Problem: The Plants And Animals
Supposed To Exist In The New World
At The Time Of The Arrival Of Nephi
Man has
sought for answers from the beginning of time as can be found in the earliest
of manuscripts, artifacts, inscriptions, etc., and even have gone as far as
they can to prove their theories to be correct even when there is proof
opposite their theories. The way that it is done most often is by the use of
words that have the “ring” of authority or to redefine a word. This can be
found to be true in politics as well as religion. Words that are not familiar
by most people that have not learned by education those words and have respect
and belief in men, or women, who have degrees or some sort of acclaim in a
subject do not go much further than to accept whatever is purported to fit a
particular doctrine or belief. A debate over the plants and animals as recorded
in the Book of Mormon is one such belief or doctrine that has by Mormons given
a “spin” to prove their Book of Mormon as being what they say that it is:
Another Testament of Jesus Christ. I must then give definition(s) as necessary
to educate so that there can be no misunderstanding and the word “anachronism”
is a word used by Mormons to explain their doctrine or belief about the fauna,
and animals listed in the Book of Mormon. A question that needs be answered is
whether or not that list of a fauna and animals listed in the Book of Mormon is
actually true. Webster’s Dictionary defines anachronism: an error in chronology
to which a person, object, event, etc., is assigned a date or period other than
the correct one. A thing, or person, that belongs to another, especially an
earlier, time: a wrong time reference.[1]
A way to begin an argument that would favor your view is to set up an example
that contains the opposite, that is, some object to the list within the Book of
Mormon, to set forth the possibility or arguments that are to prove that the Mormons
are wrong as to the fauna and animals found listed in the Book of Mormon. How
is this done? First, bring up the word anachronisms: i.e., fauna, animals,
flora, textiles, warfare, metals, pre-Christian Christianity, compass, coins,
etc., and the to mention that all these categories have some similarities. Now,
the statement that is crux as a basis for their argument as to the truth of the
Book of Mormon they state that there is an argument of a possibility that such
things were once in America but the evidence as either disappeared or has not
been found and the Mormons are re-labeling of New World items with familiar Old
World labels. It is true that all things are possible and the question that
needs answer: are they probable? Possible and probable are two sides of the
same coin, not all possibilities are probable or have a measure of probability
to give validity to a subject. When beginning a study of anything of importance
it is best to look for operative words, i.e., supposedly, maybe, possible, could
be, etc., and of course it is best to also look up the author and publisher.
Mormon apologists use operative words as “I deal with a category and a general
overview of why supposedly anachronistic items may appear in the Book of
Mormon. Operative words in this statement: supposedly, and may, giving a sense
that while they appear in the Book of Mormon, that which they cannot deny, may
not be anachronistic. Another operative word, a word of disdain to many is the
word “critic” those who oppose the Book of Mormon and the list of fauna and
animals, etc., to be not true are called, not scientists, not archeologists, or
other learned men with sound credentials, no, they are called critics. Yes they
can be critical as any researcher is to be if they are good researchers. To not
list, and it the article by a Mormon organization; the Fair Mormon does not
list the ones they claim to be critical, is nothing more than a ploy to lead a
person(s) in the direction they want them to be led. To lead by a ploy is done
by many by introducing arguments that are nothing more than “rabbit trails” and
not addressing directly the problem, or question. Therefore, I will address
each question and give answers with footnotes.
To be able
to address this subject the place where this is said in the Book of Mormon, the
land of Promise in North America must be verified. This verification will aid
to establish what animals and plants could be found or not found determining
the truth as outlined in the Book of Mormon and their position as where is the
land of promise. Was this land North America, or some other place on earth? To
do this examination as to the Book of Mormon Land of Promise we must take into
account the actual scriptural accounts of the geography as given by Nephi,
Jacob, Alma, Helaman, and especially by Mormon, and by Moroni. The Mormon
historians and scholars have drawn a map in regards to their theories on this
subject: (1). The Great Lakes Theory, (2). the Heartland or Eastern U.S.
Theory, (3). The Zarahemla (Iowa) Theory, and (4). The Baja California Theory. What
must be kept in mind is that any location for the land of Promise is that they
must meet all of the Scriptural references in the Book of Mormon.
Here are the references:
- The
Land of Promise was an isle [island] (2 Nephi 10:20)
2. Nephi’s ship sailed across the ocean to land at a point, along the seashore, of their first landing [first inheritance] (Alma 22:28)
3. Zarahemla was southward from the Land Northward (Mormon 1:6)
4. A Land Northward and a Land Southward separated by a Narrow Neck of Land (Alma 22:32)
5. A Narrow Neck of land that was both "small" and "narrow" (Alma 63:5; 22:32)
6. The Land Southward was nearly surrounded by water except for the Narrow Neck of Land (Alma 22:32)
7. The Land of Nephi stretched from the east sea to the west (Alma 50:8)
8. Narrow strip of wilderness between the Land of Zarahemal and the Land of Nephi ran from the east sea to the west sea (Alma 22:27)
9. The Land of Bountiful was north of the Land of Zarahemla (Alma 22:29)
10. The Land of Desolation was north of the Land of Bountiful (Alma 22:29,32)
11. North of the Land of Desolation was the land of the Jaredites (Alma 22:30)
12. The Land of Bountiful ran from the east sea to the west sea [hemming in Lamanites to the south] (Alma 22:33)
13. The Narrow Pass ran from the Land Southward into the Land Northward between the west sea and the east sea (Alma 50:34; Mormon 2:29)
14. Land of Nephi ran from the east sea to the west sea (Alma 22:27)
15. The Land Northward ran from the sea east to the sea west, and from the sea north to the sea south (Helaman 3:8)
16. There were four seas--north, south, east and west (Helaman 3:8)
17. The Land Northward was covered with large bodies of water (Alma 50:29)
18. The Land of Zarahemla (including north to the Land of Bountiful) ran from the sea west to the sea east (Helaman 11:20
19. North of the Narrow Pass was the city and land of Desolation (Mormon 3:5)
20. A major river, the Sidon, running down from the moutains to the south of Zarahemla, running from the south to the north through the Land of Zarahemla on the east of the city of Zarahemla (Alma 16:6)
21. Sidon, a major river to the east of the nation’s capital, that ran by (or through) the Land of Zarahemla, that eventually emptied into the sea with a strong enough current that would carry dead bodies along its course to the sea (Alma 2:15, 34; 3:3)
22. The Sidon river, either bridged, or shallow enough, so that armies could cross over the river (Alma 16:7)
23. A land that held a similar climate to that of Jerusalem (Mediterranean Climate) for Jerusalem seeds to grow exceedingly (1 Nephi 18:24)
24. Obviously, a land that was much longer than its width
In addition, there are many other points that do not match, or items not found in the eastern U.S.
1. Two unknown animals that were unknown to Joseph Smith—the cureloms and cumoms, which were useful to man like an elephant (Ether 9:19)
2. Two unknown grains that were unknown to Joseph Smith—neas and sheum (Mosiah 9:9)
3. Vast amounts of gold, silver and copper in a single ore (1 Nephi 18:25)
4. A land with its southern half surrounded by water (Alma 22:32) conducive to extensive ship building and shipping occupations (Helaman 3:10, 14)[2]
There are some 65 different points
of scripture that must be met for any claim as to where the Land of Promise
existed and this paper does not have time to list all but the above should be
enough for a thorough research and examination.
Mormons teach of a people, the Nephites and Lammanites as
living people who lived in Central and North America. Did they actually live or
is this not true? Mormon scholars favor a limited geography model, this model
is that the Book of Mormon’s narrative was only a historical record of people
in a limited geographical region, rather than the entire Western Hemisphere. This
was and is an attempt to reconcile the claims in the Book of Mormon with archeology
and geography and have given the Book of Mormon geography to be in South
America, Mesoamerica, and the Great Lakes region. One theory place the setting
for the Book of Mormon’s narrative to be that of Mexico, and Central America,
and the area surrounding the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Mainstream scholars do not
recognize the Lammanites as a valid category of people.[3]
This fact that there are no mainstream scholars recognizing the people called
by Mormons as the Lammanites is also true of the people they call the Nephits: the
Smithsonian Institution[5]
and the National Geographic Society have issued
statements that they have seen no evidence to support these claims
in the Book of Mormon.[4]
How do Mormon’s counter-act this problem? They
redefine words or introduce other possibilities, and there may be other
possibilities, but can the possibility of a possibility be proven to be true?
In Helaman 3:8 the Book of Mormon states that there was a multiplication and
spread of these people and that they began to cover the face of the whole
earth, from sea south, to the sea north, from the sea west, to the sea east. It
is true that the Hebrew word “yam” has several meanings, and as a differentiation
from a body of water to that of land. This is used to provide evidence that the
Book of Mormon’s mention of a sea could also mean an inland body of water. This
may be true but does not the Book of Mormon mention that the landing was on an
island? Yes! “The Land of Promise was an isle [island]” (2 Nephi 10:20). “The
Land Northward ran from the sea east to the sea west, and from the sea north to
the sea south” (Helaman 3:8). “There were four seas--north, south, east and
west” (Helaman 3:8). The attempt is to say that these accounts are only in
regard to direction. There is mentioned a small strip of land but this mentioned
does not rule out that the Book of Mormon is speaking about an island. The
Mormons claim that the Hebrew name listed in Joel 2:20 translated “utmost sea”
can also be translated “west sea” and this is wrong for Strong’s Concordance
#3220 defined this Hebrew word as “eastern.” The Mormon scholars in their
attempt to find answers to this problem use several methods of definition and
possibilities, such as the Book of Mormon does not say that the entire land
northward is a land occupied in the United States. The reason is that, as they
say, these covenant lands are in the are in the borders of the prophetic United
States, notice the word prophetic (Alma 46:17), and say that this being
surrounded by seas in each direction matches perfectly Ontario, Canada. Mormon
scholars speak of mistaken regions, one for another, and even the maps used by
Mormons are false. A problem is that there seems to be little, if any consensus
between Mormon scholars.
The Land of Promise in the Book of Mormon not having a
positive location and the fact that the people who were supposed to have inhabited
this land are not recognized by mainstream scholars cast doubt upon the fauna,
animals, and other supposed objects as listed in the Book of Mormon. A truthful
examination still must be completed so as to rule this subject as to fauna, and
animals listed in the Book of Mormon as to whether or not they are truthful
listing. To do this examination there must be an impartial study and to address
arguments. One claim made by Mormons is that critics of their archeology argue
from silence or ignorance. The argument forward by Mormons is that due to the
fact that there is a possibility for things to exist even though there is no
evidence that they did exist. This has its foundation that a lack of evidence
does not mean there was not evidence. This is to argue from either silence or
ignorance the same as they speak against their critics. To give support for
their argument they cite several findings to prove their point. One of the
Mormon argument is that of the use of camels and that some scholars held to a
belief that camels were domesticated in the 10th century and that
the Bible mentions the use of camels many years before that, in fact in the
time of Abraham. Scholars today have evidence that the camel was used
previously: “many archaeologists regard the date for domestication of the camel
to be sometime in the 3rd millennium BC. Scarre states that “both the dromedary
(the one-humped camel of Arabia) and the Bactrian camel (the two-humped camel
of Central Asia) had been domesticated since before 2000 BC.”[5]
The wide geographical and chronological distribution of findings related to
camel domestication further strengthen the argument that the camel was
domesticated far before the Iron Age, and with new excavations and analyses,
additional evidence will likely reinforce this theory.[6]
The Mormon argument seems to state that due to ignorance they have a right to
use that there is a use of ignorance in the argument from silence. Another such
argument is about lions being written about in the Bible and there are no bones
to prove that there were lions in Israel. Prehistoric fossils are found: “Although there are references to animals being
found in places far apart on the modern world map”[7]
and this then as an argument in silence loses its validity as there are bones
of “big cats” and this would include lions. Archeological evidence has problems
finding remains even in areas were animals lived in large numbers. Mormons used
this argument that even if horse bones haven’t been found in the New World this
does not mean that Mesoamericans did not have horses. The Mormon claim that no lion remains from
ancient Israel have been found is false. What is known is that the fauna of
Palestine is almost unchanged from historic times and that the wild ox and the
lion have become extinct. An Egyptian traveler in Lebanon in the 14th
century B.C. said that its bones are found in caves and in the Jordan gravels.[8]
The Maxwell Institute mentions lions: "The
biblical narrative mentions lions, yet it was not until very recently that the
only other evidence for lions in Palestine was pictographic or literary. Before
the announcement in a 1988 publication [L. Martin. "The Faunal Remains
from Tell es Saidiyeh," Levant 20 (1988): 83—84] of two bone samples,
there was no archaeological evidence to confirm the existence of lions in that
region.”[9]
What has been learned is that the camel has been used in Egypt from prehistoric
times to the present. Picture references in ancient Israel give reference to
lions and other animals adding the proof that lions did exist in the times of
Abraham and earlier. Here is a problem for Mormons: there are absolutely no
pictures or references in any ancient Native American art. All Mormons have is
that the Book of Mormon mentions that there were horses. The Mormon argument in
regards to lions is invalidated.
[1] Random House
Webster’s College Dictionary; Random House, New York, New York; p. 46, 1997
[2] http://nephicode.blogspot.com/2012/04was-land-of-promise-in-north-america.html
[3] Coon, W. Vincent "How
Exaggerated Settings for the Book of Mormon Came to Pass"
(Southerton
2004, p. 157)
Southerton claims
that "[t]here is only one serious contender accepted by most Mormon
academics, which proposes that most Book of Mormon events took place in a
restricted part of Mesoamerica. Only in Mesoamerica are there ruins of
civilizations of the magnitude evident in the Book of Mormon."
[4]
Terry L. Givens, By the Hand of Mormon: The
American Scripture that Launched a New World Religion (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2002), 132.
[5] Scarre,
Chris,1993, Smithsonian Timelines of the Ancient World, DK Adult, 176.
[6] http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2014/02/17/The-Date-of-Camel-Domestication-in-the-Ancient-Near-East.aspx
[7] http://messybeast.com/cat-prehis
Dictionary of the Bible, ed. James Hastings, 1900."tory.htm
[8] Dictionary
of the Bible, ed. James Hastings, 1900)."
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