I just just read Jonathan Neville’s blog here.
It really struck a chord with me. He quoted Elder Boyd K. Packer from a 2004 talk and I was moved by the admonition of one of our dear Brethren. For over 40 years I have heard from CES Instructors, College Professors, and many other learned people that there are two Hill Cumorah’s. One in NY where Joseph Smith found the plates, and one somewhere in Mexico where the final battles of the Nephites ended. That has NEVER FELT correct to me, but I had not heard of anything else. I was fortunate about 8 years ago to find out about the great ancient civilizations in the United States called the Hopewell and Adena people that history says lived during the same time frame as the Nephites and the Jaredites. I have always loved the Book of Mormon and since my mission in 1975, I have had a strong testimony of its truthfulness by the power of the Holy Ghost.
My testimony has been strengthened by the knowledge I have gained, now feeling deep in my heart that this land of the United States is the Promised Land of the Book of Mormon. If this is that Promised Land spoken of in this precious book, then there can only be one Hill Cumorah and it is in these United States in Ontario County, NY.
How did I ever think there may also be one hill Cumorah in Mexico? It had to come from those in the past who have taught me that doctrine. Many intellectuals speak about the Times and Seasons in 1842 that speaks about an article ascribed to Joseph Smith as the author. In 2015 I read the wonderful book called, “The Lost City of Zarahemla” by Jonathan Neville, who says, “In March of 1841, the Prophet Joseph Smith received a revelation naming the area of Iowa across from Nauvoo as Zarahemla. That same month, a man Joseph described as rotten at heart, who would injure the Church as much as he could, began a scheme to move Zarahemla to Guatemala. His efforts culminated in an article in the Church’s Times and Seasons on 1 October 1842. From that date until now, this man’s scheme succeeded.” This book lays out amazing historical information that the article in the Times and Seasons was written by a man named Benjamin Winchester, not the Prophet Joseph Smith. Hill Cumorah only in NY now makes perfect sense to me.
As a supporter of the FIRM Foundation I have been blessed with the opportunity to meet thousands of people and email 10’s of thousands of people who believe as I do, that there is only one Cumorah. That has opened my eyes. When I do find someone who believes in two Cumorah’s, they are usually easily convinced with study to understand that it just makes sense that there is only one Cumorah. Most intellectuals who I speak with that believe in the Mesoamerican theory seem rigid and they get downright ornery and don’t want to speak with me. This is sad. They seem so entrenched and unwilling to debate the issue in a friendly manner.
I don’t claim to have full knowledge of the gospel and if the Prophet or the Apostles told me that Cumorah was in Russia or anywhere else, I would eventually understand why they believe that and I would support them, as they are my Leaders in the true Church of Christ.
I know that thousands of you reading this blog feel as I do. You know the Church is neutral on the subject of geography. There are websites such as Book of Mormon Central, Meridian Magazine, The Interpreter, Fair Mormon, and others who are suppose to promote the neutrality position since they are represented on the LDS.org website, but I know those above websites are not neutral, but they promote a Mesoamerican theory only. They don’t share any information from the Heartland followers on their websites. It’s wrong to tell the Church you are neutral and another thing to not show that neutrality. We Heartlanders show our position as believers in only one Cumorah and we don’t purport neutrality. Each reader is free to decide your own belief about Book of Mormon Geography, as the Church has said. For me, one Cumorah is all I feel and it seems correct by researching geography, anthropology, history and Book of Mormons text. You may decide on your own.
Illusion of scholarship – Mantle vs. Intellect by Jonathan Neville
“15 years ago, a manual for Seminary teachers included a talk by then-Elder Boyd K. Packer titled “The Mantle Is Far, Far Greater than the Intellect.”
You can read it here:
https://www.lds.org/manual/teaching-seminary-preservice-readings-religion-370-471-and-475/the-mantle-is-far-far-greater-than-the-intellect?lang=eng
Before reading excerpts from that talk, let’s be clear.
Everyone acknowledges that M2C constitutes a repudiation of the teachings of the prophets about the New York Cumorah.
By definition, M2C means the prophets were wrong.
This is no secret. Supporters of M2C freely and openly acknowledge this…
Now, let’s review what Elder Packer taught. Think of how it applies to those who claim the prophets are wrong about the New York Cumorah.” Jonathan Neville
The Mantle Is Far, Far Greater Than the Intellect by Elder Boyd K. Packer
“I have come to believe that it is the tendency for many members of the Church who spend a great deal of time in academic research to begin to judge the Church, its doctrine, organization, and leadership, present and past, by the principles of their own profession. Ofttimes this is done unwittingly, and some of it, perhaps, is not harmful.
It is an easy thing for a man with extensive academic training to measure the Church using the principles he has been taught in his professional training as his standard. In my mind it ought to be the other way around. A member of the Church ought always, particularly if he is pursuing extensive academic studies, to judge the professions of man against the revealed word of the Lord….
Some of our scholars establish for themselves a posture of neutrality. They call it “sympathetic detachment.” Historians are particularly wont to do that. If they make a complimentary statement about the Church, they seem to have to counter it with something that is uncomplimentary.
Some of them, since they are members of the Church, are quite embarrassed with the thought that they might be accused of being partial. They care very much what the world thinks and are very careful to include in their writings criticism of the Church leaders of the past….
Those of you who are employed by the Church have a special responsibility to build faith, not destroy it. If you do not do that, but in fact accommodate the enemy, who is the destroyer of faith, you become in that sense a traitor to the cause you have made covenants to protect.
Those who have carefully purged their work of any religious faith in the name of academic freedom or so-called honesty ought not expect to be accommodated in their researches or to be paid by the Church to do it….
Several years ago President Ezra Taft Benson spoke to you and said: “It has come to our attention that some of our teachers, particularly in our university programs, are purchasing writings from known apostates … in an effort to become informed about certain points of view or to glean from their research. You must realize that when you purchase their writings or subscribe to their periodicals, you help sustain their cause. We would hope that their writings not be on your seminary or institute or personal bookshelves. We are entrusting you to represent the Lord and the First Presidency to your students, not the views of the detractors of the Church” (The Gospel Teacher and His Message [address delivered to Church Educational System personnel, 17 Sept. 1976], p. 12.)
I endorse that sound counsel to you.
Remember: when you see the bitter apostate, you do not see only an absence of light, you see also the presence of darkness.
Do not spread disease germs!…
Do you believe that the successors to the prophet Joseph Smith were and are prophets, seers, and revelators; that revelation from heaven directs the decisions, policies, and pronouncements that come from the headquarters of the Church? Have you come to the settled conviction, by the Spirit, that these prophets truly represent the Lord?
Now, you obviously noted that I did not talk about academic qualifications. Facts, understanding, and scholarship can be attained by personal study and essential course work. The three qualifications I have named come by the Spirit, to the individual. You can’t receive them by secular training or study, by academic inquiry or scientific investigation.
I repeat: if there is a deficiency in any of these, then, regardless of what other training an individual possesses, he cannot comprehend and write or teach the true history of this Church. The things of God are understood only by one who possesses the Spirit of God.
I want to say something to that historian and to others who may have placed higher value on intellect than upon the mantle.
The Brethren then and now are men, very ordinary men, who have come for the most part from very humble beginnings. We need your help! We desperately need it. We cannot research and organize the history of the Church. We do not have the time to do it. And we do not have the training that you possess. But we do know the Spirit and how essential a part of our history it is. Ours is the duty to organize the Church, to set it in order, to confer the keys of authority, to perform the ordinances, to watch the borders of the kingdom and carry burdens, heavy burdens, for others and for ourselves that you can know little about.
Do you know how inadequate we really are compared to the callings we have received? Can you feel in a measure the weight, the overwhelming weight, of responsibility that is ours? If you look for inadequacy and imperfections, you can find them quite easily. But you may not feel as we feel the enormous weight of responsibility associated with the callings that have come to us. We are not free to do some of the things that scholars think would be so reasonable, for the Lord will not permit us to do them, and it is his church. He presides over it.
Do not yield your faith in payment for an advanced degree or for the recognition and acclaim of the world. Do not turn away from the Lord nor from his Church nor from his servants. You are needed—oh, how you are needed!
It may be that you will lay your scholarly reputation and the acclaim of your colleagues in the world as a sacrifice upon the altar of service. They may never understand the things of the Spirit as you have a right to do. They may not regard you as an authority or as a scholar. Just remember, when the test came to Abraham, he didn’t really have to sacrifice Isaac. He just had to be willing to.” The Mantle Is Far, Far Greater Than the Intellect,” Teaching Seminary: Preservice Readings (2004), 114–23
May each of us who read this talk be fully aware of the challenges of not allowing intellect to dictate our faith. Truth just feels right and doesn’t need a long explanation or a lot of intellectual knowledge. It just needs an open mind and a spiritual heart.
