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Yes, I think the best thing about the theories is that they try to analyze what the book actually says. Getting rid of the silly idea that the Nephites inhabited the entire Americas (or even all of Central America) alone would solve so many issues caused by members (including top leaders) misunderstanding what it actually says – which would open all kinds of possibilities to understanding that currently are closed. Here’s my theory: There isn’t just one region it took place in. 1000 years is a long time. They spread out. They drifted. That’s why the theories can never seem to reconcile every detail of geography. It’s like Bible scholars assuming that the flood didn’t take Noah anywhere and that modern-day Tigris and Euphrates rivers are the same ones as in the Garden of Eden.
The Nephites landed in Northwest South America. Why? Occam’s Razor. It’s the most straightforward place for them to have landed and Nephi never said anything about following a coast (Africa), so they probably went on open ocean and went nearly due east. One assumption. It also lines up better with the wildlife and resources mentioned in 2 Nephi than does North America.
They spread out and drifted over the next few hundred years. Around Mosiah, the bulk of the Nephites were in Central America. The land of desolation is essentially modern-day Mexico plus the four corners states. Clay huts mentioned there line up well with tribal ruins in those places, which are typically made of clay.
Fast forward to the decline of the Nephites in Mormon/Moroni, and the wars probably took them into North America since the plates had to get to modern-day New York somehow.
The Jaredites landed on the East Coast of the modern-day US and mostly occupied North America. They fell into decline around Mexico, explaining why Coriantumr was found there.
The Hill Cumorah in Ether is probably a different hill than the one where the plates were buried. People like to name cities after other cities, so why not hills? Jerusalem itself is an example, since it literally means New Salem. Plus there’s the aforementioned Tigris and Euphrates rivers on the modern map as well as the supposed real location of the Garden of Eden in Missouri.
You save on a lot of inconsistency when you remove the assumption that the entirety of BoM history took place in the same region. Occam’s Razor wins again. I also like to stay away from the assumption that the Nephites were the only people who lived in the Americas. That avoids the genetics trap.
Of course you can go full-blown Occam’s Razor and just assume the BoM isn’t a literal history, as many of you have. Frankly, I don’t care one way or another because it really doesn’t have to be.
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I remember this one member on my mission who was one of the major guys behind the Peru theory. He lost me when he said that the plates were buried somewhere other than New York and God just moved them to where they were needed when they were needed. I don’t think God works like that.
The book itself says Moroni had over 20 years to get wherever he needed to go to bury the plates. With that kind of time, almost anywhere in the world is possible as a starting point without having to resort to a miraculous transport of the plates. That too, though he probably would not have crossed the ocean since he had people on his tail until the day he died. Also, Moroni was kind of a beast. I once calculated the weight of the plates to be something like 45 pounds. And how many miles would he have had to carry it?
David Rosenvall said that if he travelled from the Baja Peninsula to New York, it would have been the same distance as Provo to Ogden per year, which is definitely doable. So San Diego to New York over a span of decades was definitely doable. Now if it was the Malay Theory (which I think is a fun theory), travel by boat is doable, but it’s a bit longer to travel!
Actually, there is nothing in the book itself that says he was being chased until the end of his life. He says as the destruction of his people has happened about 401 AD that the Lamanites are seeking to kill him, and everything he writes after that is dated in the book as “401-421 AD”. It only is in the final chapter that he says it now is 421 AD – so there literally is a 20 year gap in the record, based solely on how he dates things.
There is no indication of where and how he lived, if he traveled or stayed in one place (and staying in one place would have been unlikely, since it would be in the heart of the area where his enemies lived), etc. There is nothing about anything in his life for twenty years- much like there is nothing recorded in the Bible for the 18 years between when Jesus was 12 and when he started his ministry at agre 30 – except the statement that he grew in stature and in favor with God and man (which is one of the most intriguing and theologically-challenging verses in the entire Bible).
Based solely on the book itself, not on anything anyone has said about it, Moroni could have been almost anywhere when his people were destroyed. What Joseph said about Moroni’s description of the book makes it seem to have been somewhere in the Americas, but that isn’t clear at all in the record itself.
On my latest reading of the BoM, I had a thought about this. It indicates that after wandering around the desert near Jerusalem for a while, the whole group heads more or less due east for eight years.If you assume they walked an average of 6 hours a day, walking east on the Sinai Peninsula would take around 150-200 days. Less than a year. If you assume 6 hours a day going straight east, it would take about a year to get from the Red Sea to Vietnam. Since any version you look at must assume they didn’t walk every day for 8 years, you have to then consider which makes more sense in other contexts. And the ship journey from Vietnam to the Americas is much more direct. Also, that allows for their party to grow. In 8 years, it is difficult for me to imagine that they didn’t add people to their party. For genetic diversity to avoid inbred dysfunctions alone we need to assume that there were other people within a generation or so for them to marry. (This same logic applies when I consider who married the kids of Adam and Eve – the scriptures even state that there are other people whom the kids married.) I really enjoy this sort of thing. Regardless of the historic accuracy (which is non-essential to my appreciation of the book as a work of scripture), I find considering what it would mean if it were accurate quite fascinating. Also, just further evidence that we aren’t fully understanding or equally discussing all the evidence in the book – physical and spiritual. No one ever notes the fact that Nephi says they traveled pretty much straight east. And no one ever mentions that after telling the Nephites that they are “other sheep,” Jesus then repeats his statement that He has yet other sheep.
Daughter1 wrote:
On my latest reading of the BoM, I had a thought about this. It indicates that after wandering around the desert near Jerusalem for a while, the whole group heads more or less due east foreight years.If you assume they walked an average of 6 hours a day, walking east on the Sinai Peninsula would take around 150-200 days. Less than a year. If you assume 6 hours a day going straight east, it would take about a year to get from the Red Sea to Vietnam.
The trouble is that travel in the desert can be slow. You can’t travel during the middle of the day, you have to find water and food etc.
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