nephi in the south, then to the north of that was the Land of Zarahemla, and to the north of that was the Land of Bountiful, to the north of that was the narrow neck of land, and to the north of that was the Land of Desolation, and finally, “so far to the north” of that was the land of the Jaredites and where the bones of their destruction were located.

One cannot read this Chapter without clearly understanding that these lands ran south to north. However, Mesoamerica, as these two maps show, do not run south to north, and beginning at the location the Mesoamerican Theorists claim is the narrow neck of land (Isthmus of Tehuantepec), it is plain to see that the Land Northward is to the WEST and the Land Southward is to the EAST. Despite all their attempts to cloud this issue of the failure of their model to meet the most simple and basic outline of the Land of Promise, it is plainly visible that Mesoamerica does not run north and south, but rather east and west.

If for no other reason, any sane person who accepts the Book of Mormon as inspired scripture, must reject the Mesoamerican model.