More Covino Comments Answered-Part III

Peter Covino in his True Book of Mormon Geography website, quotes the following:

“I was also informed concerning the aboriginal inhabitants of this country and shown who they were, and from whence they came; a brief sketch of their origin, progress, civilization, laws, governments, of their righteousness and iniquity, and the blessings of God being finally withdrawn from them as a people, was made known unto me; I was also told where were deposited some plates on which were engraven an abridgment of the records of the ancient Prophets that had existed on this continent. (Wentworth Letter, 1842, DHC 4:535-541)”

Then Covino goes on to make this following statement:

“There are several things Book of Mormon readers should keep in mind: a. The angel said "this land" meaning Western New York. b. The Book of Mormon said it covers a limited geographical area, approximately 75 miles x 120 miles, c. The angel was referring to the land or continent as he knew it when he lived there. Back then, Western New York was surrounded by water, and d. Nephi said he believed they were on an "isle of the sea" (2 Nephi 10:20), and the Lord referred to them as being upon an "isle of the sea" (2 Nephi 29:7).”

Again, let’s take a second look at Covino’s rationale before his excitement for his own beliefs get us carried away.

1. The angel said "this land" meaning Western New York. First of all, we do not know, nor is it stated anywhere that the angel was referring to Western New York. He more likely was referring to the Land of Promise overall, since that was the content of his message. And since he used the term “on this continent,” it is likely he was referring to the entire Western Hemisphere, since in Joseph Smith’s day, the North and South American continents were referred to and considered just on continent. Certainly, “on this continent” was meant to separate those prophets of the Book of Mormon from those prophets of the Old Testament and Jerusalem, etc.

It should also be noted that the Lord and his angels do not see matters in such minute aspects as a portion of a country, or even a country—they see the world in a much broader sense, and he even said so: “Know ye not that there are more nations than one?” (2 Nephi 29:7 “This land” is obviously a separation of this Western Hemisphere as opposed to the Eastern Hemisphere, or more importantly, the Land of Jerusalem and where an earlier set of happenings of the Lord took place.

2. The Book of Mormon said it covers a limited geographical area, approximately 75 miles x 120 miles. This is one of the more ridiculous statements made by Covino. The Book of Mormon makes no such statement, nor even infers one. If Covino wants to believe those distances, he is entitled to do so, but to claim the scriptural record says that is the worst kind of journalism.

To keep this in perspective, 120 miles is the distance from Los Angeles to San Diego, or Salt Lake City to Wendover, Utah, or SLC to Scipio, Utah. It is not a long distance, yet such terms as “on the north, even until they came to the land which they called Bountiful “ (only about half the distance north to south of the entire Land of Promise, or  “it bordered upon the land which they called Desolation, it being so far northward that it came into the land which had been peopled and been destroyed” (Alma 22:30). Such terms would hardly be used for distances of 50 to 60 miles. And how can you have a “narrow neck of land” that takes a day and a half to walk across, which is about 30 miles, when that is about half of the width of his entire country?

It is also hard to imagine that anyone can read the Book of Mormon and consider that the entire Land of Promise, which held millions of Jaredites in the Land Northward, and obviously a somewhat like number of Nephites, in an area 120 miles by 75 miles. Such an idea is simply ludicrous.

3. The angel was referring to the land or continent as he knew it when he lived there. Obviously, the angel (Moroni) was referring to the Land of Promise as he knew it when he lived there, which he called a continent to Joseph Smith at a time when Joseph Smith understood the word “continent” to mean the entire Western Hemisphere. To Moroni, “this land” obviously meant the Land of Promise, and to Joseph Smith, the word “continent” meant the Western Hemisphere.

4. Nephi said he believed they were on an "isle of the sea" (2 Nephi 10:20), and the Lord referred to them as being upon an "isle of the sea" (2 Nephi 29:7).”

Actually, while Nephi recorded the words, it was Jacob who spoke them. And it was not a belief. Jacob and Nephi obviously understood Isaiah’s words who spoke of those of the House of Israel being upon the Isles of the Sea. Jacob chose to mention this because the Nephites at the time felt the Lord had forgotten them because of their sins and they were no longer in Jerusalem. 

In chastising the Nephites, Jacob reminded them “And now, my beloved brethren, seeing that our merciful God has given us so great knowledge concerning these things, let us remember him, and lay aside our sins, and not hang down our heads, for we are not cast off” and that the Lord had consecrated the land upon which they stood: “I will consecrate this land unto thy seed, and them who shall be numbered among thy seed, forever, for the land of their inheritance; for it is a choice land, saith God unto me, above all other lands, wherefore I will have all men that dwell thereon that they shall worship me, saith God,” and then he climaxes his statements by saying: “we have been led to a better land, for the Lord has made the sea our path, and we are upon an isle of the sea,” then, in a more conciliatory tone, adds, “great are the promises of the Lord unto them who are upon the isles of the sea. 

A depiction of an island in the sea with a divided north and south land and a narrow neck of land in between

Finally, Jacob hammers home his point that the Nephites are not alone in their estrangement from Jerusalem, “wherefore as it says isles, there must needs be more than this, and they are inhabited also by our brethren. For behold, the Lord God has led away from time to time from the house of Israel, according to his will and pleasure. And now behold, the Lord remembereth all them who have been broken off, wherefore he remembereth us also. Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves -- to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life” (2 Nephi 19-23).

Jacob knew they were on an island in the middle of the sea. Nephi knew they were on an island in the middle of the sea. The Nephites to whom Jacob was speaking knew they were on an island of the sea. After all, if Jacob was wrong in this; if Nephi was wrong in this, what else were they wrong about?

But they were not wrong in this, or in anything else they wrote and spoke about. They said they were on an island and that is where they were!

Again, Covino’s four points are meaningless!

(See the next post, “More Covino Comments Answered-Part IV, for more of Covino’s so-called “errors” of others, which, in fact, are errors he makes in the defense of his model)