Following are more comments or questions we have received from various readers of this blog.
Comment #1: “You write a lot about ancient cities in Peru but don’t try to match them with named Book of Mormon cities. Why is that?” Peter d’B.
Response: When Nephi was given a view in his vision by the angel (1 Nephi 12:1) he saw many cities in the Land of Promise (1 Nephi 12:4)—as he put it: “And it came to pass that I beheld many generations pass away, after the manner of wars and contentions in the land; and I beheld many cities, yea, even that I did not number them” (1 Nephi 12:3, emphasis added). These cities Nephi saw were occupied by a large population. Again, as he put it: “And I looked and beheld the land of promise; and I beheld multitudes of people, yea, even as it were in number as many as the sand of the sea” (1 Nephi 12:1, emphasis added). The point is that Nephi’s vision of the Land of Promise identified a very large population living in so many cities that Nephi did not number how many cities there were because of their extensive number. Thus, the Land of Promise should have an extensive record of, and the remains (ruins) of, hundreds of ancient cities—so many they defied counting.
Now, in all the theories of land identified by theorists as the Land of Promise, none have identified, nor remains (ruins) show, such a vast number of cities stretched over distances that would warrant such numbers. Our purpose in the writing you mention was and is an attempt to show how this fits Andean South America, specifically the area now known as Peru.
As for the identifying of these ancient Andean cities as a match to Book of Mormon cities, such a task, except in a very few cases, is not possible based on the lack of identifying information in the scriptural record.
The Waters of Mormon in the Place of Mormon: Hidden from the King
As an example, the Waters of Mormon are mentioned as being near the City of Nephi. However, we do not know the distance, the direction or the elevation of the Place of Mormon, Waters of Mormon, and Forest of Mormon (Mosiah 18:30). So how can we identify a location of the one and claim we can identify the other as well? The same can be said of most of the other cities identified by name in the scriptural record. Thus we have identified numbers of ancient cities, that in all fairness, could not be shown to be specific named Book of Moron cities.
Comment #3: “Is it correct that the Lamanites in the last century B.C. were controlled by Nephite defectors, not pure Lamanites?” Mark M.
Response: It would appear that way from the scriptural record. Around this time it was the Nephite apostates and their descendants who took over the rule of the Lamanite people, for when the Lamanite king was killed in 73 B.C., he was replaced by Amalickiah, an apostate Nephite, and later by his lineage, Amalickiah, Ammoron and Tubaloth, the latter appointing Coriantumr, a descendant of Zarahemla (Helaman 1:15) to lead the Lamanite armies.
Comment #4: “Was the Liahona an actual compass and if so, how did Lehi and Nephi know how to read it?” Maxwell T.
While a compass, the Liahona was far more than that
Response: “The Liahona was far more than just a compass, though it was that also. It was, among other things, a teacher—live worthily and the Lord would help them (1 Nephi 16:28); a descriptive instrument, which wrote comments on its surface (1 Nephi 16:27); an instructor that taught the ways of the Lord (1 Nephi 16:29), a guide to show where the more fertile parts of the wilderness were located (1 Nephi 16:10,14, Alma 37:39), and where to go to find beasts for food (1 Nephi 16:30-31); a punisher for disobedience (1 Nephi 18:12), a faith promoter (Alma 37:40-41), a director that pointed toward the Land of Promise (Alma 37:44), a similitude of Christ (Alma 37:45); and a compass (1 Nephi 16:13; 17:1).
As for reading it, first of all, Nephi knew his cardinal and intermediate or ordinal direction, as well as half winds directions—cardinal: south; intermediate (or intercardinal): southeast; and half winds: south-southeast. We do not know if he knew the quarter winds (east by south, southeast by east, southeast by south, and south by east). He did know the 16-points, or half winds, which he described of travel down by the Red Sea, in which he wrote: “We traveled for the space of four days, nearly a south-southeast direction, and we did pitch our tents again; and we did call the name of the place Shazer” (1 Nephi 16:13)
As for landing where he wanted, his ship was “driven forth before the wind.” Thus, he could only go where the wind blew, and that was well determined and today well understood. If we back up a bit, we can recognize that the Lord led them along the path they took to the eventual place they called Bountiful (in Oman on the shores of the Sea of Arabia). From Bountiful the Lord knew the winds would take them to the Land of Promise,which he had prepared for them and was to be Lehi’s promised land. All things with the Lord are known and planned from the beginning.
Winds blowing across the ocean cause drag, which in turn, pulls the water along in the direction of the wind. The greater the wind, the stronger the current and rougher the sea
By the way, as a side note, the winds that blew the Jaredites to the Land of Promise were not haphazard—constant winds are a pre-determined factor. Again, the Lord knows all things, designed all things, built all things in the universe, including this earth and all that is involved herein, such as ocean currents, winds, etc. (Ether 2:24), thus the Lord told the Brother of Jared: “I prepare you against these things; for ye cannot cross this great deep save I prepare you against the waves of the sea, and the winds which have gone forth, and the floods which shall come” (Ether 2:25). The only thing that might be suggested as hap-hazard, would be the up and down of the barges, sometimes above the surface, sometimes below the surface, buried in the ocean depths.
Three forces cause the circulation of a gyre: global wind patterns, Earth’s rotation, and Earth’s landmasses. Wind drags on the ocean surface, causing water to move in the direction the wind is blowing.
The Earth’s rotation deflects, or changes the direction of, these wind-driven currents. This deflection is a part of the Coriolis effect. The Coriolis effect shifts surface currents by angles of about 45 degrees. In the Northern Hemisphere, ocean currents are deflected to the right, in a clockwise motion. In the Southern Hemisphere, ocean currents are pushed to the left, in a counterclockwise motion.
Finally, once the winds and currents are understood, there would be no landing in the Mexican Gulf from the Arabian Peninsula. And no ship could have in 600 B.C., or even in our generation before the dredging and channeling of the Mississippi for ocean vessels, sailed up the Mississippi or the Ohio. Even in the 19th century the only transportation for any distance up the Mississippi was done by flat-bottomed river boats—even large river boats were flat-bottomed.
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