Being in the Camp of the Heartland Theory – Part I

Despite the continual discounting to the Heartland Theory and all its claims, we still receive numerous comments from readers regarding this “non-issue” subject that seems to have legs of its own because of the enormous misinformation continually disseminated by its promoters. Another response was received recently that takes more space to answer than is possible in our normal comments sections, so we are responding to it in this article. The reader’s statement in given here in full, and afterward we will answer each and every point.
    “I am not smart enough to argue for or against convincingly of whatever points you have made myself, which is why I simply said watch Wayne May's videos before dismissing them out of hand. However, I was just stating that I'm in the camp of the Heartland model proposed by Wayne May and Rod Meldrum, because it makes sense to me. This is [sic] some reason's [sic] why: We know that the plates were recovered by Joseph Smith on the hill in New York that Joseph referred to as the Hill Cumorah. We know from the Doctrine and Covenants that the land across the river from Nauvoo, Christ wanted it to be called Zarahemla. Those two points are very powerful to me that we are in the right area. Then there is the trek Joseph and company made from Ohio to Missouri (Zions camp) in which Joseph declared they were traveling over the lands of the Book of Mormon. Zelph's mound was referred to as the burial place of Zelph, a Lamanite, and good man who fought for the Nephites. Then there is the Book of Mormon prophecy about the gentiles who will come to the America's, and would be in a land of Liberty. That does not fit anywhere but the United States. That is very compelling. Then there is [sic] the parallels between the time frame of the peoples now known as the Hopewell culture to the Nephite/Lamanite Book of Mormon people. Pretty close as to be an almost exact match. The fact the Hopewell culture left evidence that they died out in the New York area after thriving in Ohio and the midwest for so long. The only DNA found to this date, that could possibly be from middle east peoples, is found in the Algonquian tribes and nowhere else. Many Algonquian tribes, (Possibly Mulekites) say their ancestry came from the east, and down the Saint Lawrence river to the Great Lakes, from across the sea, not from the west or south. Most of the DNA found in the South American peoples are thought to have originated from China etc. The fact that Ancient Jews did not build Temples or altars with stairs, but used ramps. North America mound builders used ramps, Central and South American Temples used stairs. That is all very compelling. Everything I have seen and read is just more compelling to me with the Heartland Model than with the Central America or South America models. That is all I'm saying is that from the theories put forth, the Heartland model seems like the best theory to me. That is where I'm at [sic].”  KX.
    In response to this reader’s comments we submit the following:
• Reader: “I am not smart enough to argue for or against convincingly of whatever points you have made myself…”
Response: None of us are smart enough to counter either the Lord or the ancient prophet’s writings, which is why we continually state that if it doesn’t match the scriptures (not your personal interpretation, or anyone else’s personal interpretation, but the clear and precise language and meaning of the prophets, especially Mormon, in this case, then it cannot be correct.
• Reader: “…which is why I simply said watch Wayne May's videos before dismissing them out of hand.”

Wayne May’s books and sone of his videos, the latter being pretty much a visual coverage of what is in his books

Response: We do not dismiss anyone’s views “out of hand,” which phrase, by the way, means “without taking time to think.” We read over everyone’s views, opinions, speculation, and erroneous views, looking for some truth in matching them with the scriptural record. In fact, we have read all of May’s works and seen the videos—the problem lies in his not following the scriptural record closely enough to be even close to accurate in most cases.
• Reader: “I'm in the camp of the Heartland model proposed by Wayne May and Rod Meldrum, because it makes sense to me.”
Response: What makes sense to any one of us is not the issue. What is important and the only criteria involved is whether or not it matches the descriptive writing of Mormon and the other ancient prophets regarding Lehi’s land that was promised to him. This is why the scriptural record should always be the main criteria for pursing Book of Mormon knowledge.
• Reader:  “This is some reason's [sic] why: We know that the plates were recovered by Joseph Smith on the hill in New York...”
Response: You are confusing where Joseph was told to obtain the records, from the drumlin hill in western New York, with the Hill Ramah, identified by the Jaredites, and the Hill Cumorah, so called by Mormon, in the scriptural record. First of all, there is no tie-in of these two hills so indicated in the scriptural record. Also, consider:
1. Moroni never said where he was going to hide or bury the plates, all he said was “Therefore I will write and hide up the records in the earth” (Mormon 8:4). The records Moroni had, which are the plates delivered to Joseph Smith, are different from “all the records” Mormon hid in the Hill Cumorah (Mormon 6:6).
2. The final battle at Cumorah took place in 385 AD, while Moroni’s last entry was in 421 AD. Where Moroni was at the time he hid up the plates in the earth is unknown, though we know it was 36 or more years later, during which time he avoided contact with the Lamanites, kept out of sight as he wandered the land, trying to keep from getting killed. Generally, one would do this by removing himself from the presence and location of those who sought his life—in other words, he left the area of Cumorah where some half a million Lamanites were congregated, and beginning to war among themselves in the blood-lust after effects of annihilating the Nephites…a civil war that lasted more than 36 years, and evidently a lot longer than that.

3. Just after the battle in 385 AD, Moroni said, “how long the Lord will suffer that I may live I know not.” Several years later, he writes: “I had supposed not to have written more, but I have not as yet perished” (Moroni 1:1), and began writing what is known as the Book of Moroni, in which he states of the Lamanites: “their wars are exceedingly fierce among themselves” (Moroni 1:2), some twenty or more years after stating: “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). He also said, “I wander whithersoever I can for the safety of mine own life” (Moroni 1:3). Obviously, Moroni was alive 36 years after Cumorah in which he had been running and hiding, trying to stay alive and out of sight of the warring Lamanites who roamed the land in search of prey. The idea that he would have still been near Cumorah seems extremely unrealistic, for that was the area the Lamanites began warring with each other.
• Reader: “…that Joseph referred to as the Hill Cumorah.”
Response: There is no record that Joseph Smith ever referred to the drumlin hill in Manchester, western New York, as “Cumorah.” In fact, in his account in the Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith refers to the hill where the plates were buried, but never calls it by any name. In the Doctrine and Covenants the name 'Cumorah' appears only one time, in an 1842 epistle written by Joseph Smith: “And again, what do we hear? Glad tidings from Cumorah” (D&C 128:20), however, we do not know if he was referring to the hill where the plates were found, or whether he was using a word that had been in common usage among members for a few years, or if the word Cumorah had some deeper significance, like the word “Zion” has.
    It should be noted that the first use of the name “Cumorah” was by W. W. Phelps in 1833 (William W. Phelps, “The Book of Mormon,” The Evening and the Morning Star, vol.1, no. 8, January 1833, p57). The following year, Oliver Cowdery used the term Cumorah in his letters written to Phelps. Sometime thereafter, it began to be used until it was common among members to call the hill by the name of Cumorah.
(See the next post, “Being in the Camp of the Heartland Theory – Part II,” for more of this reader’s comments and our responses)