Shulem Cracked the Book of Mormon Code, the Land of Nephi is now revealed! See for yourself! The Golden Key!

[malkie]

So, let's forget about Delmarva for a moment - just putting it on hold, OK?

What I'm suggesting is that for any "narrow neck" to be feasible, if the Book of Mormon is to have any physical geographical reality, as the LDS apologists claim (right?) there should be evidence of fortifications/barriers of some sort that were occupied over a period of time.

Do any of the proposed geographies include such evidence?

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

So, let's forget about Delmarva for a moment - just putting it on hold, OK?

What I'm suggesting is that for any "narrow neck" to be feasible, if the Book of Mormon is to have any physical geographical reality, as the LDS apologists claim (right?) there should be evidence of fortifications/barriers of some sort that were occupied over a period of time.

Do any of the proposed geographies include such evidence?

Why would that be necessary for Joseph Smith’s novel? It was originally intended to be sold as a fantasy novel.

- Doc

[Shulem]

So, let's forget about Delmarva for a moment - just putting it on hold, OK?

What I'm suggesting is that for any "narrow neck" to be feasible, if the Book of Mormon is to have any physical geographical reality, as the LDS apologists claim (right?) there should be evidence of fortifications/barriers of some sort that were occupied over a period of time.

Do any of the proposed geographies include such evidence?

Evidence and proof for the Book of Mormon is nonexistent. The Book of Mormon is pure fiction.

[malkie]

So, let's forget about Delmarva for a moment - just putting it on hold, OK?

What I'm suggesting is that for any "narrow neck" to be feasible, if the Book of Mormon is to have any physical geographical reality, as the LDS apologists claim (right?) there should be evidence of fortifications/barriers of some sort that were occupied over a period of time.

Do any of the proposed geographies include such evidence?

Evidence and proof for the Book of Mormon is nonexistent. The Book of Mormon is pure fiction.

I'm not suggesting otherwise, only that any proposed geography that supposedly supports a reality-based Book of Mormon should have evidence of fortifications along the length of the narrow neck.

[Moksha]

Why would that be necessary for Joseph Smith’s novel? It was originally intended to be sold as a fantasy novel.

- Doc

Wouldn't a novel set on the moon at least have a moonbase or some Quakers?

[Shulem]

I'm not suggesting otherwise, only that any proposed geography that supposedly supports a reality-based Book of Mormon should have evidence of fortifications along the length of the narrow neck.

Exactly! Rock and stone formations would have survived to this day. Walls of stone serving as base material for those fortifications would not have completely disappeared. There would be remains visible today, perhaps detectable from the air using Google Earth.

Then there is the problem of Cumorah which is a clean hill devoid of archeological evidence needed to substantiate the claim that massive wars were fought on and about that hill. But what do we have? Not so much as a stone box which Smith claimed housed the plates. That too, was a lie. The plates were not shown to the world but only to those who were under covenant to bear testimony while the prophet performed a spiritual magician's trick with fake plates under a cloth. Radio Free Mormon has been expanding his presentation to show how simple magic projected his ability to work miracles with the golden plates and translations through a magic hat.

Radio Free Mormon: 161: Magic and the Book of Mormon
Radio Free Mormon: 163: Magic and the Book of Mormon Part 2
RFM: 230: Magic and Mormonism, part 1
RFM: 231: Magic and Mormonism Part 2

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

I'm not suggesting otherwise, only that any proposed geography that supposedly supports a reality-based Book of Mormon should have evidence of fortifications along the length of the narrow neck.

Exactly! Rock and stone formations would have survived to this day. Walls of stone serving as base material for those fortifications would not have completely disappeared. There would be remains visible today, perhaps detectable from the air using Google Earth.

I think somewhere in Guatemala there are massive ruins that have been uncovered using LIDAR. Peten, I think? I don’t know, I just watched a series on Disney+ and I’m too lazy to Google this morning. Anyway, tons of fortifications along trade routes.

Checkmate, atheists.

- Doc

[Shulem]

Exactly! Rock and stone formations would have survived to this day. Walls of stone serving as base material for those fortifications would not have completely disappeared. There would be remains visible today, perhaps detectable from the air using Google Earth.

I think somewhere in Guatemala there are massive ruins that have been uncovered using LIDAR. Peten, I think? I don’t know, I just watched a series on Disney+ and I’m too lazy to Google this morning. Anyway, tons of fortifications along trade routes.

Checkmate, atheists.

- Doc

Fortifications must run on a line from an eastern sea to a western sea in which to guard the entire diameter of the neck. The purpose was to prevent anyone from crossing and penetrating to the other side.

The diameter or distance of that line from coast to coast must be a day's march across.

Checkmate, apologists.

[Shulem]

From Sea East to Sea West, the narrow neck was the land bridge between Bountiful and Desolation. Whoever controlled the neck also controlled who could pass. It was the narrow neck which led into the land northward. There was no other way other than to launch a ship and head out into the sea and enter the land via the river.

Notice that a typical map in which Smith could have used shows the narrow neck having a network of various rivers leading inland to the sea. It is through the narrow neck that a narrow land passage would be used without having to cross rivers. The Book of Mormon makes it clear that the Lamanites were more than capable of crossing rivers:

• "And Alma returned and said unto them: Behold, the Lamanites will cross the river Sidon in the south wilderness, away up beyond the borders of the land of Manti." (Alma 16:6)

• "And as the Lamanites had passed the hill Riplah, and came into the valley, and began to cross the river Sidon" (Alma 43:35)

Thus, it was vitally important that the entire diameter of the neck be guarded from coast to coast and not just the narrow passes leading through various parts of the neck. Here are references that define narrow land passages leading through the narrow neck.

• "And it came to pass that they did not head them until they had come to the borders of the land Desolation; and there they did head them, by the narrow pass which led by the sea into the land northward, yea, by the sea, on the west and on the east" (Alma 50:34)

• "And he also sent orders unto him that he should fortify the land Bountiful, and secure the narrow pass which led into the land northward, lest the Lamanites should obtain that point and should have power to harass them on every side." (Alma 52:9)

• "And the Lamanites did give unto us the land northward, yea, even to the narrow passage which led into the land southward. And we did give unto the Lamanites all the land southward." (Mormon 2:29)

• "And it came to pass that I did cause my people that they should gather themselves together at the land Desolation, to a city which was in the borders, by the narrow pass which led into the land southward" (Mormon 3:5)

[Marcus]

I moved this comment of mine off John Hamer's thread, it seems more fitting here. In response to the idea that the Delmarva map didn't coincide with an area of volcanoes, (which for some strange reason mg thinks is geographical content Smith should have known?) I said this:

I did have a thought about Smith's inclusion of volcano-like destruction-- his family moved from Vermont along with many others, in response to the Year without a Summer, caused by Mount Tambora's eruption. The world wide effects of this event were felt and probably talked about endlessly by everyone in Smith's circle. It would be no surprise to see tales of similar destruction and massive impact show up in his story-telling.

Smith drew from what he knew in his storytelling, and the Tambora eruption must have been a topic of endless discussion. It's effects were felt around the globe, even studies of landscape paintings before and after show a profound influence. It was a perfect vehicle for Smith's story of god's effect on a planet. He wouldn't have necessarily thought to consider whether the geography in his story coincided with volcanic activity, in his lifetime the effects of one area's volcanic activity were felt around the world. That may have been enough for his oral storytelling technique.

Shulem, what do you think?