LDS Essay Book of Mormon Geography

05 February

General Conference, ‘Book of Mormon Geography,’ April 1929, pp. 15-16 “There is a great deal of talk about the geography of the Book of Mormon. Where was Zarahemla? Where was the City of Zarahemla? and other geographic matters. It doesn’t make any difference to us. There has never been anything yet set forth that definitively settles the question. So the Church says we are just waiting until we discover the truth. … We do not offer any definite solution. As  you study the Book of Mormon keep these things in mind and do not make definite statements concerning things that have not been proven in advance to be true.” — Anthony W. Ivins, Apostle

A few days ago Melissa gave me a heads up about the latest installment of the Church’s essays.

She came across a YouTube video discussing how earlier this month the Church quietly placed the latest addition in the Gospel Topics section of their website.

This release was quite short compared to other essays, but the real news isn’t just about the nonexistent BoM geography. The other news is how/why the Church told teachers and members not to discuss the nonexistent geography.

We’ve pulled a few comments from their news to show how they’ve misled these dear people. As an FYI, the quote above comes from one of the references listed in the essay. It speaks to the reality their canon was a fantasy in the mind of Joe Smith. To read the essay in full see Gospel Topics Book of Mormon Geography.

“The Church takes no position on the specific geographic location of Book of Mormon events in the ancient Americas. Church members are asked not to teach theories about Book of Mormon geography in Church settings but to focus instead on the Book of Mormon’s teachings and testimony of Jesus Christ and His gospel.”

Every ex-Mormon has a memory of when they began looking for historical information about the BoM. I recall studying my own copy as a teen and asking LDS teachers for info on how I could align its teachings with my Bible. The only response I received was to study it further, and don’t worry about it right now.

Our hearts grieve over the deception, and the dead-ends this church continues to dish out.

“Since the publication of the Book of Mormon in 1830, members and leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have expressed numerous opinions about the specific locations of the events discussed in the book. Some believe that the history depicted in the Book of Mormon occurred in North America, while others believe that it occurred in Central America or South America. Although Church members continue to discuss such theories today, the Church takes no position on the geography of the Book of Mormon except that the events it describes took place in the Americas.”

They could stop the charade and take a position of honesty by confessing there’s no such story of Nephite, Lamanites, or Jardites. This, however, isn’t the road they chose to take because the next thing they did was to quote a letter written by Smith to Emma telling her he was walking over the mounds of former inhabitants in North America.

Our question is why?

Why did Joe Smith do this?

Why does the Church continue to carry on the lies?

Oh, please pray for these dear people to pause, and give this serious consideration!

To see the other essays and our response, see LDS Essays. This latest one will be listed by the end of the day!

With Love in Christ;

Michelle

1 Cor 1:18

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