Origin and setting of the Book of Mormon in 2024

In the pursuit of "no more contention" through clarity, charity and understanding, we all want to understand the current situation in the Restoration.

The "clarity" element of "no more contention" should prompt LDS scholars everywhere to fully educate their students, viewers, and readers about the authentic Church history and the teachings of the prophets about the origin and setting of the Book of Mormon.

(For a list of neglected references, see https://www.mobom.org/modern-prophets-on-cumorah)

Instead, many, if not most, LDS educators and scholars use the redacted version of the Wentworth letter, the Gospel Topics Essays and Saints books that manipulate Church history to accommodate M2C (the Mesoamerican/two-Cumorahs narrative) and SITH (the stone-in-the-hat narrative), and their own theories to deprive Latter-day Saints of important authentic and faith affirming teachings of Joseph, Oliver, and their successors in Church leadership.

The "charity" element of "no more contention" gives these scholars the benefit of the doubt, always in the hope that they will change their approach and, instead of promoting M2C and SITH exclusively, they will provide their audiences with all the facts and explain the various assumptions, inferences and theories that lead to multiple working hypotheses, thereby enabling people to make informed decisions that will enhance and sustain faith in the Restoration. 

The "understanding" element of "no more contention" leads us to inquire into the impact of what young and new Latter-day Saints are being taught.

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On the banks of the Mississippi, on June 4th. 1834, Joseph Smith wrote a letter to his wife Emma in which he described the Zion's Camp march from Kirtland to Missouri. At one point he wrote, 

The whole of our journey, in the midst of so large a company of social honest and sincere men, wandering over the plains of the Nephites, recounting occasionally the history of the Book of Mormon, roving over the mounds of that once beloved people of the Lord, picking up their skulls & their bones, as a proof of its divine authenticity...

https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/letterbook-2/62

But now, in 2024, many Latter-day Saints no longer believe there is any physical proof of the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon. 

Prominent and influential LDS scholars reject what Joseph wrote to Emma, claiming the Nephites were confined to the limited geography of Mesoamerica and that therefore Joseph Smith was merely speculating, he was wrong, and he later changed his mind. 

Or, worse, they claim he was referring to a group of Nephites in the "hinterlands" who were never part of the Book of Mormon narrative. Which obviously would contradict Joseph's statement that the plains of the Ohio, Indiana and Illinois and the archaeological sites in those areas were proof of the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon.

I did an interview on data in the book The Next Mormons that indicates only 50% of Millennial LDS believe the Book of Mormon is actual history.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmjBgd5HLzc

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It's amazing that BYU/CES students can learn the Book of Mormon with the BYU/CES fantasy maps and come away believing the Book of Mormon is actual history.

BYU's fantasy map of Book of Mormon geography

These fantasy maps expressly repudiate what Joseph and Oliver taught about the Hill Cumorah in New York.

CES fantasy map

While we are fine with people believing and teaching whatever they want, we think it is better to teach students all the relevant facts and then explain the various assumptions, inferences, and theories that lead to these overall hypotheses. 

This FAITH model enables students to identify how these fantasy maps directly refute what the prophets have taught about Cumorah, as anyone can see--if they are aware of what the prophets have taught.

Ask yourself: if your education about the Book of Mormon includes these concocted maps created by people who think Joseph and Oliver were ignorant speculators who misled everyone about Cumorah, would you believe the Book of Mormon is a literal, actual history?

Kudos to new and young Latter-day Saints who survive the M2C and SITH indoctrination and come away with faith in and knowledge of what Joseph and Oliver taught about the origin and setting of the Book of Mormon. 

And kudos to LDS scholars and teachers who advance the cause of "no more contention" by sharing all the relevant historical facts about the origin and setting of the Book of Mormon.