Thanks to the Stick of Joseph podcast episodes, I keep hearing about the "new" Baja theory of Book of Mormon geography. Like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR9iAsqVnmM
The Baja theory has been around for decades.
One of the fundamental premises of the Baja theory is that Oliver Cowdery lied about the location of Cumorah and Church leaders, including Joseph's contemporaries, taught this lie for decades.
People can believe whatever they want, of course. But the pursuit of clarity, charity and understanding starts with clarity, so let's look at what the Baja theory proposes.
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Here is their explanation of Cumorah (blue) with my clarifying comments (red).
https://achoiceland.com/pdf/Approach.pdf
The Hill Cumorah
Is there one hill Cumorah or are there two hills with the same name?
This question has been the focus of many debates.
There are not "many debates." The question is a simple binary: Do we accept or reject what the prophets have taught about Cumorah?
Like most controversial topics, it depends how one defines the subject of the dispute.
Framing this as a definitional controversy is simply a rhetorical tactic for rejecting the teachings of the prophets in a way that obscures the underlying premise; i.e., the Baja theorists, like the M2Cers, reject Oliver Cowdery as a liar.
In this case, what does one mean by the name, hill Cumorah?
There was one hill Cumorah at the time Mormon wrote his account. Namely, the hill where Mormon before his death deposited all the records in his care except for the gold plates which he give to his son Moroni (Morm. 6:6).
The verse explains that Mormon abridged the Nephite records when he was at Cumorah. Moroni further explained to Joseph Smith, the first night they met, that the record "was written and deposited not far from" Joseph's home near Palmyra:
He [Moroni] said this history was written and deposited not far from that place [Joseph's home near Palmyra], and that it was our brother’s privilege, if obedient to the commandments of the Lord, to obtain and translate the same by the means of the Urim and Thummim, which were deposited for that purpose with the record.
https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1834-1836/68
From this we can all see that Mormon wrote his account "not far from that place." This means Mormon and Moroni lived not far from Palmyra.
That hill was in what the Book of Mormon calls the land of Cumorah, in the land northward, a land not many days north of the land of Zarahemla (Morm. 1-6).
The first part of the sentence aligns with the scriptures, but to say the land of Cumorah was "not many days north of the land of Zarahemla" contradicts the scriptures.
First, the phrase "not many days" tells us nothing. In 82 BC, Alma said "not many days hence the Son of God shall come in his glory." Alma 9:26.
Second, the phrase "not many days" is not even used in Mormon 1-6.
Third, Mormon 1-6 records decades of retreat from the land of Zarahemla toward Cumorah.
The land of Cumorah is where the final battle between the Lamanites and Nephites was waged and the Jaredite civilization was destroyed. The Jaredites called the hill Cumorah the hill Ramah (Ether 15:11).
Oliver Cowdery, writing as Assistant President of the Church with the assistance of Joseph Smith, described it this way, referring to the hill in New York:
This hill, by the Jaredites, was called Ramah: by it, or around it pitched the famous army of Coriantumr their tents....
In this same spot, in full view from the top of this same hill, one may gaze with astonishment upon the ground which was twice covered with the dead and dying of our fellow men. ...
In this vale lie commingled, in one mass of ruin the ashes of thousands, and in this vale was destined to consume the fair forms and vigerous systems of tens of thousands of the human race—blood mixed with blood, flesh with flesh, bones with bones and dust with dust!
https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1834-1836/91
In our proposal we place the general location of this hill and its surrounding battle grounds in northern Baja California and not in the State of New York.
Whereas the prophets have unambiguously placed Cumorah in New York. Hence the simple binary: Do we accept or reject what the prophets have taught about Cumorah?
There was only one hill Cumorah at the time the Prophet Joseph Smith received the Book of Mormon plates. That is, the hill in the land of Cumorah where the Nephite and Jaredite civilizations were destroyed.
That seems plain to every reader of the Book of Mormon and the teachings of the prophets.
The hill where Moroni deposited the gold plates, near the village of Manchester in New York, is not the same hill as the hill Cumorah where his father Mormon buried all the records of the Nephite history, except for the few plates that were given to Moroni (Morm. 6:6).
This is mere assumption, not supported by the text or any teachings of the prophets. Instead, the statement directly contradicts the teachings of the prophets.
this is the highest hill for some distance round, and I am certain that its appearance, as it rises so suddenly from a plain on the north, must attract the notice of the traveller as he passes by.
At about one mile west rises another ridge of less height, running parallel with the former, leaving a beautiful vale between. The soil is of the first quality for the country, and under a state of cultivation, which gives a prospect at once imposing, when one reflects on the fact, that here, between these hills, the entire power and national strength of both the Jaredites and Nephites were destroyed.
By turning to the 529th and 530th pages of the book of Mormon (Mormon 6) you will read Mormon’s account of the last great struggle of his people, as they were encamped round this hill Cumorah. In this valley fell the remaining strength and pride of a once powerful people, the Nephites...
From the top of this hill, Mormon, with a few others, after the battle, gazed with horror upon the mangled remains of those who, the day before, were filled with anxiety, hope or doubt
https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1834-1836/90
The Prophet Joseph Smith described the hill near his home only as a “hill of considerable size, and the most elevated of any in the neighborhood” (JSH 1:51).
JS-History was written for a general audience who would not know what Cumorah referred to unless they had read the Book of Mormon (or Joseph's journal, or the Times and Seasons, or the Millennial Star, or the Gospel Reflector, or the Messenger and Advocate, all of which republished the Letter VII account of Cumorah).
In his history, the Prophet Joseph Smith did not call this hill, the hill Cumorah, nor did Moroni.
The excerpts above, which declare it is a fact that the hill in New York is the hill Cumorah/Ramah, is from Joseph Smith's journal, as anyone can see from clicking on the link.
Joseph did not even write Joseph Smith-History in the first place. It was his scribes who compiled it, which is why they originally wrote that it was Nephi who visited Joseph, not Moroni.
See https://www.lettervii.com/p/moroni-and-nephi.html.
There are other accounts of Moroni calling the hill in New York Cumorah. Joseph's mother Lucy Mack Smith reported how Joseph described that first visit, when Moroni told him
"the record is on a side hill on the Hill of Cumorah 3 miles from this place remove the Grass and moss and you will find a large flat stone pry that up and you will find the record under it laying on 4 pillars of cement"
https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/lucy-mack-smith-history-1844-1845/41
For more, see https://www.mobom.org/cumorah-overview
Sometime later, members started calling the Manchester hill, the hill Cumorah, and that name has indelibly entered into our language, most likely to stay.
This claim contradicts the historical record, as we can all see from Lucy Mack Smith's account, as well as David Whitmer's account of the messenger who took the abridged plates to Cumorah in 1829.
In the interest of clarity, the authors should at least alert their readers that President Cowdery formally explained it was a fact that Cumorah/Ramah is the hill in New York where Joseph obtained the plates and that Joseph's contemporaries and successors in Church leadership repeatedly reaffirmed that fact.
It would have been far less confusing if it had been given a name such as Manchester Hill (the village it is near), Moroni’s Hill, or Mormon Hill. Some residents in the area have called it Mormon Hill.
There is nothing confusion about what the prophets have taught. Intellectuals, including the Baja advocates, have sought to generate confusion by ignoring the teachings of the prophets. They are successful to the extent they mislead their followers by omitting the teachings of the prophets as they have here.
Today there is still only one actual hill Cumorah, the hill in the area where the Nephite and Jaredite civilizations were destroyed.
Mormon describes the hill Cumorah as being in the land of Cumorah, a “land of many waters, rivers and fountains” (Morm. 6:4).
Compare Mormon's description with the photo of Baja.
Mormon chose this land for their last battle with the Lamanites because he hoped that there they would gain an “advantage over the Lamanites” (Morm. 6:4). The nature of this “advantage” is not stated in the account.
We can reasonably infer that Mormon chose Cumorah because he knew the Jaredites had fortified it and had a bunker where he could hide the Nephite records.
Four years were spent gathering the Nephite people to the land of Cumorah; and some 230,000 Nephite men, women and children were killed in the final battle.
The record does not say the Nephites gathered people for 4 years. In the 380th year, the Lamaanites "did come again" (Mormon 5:6). Mormon explains that "we did again take to flight, and those whose flight was swifter than the Lamanites’ did escape, and those whose flight did not exceed the Lamanites’ were swept down and destroyed."
Rather than explain the details of what ensued and for how long, Mormon writes "And now behold, I, Mormon, do not desire to harrow up the souls of men in casting before them such an awful scene of blood and carnage as was laid before mine eyes" (Mormon 5:7–8).
Only 24 of their number survived, including Mormon and his son Moroni. The next morning Mormon and others ascended the hill Cumorah to survey the scene of destruction below (Morm. 8:2-11). The survivors, including Mormon, were killed by the Lamanites; and Moroni remained to record these last events (Morm. 8:2).
All accurate.
The Book of Mormon account says the hill Cumorah is near the hill Shim in the land northward. And the hill Shim is where Ammaron deposited the Nephite records that Mormon later retrieved (Morm. 1:3; 4:23; Ether 9:3). We don’t know the precise locations of these two hills, but in our proposal we indicate a possible setting within northern Baja California.
We do know the precise location of Cumorah if we believe the prophets.
There are hills in this area with features that match the geographical descriptions in the Book of Mormon.
Every proposed Book of Mormon geography has "features that match," by definition, including Malaysia, Eritrea, Peru, M2C, Panama, Tasmania, and Baja. That's why the first question to answer is whether we accept or reject what the prophets have taught.
Someday we may be able to identify the exact location of the hill Cumorah and the hill Shim.
That "someday" is every day if we accept the prophets.
And someday we may know more about how Moroni transferred the plates in his care to the hill near Manchester, New York.
That "someday" is every day if we accept the prophets.
The name Cumorah is mentioned in Doctrine and Covenants 128:20. It is not clear if the name refers to the land of Cumorah, or the hill Cumorah, or if it is a general term for the lands where Mormon and Moroni penned the glad tidings of the Book of Mormon record.
When people actually read D&C 128:20, they see that Moroni told Joseph about Cumorah before Joseph ever got the plates:
20 And again, what do we hear? Glad tidings from Cumorah! Moroni, an angel from heaven, declaring the fulfilment of the prophets—the book to be revealed.
(Doctrine and Covenants 128:20)
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@HawaiiGambit
8 hours ago