According to their book, their list of thirty-six prophecies and promises, proves that the Book of Mormon’s geography was located exclusively within the confines of what is now the United States of America; however, the very basis of this view is undermined by an understanding of the Angel Moroni’s view of this land he lived in, fought in, wrote about, and produced, along with his father, the basis of what became the Book of Mormon.
Moroni’s first appearance to Joseph Smith
As an example, Moroni made a simple statement to Joseph Smith in his first appearance (September 21, 1823) and subsequently twice again, that “there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang” (Joseph Smith—History 1:34, emphasis added).
Now, while the word “continent” has a meaning today, we need to ask “what meaning did it have anciently during Moroni’s time and when Moroni spoke those words to Joseph?”
This is a critical point that Porter and Meldrum never address, relying on the current modern interpretation that the United States, Canada and northern Mexico make up the North American continent, and then limiting Moroni’s statement to mean only the United States which they claim meets all their 36 points.
However, three points are completely left out by them and need to be understood about this word “continent.”
• What did the word mean in 1823 America when Moroni used it?
• What did the word mean to Moroni and why did he use it?
• What did the word mean during the publications of the Book of Mormon between 1830 and about 1940?
To understand these and their importance, there is Nephi’s statement about how the Lord communicates to us: “For the Lord God giveth light unto the understanding; for he speaketh unto men according to their language, unto their understanding” (2 Nephi 31:3, emphasis added).
Thus, the Book of Mormon was written in basic English of the 1830s New England region—a language Joseph Smith knew and used, along with his family and the vast majority of the people at the time (and appears in Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language).
A conference of the early Church to discuss the printing of the Book of Commandments
However, as people are, some of the early members of the Church, which grew rapidly in 1830–1831, felt at a conference where it was agreed to print the Book of Commandments (Doctrine and Covenants), that the language used in the revelations was not worthy of the voice of God and that a more sophisticated language should be adopted.
However, the Lord responded with, “these commandments are of me, and were given unto my servants in their weakness, after the manner of their language, that they might come to understanding” (Doctrine and Covenants 1:24, emphasis added).
Thus, it should be concluded that the words of God to man are in the form of man’s own language (in the case of the Book of Mormon that is 1830 English). So what did the word “continent” mean?
• What did the word mean in 1823 America?
In 1820, the prevailing view of most of the world, as well as much of the United States, including New York where Joseph Smith lived, was that North and South America comprised one continent—and was viewed as a single continent known as America. This viewpoint was common in the United States until World War II, and remains prevalent in some Asian six-continent models even today.
In the four-continent model (Afro-Eurasia, America, Australia and Antarctica); five-continent model (Africa, Eurasia, America, Australia and Antarctica); and the six-continent model (Africa, Asia, Europe, America, Australia and Antarctica), both North and South America are considered just one continent, an attitude that prevailed even in America prior to World War II.
The six-continent model
They are considered as separate continents only in the seven-continent model, which though prevalent in the U.S. today, Latin America (Central and South America) still hold to the Americas as one continent (“Continents,” National Curriculum in England: Geogreaph Programmes of Study, Department of Education London, UK; F-10 Curriculum Geograph, Australian Curriculum, Assessment, and Reporting Authority; 6 continents combined-America model; Lexico tes Hellenikes Glossas, Papyros Publications; Combined-America continents model, Neos Eikonographemenos Geographikos Atlas, Siola-Alexiou).
• What did the word mean to Moroni and why did he use it?
Even though North America and South America are treated as separate continents in the seven-continent model, they may also be viewed as a single continent known as America. This viewpoint was common in the United States until the 1940s and remains prevalent in some Asian six-continent models today (Martin W. Lewis and Kären E. Wigen, The Myth of Continents: a Critique of Metageography, University of California Press, Berkeley California 1997).
In fact, way back in Moroni’s time, he described the entire area of the Western Hemisphere as one land in his insert while translating the Book of Ether: “After the waters had receded from off the face of this land it became a choice land above all other lands, a chosen land of the Lord; wherefore the Lord would have that all men should serve him who dwell upon the face thereof” (Ether 13:2, emphasis added).
It was not only the United States or even North America from which the waters withdrew, but all of North, Central and South America—an extended Land of Promise, but not just the land the Lord promised to Lehi.
“This land,” of course, would refer either to 1) the Land of the Jaredites, or 2) the entire connected land mass without political borders—which did not exist in Moroni’s lifetime.
Moroni used the word “continent” to mean all the land, since: “the Lord God giveth light unto the understanding; for he speaketh unto men according to their language, unto their understanding” (2 Nephi 31:3, emphasis added). And to Joseph Smith in the 1820s, he understood continent as both North and South America.
• What did the word mean during the publications of the Book of Mormon between 1830 and about 1940?
Normally, it would be surprising to find North and South America still joined into a single continent in a book published in the United States in 1937; however, such an occurrence and belief remained fairly common until World War II (Alexander L. DuToit, Our Wandering Continents: an Hypothesis of Continental Drifting, Oliver and Boyd Publishers, Edinburg, Scotland, 1937).
By the 1950s, however, American geographers had come to insist that the visually distinct landmasses of North and South America deserved separate designations, yet, the single American continent model still remains the more common view today in France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain, and Latin American countries.
The point is, that in communicating to Joseph Smith in Joseph’s understanding, Moroni was referring to the “continent” of America, including North and South America.
(See the next post for more information on Porter and Meldrum’s 36 erroneous points)
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