Did the Land of Promise Span Two Continents? Part XIV—Covino’s “Facts”

Continuing with Covino's book and his free download of so-called "facts" that he claims are inarguable, we here finishing off Fact #13 with our final two points:

Fact #13: "The land of Nephi is south of Zarahemla, Mos. 9:14, 21:25; Alma 50:7. Bountiful is north of Zarahemla, but you must go north from Zarahemla to get to Nephi...

Covino says you have to go north from Zarahemla to get to Nephi, but neither the scriptures nor his map shows that

...hence Lemhi [Limhi] sends people north to get to Zarahemla but did not find it, they found a remnant of the Jaredites, hence you can't get to Zarahemla from the land of Nephi by only going north, Mos. 21:24-26. This is why Lemhi [Limhi] in Mos 22:11 "bent their course after going around Shilom. Also the land of their first inheritance the land of Nephi (Mos 9:1) had to be south of everything else. The Nephites hold back the Lamanites on two fronts south of Zarahemla and Bountiful, Alma 50:7-8, 11."

(Points one through four of this response were in the last post)

Response: Fifth: The statement "Also the land of their first inheritance the land of Nephi (Mos (9:1) had to be south of everything else." This is scripturally correct, and Mormon gives us a better description: "Now, the more idle part of the Lamanites lived in the wilderness, and dwelt in tents; and they were spread through the wilderness on the west, in the land of Nephi; yea, and also on the west in the land of Zarahemla, in the borders by the seashore, and on the west in the land of Nephi, in the place of their fathers' first inheritance, and thus bordering along by the seashore" which tells us that this area of first landing was along the West Sea as almost everyone agrees; however, Covino's map shows it far to the south of the South Sea.

 Though west of the Land of Nephi, Covino places the landing site far along the South Sea coast, contrary to the scriptural description since his West Sea is to the north of the Land of Nephi

The problem is, Covino's map shows the Land of Nephi stretching from the East Sea to the South Sea, contrary to the scriptural record. In Alma 22, Mormon tells us that this first landing (Lehi's landing) was along the West Sea--actually in the west along by the seashore--and also that the Land of Nephi stretched from the east sea to the west sea, but Covino has the Land of Nephi stretching from the East Sea to the South Sea, with the West Sea to the North, and has the Lehi landing taking place to the south along the South Sea. This can hardly be considered a map that matches the scriptural record.

Sixth: The concluding statement "The Nephites hold back the Lamanties on two fronts south of Zarahemla and Bountiful, Alma 50:7-8, 11." First, these scriptures do not say "south of Zarahemla and Bountiful." Second, the Lamanites at this time (72 B.C.) were living along the East Sea coast in the Land of Zarahemla, north of the Land of Nephi. Moroni decides to drive them back into their own land and does so (Alma 50:7), then he also drives the Lamanites living along the West Sea coast in the Land of Zarahemla back into their own lands south of the narrow strip of wilderness. Obviously, and throughout much of this period of time, the Lamanites encroached along both sea coasts into the Land of Zarahemla (Alma 22:27-28), but Moroni drives them back into their own Land of Nephi. Since the narrow strip of wilderness that separated the Land of Nephi from the Land of Zarahemla (Alma 22:27) with the Land of Nephi "running in a straight course from the east sea to the west" (Alma 50:8). All across this narrow strip of wilderness, the Nephites and Lamanites had a common border, however, until the defector, Coriantumr, attacked up the middle, the Lamanites tended to restrict their incursions into Nephite territory along the eastern and western seacoasts. So, yes, the Nephites basically carried on their defenses in the east and west, but not in the middle of the land until Coriantumr attacked (Helaman 1:17-19).

In Alma 50:11, it states:  "And thus he cut off all the strongholds of the Lamanites in the east wilderness, yea, and also on the west, fortifying the line between the Nephites and the Lamanites, between the land of Zarahemla and the land of Nephi, from the west sea, running by the head of the river Sidon -- the Nephites possessing all the land northward, yea, even all the land which was northward of the land Bountiful, according to their pleasure." This does not suggest that the Land of Bountiful bordered on the Land of Nephi in any way. To even suggest this is downright disingenuous. Therefore, Covino's point, "south of Zarahemla and south of Bountiful" is not mentioned or inferred in the scriptures since the Land of Zarahemla is south of the Land of Bountiful and alone borders along the Land of Nephi. It is completely misleading to claim these two fronts were also south of the Land of Bountiful--everything taking place in the Land of Nephi and the Land of Zarahemla are south of the Land of Bountiful. This scripture is merely stating that the Nephites controlled all the land north of the Land of Nephi, from the Land of Zarahemla clear northward beyond the Land of Bountiful.

(See the next post, "Did the Land of Promise Span Two Continents? Part XV" for the last of Covino's unarguable "facts" that he claims proves his theory and map, in which he starts out: "The Narrow Neck of land only fits these scripture descriptions if a land mass exists as described in this book," which will be shown to be absolutely false)