Why Study Book of Mormon Geography?

Studying Palestine's geography and visiting the Holy Land enriches
Bible study. Why not do the same with the Book of Mormon?

The back of the Bible and lds.org are packed with maps of the Holy Land, Egypt, Mesopotamia and the greater Mediterranean area. It also has photos, manuals and a Bible Dictionary filled with historical, geographical, cultural and biographical tidbits.

All of these Study Helps, including the new videos, aid a Bible reader to understand the context of the various books and help enrich the Bible study experience.

The same goes for Church History and the Doctrine and Covenants. These Study Helps include maps, photos and manuals that help enrich those studies as well.

Sacred Grove, Palmyra NY

These external sources also inspire people to actually visit the Holy Land and Church History sites where they invariably return with strong faith-strengthing experiences that they share with friends, family, in Sunday classes and testimony meetings.

So, if all of these external study aids are sanctioned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, why is it taboo to talk about Book of Mormon geography? 

The simple answer is because the members can't agree on where the Book of Mormon took place. Even though the majority of the church-sanctioned studies focus on Mesoamerica (Mexico and Guatemala), there are still plenty of people who refuse to let go of the model to which they were originally exposed - or the area in which they served a mission.

The amount of theories is almost laughable, if it weren't so tragic! There are even theories that the Book of Mormon took place in Africa or Malaysia!

When he was in the First Presidency, George Q. Cannon said that the church was in no position to include a map for the Book of Mormon "without further information." He also asked members to not discuss geography or introduce maps in church settings. That was wise council then and it still is. Because the stubborn attitudes of the various adherents to different theories simply cause contention.

If you can sense a big "but" coming, you are right.

HOWEVER!

The study of Book of Mormon geography can benefit the reader in the same way the external aids help with the Bible and Doctrine and Covenants. It helps the characters leap from the page and become living historical figures. The battles, travels and other activities become real historical events. You can go visit those areas and soak in the environment.

It might not matter whether you envision those events in New York, Mississippi, Baja California, Mesoamerica, South America and yes .... even Africa or Malaysia (if that floats your boat). Either way, a real map is better than a fictitious "cartoon" map. Especially, if the customs and cultures of those areas match the culture of the Book of Mormon and help you better understand the events in the Book of Mormon.

Just make sure the customs, culture and geography of your preferred area really do match the text of the Book of Mormon.

And no cheating!

Don't fall for the, "he must have meant this or that" trap. The "Book of Mormon [is] the most correct of any book on earth," so if it says "horses" it means "horses!" Not tapirs, not deer.  So, have fun with it, as long as you keep it to yourself and don't bring it up in church meetings.

Here comes another "but."

HOWEVER, HOWEVER.

Careful studies over the last few decades have revealed much of the "further information" President Cannon spoke of. Tons of it!

I'm personally convinced it took place in Mesoamerica, in spite of the fact that I served a mission in Peru, during which, I studied culture that mirrored Book of Mormon teachings.

For example, once a year, the Inca priests would fashion an idol of their god Viracocha out of corn meal and lambs blood and pass it around, breaking off and eating a piece, believing they were actually eating the flesh and blood of their god. Hmm. Sound familiar?

But I had to let go of Peruvian correlations like this one, because of the overwhelming evidence coming out of Mesoamerica. So, chalk up the similarities in South America to either ancient missionaries, arriving from Mesoamerica, or that they were the "other sheep, which are not of this land, neither of the land of Jerusalem, neither in any parts of that land round about whither [Jesus had] been to minister." 3 Nephi 16:1

The same goes for the similarities in North America. Don't forget that "five thousand and four hundred men, with their wives and their children, departed out of the land of Zarahemla into the land which was northward" in the year 55 BC. Alma 63:4 So you will see correlations there too, because they are an offshoot of the original Book of Mormon people. We just haven't found their records, yet - if they kept any. Remember, there wasn't a mature, written language in North America, so they must have lost that ability. Kind of like the Mulekites who didn't bring records with them from Jerusalem and lost their language abilities.

I was convinced years ago after going to a bookstore to see if there was anything published about Book of Mormon geography. I was surprised to find that they had lots of books. As I perused them, I set most of them aside because obvious errors that didn't match the text of the Book of Mormon jumped out at me.

From Allen's original paperback edition

However, Joseph L. Allen's Exploring the Lands of the Book of Mormon had me hooked after just a few pages. Especially, after he pointed out that "an estimated 90% of the archaeological sites in existence during the time of the Book of Mormon were in Mesoamerica." Plus, Mesoamerica is the only place with advanced written languages. Those two reasons alone should be enough to convince all open-minded scholars. I also liked his humble approach, acknowledging we still had much more to learn before pinpointing any given city.

I elaborate on his reasons as well as adding a few of my own in this post: 10 Reasons Why Mesoamerica Is the Land of the Book of Mormon

Shortly after reading Allen's book and then devouring the Book of Mormon to see if his take on things held water (it did), I also learned about FARMS (Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies) and that it was sanctioned by the Church and focuses on Mesoamerica.

I knew I was in good company after learning about FARMS as well as watching the film at the Joseph Smith Memorial building auditorium called, "The Testaments: Of One Fold and One Shepherd." If the church produced a film with a Mayan flavor to the setting and costumes, it must be leaning that way.

The Wiki Approach

A another valid reason why you might want to study Book of Mormon geography is it help determine where the very few LDS archaeologists should focus their resources. With the 100s of thousands of square miles to explore and the 1000s of lost cities to find and excavate, it would be best to use the Book of Mormon to pinpoint the most promising spots to look.

Hisarlik (Troy), Turkey

After all, it worked for Heinrich Schliemann. Schliemann was a German businessman living in the 1800s who was convinced that Homer's Iliad was more than a work of fiction. He used the text of that work to pinpoint where Troy would be located then launched an expedition to excavate Hisarlik, which turned out to be, indeed, Troy. Of course, it took decades for the "experts" to grudgingly accept he was correct.

Poring over the the text of the Book of Mormon, relief maps, Google maps and street view and Google Earth is time consuming. We all have a day job and limited time to study. So, the more eyes and brains working on this puzzle, the more likely we will find Zarahemla or Nephi or Manti or Bountiful sometime in our lifetime.

So come on in. The water's fine!

ONE MORE THING

I often hear people say that the doctrine is the only important thing in the Book of Mormon and that studying the geography borders on blasphemy. That is why I started this post with the plethora of external material for Bible studies, because if it's good for Bible studies, it's good for Book of Mormon studies.

If you disagree, then do you mind telling Mormon, to his face, that he wasted valuable space on the plates with unnecessary details about geography, wars, history, culture, government, calendars, animals, weights and measures, architecture, metalwork and agriculture. Think of all the material Mormon had at his disposal for his abridgment, then ask yourself as you read any given passage in the Book of Mormon, "Why did Mormon include this?"

The bottom line is that if none of this interests you, then fine. But don't criticize those of us who find it fascinating. And don't be scared away from studying Book of Mormon geography because of your self-imposed taboo. Join in on the discovery process. The more eyes, ears and brains working on this puzzle will help the truth be revealed more quickly.

I'm convinced that the additional records and/or the sealed part of the Book of Mormon will never be revealed until after we put in the blood, sweat and tears of trying to fully understand the scriptures that we already have.

John Scott's painting, "Jesus Christ Visits the Americas" now takes on a whole new realism for me.

Sources:

Exploring the Lands of the Book of Mormon, Joseph L Allen