I continue to be amazed that, in our day of transparency and openness, any Latter-day Saint podcaster would put out a video about the setting of the Book of Mormon without giving viewers the known facts.
But it keeps happening.
Do these podcasters think their audiences are too lazy, or too deferential, to seek good information to make informed decisions? Or do they know their audiences merely seek bias confirmation instead?
Whatever happened to "trust, but verify" here?
We've recently seen how the Baja proponents (B2Cers) on the Stick of Joseph podcast tried to persuade people by simply censoring President Cowdery's statement of fact about Cumorah/Ramah in New York.
Anyone who bothers to look up the reference can see how misleading and dishonest this editing job is.
But at least the B2Cers admit that President Cowdery wrote about Cumorah. The M2Cers won't even do that.
Now we have Kirk Magleby (an awesome guy and faithful Latter-day Saint) with a guest claiming that (i) the Gospel Topics Entry on Book of Mormon Geography mentions Cumorah (it does not) and (ii) that when it comes to Cumorah, people are "cherry picking" various quotations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72rDQNcKq-4
Anyone can read the references and see that, when it comes to Cumorah, no one is "cherry picking." The historical sources, including General Conference talks by members of the First Presidency, have consistently, uniformly, and unambiguously referred to the hill in New York as the Cumorah/Ramah of the Book of Mormon. There are no "cherries" to pick that contradict that clear and obvious fact.
The M2Cers and B2Cers try to persuade their followers to repudiate the teachings about the New York Cumorah by confusing people. First, they either don't mention or else they censor what President Cowdery and others have declared. Second, they conflate (mingle) the two separate issues of (i) Cumorah and (ii) the rest of the geography.
Regarding (i) Cumorah, there is no cherry picking possible because there are no "cherries" that contradict the New York Cumorah.
Regarding (ii) the rest of the geography there are plenty of cherries to pick because people have had a variety of opinions all along.
Ironically, both the B2Cers and the M2Cers not only reject the facts as declared by President Cowdery, but they say we should avoid speculation and then engage in nothing but speculation.
Here's a prime example from Kirk's latest video:
10:30 We're supposed to avoid speculation. How can we avoid speculation? To my way of thinking is to approach it with humility and cautious caution and be really careful about what we're assuming. That's how we can be grounded in the text.
Right there we go.
That's how we're going to avoid speculation.
We are going to have the text of the Book of Mormon as our main guide. Excellent.
We're supposed to avoid opinions, personal uh theories and so forth. And the only way to do that is to just immerse ourselves in the text. Let the text speak for itself.
That dialog boils down to the claim that "we are going to avoid speculation by making assumptions and inferences based on our personal opinions about the meaning of the text."
To say the "text speaks for itself" is nonsense. No two people read the text identically because the text is vague and demands interpretation. That's why the M2Cers and B2Cers have to spend so much time trying to explain why "their opinions" are "better" than someone else's.
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There are plenty of Latter-day Saints who prefer clear, unambiguous declarations over the personal opinions of scholars.
Let's review what President Cowdery wrote, as recorded in Joseph Smith's own history. When we read this, we see why the B2Cers and the M2Cers don't want their followers to know about what President Cowdery wrote.
we have thought that a full history of the rise of the church of the Latter Day Saints, and the most interesting parts of its progress, to the present time, would be worthy the perusal of the Saints.— If circumstances admit, an article on this subject will appear on in each subsequent No. of the Messenger and advocate, until the time when the church was driven from Jackson Co. Mo. by a lawless banditti; & such other remarks as may be thought appropriate and interesting.
That our narrative may be correct, and particularly the introduction, it is proper to inform our patrons, that our brother J. Smith Jr. has offered to assist us. Indeed, there are many items connected with the fore part of this subject that render his labor indispensible. With his labor and with authentic documents now in our possession, we hope to render this a pleasing and agreeable narrative, well worth the examination and perusal of the Saints.—
To do <Justice to> this subject will require time and space: we therefore ask the forbearance of our readers, assuring them that it shall be founded upon facts.
https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1834-1836/48
In the eight essays on Church history, Oliver referred to facts over 20 times, just as he promised in these introductory paragraphs. One of those facts was the location of Cumorah/Ramah in New York.
All of this is unambiguous, clear, and obvious to anyone who reads the link to the Joseph Smith Papers.
But the B2Cers and the M2Cers don't want you to do that.
Ask yourself why.
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