Following are more comments or questions we have received from various readers of this blog.
Comment #1: “Is the land referred to by Mormon as having many waters part of the land of Desolation?” Jeremy R.
The Land of Many Waters would cover most of the north central part of what is now Ecuador
Response: No. The Land of Many Waters is descriptive of the Land of Cumorah in a land of many waters. The exact scriptural comment is: “And it came to pass that we did march forth to the land of Cumorah, and we did pitch our tents around about the hill Cumorah; and it was in a land of many waters, rivers, and fountains; and here we had hope to gain advantage over the Lamanites. (Mormon 6:4). We write about that as the Land of Cumorah within the Land of Many Waters. However, the area that was the land of waters, rivers, and fountains, simply may have been a description, such as valley, mountains or desert are used. In any event, the hill Cumorah was not in the Land of Desolation, but in the Land of Cumorah “in a land of many waters” that was north or beyond the Land of Desolation.
Comment #2: “Many scholars and BYU professors claim that Mesoamerica is the only place where the physical geography can be aligned with the Book of Mormon” Jeffry J..
Response: They have either never been to the area, never read the Book of Mormon geographical statements, or looked into the many scriptural matches with Andean South America. In the books Lehi Never Saw Mesoamerica, and Who Really Settled Mesoamerica, an extensive understanding of the magnitude of these comparisons is outlined in great detail. And for comments about those who claim Mesoamerica to be the Land of Promise, see the book: “Inaccuracies of Mesoamerican and Other Theorists.”
We will give just one example here: Helaman makes it clear that there are four seas surrounding the Land of Promise, as found in “And it came to pass that they did multiply and spread, and did go forth from the land southward to the land northward, and did spread insomuch that they began to cover the face of the whole earth, from the sea south to the sea north, from the sea west to the sea east” (Helaman 3:8, emphasis added).
Yet, Mesoamerica has only two seas. Now, if we are going to use the scriptural record as a basis, then Mesoamerica does not measure up to this point, as it does not in many other points. Many of these that do not match up are listed in the above book (Inaccuracies).
Comment #3: “I read something that didn’t make sense regarding the city the Jaredites built by the narrow neck of land: ‘Lib built a great city by the narrow neck, at a specific place where the sea divided, or separated, the land (Ether 10:20), which may have been the very place found by the Limhi expedition when they found evidence of the Jaredite destruction while searching for the city of Zarahemla. They wrote that they had: “discovered a land which was covered with bones of men, and of beasts, and was also covered with ruins of buildings of every kind, having discovered a land which had been peopled with a people who were as numerous as the hosts of Israel (Mos. 8:8).’ Is the narrow neck the same as, or in, the land of many waters?”
Limhi’s 43-an expedition sent to find Zarahemla, but instead found the Jaredite remains
Response: No. The author of this article evidently had a location in mind, perhaps his own model, that he was trying to prove. But like many theorists, he left out an important part of this verse in which King Limhi told Ammon: “they were lost in the wilderness for the space of many days, yet they were diligent, and found not the land of Zarahemla but returned to this land, having traveled in a land among many waters” (Mosiah 8:8). This land among many waters is further described by Mormon “it was in a land of many waters, rivers, and fountains” (Mormon 6:4). This area, as Mormon describes, was in “the land of Cumorah,” an area far to the north of the Narrow Neck of Land, where the last Jaredite battle took place and evidently where the 43-man expedition found the plates Ether left to be discovered—but nowhere near where the Jaredites built their city of Desolation.
Comment #4: In Eth 2:3: “And they did also carry with them Deseret, which, by interpretation, is a honey bee; and thus they did carry with them swarms of honey bees.” Can you imagine crossing the ocean for nearly a year in an enclosed barge with swarms of honey bees?” Constance F.
Response: There are stingless honey bees, called Meliponines, which are a large group of bees (some 500 species) belonging to the family Apidae, and are related to common honey bees, carpenter bees, orchid bees and bumblebees. In fact, there are a great many other bee species, especially in the family Andrenidae, which are incapable of stinging, as are all male bees. While the Meliponines do have stingers, they are highly reduced and cannot be used for defense. The majority of native eusocial bees of Central and South America are stingless bees, and Meliponines honey is prized as a medicine in South America. While most bees are not active all year round, and most can be made to be inactive by their care and environment, the Meliponines are also nearly dormant in cooler weather—such as a voyage at sea.
Comment #5: “Pyramidal structures were not part of the Nephite culture. These were typical of the Jaredite culture which was located to the north, and would not be found in the Nephite Land of Promise” Martina
Response: Actually, we do not know what the Jaredite culture did in the way of building. We do not know if the Jaredites were involved in the building of the Tower, though it seems unlikely they were, they knew about building. We really don’t know when stepped pyramids were first built and by whom—carbon dating is faulty at best. On the other hand, the Jews would have known about the Egyptian pyramids—Jews traveled to and from Egypt frequently in BC times, were aligned with them politically at different times, and since Lehi was involved in some way with them, no doubt Nephi and Sam knew about pyramids. In fact, the interior of Solomon’s Temple is said to have been very much like the interior of the Egyptian pyramids inner sanctums.
Ziggurats were huge religious monuments built in the ancient Mesopotamian valley and western Iranian plateau, having the form of a terraced step pyramid of successively receding stories or levels. They were often built in receding tiers upon a rectangular, oval, or square platform, the ziggurat was a pyramidal structure; Others were more or less familiar square buildings
Of course, the question has been asked, how else would the ancients build several stories upward unless it was by stepping each level smaller than the one below it. As far as the scriptural record is concerned, statements like: “And built many mighty cities” (Ether 9:23; 10:12; 10:20); “his father did build up many cities upon the face of the land” (Ether 10:4), “He did build many spacious buildings” (Ether 10:5), is all that we find, and no mention of style, shape or size.
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