What is Opinion and What is Not? – Part I

There is so much information being bandied around about the Book of Mormon and who has said what and whether or not we should accept without question what this person or that person has said, or is claimed to have said, that one can only wonder where to find the truth.

As an example, those of the Great Lakes or western New York theory that claim the scriptural record Nephite Hill Cumorah in that area is the one discussed in the Book of Mormon, also love to quote the source of Letter VII written by Oliver Cowdery and claimed to have been supported by Joseph Smith. They also love to quote Joseph Fielding Smith who wrote “It is for this reason that evidence is here presented to show that it is not only possible that these places could be located [in New York] as the Church has held during the past century, but that in very deed such is the case."
    Or write that “During Joseph's lifetime, it was universally accepted, as a fact, that the Hill Cumorah—both Mormon's and Moroni's—was in New York.” It was in this context, according to Jonathan Neville, who writes that Joseph wrote D&C 128: "Glad tidings from Cumorah!"
(Funny, I always thought a revelation came from God and was not a writing engineered or initiated by Joseph Smith)
    A student named John Fugal’s comment regarding a class he attended at BYU in which Sidney B. "Sperry, who was very familiar with what Joseph Fielding Smith had previously written, told Elder Smith that he did not feel comfortable publishing something that contradicted what the apostle had written, but that he and other sincere students of the Book of Mormon had come to that conclusion only after serious and careful study of the text. Sperry said that Elder Smith then lovingly put his arm around his shoulder and said, “Sidney, you are as entitled to your opinion as I am to mine. You go ahead and publish it.”
    The point is, an opinion is an opinion. Joseph Fielding Smith recognized that he had given his opinion earlier, and that Sidney B. Sperry was giving his opinion now. Neither were doctrines of the Church, nor dealt with official standings of the Church—both were merely what they stated, their opinions.

LtoR: Oliver Cowdery, William Wines Phelps; Jonathan Neville

    The same can be said about Letter VII written by Oliver Cowdery, whose letter is published by Jonathan Neville with the foregoing statement: “This is a work of nonfiction. The author has made every effort to be accurate and complete and welcomes comments, suggestions, and corrections, which can be emailed to lostzarahemla@gmail.com. All opinions expressed in this work are those of the author alone.” 
    In Chapter 11, Letter VII appears, under this heading: “Letter VII contains the important Cumorah material. Oliver introduces that section with a discussion of Joseph’s deliberations as he experienced the temptation of getting the plates for their monetary value. This is an aspect Joseph never dwelt on in writing, but Oliver could only have learned it from him.”
    While it is possible that Oliver learned this from Joseph Smith, it is just as likely Oliver arrived at this under his own opinion, study and belief. It is equally important to keep in mind that while this Letter VII is promoted today as Oliver Cowdery’s Message on Cumorah to the World, it originally occurred as a letter, one of eight written to W. W. Phelps “on the rise of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” in Kirtland, Ohio, in 1835 and published in Liverpool, 1844. In these letters, Cowdery conveys the experiences of Joseph Smith receiving the visitations of the Angel Moroni in which he writes: “He could not have been deceived in the fact that a being of some kind appeared to him: and that it was an heavenly one” and “He also saw him depart the light and glory withdraw, leaving a calmness and peace of soul past the language of man to paint. Was he deceived? Far from this; for the vision was renewed twice before morning.”
    In other words, Letter VII has to do with Oliver Cowdery writing to W. W. Phelps to recount Joseph Smith’s experience, from Moroni’s first visit to his obtaining the plates from the local hill later to be called Cumorah by many members of the Church—though never by Joseph Smith himself. About the hill itself, Oliver writes: 

This is the hill Cumorah around the time of Oliver Cowdery. Note it has been stripped of all the trees by local farmers and it can be seen how inconsequential it appears
    “I think I am justified in saying that this is the highest hill for some distance round, and I am certain that its appearance, as it rises so suddenly from a plain on the north, must attract the notice of the traveler as he passes by.” He also states that “At about one mile west rises another ridge of less height, running parallel with the former leaving a beautiful vale between.”
    At this point, Oliver breaks from fact, to state his opinion, when he recounts what he believes took place in this vale: “At once imposing, when one reflects on the fact, that here, between these hills, the entire power and national strength of both the Jaredites and Nephites were destroyed.” He then refers to pages 529 and 530 in the Book of Mormon to tell Phelps of “Mormon’s account of the last great struggle of his people as they were encamped round this hill Cumorah.” At this point, Oliver waxes rather poetic when he inserts his own words to describe a brief statement by Mormon: “In this valley fell the remaining strength and pride of a once valley fell the remaining strength and pride of a once valley fell the remaining strength and pride of a once valley fell the remaining strength and pride of a once powerful people, the Nephites—once so highly favored of the Lord, but at that time in darkness, doomed to suffer extermination by the hand of their barbarous and uncivilized brethren. From the top of this hill, Mormon, with a few others, after the battle, gazed with horror upon the mangled remains of those who, the day before, were filled with anxiety, hope, or doubt.”
    It should be noted that while the overall gist of the information is more or less what took place, the actual wordage is simple and completely Oliver Cowdery’s words, for Mormon did not write it that way at all.
    Oliver then adds, again using his own wordage to add what is not written in the scriptural record in any way: “And having no records, only preserving their history by tradition from father to son lost the account of their true origin, and wandered from river to river from hill to hill, form mountain to mountain, and from sea to sea.” What is written is Moroni stating that “And behold also, the Lamanites are at war one with another; and the whole face of this land is one continual round of murder and bloodshed; and no one knoweth the end of the war” (Mormon 8:8).
    Oliver then goes on to tie together the name of the Jaredite hill Ramah with that of Cumorah, when he writes: “This hill, by the Jaredites, was called Ramah; by it, or around it, pithced the famous army of Coriantumr their tent. The opposing army was to the west, and in this same valley, and near by.”

However, Moroni does not describe this in those words, showing Oliver’s predisposition to think of the final battles taking place in New York by talking about the vale or valley to the west of the New York hill Cumorah. Moroni states: “and they did flee southward, and did pitch their tents in a place which was called Ogath. And it came to pass that the army of Coriantumr did pitch their tents by the hill Ramah; and it was that same hill where my father Mormon did hide up the records unto the Lord, which were sacred” (Ether 15:10-11).
Note that Moroni does not mention any valley to the west or gives any direction at all. This is the point with Oliver’s descriptions and writing—he is convinced that this Jaredite battle and later Nephite/Lamanite battle took place in New York, that he describes the New York topography as though it was written that way in the scriptural record, which it is not.
    Again, we are dealing with Oliver’s opinion, not facts!
(See the next post, “What is Opinion and What is Not? – Part II,” for more regarding what is fact and what is opinion about the Land of Promise and the scriptural record)