The Island of South America Part V

Continuing from the last four posts with the comments sent to me by a friend regarding statements made by a Baja Peninsula theorists, that modern-day cataclysms have not changed the face of the earth as Nephi described, consider their next point:

7. “Even Mormon who abridged the Book of Mormon was able to describe and locate all the features of the Book of Mormon some 350 years after the destruction that occurred at the time of Christ's crucifixion.”

Theorists love to point out this fact as they perceive the meaning of Mormon’s writings after the cataclysm in 3 Nephi. However, what they all seem to forget is that Mormon wrote 350 years after the event and had at his disposal all the records of all the Nephites: “And now there are many records kept of the proceedings of this people, by many of this people, which are particular and very large, concerning them. But behold, a hundredth part of the proceedings of this people, yea, the account of the Lamanites and of the Nephites, and their wars, and contentions, and dissensions, and their preaching, and their prophecies, and their shipping and their building of ships, and their building of temples, and of synagogues and their sanctuaries, and their righteousness, and their wickedness, and their murders, and their robbings, and their plundering, and all manner of abominations and whoredoms, cannot be contained in this work. But behold, there are many books and many records of every kind, and they have been kept chiefly by the Nephites. And they have been handed down from one generation to another by the Nephites” (Helaman 3:13-16).

That is, there were many books and records of the 1000-year history of the Nephites, of which Mormon could only include a hundredth part in his record—but he knew it all and perused those records to obtain a knowledge of the history and obviously the geography of the Land of Promise. Of this other information, Nephi said, “I did make a record upon the other plates, which gives an account, or which gives a greater account of the wars and contentions and destructions of my people” (1 Nephi 19:4). No doubt Mormon had at his disposal an enormous amount of information that described the land before, during and after the cataclysm. For us to sit and read 1/100th part of that history 2000 to 3000 years later and say this or that is what Mormon knew and understood is foolhardy.

As an example, I was not at Plymouth Rock when the pilgrims landed, I was not in Pompeii when Mt. Vesuvius exploded, I was not in Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked. But in all these and numerous other situations, both recent and ancient, I can picture in my mind what took place and what the area looked like before and after from all that was written about these and other events. And specifically, I was not in the Salton Sea area until long after the northern reaches of the Sea of Cortes dried up, but I lived there in recent times and could see where the sea once covered the area even though it is all desert now except for this small salt lake.

We do not know what changes took place during all the upheaval Nephi wrote about and of which Samuel prophesied—but we do know it was extensive, both above and beneath the ground.

8. “I know of no evidence that supports an island that is 600 by 100 miles in North or South America. We assume physical laws that apply today, applied 2000 years ago.”

Again, the arrogance of saying that the Land of Promise had to be a certain mileage distance for its length and width is beyond imagination (see earlier post on this subject). But for there being an island, every geologist who ever studies South America and its development knows that the land west of the Andes was once all that was above sea level and that to the east was not. They also know that the surface continent tilted as the four basic plates involved collided and changed the face of the land both above and below the surface.

When that occurred depends on your viewpoint of how old the Earth is. If you believe the Earth is 4.55 billion years old, then much of what is written here is not believable. However, if you adhere to the Earth being the age Moses claimed it was, then the scientific, geologic and physical attributes of this planet and the time length in which things took place, this blog is completely believable and understandable (see the book, “Scientific Fallacies and Other Myths” for a description of the Earth’s age and the events that have taken place on this planet since its organization).

And as to the evidence, once again, the deep sea drilling rig “Glomar Challenger” drilled along both sides of the Panama Isthmus and scientists all agreed the core drilling information obtained showed that in recent times Panama and South America were not connected above sea level and that a northern sea passage existed between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. Also, scientist studying the Amazon Draining Zone (an area larger than the United States) show that this area was submerged in recent times and now is barely above sea level, and even now is submerged most of the year from flooding. And, too, saltwater sea shells from the Atlantic and trees and ferns from that seashore have been found along the eastern slopes of the Andes Mountains.

Rosenvall may not know of these things, but then, he seems not to know of a lot of things about South America.