In your opinion, where did the BOM take place?

[nimrod]

OK, there are a few alternate locations for where the BOM actually took place. (ie: the geography of the BOM)

1. Primarily Central America

2. North and South America

3. Primarily North America - near the Great Lakes and over to the Hill Cumorah.

4. Others

I'm in the middle of some 4 hour video my Mother-in-law gave me that discusses DNA and the Geography of the BOM. It is some BYU professor. I forget his name. He espouses to theory that the BOM occurred Primarily in North America near the Great Lakes and Hill Cumorah. He has made some very good points so far.

As I understand it, the Church does not take a position on the location.

What say ye? Where do you think the BOM setting is?

(Disclaimer: I know it doesn't really matter WHERE it happened, but it is a nice subject to discuss. Perhaps someday...maybe soon...we will know)

[tubaloth]

I think it started in South/Centeral America.

Moved on to North and South America

Ended (For the Nephites) in North America.

But I think Moroni is the one that took it that far.

[TeancumsSword]

Because of they way it speaks concerning the land they inhabited and the last days, I lean towards a North American setting.

It says the land they inherited would be a free land in the last days, with no kings or foreigners to reign over them, the only place that fits that prophecy is North America (US & Canada). All the Latin American countries have struggled with kings, facists, communists, and despots, and have never been free like the BofM describes and how we have been.

[nimrod]

Because of they way it speaks concerning the land they inhabited and the last days, I lean towards a North American setting.

It says the land they inherited would be a free land in the last days, with no kings or foreigners to reign over them, the only place that fits that prophecy is North America (US & Canada). All the Latin American countries have struggled with kings, facists, communists, and despots, and have never been free like the BofM describes and how we have been.

This is one of the points the video makes. I think it is a good point. Also, the BOM says it is a choice land above all other lands. (paraphrasing)

[Steven22]

How can we know? Doesn't it say that the earth had changed after all the earthquakes after Christ had died?

[Abraham]

For my two cents worth, the Great Lakes/NY theory is gaining momentum and he has some very compelling ratiionale. I disagree however, for a number of reasons. The barter in those days would of had to be Sodium Choride (everyday salt) for health and survival reasons, and the one place that has a salt-mine was in the Yucatan. Also, the almost countless ruins there suggest a more diverse and metropolitan civic centers once lived there. . There are evidences of markets and blah blah blah. Also, remember that Mornoi never said the plates were buried in Cumorah, he just said they were buried in 'a hill'. So we are unsure how the plates to to NY - maybe Moroni rode a buffalo up there (or maybe even a curulum - or a horse). A very good freind of mine has taken tens of thousands picutres of the lands in the Yucatan - and is writing a book on his epxereinces. So, my bet is on his evidence not because of any research I have done personally. We had him speak at a YM/YW fireside and we were totally mesmerized for two hours. One thing we agree on is that the Panama Canal area is not the 'narrow neck of land'.

I could go on but why,

Abraham

[Moksha]

As alternate speculation, does it have to be a place of physicality? Can't its symbolic meanings simply occupy a place in the heart?

[NeuroTypical]

I'm in the middle of some 4 hour video my Mother-in-law gave me that discusses DNA and the Geography of the BOM. It is some BYU professor. I forget his name.

It wouldn't happen to be Rodney Meldrum's DNA Evidence for Book of Mormon Geography, would it?

There are serious problems and numerous outright errors with that DVD. See here if you'd like to know people's problems with it:

FAIR: Reviews of DNA Evidence for Book of Mormon Geography

He is most certainly NOT a BYU professor.

Now, Dr. Michael F. Whiting has a DVD out. He does have a Ph.D, is director of Brigham Young University's DNA Sequencing Center and is currently an associate professor in BYU's Department of Integrative Biology. His DVD is titled Does DNA Evidence Refute the Authenticity of the Book of Mormon?, but it's only 45 minutes long.

LM

[TeancumsSword]

As alternate speculation, does it have to be a place of physicality? Can't its symbolic meanings simply occupy a place in the heart?

No.

The Book of Mormon is authentic history that took place in a physical location.

If you want to take the message in it to heart, great!

[avatar4321]

The Book of Mormon took place in:

1)Jerusalem

2)The land of Lehi-Nephi

3)The land of Zarahemla

4)The land of Bountiful

5)The land northward

[nimrod]

FAIR

I have read the response by FAIR. While someone could point out weaknesses in the North American theory, FAIR attempted to do so in a rather...well...unconvincing manner. Primarily, they target the presentation for not ruling out EVERY OTHER possibility. They not only do a poor job of arguing against the presentation's points, they rarely offer a viable alternative of their own.

I don't claim to know the geography, but the proponents of the North American theory provide a much better argument than FAIR does in attempting to refute/poke holes in it.

So, I wouldn't put much stock in the analysis by FAIR.

Is there a DVD presentation proposing another location? I would love to watch such an one next.

[justamere10]

As far as I am aware nothing is yet proven to the satisfaction of professional archaeologists but the MesoAmerican theory of Book of Mormon geography strongly prevails among most LDS scholars. (Though many disagree among such things as which of two rivers is Sidon.)

There is a whole lot of information on Book of Mormon geography, and a free monthly newsletter at:

Mormon Sites - rising from the dust...

[deseretgov]

I'd like to think it took place in North and South America.

[john doe]

I lean toward Central/South America, but the Great Lakes area seems somewhat plausible too.

[Traveler]

OK, there are a few alternate locations for where the BOM actually took place. (ie: the geography of the BOM)

1. Primarily Central America

2. North and South America

3. Primarily North America - near the Great Lakes and over to the Hill Cumorah.

4. Others

I'm in the middle of some 4 hour video my Mother-in-law gave me that discusses DNA and the Geography of the BOM. It is some BYU professor. I forget his name. He espouses to theory that the BOM occurred Primarily in North America near the Great Lakes and Hill Cumorah. He has made some very good points so far.

As I understand it, the Church does not take a position on the location.

What say ye? Where do you think the BOM setting is?

(Disclaimer: I know it doesn't really matter WHERE it happened, but it is a nice subject to discuss. Perhaps someday...maybe soon...we will know)

The part where Moroni left the area of the Nephits and Laminites to bury the Book of Mormon was in upstate New York. Moroni also dedicated the Manti Temple. I assume that neither of these places were very close to the center of the civilizations of the Book of Mormon.

The Traveler

[hordak]

Acourding to the Prophet

"It is known that the Hill Cumorah where the Nephites were destroyed is the hill where the Jaredites were also destroyed. This hill was known to the Jaredites as Rama. It was approximately near to the waters of Ripliancum, which the Book of Ether says, "by interpretation, is large, or to exceed all." Mormon adds: "And it came to pass that we did march forth to the land of Cumorah, and we did pitch our tents round about the hill Cumorah; and it was in a land of many waters, rivers, and fountains; and here we had hope to gain advantage over the Lamanites."

"It must be conceded that this description fits perfectly the land of Cumorah in New York, as it has been known since the visitation of Moroni to the Prophet Joseph Smith, for the hill is in the proximity of the Great Lakes and also in the land of many rivers and fountains. Moreover, the Prophet Joseph Smith himself is on record, definitely declaring the present hill called Cumorah to be the exact hill spoken of in the Book of Mormon.

"Further, the fact that all of his associates from the beginning down have spoken of it as the identical hill where Mormon and Moroni hid the records, must carry some weight. It is difficult for a reasonable person to believe that such men as Oliver Cowdery, Brigham Young, Parley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt, David Whitmer, and many others, could speak frequently of the Spot where the Prophet Joseph Smith obtained the plates as the Hill Cumorah, and not be corrected by the Prophet, if that were not the fact. That they did speak of this hill in the days of the Prophet in this definite manner is an established record of history...." (Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation , Vol.3, Bookcraft, 1956, p.232-43.)

[justamere10]

Dr. Jerry L. Ainsworth, author of "The Lives and Travels of Mormon and Moroni" has written several articles on the location of Cumorah of the Final Battles. Those articles can be read in their entirety in the "Reading Room" at Mormon Sites - rising from the dust...

Here's an extract:

Conclusion:

From the information provided in the three articles I have written, it appears the following characteristics of the land and hill Cumorah are justified:

1. They were in a land adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico.

2. The land of Cumorah and the waters of the ocean were intermingled.

3. There were rivers and fountains around the hill Cumorah. There is no mention of lakes.

4. The hill Cumorah was very large, almost a mountain.

5. You could travel northeast from the hill Cumorah, reaching the ocean.

6. There was a country southeast of the land of Cumorah, between Cumorah and Desolation.

7. There were countries south of Cumorah, between Cumorah and the narrow neck.

8. The boundaries of Desolation extend to the boundaries of Cumorah.

9. The hill Cumorah was relatively close to the hill Shim.

These nine points do not describe the hill in up-state New York. They describe the hill where the final Nephite battle took place in 385ad, in Southern Mexico. In 421ad, some 36 years later, Moroni buried the Nephite abridgment in the hill in up-state New York, where Joseph Smith retrieved it, along with the Breastplate and the Urim and Thummim.. Obviously, Moroni traveled a lot during those last 36 years of his life.

I believe the best candidate for the land of Cumorah, is the area of Tampico, Mexico, and the best candidate for the hill Cumorah, is Cerro Bernal. Cerro Bernal is about seventy miles west of Tampico, and is located by the Mexican city of Ciudad Mante.

Book of Mormon Geography - Reading Room - page 5

It is also my understanding that extensive archaeological projects have been completed around New York's Hill Cumorah and no weapons of war of any kind have been located on or or nearby that hill.

It seems obvious once you have investigated this matter with an open mind that "Hill Cumorah" near Palmyra, NY is the hill where Moroni buried the record but is not the hill Cumorah where the final Jaredite and Nephite battles took place.

[Justice]

How can we know? Doesn't it say that the earth had changed after all the earthquakes after Christ had died?

Yes, I think the land looks different now, but maybe not *that* different.

There are too many evidences of the Book of Mormon people in South America to think they did not at one time live in the nothern part of South America.

I believe Nephi started the migration northward whne he left the camp of his brothers shortly after Lehi died, and as was said earlier, Mormon (and Moroni) completed the migration north and east as they were pursued by the Lamanites.

I believe Nephi's ship landed in central South America.

[justamere10]

Yes, I think the land looks different now, but maybe not *that* different.

There are too many evidences of the Book of Mormon people in South America to think they did not at one time live in the nothern part of South America.

I believe Nephi started the migration northward whne he left the camp of his brothers shortly after Lehi died, and as was said earlier, Mormon (and Moroni) completed the migration north and east as they were pursued by the Lamanites.

I believe Nephi's ship landed in central South America.

I think the majority of LDS scholars today are of the opinion that Lehi's party originally landed on the west coast of today's Guatemala, and that the City of Nephi is where today's Guatemala City is located.