In the pursuit of clarity, charity and understanding, we'll use this format when we discuss issues related to the Book of Mormon. Relative acceptance of what Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery taught: Cumorah/Ramah All Some None Cumorah/Ramah is in western New York Cumorah/Ramah is in Mesoamerica (or anyplace in the world other than New York) Cumorah/Ramah doesn’t exist because it’s fictional As always, see this link for explanation of acronyms (SITH and M2C). https://www.bookofmormoncentralamerica.com/p/acronyms-used-in-this-blog.html _____ By now, readers here ..read more

  Navalism @NavalismHQ · 20m "Knowledge is discovered by all of us, each adding to the whole. Wisdom is rediscovered by each of us, one at a time." @naval ..read more

Today Elder LeGrand Curtis, Jr., the current Church Historian and Recorder, announced that the Church is going forward with the restoration of the Hill Cumorah in New York.  Because this is a project managed by the Church History Department, we can be sure the new displays will provide visitors complete information about Church history related to the Hill Cumorah in New York.  The most detailed historical information we have about Cumorah is from Oliver Cowdery's essays on Church history. His essays, published as letters in every Church-related newspaper during the lifetime ..read more

“It's a great country: you can say whatever you like so long as it is strictly true--nobody will ever take you seriously.” ― Edward Abbey It's a great Church History Department. Joseph and Oliver could say whatever they wanted, so long as it was strictly true--none of the historians take them seriously. From the Wentworth letter: The whole book exhibited many marks of antiquity in its construction and much skill in the art of engraving. With the records was found a curious instrument which the ancients called “Urim and Thummim,” which consisted of two transparent stones set in the rim of a bo ..read more

  In 2018, it's time to get real about Cumorah. Lately, people want to know who, exactly, is promoting M2C. They have children and/or grandchildren attending BYU or in CES and they want to prepare them for what they will learn and from whom. I'm reluctant to identify individuals because people change their views from time to time. Just because someone promotes M2C (or, worse, BYU's fantasy map of the Book of Mormon) doesn't mean he/she won't later change course. Besides, as I keep emphasizing, people can have strong testimonies and can promote faith regardless of what they think abo ..read more

“Those who reject the responsibility of thought and reason can only exist as parasites on the thinking of others.” ― Ayn Rand ..read more

 From Twitter: Ed Latimore @EdLatimore You have to expose yourself to the possibility of embarrassment and failure if you want a chance to be something greater ..read more

People have asked about some of my earlier posts about Book of Mormon Geography. We're going to repost some of the classics in upcoming weeks. Here is the very first post I made.  Wednesday, June 18, 2014 John L. Sorenson's 37 objections to North America John L. Sorenson is a retired BYU Professor who has authored 200 books and articles, many of them dealing with Book of Mormon historicity, geography and anthropology. His latest, titled Mormon's Codex, summarizes his life's work in this field. Wikipedia has a useful bio here. In subsequent posts, I'll address Mormon's Codex, but rec ..read more

Last year I discussed the growth trends in the Church. A recent Times and Seasons blog post noted that the August 1993 Ensign included this projection: If growth rates for the past decade remain constant, membership will increase to 12 million by the year 2000, to 35 million by 2020, and to 157 million by the mid-twenty-first century.  Those growth rates have not remained constant. The Church's 2019 Statistical Report released the week after General Conference reported 16,565,036 members. That's less than half of what was projected in 1993. Nevertheless ..read more

People around the world who are staying home for public health reasons are spending a lot of time on the Internet. Some are learning new things and building their talent stacks. Here's a suggestion. Spend some time learning more about the Book of Mormon and related topics. Many readers of this blog are aware of the Expo, but there are always new readers here, so I'm bringing it to your attention. Here's the link: https://firmfoundationexpo.org/ Enjoy ..read more