One More Time—the Narrow Neck of Land was not in Mesoamerica Part III

Because the Narrow Neck of Land is, perhaps, the most distinguishing feature of Mormon’s description of the Land of Promise, along, of course, with the fact that the entire Land Southward was surrounded by water except for this narrow neck, and because so much misinformation has been written about it by Mesoamerican theorists who try to lessen its importance so they can support their model, it seems necessary to spend so much time in discussing this feature of the land and its significance.

First of all, the satellite view below shows John L. Sorenson’s claim regarding this Narrow Neck of Land with simple information overlaid onto it taken from his writings and maps. Note the directions of the land as it lays in the area that is called Mesoamerica—the theorists’ complete area of the Land of Promise. Also note the fact that the narrow neck of land runs north and south, not east and west. In addition, note the direction of the Land Southward (to the east) and the Land Northward (to the west)—all in contradiction of Mormon’s very clear descriptions.

Secondly, it should be understood that in this area of Mesoamerica, there are several mountain ranges, almost all referred to as the Sierra Madre Mountains—there is the Sierra Madre Oriental range running along the Gulf of Mexico side, the Sierra Madre Occidental running along the Pacific Ocean side, and the Sierra Madre del Sur running along the west coast, and the Sierra Nevada (the Eje Volcanico Transversal or Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt) running crosswise between the Occidental and the Oriental. All of these ranges converge through the Isthmus of Tehuantepec—called collectively the Sierra Madre Mountains, they consist of a number of small rangers that run from northern Mesoamerica south through Costa Rica. Note in the map below that there are lowland areas to the north along the Bay of Campeche and to the south, along the Gulf of Tehuantepec, with the passes running north and south in between. Being so large, it is a difficult land area to guard against an invasion from the east (Sorenson's south), or for snakes to be placed to keep people from escaping into the land to the east (Sorenson’s Land Southward).

Through these numerous mountain passes running north and south through the Isthmus, strong cold air surges to pass into the Gulf of Tehuantepec, the most prominent of these gaps being the Chievela Pass (see the last post). This entire Sierra Madre mountain range extends southeastward through Mexico and Central America and separates the Gulf of Mexico, the Bay of Campeche´ and Caribbean Sea from the Pacific Ocean. To the south is an open flat land about 30 miles wide, running throughout Mesoamerica. To the north, is an open flatland area about 80 miles wide and about 300 miles long—both of these open passage areas allows free and easy movement from Sorenson’s Land Sothward into his Land Northward. When we include the numerous mountain passes between these lowlands, the amount of ways from one of his lands to the other would be far too numerous to try and guard against, and provides no singular “narrow pass” or “narrow passage” between these lands as Mormon describes.

The fact that at certain times of the year certain of these areas are flooded, swampy, or difficult to pass through as Sorenson writes, is not in keeping with Mormon’s many descriptions. Besides, one should recognize in the scriptural record of the Lamanite attacks, they appear to be annually, that is a serious attack by a Lamanite army occurs, a battle takes place, and the Lamanites, when defeated, retreat back to their homeland and the next incursion is the following year. This is very typical of ancient armies who had to arrange their battle plans according to the weather—winter, when floods, muddy grounds, and passes were treacherous, was not the time to mount an attack. Most battles commenced in the late Spring or early Summer and lasted no later than the end of Fall. Winter was the time to rest up, regroup, plan and prepare for the following year (Napoleon and Hitler both learned this truth when trying to mount winter attacks into Russia).

The fact that at flood time this Isthmus had some treacherous footing areas, does not suggest that it meets Mormon’s descriptions—especially when it comes to a sea on the east and a sea on the west of the narrow neck.