Answers to Reader Comments - Part V

Following are some of the comments or questions we have received from readers:

Comment #1: “The Lord revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith that the New Jerusalem will be built in Jackson County, Missouri (D&C 84:1-4), and the Book of Mormon explicitly states that it shall be built upon “this land” (3 Nephi 20:22; Ether 13:4-6) Carl W.

One of the problems we have in such interpretation is that we think in terms of modern times. As an example, today in the U.S., we think in terms of two continents in the Western Hemisphere: North and South America. However, up until the mid-1900s, around the time of the Second World War, we thought of “this continent” as being both North and South America, or just one continent. In fact, Latin America still does, as well as many countries of the world. This was the case when Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith and told him that "there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang” (Joseph Smith: History 1:34, emphasis added).”

We need to keep in mind that to the Lord, there were no boundaries or borders on land; the term United States or Canada did not exist when the ancient prophets wrote in the scriptural record “this land,” which meant the entire Land of Promise—as did “all the face of the land” (3 Nephi 8:12); and “the face of the whole earth” (3 Nephi 8:17).

When Moroni inserted his comment about the Land of Promise, he stated: “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, emphasis added).

He went on to write of this land: “that it was the place of the New Jerusalem, which should come down out of heaven, and the holy sanctuary of the Lord” (Ether 13:3, emphasis added). Many today interpret this to mean North America, the United States, or Missouri However, a land is the place where something happens and is not restricted in English to a specific area. Consider “this land” has several meanings: “world, earth, region, neighborhood, sector, terrestrial, terrain, property, acreage, enclosed area, field, district, territory, sector, zone, etc.

When Moroni said “this land” he was speaking to Joseph in his upstairs bedroom. Did Moroni mean that spot where Joseph lay; the whole house; the property around the house; acreage and fields beyond; the community of Palmyra; Manchester or Wayne counties; western New York; all of New York; New England; eastern U.S.; all of the U.S.; what today is North America; or North, South and Central America. It is rather arbitrary to claim that “this land” could only mean North America—however it does show the nature of theorists who will interpret statements to support their point.

Matches to the scriptural record with specific chapter and verse

 

About four months before Joseph Smith’s death, George J. Adams, then a member of the First Presidency wrote: “We come now to inquire where has the seed of Joseph gone to? If they had taken up their residence in any part of what is technically called the old world would not history have informed us of the fact? There is no place except North and South America which they could have gone, if the old world furnishes no trace of them. The continent of America is the only place where the prophecies concerning Joseph and his seed could be fulfilled” (George J. Adams, A Lecture on the Authenticity & Scriptural Character of the Book of Mormon, J. E. Farwell, Boston, 1844, p17).

Despite the tendency for Heartland and North American theorists to claim this statement by Moroni as meaning only the U.S., it makes far more sense and is far more accurate and consistent with both the scriptural record statements and the modern-day comments of Church leaders.

Comment #2: “What makes you think Nephi, in escaping his older brothers, traveled northward and not to the south of their first landing?” M.M.

When Nephi was warned by an angel to flee the area of their first landing (and his brothers who wanted to kill him), he took all those who would go with him (who believed in the Lord) and went into the wilderness (unoccupied land) and traveled for the space of many days (an indeterminable amount of time in the Book of Moron).

Since there was a “Sea South” (Helaman 3:8), then the land must terminate somewhere south of Lehi's First Landing site. If not, then there would have been no reason to call it the Sea South—like the Sea East (Alma 50:13) and the Sea West (Alma 63:5), both of which ended in large seas. Thus, that left to the North an open area of wilderness into which Nephi fled (2 Nephi 5:5,7).

With Lehi landing along the West Sea (Alma 22:28), and based upon the winds and ocean currents would have brought Nephi’s ship to about the 30º South Latitude along the north-central Chilean coast where Coquimbo is now located—a place with an excellent bay or gulf (one of the few possible landing sites in all of Chile), with the coast to the south rocky and pock-marked with small islands and shoals, and the coast north of there encompasses the driest desert known on the planet, and providing Lehi nowhere to land, hunt, build or plant.

Traveling north, if Nephi kept to the coast, he would have encountered the Atacama Desert, the driest and most uninhabitable coastal desert found anywhere in the world.  This lengthy desert probably would have caused Nephi to go inland, and if he crossed over the first cordillera (mountain range) he would have come into the upper valley situated between the two cordilleras and up into the Altiplano area.  There is a pass through which he might have traveled from the coastal desert into the high valley (around modern day Calama and Chuquicameta (about 5290 feet elevation) and into that area between the cordillera Occidental and cordillera Real.  If he continued north, which he seems to have done, he would have come into the area of modern day La Paz along the western area of modern day Bolivia. 

No other course seems fitting or logical, and neither would it match the later descriptions of the Land of Promise.

Comment #3: ”What is the oldest civilization in Ecuador, or the Land Northward, and when did it occur?” Ethan J.

Response: There are two or three claims regarding which is the oldest civilization along the area of Ecuador (spreading out from the Santa Elena Peninsula—claimed to be the oldest location for a culture in South America). The so-called Las Vegas culture is considered one of the oldest that centered around Santa Elena. There is also the Valdivian culture along this coastal area that followed the Las Vegas. We have written about these early cultures many times. There is also the El Inga around the Quito area in the central part of the country that was very ancient. One of the problems we find in trying to determine Jaredite factors is the confusion created by the pre-Flood peoples and the post-Flood people in an area like Ecuador where so little archaeological work has been conducted.

The jungles have covered up so much and new sites keep being discovered as groups get serious about the Ecuadorian landscape. It is easier to separate the Flood from the Nephi period, because of the lengthy time differential, but the Jaredites followed the Flood very closely and we have no measurement devices that can pinpoint something like that since C-14 is so skewed as we’ve reported here numerous times.

With that in mind, it is considered that the Las Vegas culture, in early BC times, is the oldest culture in the “modern” line of archaeological dating.