More Comments from Readers – Part III

Here are more comments that we have received from readers of this website blog:
Comment #1: “Do you think the re-gathering of the Jews has now been accomplished?” Quinn T.
Response: According to the Pew Research Center of March 8, 2012, Jews have the highest rate of migration of any religion.  And according to Jonathan Sarna, a professor of American Jewish history at Brandeis University, "the vast majority of world Jewry lives in one of two countries.  Of the 13.3 million Jews worldwide, 43 percent live in Israel and 39 percent live in the United States."  Fully 82% of all Jews worldwide have already gathered (as of 2012) to these two covenant lands of promise. That leaves only 18% and there is no way of knowing if the gathering of Israel is to be a 100% statistic or not. However, it seems that the gathering of Israel is in its windup scene, if not completed.
Comment #2: “Exactly who is the Western Hemisphere a land of promise for?” Robt W.
Response: At least that portion of the Hemisphere that is covered in the Book of Mormon is for Lehi’s descendants, whoever and however many that may be. Many years ago, there was an attitude among members that the North American continent was for the House of Ephraim, and the South American continent was for the House of Manasseh. Since Lehi was of the house of Manasseh and Ishmael of the house of Ephraim, this might give us some clue.

The division of Lehi's Land of Promise

Comment #3: “There is one problem which keeps popping up in regards to the divide of the land south and north and that is the Jaredite records in the book of Ether. It seems to indicate that there were no poisonous snakes in the land north but many in the land south and that for a time they were so abundant in the border region that travel to the land south were lethal” Thomas.
Response: First, there are two directional lands mentioned in the record: 1) “Land Northward and Land Southward; 2) Land North and Land South. These are not synonymous terms, but describe two entirely different sets of land. In the Land Northward and the Land Southward, the division is the narrow neck of land (Alma 22:27-34). The second set is a division of the Land Southward into two parts, the Land North and the Land South, with the dividing line the narrow strip of wilderness. Thus, when Lehi landed, he did so in the Land South, and when Mulek landed, he did so in the Land North (Helaman 6:10). We know this because when Mosiah discovered Zarahemla, he found that he did so in the land where they landed and had always been there until Mosiah discovered them (Omni 1:16).
    Second, poisonous serpents are mentioned only three times in the scriptural record. The first is when they “came forth” after a great dearth (famine) and chased many Jaredite animals into the Land Southward before “hedging” up the way to keep any people from going into the Land Southward (Ether 9:31-33).
    The second is during the time of Lib in which the serpents were destroyed (Ether 10:19).   In both these cases they were in the Land Northward, not the Land Southward.
    The third instance is mentioned also by Moroni as he finished the record of his father (Mormon 8:1), he spoke about “those saints who have gone before me” (Mormon 8:24), that in the name of Christ they “could cause the earth to shake, cause prisons to tumble to the earth, could not be harmed by the fiery furnace, neither wild beasts nor poisonous serpents, because of the power of his word” (Mormon 8:24).
    Thus we can conclude that the Land Northward was full of poisonous serpents, at least around the time of the great famine, but that they were either unknown in the Land Southward, or at least not mentioned in connection with the Land Southward directly.
Comment #4: “Whether guards were posted or whether a wall was built along the defensive line, the results would be the same. The motive was to keep the Lamanites from traveling into the land of Zarahemla or into the land northward” Benji K.

Top: Field without a wall and guarded only by men scattered across the top; Bottom: The same field with a high wall built across the way. Obvious, one is far more secure than the other showing it would make a difference

Response: While it may seem that way, actually there is quite a difference. Guards can be killed and eliminated from being a deterrent, however, a wall, if sturdy and tall enough, would remain a deterrent for a very long time. Since Mormon tells us that Moroni “had been strengthening the armies of the Nephites, and erecting small forts, or places of resort; throwing up banks of earth round about to enclose his armies, and also building walls of stone to encircle them about, round about their cities and the borders of their lands; yea, all round about the land” (Alma 48:8; emphasis added), it sounds like a stone wall was built, which would have been far superior to a posting of guards.
Comment #5: “In your book of Mormon, in Alma 5:27, we are told that people capable of having themselves cleansed by the blood of Christ 100 years before that blood was shed for the remission of sins (compare Heb. 9:22). Just how is such possible, or is this another gaff in the early publishing?” Jerome L.
Response: The Atonement of Jesus Christ to those who lived before the meridian of time was a future event, and the children of God lived in anticipation of that who knew and understood the high law of the Hebrew religion. For those who lived after Christ, it was a past understanding. Either way, all men will be granted their cleansing according to the time and decision of the Lord, He who grants this grace to us.
    By the way, speaking in future tense is found through the Old Testament when ancient prophets spoke of the visions and understanding they were given. Samuel the Lamanite in Helaman was told by the Lord to speak of things that had not yet happened, of things he had never seen, but knew only because the Lord gave him the understanding.
    Perhaps those who continually look for errors of what the Book of Mormon says in their minds might want to read and give good thought to Isaiah 29:16: “You turn things around! Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, That what is made would say to its maker, "He did not make me"; Or what is formed say to him who formed it, "He has no understanding?"
Comment #6: “It seems unlikely to me that the Lord, knowing what he is going to do, would not leave us some insight of your book of Mormon in his messages in the Bible” Jed S.

Response: Well, let see. How about Isaiah, one of the most influential and best known prophets of the Old Testament, who prophesied of the Book of Mormon in rather specific terms, “And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust” (Isaiah 29:4)…”And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned” (Isaiah 29:11-12)… “Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid” (Isaiah 29:14)…They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine” (Isaiah 29:24).
Comment #7: “Since all the geography presented for the Nephites was given by Mormon more than 300 years afterward, I don’t think we have to worry too much about supposed great changes in the map. While much destruction may have taken place on the ground, I speculate that satellite pictures take before and after that destruction (had it been possible) would have shown only minor changes in the courses of rivers and in the shape of the coastline” Bart T.
Response: Well, let’s see. Samuel tells us that mountains collapsed and became level valleys, and Nephi says those mountains crumbled into pieces. That alone would have changed the course of numerous rivers since the mountains that spawned them were no longer there. Samuel also tells us that mountains would form where valleys have once been, and those mountains would be so high that he described their peaks as “whose height is great.” That would have created rivers where rivers had not been before and from very high mountains, those rivers would likely have been moving in several different directions.
    We are also told that seams and cracks would appear throughout the land, solid rocks beneath the surface would be split up in numerous segments, that holes opened up and several cities dropped into the earth, covered over by the earth and even high mountains. We know of one city along the east seacoast that fell into the sea and was covered by the water, suggesting a change in that coastline.
    Sounds rather serious!