Topographic Information In The Book Of Mormon

[Anijen]

I do remember reading somewhere about the issue with Meldrum but there isn't much of that in the videos, and I've watched them all. These don't say much about the controversial Batcreek stone, etc. 

That is the point. There isn't that much in the videos because it has been edited out and the stuff that remains has been twisted to look as if they support Meldrum (they do no not). Secondly in almost all his videos they do not mention the artifacts by name but they use the images of them all the time. They will flash an image or multiple images of these fake artifacts while the narrator discusses pre-Columbian evidence of Hebrew in America. It is a direct implication that those artifacts support their theories when they are fake and Meldrum and May know they are fake, yet they still use them.

 

Your last post about the earthquakes is interesting, but it is like grasping for anything to hang on to that supports a heartland model. The earthquakes in the Book of Mormon appear to be from volcanic activity. There has been some very good papers written on how similar the descriptions in the Book of Mormon match exactly what happens with the eruptions from volcanoes. My point here is that there are many volcanoes in Mesoamerica and some of them have erupted close to the time mentioned in the Book of Mormon. Contrary to that fact is the last eruption of a volcano East of the Mississippi River was approximately 60 million years ago.

 

It is a plain and simple thing to see that a mesoamerican model is a far greater probability for a Book of Mormon setting. The Heartland model fails in many areas when one looks closer at it, for example here are a few things that vastly outweigh the heartland model, yet are supported in a mesoamerican model; a written language, weather, population... The list goes on.

 

Things to think about.

[prismsplay]

It is a plain and simple thing to see that a mesoamerican model is a far greater probability for a Book of Mormon setting. The Heartland model fails in many areas when one looks closer at it, for example here are a few things that vastly outweigh the heartland model, yet are supported in a mesoamerican model; a written language, weather, population... The list goes on.

 

Things to think about.

 

In The Book of Mormon: Restored Covenant Edition (1999), is an "Introduction to Geography" containing this statement:

 

In determining the location for Book of Mormon geography in the New World, one inexcapable fact must be accounted for: The Book of Mormon requires a high culture area. Two areas in the ancient New World fit that description--Mesoamerica and Peru. Only Mesoamerica satisfies the requirements of the Book of Mormon. Mesoamerica is an archaeological term describing an area of high culture which includes approximately the southern two-thirds of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and the western parts of Honduras and El Salvador. Both the topographical orientation and the archaeological time line of this area covering almost 3,000 years correlate with The Book of Mormon. Though Book of Mormon peoples migrate to several areas outside of Mesoamerica, the records keepers stay home.

 

Although I prefer the text of The Book of Mormon: The Earliest Edition (2009), the Restored Covenant Edtion has a handy "Geography Concordance," which is keen on pointing out differences in elevation between places. The problem with this concordance is that it is keyed to RLDS versification. But a booklet for converting RLDS and LDS versifications is in print.

 

The topographic information in the Book of Mormon is not compatible with either the Heartland or the Continental theories.

Edited November 4, 2013 by prismsplay

[Rob Osborn]

The text supports a semi-hemispheric model. What it doesnt support is a microscopic piece of land in mesoamerica

[prismsplay]

The text supports a semi-hemispheric model. What it doesnt support is a microscopic piece of land in mesoamerica

 

I don't think that your interpretation of the text includes topographic information, either because you don't think that going "up", "down", "over", etc. during traveling from place to place refer to changes in elevation, or for some other reason. Such terms lose their meaning over whole continents. But when applied to Mesoamerican geography, they do have meaning. The consistency of going up to the land of Nephi from Zarahemla or down to Zarahemla from the land of Nephi is information in the text. It fits perfectly with the Usamacinta River being the river Sidon. The headwaters of the river Sidon are in the narrow strip of wilderness separating Nephite territory to the north from Lamanite territory to the south. All land to the east of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec is the "land southward". All land to the west of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec is the "land northward".