In a FAIR (Defending Mormonism) website article, the
following is stated: “In
1985, John L. Sorenson published An
Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon. That
book was the culmination of decades of work establishing a real world setting
that plausibly fit the textual geography in the Book of Mormon.”
Response: Despite
Mesoamericanists’ continual claim that Mesoamerica fits the textual geography
in the Book of Mormon, it simply does not unless you change or ignore the
statements in the scriptural record. Consider:
1. They have to
change the meaning of directions stated by Mormon;
2. They ignore the
description of a narrow neck of land that a Nephite could cross in a day and a
half and claim this was a special courier, runner, marathon candidate, etc.;
3. They ignore
Mormon’s several comments that the narrow neck of land could be defended
against Lamanites or defectors getting through when it was guarded;
4. They ignore that
their Land Southward is due east of their narrow neck, claiming that it is
southward;
5. They ignore that
their Land Northward is due west of their narrow neck, claiming that it is
northward;
6. They ignore that
Jacob tells us the Land of Promise was an island in the sea;
7. They ignore that
the Land Southward was surrounded by water except for the narrow neck;
8. They ignore that
the narrow neck of land is flanked by the Sea East and the Sea West and simply
re-label their sea to the north (Gulf of Mexico) and sea to the south (Pacific
Ocean) their east and west seas;
9. They ignore
descriptive terms like from the Sea North to the Sea South, and from the Sea
West to the Sea East, in explaining the width and breadth of the land;
10. In order to do
all of this, they claim that the Nephites’ directional system was not the same
as ours is today, that their system allows for a Land of Promise nearly 90º off
kilter to our cardinal directions.
FAIR Article: “Sorenson’s model places the Book of Mormon
in part of the region known as Mesoamerica, extending from perhaps a little
south of modern Guatemala to somewhat north of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. In addition to his work on the
geography, Sorenson took his correlation to the next step. He examined the
relationship between the available historical and cultural information for that
region and the descriptions and events in the Book of Mormon. The correlations
were impressive and have led to further productive investigation.”
Response: If the Book of Mormon was merely a Mayan Codice,
or some written history from an ancient source, or some journal, diary, or
record of a group of people of an earlier time, then Sorenson’s approach may be
acceptable. However, the Book of Mormon is not such a record. It is the writing
of several prophets from Nephi to Mormon and Moroni, including Ether, all of
which were men of exceptional righteousness, followers of Christ, and servants
of God. They wrote from inspiration and guidance. In addition, this record was
translated from an ancient language that is totally unknown today and required
mechanical devices called the Urim and Thummin, an ancient Biblical instrument,
to translate. In addition still, when being translated, the Holy Spirit was
involved, acknowledging the accuracy of the translation before the translator,
himself a prophet and one of the greatest who ever tread the earth, was allowed
to continue.
With all this in mind, might not we ask these academics who
continually want to tell us that the scriptural record cannot be understood by
the average “western” mind, why the Lord made it so complicated when the record
was meant for us today and is a record to be read by all people, young and old,
in order to better understand God and the gospel of Jesus Christ? Do they
really think the Book of Mormon was written so only the academic with years and
years of study could understand and fully comprehend?
Do they really think that
Mormon, knowing he was writing to a future people, believed it should take “the
culmination of decades of work” to understand the simple language used? Do these people
really think the Book of Mormon was meant to be viewed by
someone who knows and understands the workings of the ancient Middle Eastern
mind along with the Mayan mind?
Another way to look at this is simply that the Lord brought
about this record, inspiring numerous prophets and servants to compile it, and
an erstwhile prophet to abridge it, and another to translate it, all for us
today to understand it. Now does it make sense that the wordage and
descriptions within were meant to be so confusing and difficult to understand
that unless we turned to the academic we would never comprehend it?
Does that sound like the way the Lord, who is not the author
of confusion, would deal with us? Would the Spirit really let Joseph Smith use
north, south, east and west, when it was known to heaven that the Nephites used
a different directional system than what those words mean to us?
FAIR Article: “Scholars have found a very similar
directional system among the various Mesoamerican cultures. Much of the data
come from the Maya cultures because the ability to translate the carved and
painted texts provides a unique view of pre-contact culture currently
unavailable for any other Mesoamerican people. Nevertheless, what may be more
carefully worked out in the Maya data has sufficient corroboration in data from
other cultures to allow an essentially pan-Mesoamerican orientation system.”
Response: Evidently,
the Lord brought about this scriptural record in its present form knowing it
could not be understood by some 90% or more of the readers because they did not
have the knowledge or background of the pan-Mesoamerican orientation system.
The question seems to beg itself, why on earth would we be given a record that
states simple, well understood directions of north, south, east and west, as
well as northward and southward, that really didn’t mean those directions at
all.
In addition, we are being told that Mormon was using a Mesoamerican or pan-Mesoamerican orientation system of
directions that he never would have understood existed himself. Who created
such a system? The Nephites had no map of Central America, no map or knowledge
of any land northward beyond the Land of Many Waters (such as Mexico), or south of the Land of Nephi (such as Central America). Why
would they have thought in terms of a pan-Mesoamerican orientation, which
requires a full understanding that Central America, overall, has a northward
and southward direction between the United States and South America.
Let us quote a
comment from Deane G. Matheny, a lawyer with a Ph.D.
in anthropology from the University of Utah, who explains about this problem:
“The
most fundamental geographical problem associated with Sorenson’s model has to
do with issues of directionality…In order for his model to fit the geography of
Mesoamerica, one must assume that the Nephites had a system of directions with
cardinal directions skewed “45 degrees or more” off of the usually observed
cardinals…In other words, the whole directional card must be shifted more than
60 degrees to the west for this model to fit the geography of the chosen area.
Otherwise, as Vogel has pointed out, the land north will be on the west, and
the south on the east, and so forth…Making this shift in directions creates its
own set of problems, however, because in such a Nephite directional system the
sun would come up in the south and set in the north.”
(See the next post, “FAIR’s Defense is No Defense at All –
Part II,” for the continuation of this article and FAIR’s response to Methany’s
“fundamental geographical problem”)
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