Continuation of the list of items regarding the matching of the scriptural record: 1 thru 25 are in the previous posts. Here we continue with 26 below:
(26) Great, Tall Mountains. Samuel the Lamanite gives us a clue as to where the Land of Promise was located when he described the future events surrounding the future crucifixion. Keep in mind that Samuel had tried preaching in the city of Zarahemla, and after many days he was cast out of the city, and forbidden to return. As he left, “the voice of the Lord came unto him, that he should return again, and prophesy unto the people whatsoever things should come into his heart” (Helaman 13:3).
When not allowed to reenter the city, Samuel climbed onto the city wall r wall of the temple “and prophesied unto the people whatsoever things the Lord put into his heart” (Helaman 23:4). As he was preaching, he said, “thus hath the Lord commanded me, by his angel, that I should come and tell this thing unto you; yea, he hath commanded that I should prophesy these things unto you” (Helaman 13:9).
Samuel then prophecies what will take place at the time of the crucifixion, saying: “There shall be thunderings and lightnings for the space of many hours, and the earth shall shake and tremble; and the rocks which are upon the face of this earth, which are both above the earth and beneath, which ye know at this time are solid, or the more part of it is one solid mass, shall be broken up; Yea, they shall be rent in twain, and shall ever after be found in seams and in cracks, and in broken fragments upon the face of the whole earth, yea, both above the earth and beneath” (Helaman 13:21-22).
It should be kept in mind that the purpose of these signs were to provide for the people “that they might believe that these signs and these wonders should come to pass upon all the face of this land, to the intent that there should be no cause for unbelief among the children of men” (Helaman 13:28, emphasis added). That is, these signs would be so obvious that when looking upon them, that there could be no doubt that the Lord had caused them.
One of these signs, and one the people could not ignore, was that “there shall be great tempests, and there shall be many mountains laid low, like unto a valley, and there shall be many places which are now called valleys which shall become mountains, whose height is great” (Helaman 13:23, emphasis added).
It should also be kept in mind that these mountains were not just normal mountains as found anywhere that mountains are located in the Americas, but mountains “whose height is great,” and so great, that they could be seen throughout the Land of Promise, so that no Nephite could have cause to deny the Christ.
Taking North America first, we find that in the entire land, the highest peak in the Rocky Mountains is Mount Elbert at 14,440 feet. The highest mountain in North America is Mount Denali (formerly Mount McKinley) in Alaska is 20,310 feet. However, the highest mountain in the area of the Heartland or Great Lakes lands of Promise is: Mount Mitchell at 6,684-feet in North Carolina—not in either Heartland or Great Lakes lands of promise; Clingmans Dome, 6,644 feet and Mount Le Conte, 6,593 feet, both in Tennessee (Heartland). No other rise of any prominence in the entire range of the Heartland or Great Lakes models.
As for Mesoamerica, their mountains range from one in Mexico at 18,491-feet, two at 17,000-feet, one at 15,000-feet, one at 14,000-feet, and four at 13,000-feet; however, 8 of these 11 are in their Land Northward, and only three (Guatemala) in their Land Southward (all three at 13,000-feet).
Peru. In South America, it is entirely different with hundreds of tall peaks over the entire area of the Land of Promise, with the tallest at 22,841 feet, and 11 over 22,000-feet; 14 over 21,000-feet; 49 over 20,000-feet; 77 over 19000-feet, and 41 more over 18,491-feet, making it 192 mountains in South America higher than the tallest peak in Mesoamerica.
When Samuel the Lamanite said of the mountains appearing “whose height is great,” it is hard to believe he meant either the Heartland, Great Lakes or Mesoamerica, when the Andes would have provided an obvious and drastic change in the topography of the land that would cause every Nephite (who would have been in view of these mountains) to acknowledge the Christ and not be able to deny His hand in the matter.
(27) Roads and Highways in the Land of Promise. The Disciple Nephi, in 29AD wrote that: “There were many highways cast up, and many roads made, which led from city to city, and from land to land, and from place to place” (3 Nephi 6:8). This suggests that roads in the Land of Promise went to every village and settlement and to every city.
What kind of roads were they? Theorists range in their claims from ground rock (gravel) and rubble to packed earth. In fact, Mesoamerican roads progressively got smaller from bottom to top, finally gradating to fine gravel near the surface and topped with fine powdered limestone (called sakbejo'ob or sacbeob, meaning “white way”), which was pressed smooth with stone rollers (Mark Alan Wright, “The Cultural Tapestry of Mesoamerica,” Journal of the Book of Mormon and other Restoration Scripture, Vol.22, no.2, Neal A. Maxwell Institute, 2013, p4)
Justine M. Shaw has suggested that highways offered “unique physical, symbolic, cosmological, social, and political ties” for the kin-based rulers who were most likely responsible for their construction. She further pointed out that their “most likely intended purpose may be that of religion, most specifically for processions.” (Justine M. Shaw, Maya Sacebeob: Form and Function, Ancient Mesoamerica, Cambridge University Press, UK, 2002, p268).
However, we find in Nephi’s description of the roads being “broken up,” that these roads were made of closely-fitted flat rock, cement or other solid stone surface for the result of the destruction that took place. As Nephi said: “The highways were broken up, and the level roads were spoiled, and many smooth places became rough” (3 Nephi 8:13, emphasis added), which eliminates all claims of gravel, rubble and dirt roads since those materials do not break up—they move, they drop or rise, or are crisscrossed with cracks, but do not break up. On the other hand, solid material, such as fitted rock or cemented stone break up.
In fact, the Nephite roads of the scriptural record had to be extensive, made of hard, solid material, and connecting all parts of the land, with each land connected to the other lands, from small villages to large cities to special places within the Land of Promise. This destruction of roads, highways, buildings and cities was the result of “The whole face of the land was changed, because of the tempest and the whirlwinds and the thunderings and the lightnings, and the exceedingly great quaking of the whole earth” (3 Nephi 8:12, emphasis added).
While North America had no such roads, Mesoamerican roads covered an 833-square mile area, and according to archaeologist and anthropologist Dr. Richard D. Hansen of the University of Utah, a noted specialist on the ancient Maya civilization with specific work in northern Guatemala, “individual super highway roads extended as much as 25 miles in length in some cases.” Anthropologist Justine M. Shaw has suggested that Mesoamerican highways offered “unique physical, symbolic, cosmological, social, and political ties” for the kin-based rulers who were most likely responsible for their construction. She further pointed out that their “most likely intended purpose may be that of religion, most specifically for processions.” (Justine M. Shaw, Maya Sacebeob: Form and Function, Ancient Mesoamerica, Cambridge University Press, UK, 2002, p268).
Peru. On the other hand, the roads in Andean Peru covered an area a little over one million square miles from Ecuador to central Chile, including Ecuador, Peru, northern Chile, southwestern Bolivia and upland Argentina. They ran for some 25,000 miles in total length (about three times the diameter of the Earth), with two highways stretching north to south for over 3,000 miles.
(See the next post, “The Absolute Necessity of Matching Scripture – Part X,” for the continuation of the list of items regarding the matching of the scriptural record)
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