Where the Events of the Book of Mormon Took Place – Part V

Continuing with the article by Matthew Roper and John L. Sorenson, discussed in the last four posts, some of their points about the shape and size of the Land of Promise need further discussion and understanding. In the last post, it was shown that their Land Southward, at least the Land of Nephi, was about 600 miles wide, yet, they wrote:

“Based chiefly on the travel times required to go between various points, we can confidently infer that the land southward was on the order of only a few hundred miles in length (northward—southward). At one point the land southward was plausibly about 200 miles wide. The distance across the narrowest part of the narrow neck, or isthmus, is left vague but might have been on the order of 100 miles. The dimensions of the land northward are also unclear, but the implication is that the size of that area was of the same order of magnitude as the land southward.”

First of all, their own map shows a distance of 600 miles for the width as mentioned above, yet they also claim it was only 200 miles wide in the same article (see map of last post).

Second, it is claimed: “Based chiefly on the travel times required to go between various points,” but there is only one instance of any journey covering a specific time frame and that was the 21 days from the Waters of Mormon to the Land of Zarahemla (Mosiah 23:3; 24:25); however, this time frame is entirely inconclusive, for it was based on a journey from the Waters of Mormon, an unknown distance from the city of Nephi, to the Land of Zarahemla--not the city of Zarahemal. Thus, we do not know how far the Waters of Mormon were from the city of Nephi, nor how far the city of Zarahemla was from the borders of the Land of Zarahemla.

All other travel times of any use are mentioned in terms of “many days,” a most inconclusive term since it was used to cover the distance of thousands of miles in a ship as well as much shorter land movement.

Third. Mesoamerican theorists may feel “we can confidently infer that the land southward was on the order of only a few hundred miles in length (northward—southward),” but no one else can for the distance is not spelled out at all. Sorenson himself has stated that he believes the distance from the city of Nephi to the Land of Zarahemla was about 231 miles, but even if that was true, no one knows how far it was from the area of first landing to the city of Nephi, nor how far it was from the city of Zarahemla to the narrow neck of land, nor even how far it was from the borders of the Land of Zarahemla to the city of Zarahemla.

Fourth. “The distance across the narrowest part of the narrow neck, or isthmus, is left vague but might have been on the order of 100 miles.” The Isthmus of Tehuantepec, their Narrow Neck of Land, is 140 miles across, and the term “narrow” does not suggest 100 miles to start with. Actually, Mormon was quite specific--the distance across the narrow neck is laid out in specific terms. In addition, the day and a half journey across this narrow neck (Alma 22:32) would suggest something closer to about 25-30 miles at most, and is not a vague comment at all!

Fifth. “The dimensions of the land northward are also unclear, but the implication is that the size of that area was of the same order of magnitude as the land southward.” There is nothing in the scriptural record to suggest the Land Northward was the same size as the Land Southward. But there is a suggestion that it was smaller in size. As mentioned in an earlier post, it would seem from the movement of the Jaredites during their final battles that ranged from the Land of Moron (near the West Sea where they landed, not far from the narrow neck), to the north, the Waters of Ripliancum, and to Ablom, near the east seashore and then to the land the Nephites called Cumorah, suggests a much smaller land mass than the Land Southward.

It seems obvious that Sorenson and Roper are using distances that equate to their pre-determined Mesoamerican model and not to the scriptural record. Thus, there writing is self-serving and of no value in trying to understand the distances Mormon and other ancient prophets wrote about.

(See the next post, “Where the Events of the Book of Mormon Took Place – Part VI,” for more of these inaccurate points)