Here are some more comments that
we’ve received from this website blog.
Comment #1: “I think that the Land of Promise was in
Costa Rica and Nicaragua. There are archaeological sites dating to the proper
Nephite time frames. It is claimed that the city of Zarahemla was located near
Turrialba, which is on a tributary of a major river which some feel was the
River Sidon. It is in a beautiful valley with a multitude of identified
archaeological sites in the immediate area. Puerto Viejo is their location for
the city of Bountiful, which is located at the point of a ridge of low hills
and at the junction of two major rivers, and on the opposite side of the
mountain range from Turrialba” Huey D.
The Guayabo National Monument, the largest
archaeological site in Cost Rica, and only pre-Columbian site open to the
public
Response: This site
contains petroglyphs that have been estimated
at about 3000 years old. It also contains ancient bridges, water tanks and dwellings
situated in the cloud and rain forests of Costa Rica, where archaeology finds include unique carvings of crocodiles, insects
and jaguars, and there are raised stone foundations, stone paves roads
of unknown length leading off into the surrounding dense foliage. While complex petroglyphs are abundant, covered with
mysterious messages, which have not yet been deciphered, and the site includes
decorative and practical pottery, jade and gold artifacts, as well as the controversial
stone spheres of Costa Rica, there are no real buildings to show that an
advanced civilization once lived there. In addition, this ancient village
reached its highest population around 800 A.D., of 10,000 people—a great deal
smaller than Zarahemla would have had to be for it have been the capital of a
nation of millions of people. As for the major tributary river some feel was
the Sidon, this river is the Rio Reventazion which does not flow far enough
south of Guayabo (Zarahemla) to have originated in the Land of Nephi or up in
the mountains where the Land of Nephi was located. Plus, a second, parallel
river, the Rio Pacuare, is just as significant a river, but a second, parallel
river is never mentioned in the scripture, but to go east from Guayabo
(Zarahemla) to the East Sea (Caribbean), you would have to cross both rivers,
but though such travel is often undertaken, this second river is never
mentioned in the scriptural record.
Comment #2: “And they did also carry with them deseret, which,
by interpretation, is a honey bee; and thus they did carry with them swarms of
honey bees" (Ether 2:3). Can you imagine crossing the
ocean in this contraption with swarms of honey bees?” Anthony B.
Response: How sad it is that
people criticize what they do not understand. There are stingless honey bees,
called Meliponines, which are a large
group of bees (some 500 species) belonging to the family Apidae, and are related to common honey bees, carpenter bees,
orchid bees and bumblebees. In fact, there are a great many other bee species,
especially in the family Andrenidae,
which are incapable of stinging, as are all male bees. While the Meliponines do have stingers, they are
highly reduced and cannot be used for defense. The majority of native eusocial
bees of Central and South America re stingless bees, and Meliponines honey is
prized as a medicine in South America. While most bees are not active all year
round, and most can be made to be inactive by their care and environment, the Meliponines are also nearly dormant in
cooler weather—such as a voyage at sea.
Comment #3: “Pyramidal structures were not part of the
Nephite culture. These were typical of the Jaredite culture which was located
to the north, and would not be found in the Nephite Land of Promise” Martina
Response: Actually,
we do not know what the Jaredite culture did in the way of building. We do not
know if the Jaredites were involved in the building of the Tower, though it
seems unlikely they were, but obviously they knew about its building. We really don’t know when
stepped pyramids first were built and by whom—carbon dating is faulty at best.
On the other hand, the Jews would have known about the Egyptian pyramids—Jews
traveled to and from Egypt frequently in B.C. times, were aligned with them
politically at different times, and since Lehi was involved in some way with
them, no doubt Nephi and Sam knew about pyramids. In fact, the interior of
Solomon’s Temple is said to have been very much like the interior of the Egyptian
pyramids inner sanctums. Of course, the question has been asked, how else would
the ancients build several stories upward unless it was by stepping each level
smaller than the one below it. As far as the scriptural record is concerned,
statements like: “And built many mighty cities” (Ether 9:23; 10:12; 10:20);
“his father did build up many cities upon the face of the land” (Ether 10:4),
“He did build many spacious buildings” (Ether 10:5), is all that we find, and no
mention of style, shape or size.
Comment #4: “Flavius Josephus, the Jewish historian,
wrote that after the confusion of tongues, the people
were dispersed abroad because of their different languages, and went out
by colonies every where; and each colony took possession of that land which
they settled upon, and unto which God
led them; so that the whole continent was filled with them, both the
inland and the maritime countries. There were some also who passed over the sea
in ships, and inhabited the islands. 1:5:1. I find his comment about over the
sea in ships sounding like the Jaredites! Do you think Josephus knew about
them?” Braylon.
Response:
I think that it would be doubtful that anyone knew about the Jaredites’
destination, especially Josephus some two thousand years later, for if he did
know, many others would have known and written about it by this time. That the
Lord was involved in everything that happened in the dispersment, i.e., who
went where, etc., seems obvious, for the Lord is in charge of all things, but I
seriously doubt that there were other groups the Lord led away from Babylon in
the same manner as the Jaredites. But if there were, only the Lord and they
know about it. People today seem to feel free to speculate on all things
pertaining to the Lord, but such speculation is usually self-serving, and of
little value to the serious student of the scriptures.
Comment #5: “The idea that a Book of Mormon “land”
comprised a river drainage basin was first proposed by Michael Hobby some time
ago in the journal Zarahemla Quarterly. Under this proposal, the people of the
Nephite era viewed their lands from the valley floor bordered by the
surrounding hills and mountains. Thus the greater Land of Zarahemla would
include the valley and drainage system of a specific river, the cities and
towns being located in the arable valleys. The local Land of Zarahemla,
immediately surrounding the city, would include only the immediate portion of
the river valley. The Land of Nephi, the Land of Bountiful, and the Land of
Melek, etc. would all be located in different, separate river systems. If this
is so, and the river systems have remained unchanged since Nephite times, we
should be able to use this information to assist in locating specific Book of
Mormon lands” Alain G.
Response: The
Nephites lived in the Land of Nephi for some 400 years before leaving, a land
that was high up in the mountains judging from the fact the Lamanites kept
“coming down” to fight the Nephites in Zarahemla later, when the Lamanites
occupied the Land of Nephi. It is not worthwhile to speculate about river
systems, draining basins, etc., when none are mentioned or even implied in the
scriptural record, then use that speculation to determine a location of the
Book of Mormon lands. Scholars would have more success in locating the Nephite
lands by sticking strictly to the descriptions Mormon and others left us, including Nephi's telling us how he got there in his ship, i.e., "driven forth before the wind."
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