A Testimony Lost Over Mesoamerica

People often ask me why it matters where the Book of Mormon Land of Promise was located. They also ask why I spend so much time showing where certain location models are in error of the scriptural record.

Knowing where Lehi traveled once he left Jerusalem and headed down to the Red Sea, helps to understand what hardships the colony faced and the difficulty of traveling in the desert, across the Rub Al Khali, the Empty Quarter, and their joy at reaching Bountiful’s abundance of greenery and food

To me, the answer is two-fold. The first, and simplest answer, is that Nephi and Jacob in their writings, and Mormon in his, along with Moroni, make it quite clear that the Land of Promise was located in an area that is understandable geographically and each took some pains to explain that to us. It seems prudent that we pay attention. There simply can be no other reason for Mormon to insert his geographical description in Alma 22 other than for us to grasp the size and shape of the Land of Promise and not only how it was aligned directionally, but where the major land divisions were located. Now, when Mormon tells us he could only write 1/100^th of what was originally written (that is 10 words per thousand available), it has to be asked why he spent so much time giving us directions, locations, descriptions, etc.

The second answer is a little more personal. Several years ago an article was published by several well-known archaeologists who had spent some time in the Mesoamerica area saying that they had found no evidence of the Book of Mormon in their excavations and studies there—in fact, claiming to find just the opposite. At that time, several LDS people left the Church over that knowledge, that in their mind, the Book of Mormon was incorrect.

It seems to me that we, who write about the Book of Mormon, have a responsibility to write accurately of what is written in its pages, and not add, subtract, alter, correct, or suggest anything but what is written there. If the land is described as northward, we don’t pick a model that is west-east oriented than spend chapters in a book trying to show why the scriptural record is incorrect.

In this post, I wanted to state one very open example of how one can lose their belief and faith over placing their understanding on such examples, even when those examples come from so-called experts, such as Hugh Nibley, John L. Sorenson, M. Wells Jakeman, FARMS, and all the others who have spent time, money, and careers promoting Book of Mormon lands that are simply inaccurate from the get-go. That is, they do not agree scriptural descriptions, and are often counter to the record.

That example is of Thomas Stuart Ferguson, who was co-author with Milton R. Hunter in the book Ancient America and the Book of Mormon, and a one-time staunch defender of Book of Mormon archaeology.

LtoR: Thomas Stuart Ferguson, Milton R. Hunter, their book: “Ancient America and the book of Mormon”

Ferguson was one of the Latter-day Saints who became absolutely convinced that the Book of Mormon Land of Promise was located in Mesoamerica. According to The Messiah in Ancient America, Ferguson approached the President of Brigham Young University, Howard S. McDonald, about establishing a Department of Archaeology, and was able to convince him of the benefit to the University of having such a department. Once establish, the new department (now Department of Anthropology) in 1948 sponsored its first field trip, an expedition to western Campeche in southeastern Mexico, with Ferguson going along on the first of many such trips. In 1952, Ferguson, along with Alfred V. Kidder and Harvard University Professor Gordon Willey, founded the New World Archaeological Foundation, for the purpose of supporting archaeological research into pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica, which Ferguson hoped would prove the Book of Mormon. Ferguson was in charge of fund raising, and the first project was headed by Pedro Armillas with archaeological studies along the Grijalva River.

Ferguson was able to talk President David O. McKay into the Church providing $250,000 for his archaeological research, sufficient to underwrite five years' work in a generous way from 1955 to 1959, and was eventually "attached to and administered through BYU, and agreed that it would not "discuss direct connections with the Book of Mormon, but rather to allow the work to stand exclusively on its scholarly merits."

It was during this period that Ferguson spent approximately half of his working time away from law, devoting himself to administering the affairs of the NWAF, giving speeches, studying and writing about the archaeology and history of ancient America and their relationship to the Book of Mormon." He spent a great deal of his life trying to prove the Book of Mormon by archaeology and was considered by the Mormon people as a great defender of the faith. He wrote at least three books on the subject. His book, One Fold and One Shepherd, was recommended to one of the authors of this work (Jerald) as containing the ultimate case for the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. In a paper entitled, "Thomas Stuart Ferguson, 1915-83," Fred W. Nelson wrote the following: "Thomas Ferguson has either directly or indirectly influenced thousands of people's thinking on archaeology.... He has had a great influence on professional archaeology through the Department of Archaeology at Brigham Young University, the Gates Collection, and the New World Archaeological Foundation.... Ferguson's legacy in the founding of the Archaeology Department at Brigham Young University, the obtaining of the Gates Collection, and as founder of the New World Archaeology Foundation stands as a shining example to us all."

Despite digging in several areas of Mesoamerica, and despite finding such sites as Teotihuacan, Ferguson could not find any “proof” of the Book of Mormon in all of Mesoamerica

However, no effort in Mesoamerica research performed by Ferguson or his NWAF, showed any evidence of success. In 1952 he wrote "the archaeological data now available is entirely inadequate" for testing the Book of Mormon. He predicted, however, that the "next ten years of excavations in Mexico and Guatemala should enable us to make the archaeological tests." For a number of years he was very excited about the progress of the work and seemed certain that the Book of Mormon would be vindicated soon. In his book, One Fold And One Shepherd, p. 263, he stated: "The important thing now is to continue the digging at an accelerated pace in order to find more inscriptions dating to Book-of-Mormon times. Eventually we should find decipherable inscriptions... referring to some unique person, place or event in the Book of Mormon." In 1962 Mr. Ferguson said that "Powerful evidences sustaining the book are accumulating.”

By 1975, however, he admitted that he had wasted twenty-five years of his life trying to prove the Book of Mormon. In a 29-page paper in response to papers written by John Sorenson and Garth Norman, entitled Written Symposium on Book-of-Mormon Geography: Response of Thomas S. Ferguson to the Norman & Sorenson Papers. On page 4 Ferguson wrote: “With all of these great efforts, it cannot be established factually that anyone, from Joseph Smith to the present day, has put his finger on a single point of terrain that was a Book-of-Mormon geographical place. And the hemisphere has been pretty well checked out by competent people. Thousands of sites have been excavated.”

Ferguson pointed out in his paper that the text of the Book of Mormon makes it very clear that certain items should be found in archaeological excavations and that these items are not present in the sites proposed. "Thousands of archaeological holes in the area proposed have given us not a fragment of evidence of the presence of the plants mentioned in the Book of Mormon..." He concluded by saying: "I'm afraid that up to this point, I must agree with Dee Green, who has told us that to date there is no Book-of-Mormon geography. I, for one, would be happy if Dee were wrong." In a letter dated Feb. 20, 1976, Ferguson said "…you can’t set Book of Mormon geography down anywhere - because it is fictional and will never meet the requirements of the dirt-archeology. I should say—what is in the ground will never conform to what is in the book.”

One can only say that when a person spends his life searching for something in an area where it does not exist, one is bound to be disappointed. One can also wonder what Mr. Ferguson’s life might have been like had he not been seduced by those before him who sold him and others on Mesoamerica being the Book of Mormon Land of Promise. Since there is absolutely nothing in Central America that matches Book of Mormon descriptions, and no observation other than magnificent ruins that could even be considered Nephite, it is obvious that Mesoamerica is not going to ever provide Book of Mormon Land of Promise support. However, Mesoamerican Theorists are so arrogant, they believe they can locate the cities and their location that the scriptural record are mostly silent about—such arrogance has cost more than one individual his testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon! The book is correct and accurate, but one will not find evidence of such looking in an area where the people of the book never set foot!