What Matches the Scriptural Account? – Part II

Continued from the previous post regarding a comparison between the various theories and the descriptions Mormon left us.
    The problem with almost all theories about the Book of Mormon Land of Promise today are not based in full on the hundreds of descriptive information Nephi, Jacob, Mormon and Moroni give us in the scriptural record, but on the opinions and assumptions of Man.

The Nohoch Mul pyramid, part of the Mayan ruins at Cobá archeological site

Mesoamerica. After all, the Mesoamerican theory matches several descriptions given in the scriptural record to describe the Jaredite kingdom and Nephite Nation. There is a narrow neck of land; a Land Northward and a Land Southward; a large, northward-flowing river; high level of civilization; buildings and cities of an advanced people, as the Jaredites and especially the Nephites would have been; large masses of people; large wars; big agricultural base for the economy; roads, temples and towers; etc.
    However, it does not have four seas (Helaman 3:8), and the two it does have are oriented in the wrong location; was never an island (2 Nephi 10:20); has no sea that divides the land (Ether 10:20); no metallurgy; no smelting of gold, silver and copper, nor digging it out of the ground (2 Nephi 5:15; Ether 10:23); no large settlements of cities with buildings (Mosiah 8:8); no highways and roads that “led from city to city, and from land to land, and from place to place (3 Nephi 6:8); and the list goes on.
    As for the North American (Heartland) and Great Lakes theories, there are also some matches, such as having four seas; there are ancient forts; it is a land blessed above all other lands; the Gold Plates were found buried in the New York Hill Cumorah.
    However, North America does not have truly four directional seas—North, South, East and West (Helaman 3:8); these areas do not have two unknown grains (Mosiah 9:9); and two unknown animals (Ether 9:19); neither area has a “temple like unto Solomon” (2 Nephi 5:16);  the Heartland Theory does not have a north flowing Sidon River; the Heartland does not have mountains “whose height is great” (Helaman 14:23); neither had metallurgy other than copper (Jarom 1:8); neither were ever an island (2 Nephi 10:20); there are no hills south of the Heartland Zarahemla to match Mormon’s description showing the Land of Nephi was at a higher elevation than the Land of Zarahemla; and the list goes on.

Moroni carrying the plates in a knapsack over his shoulder to where he eventually buried them

It is interesting how theorists get caught up over a single issue. Take, for example, North American theorists who believe it would have been difficult to impossible for Moroni to have carried the plates upon which Mormon and he had engraved their abridgements of the Nephite and Jaredite records. Because of the great distance involved, and the weight of the gold plates to have been carried by Moroni all the way from Mesoamerica, they say, shows conclusively that the Land of Promise was in North America because of its nearness to the New York hill Cumorah.
    Or the Mesoamerican theorists who claim that there are at least 15 types of script, of writing in Mesoamerica, thus, Mesoamerica was the only region where indigenous people  who had a written language, like the Nephites. According to John L. Sorenson, “the only thing that is different about them is the characters."
    The fact is, the former involves the unknown factors of when the plates were placed in the New York hill Cumorah, and where the plates were from 421 AD to 1828 AD. While Moroni said he was going to finish his work on the plates “therefore I will write and hide up the records in the earth; and whither I go it mattereth not” (Mormon 8:4). In fact, we don’t even know how long it was between when Mornoi wrote that and when he hid the plates “in the ground,” which was after 421 AD.
    In addition, as to the latter, no writing sample has been found in Mesoamerica dating before about 1000 AD, and certainly those that have been found have no semblance to either Reformed Egyptian or Hebrew, showing no evidence such languages were ever connected.
    Also, Rod L. Meldrum says that North America i.e., the United States, is the Land of Promise because the scriptures tell us "It is a nation 'above all other nations,' and a 'mighty' Gentile nation. Well, what other nation are they talking about here? I don't think that they are talking about Guatemala here."
    It should be noted that the information about the Land of Promise being a blessed region was originally stated by the Lord, “inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper, and shall be led to a land of promise; yea, even a land which I have prepared for you; yea, a land which is choice above all other lands” (1 Nephi 2:20). And what land had the Lord prepared for Lehi?

After the flood waters had receded it became a choice land, unoccupied except for whom the Lord would bring to dwell upon it

It was a land prepared “from the beginning of man; and that after the waters had receded from off the face of this land it became a choice land above all other lands, a chosen land of the Lord; wherefore the Lord would have that all men should serve him who dwell upon the face thereof” (Ether 13:2). This was given to Lehi “is choice above all other lands; a land which the Lord God hath covenanted with me should be a land for the inheritance of my seed. Yea, the Lord hath covenanted this land unto me, and to my children forever, and also all those who should be led out of other countries by the hand of the Lord” (1 Nephi 1:5).
    While North American theorists want to limit this land to just what is the United States today, it obviously was meant originally to cover a much larger area. As an example, when Nephi was given a vision of Columbus: “I looked and beheld a man among the Gentiles, who was separated from the seed of my brethren by the many waters; and I beheld the Spirit of God, that it came down and wrought upon the man; and he went forth upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land” (1 Nephi 13:12). Since Columbus never set foot on, or even knew about, the area now known as the United States, or even the entire area of North America, and visited only islands of the Caribbean, Central America and South America, one cannot dismiss those areas as being part of the Land of Promise.
    The point of all this is to show that when one begins searching for a Land of Promise, one needs to take into account all the scriptural references to the location—not just the ones that agree with their theories or viewpoints. While most theorists list between five and ten major categories for such matching, they miss the overall value of their comparison. For every point a Mesoamerican, Heartland, or Great Lakes theorist make in support of their theory and location, just as many or more areas can be shown in the scriptural record that disagrees with such an area.
    In determining an area, we have to find a place that matches all the criteria and descriptions set forth in the scriptural record. In fact there are many areas these theorists never mention that are in the scriptural record and part of locating the Land of Promise: Circumcision (1 Nephi 4:15; 2 Nephi 5:10); Cure for killing fevers (Alma 46:40); stone walls around the cities and the border of the land (Alma 48:8); Growing wheat and barley (Mosiah 9:9); fine-twined linen and silk (Alma 1:29); land of earthquakes and volcanoes (3 Nephi 8:12,17,19); Terraced irrigation (similar to Jerusalem).