Yet Another Theorist’s View of the Narrow Neck – Part I

In yet another example of an erroneous narrow neck of land, Jerry L. Ainsworth, in The Lives and Travels of Mormon and Moroni, p 168, discusses his opinions about the narrow neck of land and in the process, completely misses the several scriptures that that are contrary to what he writes: 
    Ainsworth: “Mormon relates a "small neck of land between the land northward and the land southward" with "the distance of a day and a half's journey for a Nephite" from "the east to the west sea" (Alma 22:32). This "small neck of land" was also called the "narrow pass."
    Response: While others struggle with this because their models are too large to fit one small neck of land between their lands to the north and south, we need to keep in mind that the several statements regarding the “small neck,” “narrow neck,” “narrow pass,” and “narrow passage,” all refer to the same area, but not necessarily in the same way.

The “Narrow or Small Neck” (between the yellow arrows) describes the land between the Land Southward and the Land Northward; the “Narrow Pass or Passage” (between the red arrows) describes the method of moving through the neck of land. Near the present Ecuador-Peru border today, there is a narrow pass through this small neck of land that once had ocean on both sides, and now has the ocean on the west, and the cliffs of the magnificent Andes mountain on the other. Anciently, this was a narrow area with the sea on both sides, today it is a narrow area with the sea on one side and tall mountains on the other. This distance ancient was approximately 26 miles across as it is today
    That is, the “small neck” and “narrow neck” both refer to the land between the Land Northward and the Land Southward, but the “narrow pass” and the “narrow passage” refer not to this connecting neck, but to a way through the neck of land. Note that when the “small neck” or “narrow neck” terms are used, they always refer to the land that connects the two major land masses; however, when “narrow pass” and “narrow passage” are used, they refer to movement through or across the land.

Mormon also tells us that there is only one land mass between the Land Northward and the Land Southward, and that is what he called the “small neck of land” (Alma 22:32). He also tells us the since the Land Southward was completely surrounded by water except for this narrow neck of land. So if the narrow neck is the only way to get from one land to the other, then it stands to reason that any pass or passage between these lands would have to be within or through the narrow neck. And this is what Mormon so clearly describes in his writing about the pass or passage.

In addition, Mormon tells us the distance across this narrow neck is a day-and-a-half for a Nephite, making it a span that could be walked in that time by a normal person (Nephites were normal, Lamanites wore loin cloths, searched in the wild for food, and lived in tents in the wilderness). Now all these points can easily be found in the scriptural record and we have written about them numerous times in this blog.
    As stated in an earlier post Alma 22:32 tells us:
1. The narrow pass ran from the Land Southward to the Land Northward;
2. The narrow pass ran from the east [sea] to the west sea;
3. The narrow pass ran on the line [boundary] between the Land of Bountiful and the Land of Desolation;
4. It took a day and a half for a Nephite to traverse this distance.
    In addition, the “small neck” or “narrow neck” was a connector between the two major land masses:
• “and thus the land of Nephi and the land of Zarahemla were nearly surrounded by water, there being a small neck of land between the land northward and the land southward” (Alma 22:32)

Left: Hagoth’s ships traveled northward (Alma 63:6,7), and one ship went elsewhere “and whither she did go we know not” (Alma 63:8). A northern course is not possible from anywhere in the narrow neck of Mesoamerica
• Hagoth’s ships were launched into the west sea, by the narrow neck which led into the land northward (Alma 63:5), and the ships sailed northward (something that cannot be done from Mesoamerica’s narrow neck)
    It should also be noted that not only did the “small neck” or “narrow neck” ran north and south between these two land masses, but the “narrow pass” or “narrow passage” did also:
• “they had come to the borders of the land Desolation; and there they did head them, by the narrow pass which led by the sea into the land northward, yea, by the sea, on the west and on the east” (Alma 50:34—emphasis mine)
• “and secure the narrow pass which led into the land northward” (Alma 52:9—emphasis mine)
• “even to the narrow passage which led into the land southward” (Mormon 2:29—emphasis mine)
• “by the narrow pass which led into the land southward” (Mormon 3:5—emphasis mine)
    In addition, this “narrow neck” was at the end of a large bay or long inlet, so that water mostly filled the area between the two lands except for the “narrow neck,” or as Mormon said, “nearly surrounded by water except for the small neck” (Alma 22:32), and Ether wrote, “They built a great city by the narrow neck of land, by the place where the sea divides the land” (Ether 10:20).
    Now, despite all this, Ainsworth claims: “The pass did not run from the east sea to the west sea, but from the east to the west sea. The pass did not extend the entire length of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, which would be from north to south, not from east to west. The narrow pass ran from the direction east, then made a turn and ended up at the west sea.”
    In his convoluted way, Ainsworth tries to tell us that this narrow pass ran east to west, though it had a turn within it. Setting the turn aside for the moment, let us deal with the direction of this pass. Mormon makes it rather clear that this pass ran north to south, that is: “the narrow pass which led by the sea into the land northward, yea, by the sea, on the west and on the east” (Alma 50:34). How anyone can not understand this is beyond rational explanation—the pass ran into the Land Northward. From where?
    Well, it ran by the sea that was on the east and on the west, therefore, it ran from south to north and into the Land Northward. What was to the south of the Land Northward? The Land Southward. This pass ran from the Land Southward into the Land Northward.
(See the next post, “Yet Another Theorist’s View of the Narrow Neck – Part II,” for more of Ainsworth’s views on the Narrow Neck of Land and the Land of Promise overall.