The Danger of Theorizing – Introduction

A friend sent me info from a website of “the Book of Mormon Archaeological Forum” in which 16 scriptural points were listed as having to exist for “Any Book of Mormon Lands proposal must include all of (these) to be seriously considered.” They then list a total of sixteen (16) criteria. It is interesting that the Book of Mormon itself lists upwards of sixty (60) geographical points and criteria, not just 16. They also make the sweeping statement on this website:
“There are several theories held among Latter-day Saints for the location of Book of Mormon lands. Some place the geography of the book in upstate New York or near the Great Lakes. Others look to Peru and South America, or to the Baja Peninsula, or Texas and some even propose the Malaysian Peninsula. BMAF supports a Mesoamerican context for the major Book of Mormon sites. Other locations may meet some of the following criteria, but only Mesoamerica meets all these elements required by the book itself. This list of criteria is not a cafeteria list. Any Book of Mormon lands proposal must be able to demonstrate ALL.”

Now, I couldn’t agree more. Any proposal of a Land of Promise site must include ALL of the criteria stated in the Book of Mormon. However, their list is both minimal for there are far more points illustrated in the Book of Mormon that must be matched, but many of these points are either inaccurate or do not relate to anywhere but the Andean area of Chile, Peru and Ecuador.

Here is their list of 16 points:
(1) A Major River flowing from South to North (Alma 2:15, 22:27)
(2) A Major River originating from a mountainous narrow strip of wilderness that runs from "the sea east even to the sea west" and serves as a natural feature providing protection from the Lamanites (Alma 50:11)
(3) Two High Civilizations with Kings and Priests and City-States with scribes as important officers and evidence of many major cities surrounding the Narrow strip of mountainous wilderness. No other theory can show this fact.
(4) The area of the northern culture must contain evidence of many cities made out of cement. (Helaman 3:3-18,)
(5) Two Highly Literate (Written Language) Societies living adjacent to but separate from each other between 550 BC and 200 BC, one of which lived "far northward" from the other. They must have coexisted for at least 250 years
(6) A small, narrow neck of land dividing the land Northward from the land Southward (Alma 22:32, Heleman 3:8, Ether 10:20)
(7) Multiple, functional Calendar and Dating Systems
(8) Merchant Class Using Weights and Measures tied to gold, silver and grain (Alma 11)
(9) Engineers to Build Temples, Towers, and Highways, using Cement
(10) Highly-skilled Craftsmen - working with Precious Metals, Stonework (Hel.6:11)
(11) Warrior Society - Great Battles, Structured Armies, Sophisticated Fortifications
(12) Legends of a White and Bearded God
(13) Must be in the Western Hemisphere but where Joseph Smith could not have known about in 1829
(14) The winter climate must be bearable enough for Lamanite combatants to wear loin-cloths and shaven heads (Alma 3:5, 20-25)
(15) The land must show evidence of susbstantial gold and silver in the Land of First Inheritance, the Land of Nephi, the land of Zarahemla and the land of the Jaredites. (Helaman 6:9)
(16) An Agricultural Base to support several millions of people, Columbus having visited the area.(1 Nephi 13:12)

In the posts that follow, these 16 points will be covered to see whether or not they match the author’s Mesoamerica model, the Great Lakes model, or the Andean area (Peru) which the author so flippantly discounts.
(See the next post “Danger of Theorizing – Part i)