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

Continuing with Covino's book and website information, his "comments" are shown along with our "responses."

Comment: "This clearly illustrates that the Nephite nation and people who wrote The Book of Mormon record lived primarily in the United States, as the prophets and book state."

Comment: On the contrary. First of all, the Book of Mormon makes no such statement. Secondly, Covino's own information and downloaded 14 'facts" show nothing of the kind. While it is true that Nephites and Lamanites lived in North American continent, in the United States specifically, but also in Mexico and possibly in Canada, at least along the U.S.border, as Church Leaders have suggested, and as Joseph Smith stated regarding the Zelph matter, there is nothing in Covino's work that shows this was the Nephite "primary" area of residence (Book of Mormon lands). In fact, in the book "Lehi Never Saw Mesoamerica," sixty-five (65) scriptures and scriptural descriptions of the Land of Promise are shown to point out quite the opposite of Covino's claim, and has repeatedly been shown in the past two year's of posts here.

As illustrated, the Nephites of the Book of Mormon landed in the Chilean area; then moved northward (red), then thousands sailed north in Hagoth's ships (yellow); with later movement northward into Mexico (green), and later still over the centuries moved into the U.S. area (blue) until they covered North America as well


Comment:  "The fact that there are ruins in other places on this hemisphere proves that not all the Jaredites, Nephites, Mulekites, Lamanites, and Zoramites (the various races and distinct groups of people listed in the Book of Mormon) are part of the Book of Mormon record."

Response:  It seems the use of the word "races" is inappropriate since there is no indication in the scriptural record that any race but those of Mesopotamia and Israel-Arabia were involved [see the next post].

More importantly, Covino's overall statement suggests the opposite approach seems more realistic. That is, the fact that there are no ruins of an advanced civilization in North America to show a Jaredite-Nephite presence that stretched over some twenty-five hundred years. The "Indian" mound builders of the Eastern U.S. actually " proves that not all the Jaredites, Nephites, Mulekites, Lamanites, and Zoramites are part of the Book of Mormon record." After all, moving dirt into mounds for burial or other ceremonial purposes is far beneath the capability of the Nephites when Nephi and Sam came from Jerusalem with its huge stone structures, stone houses, and a Temple that was the envy of the world at the time. On the other hand, ruins in the Andean area of South America and Mesoamerica seem to indicate such accomplishment for a Nephite civilization that lived for some 1000 years with their unbelievable accomplishments in construction, plus the Jaredite construction of "buildings of every kind" (2 Nephi 5:15-17; Mosiah 9:8; 11:8,13; 23:5). Where are the remnants of all those buildings to be found in North America?

Left: One of the mounds left by the Mound Builders of the Eastern United States. which is nothing but heaped earth; Right: A city built in Peru in B.C. times showing the kind of ability Nephi mentions that he taught his people.

Comment: "They lived and died and are not part of any text yet discovered."

Response: This is quite true--that is, those remains, such as the white Lamanite Zelph and the prophet Onandagus, the ruins in Mesoamerica, etc., are simply not part of the Book of Mormon peoples (other than those mentioned who went north in Hagoth's ships), who "lived and died and are not part of any text yet discovered." Consider that the Nephites had a very literate society and centralized civilization for 1000 years, while earlier the Jaredites occupied a portion of the same lands and had similar attributes for possibly another 1500 years. Could a footprint this large in time be washed away without a trace? Certainly not! And such a footprint would have to show evidence of the great building capabilities of the Jaredites and Nephites. However, as for the Hopewell Indians (perhaps as early as 100 B.C. to 500 A.D.), and the Mississippian culture (800 A.D. to 1500 A.D.), nothing they accomplished can rival the description of Nephi's building capability (2 Nephi 5:15-17), of which there is not a single evidence found in the Hopewell or Mississippian cultures which covered the entire eastern United States.

(See the next post, "Did the Land of Promise Span Two Continents? Part XVIII" for more of Covino's comments and our responses. Wait until you see who Covino claims the Zoramites were and the difference in race between the Jaredites and Nephites)