Continuing
with the previous post regarding one of our readers sending in an article from the larger
work of Alan C. Miner’s Step by Step
Through the Book of Mormon, along with a few questions, but the article itself
is full of erroneous comments, so we decided to make some full posts out of it
and our responses:
Comment: ”Even
within the land southward over much shorter distances communication was often
tenuous. (Note the ineffective, slow messages even among the top leaders in
Alma 59; compare Mosiah 7:1).”
Response:
First of all, again the author tries to limit the distances in the Land of
Promise and in so doing, makes claims about the slowness of messages or
communication, which he mis-interprets. Nowhere in the scriptural record does
it suggest that communication was “often tenuous,” or “slow,” or “difficult.”
In fact, the concept of message delivery time is not mentioned in any way.
Second, In Alma 59, there is no mention of delays or problems.
There are
only 13 verses, which begin with Moroni receiving Helaman’s epistle, which he
immediately let the people around his area of the account in Helaman’s report.
He then immediately sent an epistle to Pahoran, who was the chief judge over the
Nephite government requesting reserves be sent to Helaman to augment his small
and depleted forces. However, Pahoran does not answer and does not send
replacements and Moroni becomes “angry with the government, because
of their indifference concerning the freedom of their country” (Alma 59:13).
Moronin then writes a second letter to
Pahoran (Alma 60:1) inquiring about the neglect of the government toward the
needs of the Army for replacements and supplies and Pahoran’s ignoring his
earlier letter. Interestingly, Pahroan’s answer suggests that communication was
quite swift, for an answer was received “soon after Moroni had sent his epistle
unto the chief governor” (Alma 61:1), in which he explains the Nephite
rebellion in Zarahemla and that a king (Pachus) had been appointed over the
people, and offered to give the Lamanites the rest of the kingdom except that
he would retain Zarahemla.
When Moroni received this letter from
Pahoran, he rent his cloak and wrote upon it about “liberty” and called for
Nephites to join him, which they did. He then marched to Zarahemla, defeated
Pachus and his men, and restored Pahoran to the judgment seat (Alma 62:8). In
all of this, there is no indication that any delays occurred. In fact, after
reinstating Pahoran, Moroni raised six thousand replacements and much supplies
and sent it to Helaman and Teancum—all of this within the year. Hardly could it
be said that the communication was delayed, slow, or anything else. The fact
that Pahoran did not reply speedily to Moroni’s first letter is shown to be the
result of his no longer leading the government and no doubt not certain how to
answer Moroni’s espistle.
As for Mosiah 7:1, it says: “And
now, it came to pass that after king Mosiah had had continual peace for the
space of three years, he was desirous to know concerning the people who went up
to dwell in the land of Lehi-Nephi, or in the city of Lehi-Nephi; for his
people had heard nothing from them from the time they left the land of
Zarahemla; therefore, they wearied him with their teasings.” The problem, lest
we forget, is that the people in the Land of Lehi-Nephi thought Zarahemla had
been destroyed and all the people killed because of viewing the Jaredite ruins
and bodies strewn across the land and thinking they were in Zarahemla (Mosiah
8:8). The reason Mosiah and his people had not heard from those who went to
reclaim the City of Nephi was that: 1) No one knew exactly where
Zarahemla was located, and 2) No one knew that they continued to exist,
thinking they had been destroyed.
One can also doubt that the evil King Noah wanted contact with
Zarahemla, and even the leader of the initial group, Zeniff, who fell under
Lamanite control, might not want those in Zarahemla to know of his failure in
establishing a free colony in the Lamanite lands. Whatever the reason, there is
no indication that anyone in Zeniff or Noah’s group wanted to contact
Zarahemla, and by the time of Limhi, no one knew where they were located. One
can hardly use any of these examples of a slowness or problem with Nephite
communication over distances.
Comment: “Settlements
of the first century B.C. have been found scattered along the coast of the
states of Guerrero and Oaxaca [Mexico], a few hundred miles north of the
isthmus.”
Response:
The trouble with this is simply that both Alma and Mormon tell us that Hagoth’s
ships “took their course northward” (Alma 63:6). Now, leaving the area of
Sorenson’s Mesoamerican narrow neck, one would have to sail for 120 miles in a southwest direction, before turning West
by Northwest, which is a westerly direction, for about 220 miles to reach the
State of Guerrero coast—which is 310 miles in a westerly direction, a direction
that continues for another 400 miles before a ship could turn to a northwest
heading. This is a total of 930 miles in a westerly direction from Hagoth’s
launch site. So once again, Sorenson claims something opposite of the
scriptural record!
Using Mesoamerica’s narrow neck of land
for Hagoth’s ship launching, a vessel would have to travel about 1000 miles
before it could turn to a northward heading which is not what the scriptural
record tells us. In addition, Mesoamericanists claim that Hagoth’s ship went
less than 200 miles, which means it went westward, not northward
Comment: “It is reasonable that some Nephite
colonization and subsequent trade (see Helaman 3:10) was directed there,
particularly since good timber is rare on that hot, dry strip.”
Response:
Mormon’s description of the Land of Desolation, which is where the timber was
shipped for it was only needed where there were no trees (Helaman 3:5), is
clear that it was not a hot strip of land, but an area of good settlement
except for having no trees: “And now no part of the land was desolate, save it
were for timber” and that it was called Desolation “because of the greatness of
the destruction of the people who had before inhabited the land” (Helaman 3:6)
Comment: “The colonists conceivably could have gone a
considerable distance north, even to the state of Nayarit over 600 miles away,
but if that was the case, they probably lost contact with their homeland.”
Response:
As the map above shows, even six hundred miles along the coast would not change
the fact that though Mormon tells us they took their course northward, that in
Mesoamerica, this 600 mile trip would be heading overall almost due west.
Comment: “Hagoth
launched his boat "into the west sea." Depending on how we interpret
Alma 22:32, Hagoth's launching site was probably within the distance of a day
and a half's journey from the coast [See the commentary on Alma 22:32].”
Response: There is no indication that Hagoth’s shipyard was
a day and a half journey from the coast. In fact, he launched his ship into the
West Sea by the narrow neck which led into the land northward” (Alma 63:5). The
reference in Alma 22:32 tells us that the width of the narrow neck of land was
a day and a half journey for a Nephite. Hagoth’s location is only mentioned in
Alma 63. There is only one way to interpret these passages, unless you are Mesoamericanist,
who seem very willing to interpret the scriptural record any way that pleases
him (see the book Inaccuracies of
Mesoamerican & Other Theorists). It should also be noted that no
shipwright in his right mind would build a shipyard a day and a half journey
from its launch site. The idea is ridiculous—shipyards are along the coast, or
a very large river that empties into the coast, and the scriptural record makes
no mention of any river near or around the narrow neck of land.
Comment: “In the
preceding writings of Alma, most of the activity in Bountiful seems to have
been located by the east sea, so we might wonder why this shipbuilding was
happening on the west coast? After all, 5400 men plus women and children had
supposedly found no trouble in making the trek by foot and apparently by way of
the east coast if a Mesoamerican setting is assumed.”
Response: Maybe this is one of the reasons we should not
assume a Mesoamerican setting, since we have no idea in what direction the
Nephites traveled to reach Hagoth’s shipyard. That they came from the Land
Southward is stated (Land of Zarahemla), but that was a large land, that
stretched from sea to sea. No matter what took place along the East Sea,
Hagoth’s shipyard was along the West Sea, probably because he had a significant
inlet, bay, lagoon, etc., there “where the sea divided the land” in which he
could launch his ships in calm water before sailing out into the sea (ocean).
(See
the next post, “Troubles
in Justifying Mesoamerica – Part IV,” for more on this article sent in to us)
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