When I was young my family would always gather up in our old Chevy Station Wagon and take a yearly trip. We would prepare the gallon jugs of water that we had frozen the night before, along with our suitcases and sleeping bags and pillows. I have one older sister and one younger brother and we would always fight on what position we called our own in the back of the old 1958 wagon. We had our coloring books and card games, my sister had all of her dumb dolls and cases and clothing. My brother had his GI Joe stuff and I was very content looking at and reading and playing with my huge collection of baseball cards. I still have tens of thousands today.
It seems we took the trip from Utah and through the desert to Disneyland every other year or so. Sometimes we would visit Yellowstone, or visit Arizona to see our Indian friends in Polacca, Arizona. My parents served missions in Arizona and New Mexico. We had a lot of cousins we visited in Idaho Falls, Montpelier and Rexburg. Where ever we went we had a pretty great time.
The worst and longest drive was to Disneyland when after about an hour of driving we began the common chant of, “Dad, when are we going to get there?” My wonderful mother with her usual position with one arm bent and sticking out the front drivers side window, would look back at we children and just roll her eyes in discus as she is heard to give a typical sigh or some type of grunt. My father with his 8 or nine hairs on the top of his head that the wind would blow, would say to us, “pretty soon” or “In a few hours?” or he would just grumble, and say “a long time, just don’t ask again.”
I remember vividly the large fold-out map my mother was always struggling with as my father drove. The main conversation between them was, “where are we”, or “don’t turn here”, or “where is highway 89”, or “how do we get to such and such road”. My mother would slowly try and navigate as my dad would get impatient and want her to hurray and speak up so he knew where he was going. That map became the central focus point of every trip. If we didn’t have our map we were doomed. My father had one big file cabinet drawer, full of maps all over the USA and many all over the world. Often I could find my father sitting in his favorite chair and just reading a big map. He loved maps as I do today. I remember buying him a Road Atlas one year for Christmas and that was the “best gift anyone ever gave him”, he said. He wasn’t just trying to make me feel good, he meant it. That atlas sat prominently folded in half with a rubber band on it next to my fathers favorite chair for years and years. He loved maps. I wish he was alive so he could follow my Moroni’s America maps that I created. I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
The moral of the story: If you don’t have an accurate map and a competent map reader, you wont make it to Disneyland. And, that is a real bummer.
A Mesoamerican Quote
“There remain Latter-day Saints who insist that the final destruction of the Nephites took place in New York, but any such idea is manifestly absurd. Hundreds of thousands of Nephites traipsing across the Mississippi Valley to New York, pursued (why?) by hundreds of thousands of Lamanites, is a scenario worthy only of a witless sci-fi movie, not of history.” John L. Sorenson, Mormon’s Codex (Deseret Book, 2013), p. 688.
I can see why Brother Sorensen of Book of Mormon Central may be confused about Nephites traipsing across the Mississippi Valley, when his map (See picture above, fantasy map is in the middle) is make-believe and he doesn’t know where the actual Nephites were traipsing.
Yes, the Mesoamerican map has made a long transition beginning with an old 1842 notion that the Mayan Civilization buildings found in a new book called “Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan, Volume “I (Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas & Yucatan by John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood, prove the Book of Mormon to be true, as they find these ancient civilizations that they say are probably Book of Mormon ruins.
“Where did the idea that the Book of Mormon occurred in central America originate? What historical evidence from Joseph Smith exists to support the many Mesoamerica theories speculating about its geography? Where did the Book of Mormon history really take place and what did the Prophet, Joseph Smith, know about it, if anything? BYU law school graduate, former JAG attorney and author Jonathan Neville has conducted one of the most important, monumental and history clarifying research on these subjects. His research has culminated in one of the most important books on the Book of Mormon that has been written, a book that will finally lay to rest speculation about where to complete our search for the evidence of the reality of the Book of Mormon, a book that reveals new research that is destined to become… THE SMOKING GUN OF BOOK OF MORMON GEOGRAPHY… The book is called “The Lost City of Zarahemla” – Rod Meldrum
The progression of the Mesoamerican theory progressed from Benjamin Winchester in 1842 and in about 1917 a man named LE Hills of the Reorganized Church made some seemingly wonderful Geography maps in Mesoamerica that were rejected by the RLDS and then accepted and then rejected. This yellow map below is LE Hills version that was then adopted by our Church at some point.
This entire story has been shared by our good friend Stephen Reed of Mesa Arizona. His two blogs are here and here, with a third one to follow soon. You will love the story.
The Catherwood Book is Described Here by Amazon: “Few explorers have had the experience of uncovering a civilization almost entirely unknown to the world. But Stephen’s two expeditions to Mexico and Central America in 1839 and 1841 yielded the first solid information on the culture of the Maya Indians. In this work, and in his other masterpiece Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, he tells the story of his travels to some 50 ruined Mayan cities. In this book, he describes the excitement of exploring the magnificent ruined cities of Copan and Palenque, and his briefer excursions to Quirigua, Patinamit, Utatlan, Gueguetenango, Ocosingo, and Uxmal. For all these cities, his details are so accurate that more recent explorers used the book as a Baedeker to locate ruins forgotten by even the Indians. In addition to being a great book on archaeological discovery, Stephen’s work is also a great travel book.” Amazon
Hey that is just like my map books. They are a great travel guide.
Heartland Map Package:
Moroni’s America-Maps Edition 150 Pages, AND Moroni’s America-Land Bountiful Edition 60 Maps. 210 Totally unique and different Maps, PLUS receive the All-New 20″ x 30″ Folding Travel Map. Buy ALL THREE and Save 18%. Purchase here:
My Opinion on Neutrality
“I think there is importance in the Brethren being neutral on Geography, Evolution and other difficult issues. They teach us the doctrine that we need in order to be saved, and they want us to gain our own witness to secondary information that is not necessary for salvation. They have given us sound doctrine and I try hard every day to live my religion as a life long and in good standing member of this Church.
I believe the Land of Promise spoken of in the Book of Mormon is the United States of America. The Constitution was created by the Lord, that Adam and Eve were placed on this same land and the New Jerusalem will be on this same land known as Missouri. No need for me to check out Mesoamerica anymore as I did for 40 years. It just doesn’t make sense.
Just like Evolution. I don’t believe we came from an ape and I know that “matter” cannot come from nothing. We are Spirit Children of our Father in Heaven. I don’t have to look into science to figure this out, but by the witness of what the scriptures tell us.
I don’t expect Pres Nelson to tell us where the Book of Mormon events happened or if we came from an ape or not. I know through sound reasoning and prayer the answer that makes most sense to me. Now if the Prophet and the Apostles say otherwise, I would always listen to them first, and then pray about it for personal revelation, but in my opinion the Church is neutral on difficult issues that exist to help each of us progress individually and come to a knowledge of the “truth of all things” as promised in the Book of Mormon.”
Leaders help us know where the Book of Mormon events most likely happened.
For example L. Tom Perry said, “The United States is the promised land foretold in the Book of Mormon—a place where divine guidance directed inspired men to create the conditions necessary for the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Elder L. Tom Perry Ensign Dec. 2012.
President Monson said, “The Lord gave a divine promise to the ancient inhabitants of this favored country (the United States): ‘Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ” (Ether 2:12). “Our Heavenly Father inspired the leaders of…the United States of America, that they might together, under His direction, having been raised up by God for the purpose, establish the Constitution of this country and…Bill of Rights, that by the year of our Lord 1805 [there would be] a climate where our Heavenly Father could send into this period of mortality a choice spirit who would be known as Joseph Smith, Jr.” Monson, Thomas S., Teachings of Thomas S. Monson, 2011, pp. 14-15, 157-158
In my opinion, President Monson most likely believes the United States is the Promised Land of the Book of Mormon. Why do Mesoamericanists believe the entire continent of the Americas is the Promised land? You mean Greenland, Guatemala, and the Northwest Territories are the Promised Lands? I love all of God’s children in the entire world and God loves us all the same, but seriously? If a person from Greenland comes to the United States legally as a citizen that person can also live in the Promised Land, correct? I’m sure Greenland has much beauty on its own, but it is not the Promised Land, is it? I am not belittling other lands. I’m just making a factual statement. Why is the United States and Israel the two Promised Lands? Because Christ said so. See 3 Nephi 20:22,29
There many other quotes to help us in understanding that the land of the USA is the land where the Book of Mormon events happened. It just makes sense. Many Quotes Here
Joseph Fielding Smith
“Because of his faithfulness and integrity, Joseph received greater blessings than the progenitors of Jacob, and was rewarded with the land of Zion. His brothers, with malicious intent, separated him and cast him out from among them. The Lord, in rewarding him, separated him from his brothers — the other tribes of Israel — and gave him an inheritance in a land that is choice above all other lands, which, we have learned from the Book of Mormon and modern revelation, is America… We are informed in the revelations given to Joseph Smith the Prophet, that the city of Zion and the New Jerusalem is one and the same. In a number of revelations, the Lord speaks of the New Jerusalem which is to be built…” Zion and Jerusalem by Joseph Fielding Smith, Improvement Era Vol. 22 JULY 1919
Alvin R. Dyer
Thus, from these brief accounts we see the reasons why America, or the continent of America, is the promised and choice land, choice above all other lands, for it was here that the habitation of man began, (Adam) and here that the covenants of God were first established. And it is from the center of this land that God has started his great latter-day work that will carry to the finish…America as Zion will not fail. Since America is the land choice above all other lands, and it is in the “Center Place” that Zion will be established, it will not fail. America as Zion will not fail, not simply because it is the land of our illustrious independence and constitutional fathers, but because it is the land of Joseph, the son of Jacob, and has been so established by God’s covenant. It is the land for the gathering of Israel in the culminating period of the last dispensation, which God has established through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I bear testimony of the fulfillment and the destiny of the land of America as Zion, and I do it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Alvin R. Dyer, Conference Report, October 1968, Third Day: Morning Meeting, 110.
Mesoamerica Maps vs. Heartland Maps
The article below is by Tyler Griffin who is a very good man and believes in the Mesoamerican theory. His article below is in black text with my input in red.
Visualizing the People, Places, and Plates of the Book of Mormon
by Tyler J. Griffin
Have you ever struggled to follow the timeline, movements, or complex storylines found in the Book of Mormon? [Yes] Have you ever been confused by the various source plates mentioned in the text? If so, you are not alone. Often, readers of the Book of Mormon disengage with various sections of the book because they find it confusing or hard to follow. [That is why we have believed the Heartland Model as many prophets have been quoted about the Heartland Model, and we feel it is very easy to follow] In so doing, they miss out on discovering and exploring many applicable principles of the gospel embedded within those particular chapters. In an effort to help readers make better sense of the background infrastructure of the book involving the people, places, and plates mentioned in the text, BYU Virtual Scriptures Group has prepared some helpful digital resources that are available for free at VirtualScriptures.org.” [In my opinion it appears that we now have another choice in geographical locations of the Book of Mormon. Heartland, Meso-land, and Fantasyland. The effort by Book of Mormon Central to be “neutral” like the church, becomes in itself a third choice in geography. The Church can’t agree with the fantasy idea either as it is not neutrality, it’s picking fantasy as a choice.]
Book of Mormon Geography
The Church recently released an official statement regarding questions of geography in the Book of Mormon: “The Church does not take a position on the specific geographic locations of Book of Mormon events in the ancient Americas. . . . Individuals may have their own opinions regarding Book of Mormon geography and other such matters about which the Lord has not spoken. However, the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles urge leaders and members not to advocate those personal theories in any setting or manner that would imply either prophetic or Church support for those theories. All parties should strive to avoid contention on these matters.” [I fully agree. No contention. We don’t tell anyone that our opinions come from the Church, but we emphasize the scriptures that teach the USA as the land of the Book of Mormon and we allow others to decide on their own.]
To not promote anyone’s personal theories regarding exact locations of Book of Mormon events, VirtualScriptures.org includes a geography-neutral Book of Mormon map. It is intentionally not linked to any modern maps of the Americas. Our map is a relational one, based on details found only within the text itself. [In my opinion geography-neutral doesn’t mean make an un-factual location and try to get people to see it. That makes no sense. My relational map of the United States below, compared next to the fantasy map shows the same relationship or directional locations. For example we show the Land of Lehi is south of the land of Nephi just as their fantasy map does. We show that Cumorah is North of Zarahemla, just as their fantasy map does. Not only is our map directionally based on the Book of Mormon lands but it is also an ACTUAL location in the world unlike their fantasy map]
Tyler continues below after you see his fantasy map above.
Attempts to visually represent geographical features in the Book of Mormon will naturally lead to judgments that may not always match other interpretations of the same passages. For example, we represent wilderness references in the book as mountains on our map. The wildernesses could have just as easily been unclaimed land, swampland, jungle, desert, or any combination of these or other natural features. It is intended that readers will be able to take our internal map and stretch it, compress it, and modify it to fit whatever model they prefer for their own study purposes.” Tyler Griffin [This is why their fantasy map makes no sense. Why not call wilderness, wilderness and have it actually be wilderness? Why stretch it or compress it to make sense of things that are make believe?]
Neutral Apologists on Book of Mormon Geography
First, an Apologist is defined by The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language as:
- A person who argues in defense or justification of something, such as a doctrine, policy, or institution.
- n. One who speaks or writes in defense of anything; one who champions a person or a cause, whether in public address or by literary means; one who makes an apology or defense.
- n. Specifically Eccles., a defender of Christianity; in particular, one of the authors of the early Christian apologies.
As a Heartlander we are an “Apologist” in behalf of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We love the Church and defend its doctrine and the truth that is found within the Church. This is true of the many organizations below. We both just have a difference in many points of understanding some things which are not officially called doctrine by our Church.
What we have found is many of the websites below have told the Church they “are Geography Neutral“, which I don’t totally believe. Heartlanders are not neutral on geography as we believe there is only One Hill Cumorah. We believe the reason the Church sees the below apologists as neutral; is because that’s what they have told the Church, but I believe in reality these other sites only think one way about geography; it’s Mesoamerica. If that is true that they only believe in the Mesoamerican theory, they are not neutral. I believe they say they are neutral in order to show a favorable position to the Church. These websites below have great information and have done a tremendous job of answering peoples questions in many areas that support the Church, but when it comes to geography, or DNA, or evolution, or translation of the plates, we feel they are not correct, and the Church is neutral on many of these points, that’s why we take a position. It’s the opinion of myself (Rian Nelson), and not official doctrine of the church, but it gives you an opportunity to do your own study, research. and prayer, about other non-doctrinal issues. We invite you to read and search all sides and come to your own conclusion.
FairMormon
The Interpreter
Book of Mormon Central
The More Good Foundation
Meridian Magazine or Latter Day Saint Magazine
Book of Mormon Research
LDS Perspectives
Book of Mormon Archaeological Foundation
The list of those apologist organizations that we like and have found very reliable, we recommend to you here, but they are not owned by us.
Book of Mormon, Church History, and Italy Tours
4 Tours to choose from
Have you ever wanted to really experience what it would have been like to have lived back in the days of the Book of Mormon? What was life like back then? How does America fit into the Lord’s plans for his covenant people’s? This year, make Book of Mormon history COME ALIVE! Experience the past in ways previously unimaginable.
Discover museums displaying ancient metal head plates and breastplates and explore the mighty earthworks possibly erected by Captain Moroni for the once mighty Nephite nation.
If you’ve always wanted to experience the known Book of Mormon and Church history sites for yourself or your entire family, join us this year and make your dream a reality! The combination of five histories and future prophecies together all on one land of promise – – is like having 6 amazing tours in one!
Join the growing number of LDS faithful who want to experience the ultimate in LDS educational touring with one of the “Heartland” geography’s most knowledgeable and fun-loving hosts… Book of Mormon geography expert, researcher, author and lecturer Rod Meldrum. Rod has teamed up with Legacy Tours and Travel to share wonderful opportunities to learn about and experience these sacred sites.
You can also book Rod Meldrum’s various tours. He has one or two spots left for this year 2021, but see his schedule for the 2024 season here.
