Members discuss location of Book of Mormon

Church members from Utah and abroad gathered on Friday to hear some Book of Mormon stories their teachers have never told them.

The lessons centered around Mesoamerica, including Mexico and Guatemala, as the most likely setting for Book of Mormon peoples and events at the 7th annual Book of Mormon Lands Conference at the Red Lion Hotel in Salt Lake City.

The conference drew 280 attendees — the conference’s biggest crowd ever — as a result of key speakers such as Dr. John L. Lund, Joseph Allen and Jerry L. Ainsworth, said Stephen L. Carr, senior vice president of the Book of Mormon Archaeological Forum.

Lund spoke about Joseph Smith and his contributions to the pioneer publication, Times and Seasons. It was Joseph Smith as editor of the publication who suggested the Book of Mormon events took place in Mesoamerica, Lund said.

Although critics have tried to discount Smith, claiming he never wrote about the Book of Mormon’s location in the Times and Seasons, Lund presented evidence to the contrary.

The goal of the Book of Mormon Archaelogical Forum is to provide an open forum to discuss theories such as Lund’s, Carr said.

“We are a group that promotes the understanding of the culture and the geography of the Book of Mormon,” Carr said. “We base our ideas on the fact that they took place in Mesoamerica.”

Members of the church don’t hear about the theories of the Book of Mormon’s settings in Sunday School or Institute because they are the opinions of researchers, and not endorsed by the church, Carr said.

“Most Latter-day Saints don’t have a clue what the [geographical references in the Book of Mormon] are,” said Doug Christensen, a member of the BMAF board of directors, from Twin Falls, Idaho. “We mostly focus on the stories and skip the travel and wars.”

Kirk Magleby stressed the need for church members to come to a consensus on where the Book of Mormon events took place. He called the current lack of consensus “of particular delight to Satan and to the critics of the church.”

“If we can’t agree on where [the Book of Mormon] took place, how can people take us seriously?” he said.

There are specific conditions the BMAF has outlined for a geographic region to be considered a Book of Mormon land.

For example, the region must be a “narrow neck of land surrounded by seas,” with a major river flowing from north to south. It must also have had a highly literate society and an agricultural base that was capable of supporting millions of people.

All of the requirements come from the Book of Mormon’s text and only Mesoamerica fits all the criteria, according to the organization’s Web site.

"Any Latter-day Saint who denounces or opposes, whether actively or otherwise, any plan or doctrine advocated by the 'prophets, seers, and revelators' of the Church is cultivating the spirit of apostacy..."

(Improvement Era, June 1945, p. 354)

Reinforced here......

MP3 File

This is the audio clip of Dallin H. Oaks, current Mormon Apostle leader, from the PBS documentary, "The Mormons", declaring unequivocally:

"IT'S WRONG TO CRITICIZE LEADERS OF THE (MORMON) CHURCH, EVEN IF THE CRITICISM IS TRUE."

Don't criticize?

Dallin H. Oaks, Mormon Apostle

And here:

Temple Recommend Questions:

1 Do you have faith in and a testimony of God the Eternal Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost?

2 Do you have a testimony of the Atonement of Christ and of His role as Savior and Redeemer?

3 Do you have a testimony of the restoration of the gospel in these the latter days?

4 Do you sustain the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as the Prophet, Seer, and Revelator and as the only person on the earth who possesses and is authorized to exercise all priesthood keys? Do you sustain members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as prophets, seers, and revelators? Do you sustain the other General Authorities and local authorities of the Church?

5 Do you live the law of chastity?

6 Is there anything in your conduct relating to members of your family that is not in harmony with the teachings of the Church?

7 Do you support, affiliate with, or agree with any group or individual whose teachings or practices are contrary to or oppose those accepted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

8 Do you strive to keep the covenants you have made, to attend your sacrament and other meetings, and to keep your life in harmony with the laws and commandments of the gospel?

9 Are you honest in your dealings with your fellowmen?

10 Are you a full-tithe payer?

11 Do your keep the Word of Wisdom?

12 Do you have financial or other oblgations to a former spouse or children? If yes, are you current in meeting those obligations?

13 If you have previously received your temple endowment:

Do you keep the covenants that you made in the temple?

Do you wear the garment both night and day as instructed in the endowment and in accordance with the covenant you made in the temple?

14 Have there been any sins or misdeeds in your life that should have been resolved with priesthood authorities but have not been?

15 Do you consider yourself worthy to enter the Lord's house and participate in temple ordinances?

Oh, they can say that their leaders were NOT speaking for GOD when they said ___WHATEVER__ but that's NOT the same as criticizing!

( Remember fellow Christians: the Mormon's criticize US because they've been taught that they CAN'T criticize ANY of their leaders; so they HAVE to vent somehow! )

"It’s just when they call us all kinds of bad names.

They really can’t help it; for they CANNOT complain about their faith or their leaders without getting on the road to apostacy - so they dump on us.

I no longer mind it; for I understand it.

At least, when they are jumping on us; there are DOUBTS that are working on them about their chosen Religious Organization"

Well said. I sure hope they enjoy giving 10%+ of their paychecks to such an outlandish hoax. (tithing, ya know). Simply baffling. But then again, PT Barnum said it best, "There's a sucker born every minute".

mormons can easily learn all the truths on their "religion" here............

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