tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838482461496258622012-02-29T05:27:31.899-07:00Enhancing Gospel Doctrine Class with Insights from Scholarship and ApologeticsNeal Rappleyehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10877516890457711084noreply@blogger.comBlogger131100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-483848246149625862.post-51462011977905232132012-01-29T14:55:00.001-07:002012-02-12T23:13:47.835-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Introduction<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Having reviewed dreams, visions, andprophecies, Nephi now returns the reader to the interrupted narrative, whichpicks up quite rapidly from this point on. Still camped in the Valley of Lemuel,Nephi and his brothers (plus Zoram) marry the daughters of Ishmael (see 1 Nephi16:6-7). Sometime thereafter, Lehi is told by the Lord that it is time to leave(see 1 Nephi 16:9). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">There is considerable disagreement amongresearchers as to how long Lehi stayed in this valley, with much of thearguments depending on the assumptions of the researchers (due to the texts’ambiguity). Jeffrey R. Chadwick, who disagrees with the assumption of otherresearchers that the “continually running” (1 Nephi 2:9) River of Laman was aperennial stream, insists that all the events which took place within theValley of Lemuel could have happened within a period of nineteen weeks (aboutfour months) during the winter when a seasonal stream would have been flowingin any number of wadis in the area.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[1]</span></span></span></a>Although S. Kent Brown disagrees with Chadwick and favors the perennial streamof Wadi Tayyib al-Ism, he still argues that the family spent no more than a fewmonths in the valley, suggesting it was too close to Jerusalem to keep thedisgruntled Laman and Lemuel from going back if they stayed too long.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[2]</span></span></span></a>Warren P. Aston, on the other hand, argues that they would have stayed in thevalley for “much of the eight years” spent in the wilderness, pointing out thatfar more of the textual report takes place in the valley.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[3]</span></span></span></a>While they are less specific, George Potter and Richard Wellington also suggestthat considerable time was spent there in the valley, arguing that there wouldhave been “no urgency to move on.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[4]</span></span></span></a>Brant A. Gardner seems to agree, reasoning that the two mentions of seedcollecting (see 1 Nephi 8:1 and 16:11) may mark the passing of seasons.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[5]</span></span></span></a>David LeFevre also appeals to the gather of seeds as an indication of anextended stay, along with textual hints of children arriving shortly aftertheir departure from the valley.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[6]</span></span></span></a>Early researchers, such as Hugh Nibley, and Lynn and Hope Hilton also supportedthe extended stay position, suggesting that the family may have been there forup to three years.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" title="">[7]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">However long it was, Lehi apparentlywaited there in the valley until the Lord provided further instruction. Giventhe diversity of opinion, this could have been anytime from a few months toalmost the entirety of the eight years spent in the wilderness (see 1 Nephi17:4).<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" title="">[8]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">TheLord Guides the Families of Lehi and Ishmael According to Their Faith andDiligence<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The instruction to Lehi to move oncomes to him in a night vision (see 1 Nephi 16:9), and the next morning, theparty awakes to find an unusual object outside the door of the tent, whichprovides them direction from the Lord (see 1Nephi 16:10). They then pack upcamp and once again begin their trek through the wilderness (see 1 Nephi16:11-12). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The Liahona: A Directorfrom the Lord<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">What is to be said of this “ball ofcurious workmanship” (1 Nephi 16:10) Lehi found? In the available Englishtranslation the object is frequently called a “compass” (see 1 Nephi 18:12, 21;2 Nephi 5:12; Alma 37:38, 43, 44) though compasses would not have been availablein Lehi’s day. Thus critics have long teased that Joseph Smith gave hisfictional sixth-century BC travelers a compass! A blatant anachronism, andsupposedly a dead giveaway of forgery! Careful reading of the text, however,reveals that similarities between the modern magnetic compass and the Liahonaare quite superficial. They are both round, and they both provide direction;that is where the similarities end. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The passages in 1 Nephi 16 clearly indicate that, whatever this“compass” was, it was <i>not</i> the type ofmagnetic compass familiar to Joseph Smith. Such a compass points only onedirection – north (magnetic north, to be specific), and works due to themagnetic polarity of the earth. </span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The Book of Mormon, on the other hand, describes an entirelydifferent kind of object. One with “two spindles,” of which </span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">“</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">one</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">pointed</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">the waywhither we should go into the wilderness” (1 Nephi 16:10, 16, 30 – notice thatit does not just point north). Writing could also appear and disappear “on theball” (1 Nephi 16:27), and “the pointers which were in the ball…did workaccording to the faith and diligence and heed which we did give unto them” (1Nephi 16:28).</span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[9]</span></span></span></span></a><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Thereader would be hard pressed to think of the last time they remember a magneticcompass behaving in such a way. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Pointingthe way, working by faith, and acting as the source from which the will of theLord is manifest – this is exactly the way things are thought to work in theancient world. Rather than being a blatant anachronism, the Liahona – a termthe reader does not learn until later, and which is probably Hebrew and means“the direction (or director) of the Lord”</span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn10" name="_ftnref10" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[10]</span></span></span></span></a><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> –functions much like one would expect a cultic object used by an ancient groupas a divine medium, something Hugh Nibley pointed out while making comparisonsto modes of divination (the process of determining the will of the Lord) usingarrows, or pointers, as was done in the ancient Near East.</span></span><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn11" name="_ftnref11" title="">[11]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn11" name="_ftnref11" title=""></a></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Clearly,the <i>word</i> “compass” appears in theEnglish text, but not the actual <i>object</i>known to modern readers as a “compass.” The English word “compass” is a wordthat can carry the connotation of both “round” or “circular” (as seen in theword en<i>compass</i>, which is synonymouswith en<i>circle</i>)</span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn12" name="_ftnref12" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[12]</span></span></span></span></a><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> as wellas indicating an object that points direction. Given that the object (theLiahona) is both a “ball” and a “director” what better English word to use intranslation than “compass”?</span></span><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn13" name="_ftnref13" title="">[13]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn13" name="_ftnref13" title=""></a></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">As ananalogue to the word “compass” as a translated term, consider the term for“calculator” in the Thai language, <i>kruengkit my leg</i>. Translated literally, this means “machine-that-thinks-numbers,”though “calculator” is a better translation, because that is the English wordfor that “machine” (<i>krueng</i>).</span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn14" name="_ftnref14" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[14]</span></span></span></span></a><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Likewise, the plates probably had some Hebrew or Egyptian word or phrase thatconnoted something like “round-object-that-points-direction.” In English, theword for such an object is “compass,” and thus it is translated. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Another“Director from the Lord”</span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Duringthe broken bow incident (see below), Nephi makes an important observation abouthow the Liahona operates: <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">And it came to pass that I, Nephi, <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">(a) beheld the <u>pointers</u> whichwere in the ball, <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">(b)that they did work <u>according to the<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">faith</span><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>anddiligence</u> and heed which we did give unto them. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">(c)And there was also <u>written</u> upon them a new writing,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">(d)&nbsp;<u>which was plain to be read</u>, <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">(d’)<u>which did give us<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">understanding</span></u><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>concerningthe ways of the Lord; <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">(c’)and it was <u>written</u> and changed from time to time, <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">(b’)<u>according to the faith and diligence</u> which we gave unto it. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">(a’)And thus we see that by<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><u><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">small</span><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>means</u>the Lord can bring about great things. (1 Nephi 16:28-29, <i>PP </i>36-37)<span class="apple-style-span"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">This chiasm teaches forcefully thatthe Liahona plainly provided understanding to Lehi’s party concerning theLord’s will (at the center of the chiasm), and reinforces the necessity ofdiligently exercising faith in the will of God. Today, the Holy Ghost is givento the faithful as a constant companion, and acts as one’s “director from theLord,” guiding and directing Latter-day Saints (and other committed and humbleseekers of truth) in the ways of God. Like the Liahona, the Holy Ghost is onlyas good as the faith one places on him. Elder David A. Bednar taught:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Thedescription in the Book of Mormon of the Liahona, the director or compass usedby Lehi and his<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>family<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>in their journey in the wilderness,specifically was included in the record as a type and a shadow for our day andas an essential lesson about what we should do to enjoy the blessings of theHoly Ghost.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">As we strive to align our attitudesand actions with righteousness, then the Holy Ghost becomes for us today whatthe Liahona was for Lehi and his family in their day. The very factors thatcaused the Liahona to work for Lehi will likewise invite the Holy Ghost intoour lives. And the very factors that caused the Liahona not to work ancientlywill likewise cause us to withdraw ourselves from the Holy Ghost today.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn15" name="_ftnref15" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[15]</span></span></span></a><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Lehi’sCourse and the Frankincense Trail<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WQw5Ui5kVvM/TziiGk94kEI/AAAAAAAAAQg/uZM14Oabo1Q/s1600/Arabiajourneymap+5.1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WQw5Ui5kVvM/TziiGk94kEI/AAAAAAAAAQg/uZM14Oabo1Q/s320/Arabiajourneymap+5.1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Figure 5.1: </b>The general course of Lehi's route</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Nephitells his reader that as his family departs that they move in a“south-southeast” direction, and after multiple stops, he informs the readerthat they are indeed still moving in that direction (see 1 Nephi 16:13, 14,33). It is important to realize that, once again, if Joseph Smith is makingthis entire thing up he is making one huge assumption. Remember that this groupis traveling, long-term, in the desert. That means one can’t just assume that agroup can go wandering in a certain direction and survive for several years. Inorder for travel in any direction to be possible means there must be certaincommodities, such as water and food (game for hunting and/or fruits such asdates), and the availability of such resources is not a given. Thus the factthat south-southeast just so happens to be “the proper direction for travelingalong the west coast of Arabia”</span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn16" name="_ftnref16" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[16]</span></span></span></span></a><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> isprofoundly significant evidence for the Book of Mormon (see figure 5.1).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Auniversal recognition among Latter-day Saint scholars and researchers is thatLehi generally followed the ancient trade route known as the Frankincense Trail.</span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn17" name="_ftnref17" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[17]</span></span></span></span></a><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Thisall-important trade route moved generally in a south-southeast direction, andhad the infrastructure of food and water stations so that travelers couldsurvive. All this information would not have been available to Joseph Smith.</span></span><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn18" name="_ftnref18" title="">[18]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn18" name="_ftnref18" title=""></a></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Thisuniversal recognition among Mormon scholars has led some critics to argue thatthis is inconsistent with the use of the Liahona to provide directions. “</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">What need was there for a compass ifLehi followed a well-known route?”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn19" name="_ftnref19" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[19]</span></span></span></a>This is like asking why the modern traveler needs a GPS to navigate themselves onwell-known roads; the simple existence of roads does not eliminate the need fornavigation. While Lehi probably knew <i>of</i>the Frankincense Trail, there is no reason to assume he had previously traveledit before and would thus have <i>known</i>the route.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn20" name="_ftnref20" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[20]</span></span></span></a>Modern readers should also bear in mind that this is not a clearly marked andpaved road. S. Kent Brown explains, “It is not reallypossible to speak of a single trail. At times this trail was only a few yardswide when it traversed mountain passes. At others, it was several miles across.In places the trail split into two or more branches that, at a point fartheron, would reunite into one main road.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn21" name="_ftnref21" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[21]</span></span></span></a>Similarly, Warren and Michaela Aston point out “In most places the ‘trail’actually was a general area rather than a specific, defined track, and itvaried according to local politics, taxes, and so on.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn22" name="_ftnref22" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[22]</span></span></span></a>Potter and Wellington make the same point in response to this very question:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; One might ask,“If they traveled along a trail why did they need the Liahona to show them theway? They could have just walked along the road.” One needs to understand thatthe Frankincense Trail was not a road in the sense that we are used to. Therewas no delineated trail along which to walk. It was simply a general coursethat would take one to the next caravan halt and water… Lehi would have neededa guide, and for those times that the family was traveling alone, the Liahonawas capable of taking a guide’s place.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn23" name="_ftnref23" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[23]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">There are a number reasonsLehi may have needed navigation despite following a “trail.” While interactionwith some people would have been necessary and inevitable,<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn24" name="_ftnref24" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[24]</span></span></span></a>the Liahona may have helped the group avoid marauders and others who would havebeen hostile toward Lehi. Besides simply getting them from water hole to waterhole, the Liahona may have helped guide them to where there would have been themost available game for hunting (there is at least one incident recorded byNephi where the Liahona lead him to where to hunt – see the broken bow incidentbelow). Lastly, the group’s final destination (Bountiful) was not necessarilywhere the trail would ultimately lead, thus the need for navigation to find it(see below).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">On top of all of that,asking why the Liahona was necessary misses the point entirely. As noted,navigation is necessary with or without roads and trails, and for a number ofreasons. The reason the Frankincense Trail is significant is not fornavigational reasons. It is significant because, as explained above, it meansthat travel through the arid desert in the direction claimed by the text iscompletely possible. It means that absolute necessities, such as water andfood, were available. Although they have never been to Arabia, Ed J. Pinegarand Richard J. Allen capture the importance of this quite well: <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Imagine struggling to survive in the midst ofan immense and hostile desert environment reflecting an ominous sameness in alldirections. We are heeding the directive of God to attain a promised land ofsafety – but how far away and in which direction? Our provisions are strictlylimited. Where do we turn meanwhile for nourishment and water?<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn25" name="_ftnref25" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[25]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Survival in the desert isnot a given. The trail provided the necessary means for nourishment and water,as Pinegar and Allen explain: “While this well-established trail passed bywells and food sources, it also passed through large expanses of desert andover mountain passes. As Lehi’s family journeyed, the Liahona guided them toareas where they could obtain food and water.”<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn26" name="_ftnref26" title="">[26]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn26" name="_ftnref26" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Potter and Wellington, whohave traveled the course, explain “</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Thecourse of the Frankincense Trail can be explained in one word – <i>water</i>,the most precious commodity of all to the desert traveler.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn27" name="_ftnref27" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[27]</span></span></span></a>Another party that has traveled in the area adds, “Thehistory of Arabia is written with water, not ink.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn28" name="_ftnref28" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[28]</span></span></span></a>Not to sound like a broken record, but modern Westerners simply cannot assumethat travel through the Arabian desert in any ole’ direction is possible, asJoseph Smith would have been doing had he been making all this up. If he didmake this up, then he coincidentally sent his group packing off into the onlydirection where long-term travel was possible in what one party has called “themost hellish terrain and climate on earth.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn29" name="_ftnref29" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[29]</span></span></span></a>Modern critics may scoff from the comfort of their homes while starring attheir computer screens, but those who have personally traversed that dangerousterritory understand full well how significant it is that Lehi’s party traveled“south-southeast.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Shazer<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; After setting off in a south-southeastdirection, Nephi says his group stopped after four days travel to once againset up camp, at a place they called “Shazer” (see 1 Nephi 16:13). Of the name,Hugh Nibley noted, “Thecombination<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><em>shajer</em><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>is quite common in Palestinian placenames; it is a collective meaning ‘trees,’ and many Arabs (especially in Egypt)pronounce it<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><em>shazher</em>.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn30" name="_ftnref30" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[30]</span></span></span></a> Nephiprovides very little information about Shazer, but if Nibley’s suggestion iscorrect, its name implies the presence of trees. Nigel Groom defines a <i>Shajir</i> as “A valley or area boundingwith trees and shrubs.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn31" name="_ftnref31" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[31]</span></span></span></a> Thevery fact that Lehi camped there would imply the presence of water, and theyhunted there, so it must be a place suitable for wild game (see 1 Nephi 16:14).All of these features suggest some sort of oasis, and it must be within fourdays travel south-southeast for this newly combined group. All in all, Shazerwould be as bold of a prediction as the Valley of Lemuel for a nineteenthcentury New York farm boy.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Approximately50-60 miles (closer to 80 miles of on the ground travel) south-southeast ofWadi Tayyib al-Ism is a Wadi al-Agharr, a lush valley oasis that stretches over15 miles, in territory said to be the very best hunting grounds in the area.Potter and Wellington have searched every known well and water source within 75miles of Wadi Tayyib al-Ism, and this was the <i>only</i> suitable location found.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn32" name="_ftnref32" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[32]</span></span></span></a> Theaddition of Zoram and Ishmael’s family more than doubled the size of thetraveling party and now the group had several more woman than before. The sonsof Ishmael had families from the start, implying young children, and dependingon how long they camped at the Valley of Lemuel, others may have had infantchildren or may have been expecting. All of this adds up to slower traveltimes. While it was previously suggested that the family traversed nearly 75miles in three-days to the Valley of Lemuel, putting them at the upper limit ofthe 15-25 miles per day estimate (see Lesson 2), it is likely that they nowtraveled at a slower pace. Thus 60-80 miles (15-20 miles per day) seems like aplausible distance for the group to have traveled in four days time.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">From the <i>Most</i> Fertile Parts tothe <i>More</i> Fertile Parts<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Onceagain going against the grain of nineteenth century thought regarding Arabia,the Book of Mormon text speaks of “most fertile” and “more fertile” areas thatLehi’s party passed through (see 1 Nephi 16:14, 16). Why would anyone thinkthere was “fertile” land in the barren desert? Once again, Potter andWellington’s invaluable research and field work has uncovered a fascinatingdetail. Not only did such “fertile parts” exist, but just as the text suggests,the fertility of the land decreased (from “most” fertile, to “more” fertile, toultimately barren) as one traveled south-southeast.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn33" name="_ftnref33" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[33]</span></span></span></a> Theyfurther note that other ancient travelers have referred to this portion of thetrail as the <i>Muhajirun</i>, meaning “thefertile pieces of land.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn34" name="_ftnref34" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[34]</span></span></span></a> DavidLeFevre comments: <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Wellingtonand Potter do a good job documenting how Nephi’s description of ‘most fertileparts’ and ‘more fertile parts’ (16:14, 16) demonstrates both a surprisingfertility<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>at the northern end ofthe Frankincense Trail and a lessening of the fertility as the group movedfarther south.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn35" name="_ftnref35" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[35]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Thisdetail is so subtle in the text that it just screams “authentic.” The readerhardly notices it until it is pointed out, yet it reflects the real world wherethese events took place perfectly! It is hard to fake such delicate details.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Nephi Breaks His Bow<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; While traveling from Shazer andthrough the “fertile parts,” wild game was so abundant, that Nephi and hisbrothers could hunt as they traveled (see 1 Nephi 16:15). As they moved fromthe fertile area to a more barren and arid climate, the availability of animalsfor hunting would have became scarcer, ultimately forcing the group to come toa halt in order to gather provisions and build up their food supply. At thispoint, Nephi’s brothers’ bows had “lost their springs” (1 Nephi 16:21), likelydue to the change in climate,<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn36" name="_ftnref36" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[36]</span></span></span></a>and this only compounded the problem (only having one good bow for huntingprobably reduced their capacity to obtain food). Thus, it is now up to Nephialone to secure food for the entire party. Yet as he goes to hunt, his finesteel bow breaks, and the entire party is left to murmur due to theirmisfortunes (1 Nephi 16:18-21). &nbsp;As thenarrative continues, Nephi will return to the theme of deliverance (though hedoes not use that word explicitly), and Nephi is also setting the stage for yetanother manifestation of his political status.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">A Bow of Fine Steel</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; As previously noted, steel is by nomeans anachronistic for Palestine ca. 600 </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">BC</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> (see Lesson 2). But bows of solidsteel (or any other metal) are completely unheard of for this time. However,composite bows with metal coverings are known, and this is likely the kind ofbow Nephi had.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn37" name="_ftnref37" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[37]</span></span></span></a>Interestingly, such bows were particularly susceptible to break after a changein climate, thus the story of Nephi’s bow breaking after they have gone fromthe “more fertile parts” into dryer conditions is yet another subtly authenticdetail.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn38" name="_ftnref38" title="">[38]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn38" name="_ftnref38" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Nephi Makes a Bow and Arrow</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Nephi’s solution is to make a newbow (see 1 Nephi 16:23). But to make a bow requires resources – specific kindsof resources; good hard wood that is both sturdy yet workable.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn39" name="_ftnref39" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[39]</span></span></span></a>Once again, for a writer living in America during the 1820s, to simply <i>assume</i> that such wood would be availableto desert travelers would have been out of the question. As it turns out, thereare a few possible localities that have some wood suitable for the making of abow and an arrow, all of them approximately south-southeast of Shazer and thefertile parts.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn40" name="_ftnref40" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[40]</span></span></span></a>Any of the competing proposals could very well be the place. The importantthing is the right kind of wood can be found in the right general area. Thereis no guarantee to the fiction writer that they could have that kind of luck.Good bow making wood is not available everywhere, and to have assumed it wasavailable in the middle of the desert is really taking a leap of faith. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It is also interesting to noticethat while Nephi only breaks his bow, he makes both a new bow <i>and</i> new arrows.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn41" name="_ftnref41" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[41]</span></span></span></a>Joseph Smith shows no evidence of having been familiar with archery, so thereis no reason to assume that he would have known that with a different bow, madeof different materials, having a different weight, etc., one would also needdifferent arrows.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn42" name="_ftnref42" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[42]</span></span></span></a>This is yet another detail that is just far too subtly accurate to be anythingbut the natural, first hand explanation of a person who really had theseexperiences.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The Bow as a Symbol of Authority</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The broken bow is a common ancientNear Eastern motif that carries political connotations. When the bow breaks,the group must be humbled (the broken bow is commonly associated withhumility). Nephi then fashions his own bow, and shortly thereafter, Nephi’sbrothers begin to accuse him of having political ambition, of seeking to ruleover them (see 1 Nephi 16:37-38). Nephi is now the only one in the camp with aworking bow, and the significance and symbolism of that would not have beenlost on his ancient readers: as the only one with a bow, Nephi would have beenseen as the legitimate ruler.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn43" name="_ftnref43" title="">[43]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn43" name="_ftnref43" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Nephi Honors His Father’s Position<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; While everyone else is complaining,Nephi is being proactive! Nephi then approaches his father, who had joined inthe murmuring (see 1 Nephi 16:20) and asked “Whither shall I go to obtainfood?” (1 Nephi 16:23). As a result, Lehi straightens up and asks the Lord, whotells him to look at the Liahona (see 1 Nephi 24-26). We are never told whatLehi sees on the Liahona, but it is a cause for concern among the murmurers(see 1 Nephi 16:27). Nephi, however, follows the directions on the ball, whichleads him up into the mountain, where he finds food and brings it home to hisfamily. Everyone rejoices and gives thanks to the Lord (see 1 Nephi 16:32). Nephishows a great deal of respect by going to his father. Brant Gardner writes:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Thisrequest manifests respect for his father as patriarch and also as respect forhis priesthood leader. But given Lehi’s murmurings, it is also a gentle call torepentance. Nephi reminds his father of his patriarchal responsibilities,acknowledges his right to revelation, and restores his confidence – all bysimply asking for guidance.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn44" name="_ftnref44" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[44]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Realizing that part of the purpose of thisnarrative is to demonstrate Nephi’s legitimate right to rule, it is worthasking why Nephi would then include, as part of the story, him asking forleadership, rather than leading? The careful reader may notice that Nephi isreally leading through the whole story (as Gardner points out, part of Nephi’sasking is really a call to repentance and a reminder of responsibility). Lehinever actually gives Nephi an answer, but rather Nephi looks to Liahona himselfand gets his guidance. On top of that, Nephi may have included this detail todemonstrate that he was not usurping power unjustly – an accusation made againsthim by his brothers (see 1 Nephi 16:37). Nephi shows that he was not goingbehind Lehi’s back to try and become the ruler, but that he rightfullyrespected his father’s leadership.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">By Small Means</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Nephi notes that it is by “small meansthe Lord can bring about great things” (1 Nephi 16:29). This is Nephi’s messageof deliverance. The Lord provided food and nourishment (deliverance from total starvation),and Nephi calls this “great things,” and notes that the Lord accomplished thisgreat deliverance by “small means.” President James E. Faust once remarked,“Small things can have great potential… Often we cannot see the potential indoing seemingly small things.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn45" name="_ftnref45" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[45]</span></span></span></a>When the early Saints faced discouragement, the Lord declared, “Wherefore, benot weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. Andout of small things proceedeth that which is great” (D&amp;C 64:33). Whilemodern readers today are not sacrificing all to build a temple or move west, asthe early Saints did, they are nonetheless laying the foundation for a greatwork. That “work” is their lives, it’s their families, and it’s their legacy.Stephen A. West, of the Seventy, reminded his listeners, “In these times whenso much of our daily experience seems to point to a world moving in the wrongdirection, may we take courage, faith, and comfort from the small, quiet, andgentle acts of caring, loving, humble, and dedicated followers of<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>Christ.”<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn46" name="_ftnref46" title="">[46]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn46" name="_ftnref46" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The Place Which wasCalled Nahom<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Continuing their journeysouth-southeast, the reader is informed that Ishmael had passed away, and wasburied at a place called Nahom (see 1 Nephi 16:34). Herein lies one of the mostpowerful evidences for the Book of Mormon. The way Nephi mentions this placesuggests that this was a place name that pre-existed his party’s arrival(unlike the Valley of Lemuel and Shazer, names the Lehites gave their stoppingpoints). The pre-existence of a place name implies population, as does theability to bury their deceased loved ones (a populated place would havesuitable burial grounds). Since the name of the place was not just the privatename given by Lehi, some might expect that it would be identifiable. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Initially discovered on eighteenthcentury maps by Ross T. Christensen,<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn47" name="_ftnref47" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[47]</span></span></span></a>the Semitic name <i>NHM</i> is known as aplace name in Southern Arabia, at just the right place. Warren and MichaelaAston did further research tracing the place name all the way back to about </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">AD</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> 50-100.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn48" name="_ftnref48" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[48]</span></span></span></a>A few years later, a major discovery was made. Archeological excavations (by non-Mormons)uncovered three altars, dating back to 630-580 </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">BC</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> – contemporary to Lehi’s travels –which were donated (per the engraving) by a member of the <i>NHM</i> tribe – the group which occupied the <i>NHM</i> territory (from which the land derives its name).<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn49" name="_ftnref49" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[49]</span></span></span></a>The evidence does not get any better than being carved in stone. S. Kent Brownnotes, “In the world of archaeology, writtenmaterials are valued above all other evidence, and these inscriptions securethe general location of Nahom,”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn50" name="_ftnref50" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[50]</span></span></span></a>adding elsewhere, “It is important to emphasize that in the world ofarchaeology, written inscriptions are the evidence most sought after becausethey often establish names and dates, key ingredients for interpreting thepast.”<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn51" name="_ftnref51" title="">[51]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn51" name="_ftnref51" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The Aston’s researchconfirms that this name only appears in one place in all of Arabia.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn52" name="_ftnref52" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[52]</span></span></span></a>That one place happens to be along the trail moving south-southeast, furtherdown than all the above locations. The </span><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">NHM</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> territory has the largestburial grounds in all of Arabia, with a few additional burial sites.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn53" name="_ftnref53" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[53]</span></span></span></a>From Nahom, Nephi’s group travels eastward from that point on (see 1 Nephi17:1) and ultimately discover a lush and fertile land they call Bountiful (see1 Nephi 17:5). It just so happens that travel eastward becomes possible at the </span><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">NHM</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> tribal territory, and nosooner.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn54" name="_ftnref54" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[54]</span></span></span></a>As has already been stressed multiple times, the ability to travel in a certaindirection through the desert simply cannot be assumed, and it is profoundlysignificant that the Book of Mormon has the travelers turn east right wheremodern research confirms eastward travel is possible (see discussion of theeastward turn below). By going eastward from </span><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">NHM</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> the traveler can indeedarrive at a lush and fertile land (see discussion of Bountiful below). The </span><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">NHM</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> tribal territory was alsothe most densely populated area in all of the Arabian Peninsula in antiquity.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn55" name="_ftnref55" title="">[55]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn55" name="_ftnref55" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">To briefly summarize thecorresponance, in the Book of Mormon, Nahom:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;"></div><ol><li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">1.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Existed prior to 600 </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">BC</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">2.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Is populated (inferred frompre-existing place name and burial grounds)</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">3.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Has suitable burial space for Ishmaelto be buried</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">4.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Is at the end of the party’ssouth-southeastward route.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">5.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Is where the party turned eastward</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">6.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Is in a general westward directionfrom Bountiful</span></li></ol><br /><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The<i>NHM</i> tribal territory was:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l10 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;"></div><ol><li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">1.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Occupied prior to 600 </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">BC</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> (the alters before mentioned speak ofthe donors <i>grandfather</i> as a“Nihmite,” thus meaning the tribe existed <i>atleast</i> two generations prior to 600 </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">BC</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">)</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">2.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Not only occupied, but had the highestpopulation density in the area</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">3.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Features multiple burial sites,including the largest know grave site in all Arabia, the use of which dates to3000 </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">BC</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> – </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">AD</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> 1000.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">4.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Is at the end of thesouth-southeastward leg of the Frankincense Trial</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">5.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Is the turning point where the majortrade routes bend eastward (see below).</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">6.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Is generally westward from the fertilemountains of Dhofar, where a suitable candidate for Bountiful is found (seebelow).</span></li></ol><br /><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l10 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Whilecritics still complain that there is no evidence that a man named Lehi was everthere with his family, or that Ishmael’s grave has never been found, it wouldbe very hard to find a tighter correlation than that above. As Brant Gardnersummarizes:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Ofcourse there is no inscription, “Lehi stopped here,” but none should beexpected. Short of that absolutely conclusive evidence, the data pointing tothe connection between the Book of Mormon Nahom and the now-confirmed locationof a tribe (and likely a place) called NHM are extremely strong. Thedescription fits, the linguistics fit, the geography fits, and the time framefits. Outside Jerusalem, NHM is the most certain connection between the Book ofMormon and known geography and history.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn56" name="_ftnref56" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[56]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">TerrylGivens adds that this is “the most impressive find to date corroborating Bookof Mormon historicity,”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn57" name="_ftnref57" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[57]</span></span></span></a>While David A. LeFevre suggests that “Finding a stelain Mesoamerica reading ‘Zarahemla’ would be no more remarkable.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn58" name="_ftnref58" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[58]</span></span></span></a>While this is perhaps a bit of an exaggeration, it is very hard to imagine thiskind of coincidence.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Critical Approaches to Nahom/NHM</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Critics have at times jeered thatthree measly letters in the deserts of Arabia is the best evidence out therefor the Book of Mormon. The desperate attempts by these same critics to makethis evidence go away suggests that even they know this is a bigger deal thanthey are willing to let on. Most critical attempts to deal with this findingare rather shallow, generally only trying to explain how the word “Nahom” gotinto the Book of Mormon.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">SimilarNames Appear in the Bible<o:p></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Some critics dismiss the correlationby pointing out that similar names, such as Nahum (Nahum 1:1), Nehum (Nehemiah7:7) and Naham (1 Chronicles 4:19) appear in the Bible, suggesting that JosephSmith could have gotten the name from there. The argument is wholly inadequate,and frankly pathetic. Note that the point here is <i>not</i> that “Nahom” is a Semitic name (though there is somesignificance in that – see below), but that it is the name of a specific groupliving in a specific place and time, which happens to be right where the Bookof Mormon says it is. This argument hardly accounts for how Nahom in the Bookof Mormon is right where archeology later confirmed is a place called <i>NHM</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">NHM</span></u></i><u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> does not have the Right Vowels</span></u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Some critics make a big fuss aboutthe vowels (as if it makes a difference), insisting that the only properpronunciation is “Nihm.” Since Semitic languages don’t include vowels whenwritten, the physical evidence cannot give us any better correlation than <i>NHM</i>, so such critics are asking for morethan could ever be delivered. While the standard scholarly transliteration ofthe name is Nihm, it should be noted that <i>NHM</i>has been transliterated on various maps and documents in various ways, with nodefinite tradition, including some names which are very close to “Nahom.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn59" name="_ftnref59" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[59]</span></span></span></a>Modern Arabs call the place “Nä-hum,”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn60" name="_ftnref60" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[60]</span></span></span></a>or “Neh-Hem.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn61" name="_ftnref61" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[61]</span></span></span></a><span class="apple-style-span"> </span>Kevin L. Barneyhas written “that proper names [in the Book of Mormon] may not have always beenperfectly transmitted to a modern scholarly level of precision.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn62" name="_ftnref62" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[62]</span></span></span></a>Indeed, given that the Book of Mormon was translated in 1830 by a lay person,there is no reason to expect it to conform to the scholarly standards of thetwenty-first century. So there is no reason to rule out “Nahom” as a legitimatetransliteration of <i>NHM</i>.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn63" name="_ftnref63" title="">[63]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn63" name="_ftnref63" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The fact that “Nahom” is a <i>translation</i> is important to bear inmind. The actual plates would have only had <i>NHM</i>in either Hebrew or Egyptian. Thus, to stress the point already stated, thethree engraved altars give as good of a correlation as anyone could ever askfor. In the words of S. Kent Brown, “Such discoveriesdemonstrate as firmly as possible by archaeological means the existence of the tribalname NHM in that part of Arabia in the seventh and sixth centuries<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>BC, the general dates assigned to thecarving of the altars by the excavators.”<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn64" name="_ftnref64" title="">[64]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn64" name="_ftnref64" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">JosephSmith Could Have Seen One of the Eighteenth Century Maps</span></u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Some critics have pointed out thatsome of the eighteenth century maps containing the place name “Nehhm” or“Nehem” appear on the 1823 catalog at the Allegheny College library inMeadville, Pennsylvania, which is just 50 miles from Harmony, where JosephSmith did most of his translation work. This argument is desperately <i>ad hoc</i>. There is not a shred of evidencesupporting the notion that Joseph Smith saw one of those maps, and even thistheory could not account for all the interlocking evidences explained above(indeed, the only theory that accounts for all six factors, <i>plus</i> the similarities in place namebetween Nahom and <i>NHM</i> is that 1 Nephiis a genuine historical account).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Fifty miles may not seem all thatfar to the twenty-first century reader, who can go that distance in less than anhour traveling by car, but for Joseph Smith, it would have been a two day trip(at least) there and then a two day trip back, if he is granted the same 25mile-a-day pace that Lehi’s family may have traveled.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn65" name="_ftnref65" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[65]</span></span></span></a>Plus at least a day to do research in the library’s vast catalog and stumbleupon one of the maps, and Joseph’s looking at a five-day, 100 mile round trip.One historian has said that Joseph’s life is a “biographer’s dream,”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn66" name="_ftnref66" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[66]</span></span></span></a>meaning it is very well documented, so how does one explain the lack of anydocumentation of such a trip?<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn67" name="_ftnref67" title="">[67]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn67" name="_ftnref67" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Not only is any evidence that thisever happened completely missing, but there are several reasons to doubt it.For starters, Joseph Smith’s own mother said he was “less inclined to the studyof books,”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn68" name="_ftnref68" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[68]</span></span></span></a>so it is hard to imagine him going out of his way to travel 50 miles and hangout at a library. Five-day trips also require financial resources, which JosephSmith did not have (Joseph needed $50 from Martin Harris to get from Palmyra toHarmony, a distance of 125 miles).<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn69" name="_ftnref69" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[69]</span></span></span></a>Furthermore, if Joseph was going to consult a map while writing Nephi’snarrative, why did he seek out fairly rare and dated maps, when others weremore readily available? Why did he choose “Nahom” – the one name we now knowdates back to the seventh century BC – instead of the hundreds of other placenames he could have found on those (and other more accessible) maps?<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn70" name="_ftnref70" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[70]</span></span></span></a>Further, why did he <i>only </i>choose touse Nahom, and none of the other names found on those maps? And if he did usethose maps, why didn’t he ever submit these maps as evidence for his book? Howcome he didn’t spell the place name the same as any contemporary sources? Afterall, if the point of consulting a map is to make his story more believable,then it stands to reason that he would use what the map actually gave him (atthe time Joseph probably would not have known that Semitic sources give himsome freedom with the vowels).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Even <i>if</i> one were to assume, against all odds and evidence, that JosephSmith somehow got his hands on one of these maps, this theory still fails toaccount for all the evidence. Joseph Smith seeing the similar name on aneighteenth century map could potentially explain how he got it in the rightplace (unlike the argument from the Bible). But it would still fail to explainhow he got the right <i>time</i>. Before thealtars were discovered, these very same critics eagerly pointed out that a nameon an eighteenth century map was not evidence that the name was there in thatplace in the seventh century BC. But now somehow these same maps are supposedto explain how Joseph Smith correctly identified a place attested in stone ca.600 </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">BC</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">. This would seem to be a doublestandard. It should be added that the names on these maps cannot explain theeastward turn in the text and the real world, the presence of burial grounds(that travelers would have been allowed to use), or its proper geographicrelationship to a “bountiful” land.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn71" name="_ftnref71" title="">[71]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn71" name="_ftnref71" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">In the end, all of these approachesfail to contextualize the linguistic evidence with the geographical (it is inthe right place), chronological (dates back to the right time), and descriptive(it has the right features) evidence. Thus it becomes easy to be underwhelmedwith the simple “happenstance” correlation of two words. But just as theprimary jewel in a beautiful crown looks more radiant when juxtaposed with theaccenting jewels and ornamental design of the headdress, so does the evidencefor Nahom look all the more impressive when placed fully in its context. Andnot just the six factors above, but the full geographical context of Lehi’strail, with directions and places corresponding to the real world, all inproper relationship to each other and to Nahom. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Mourning and Rebellion at Nahom</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Naturally, with the loss of theirfather, the “daughters of Ishmael did mourn exceedingly” (1 Nephi 16:35). Nephimakes no mention of the <i>sons of Ishmael</i>mourning, nor does he mention him or his brothers grieving over the loss oftheir father-in-law, although these other members of the party no doubt feltthe loss. This is an interestingly authentic bit of Israelite culture. BrantGardner reports:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Whenverse 35 records that “the daughters of Ishmael did mourn exceedingly,” we havean authentic picture of mourning practices for the Old Testament times. Thewomen would be most prominent in the mourning procession, and the very purposeof their mourning would be to create a public display of mourning“exceedingly.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn72" name="_ftnref72" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[72]</span></span></span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Interestingly, the Hebrew word “tomourn” is <i>naham</i>, and as Alan Goff hasnoted, this is always used in connection to death.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn73" name="_ftnref73" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[73]</span></span></span></a><i>Naham</i> can also carry connotations ofcomplaining and hunger.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn74" name="_ftnref74" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[74]</span></span></span></a>All of these meanings from the root <i>nhm</i>have some relevance to the events which take place at Nahom (<i>NHM</i>), where the daughters of Ishmael notonly mourned the loss of their father, but complained about having “suffered muchaffliction, hunger, thirst, and fatigue; and after all these sufferings we mustperish in the wilderness with hunger” (1 Nephi 16:35). Of course the Hebrew <i>nhm</i> is not the same as the tribalterritory name <i>NHM</i> (which is in SouthArabian), but as Stephen D. Ricks notes, “it ispossible that the name<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>Nahom</i><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>served as the basis of a play on wordsby Lehi’s party that Nephi recorded.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn75" name="_ftnref75" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[75]</span></span></span></a>Such wordplays on proper names were common in ancient Hebrew literature.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Laman and Lemuel then plotan insurrection, perhaps hoping to be able to take advantage of the emotionallycharged atmosphere. They accuse Nephi of trying to usurp authority over them(probably due to the broken bow incident, as noted above), and seek “consolationat Nahom in the thought that they could get even by killing both Lehi and theiryounger brother.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn76" name="_ftnref76" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[76]</span></span></span></a>(See 1 Nephi 16:37-38). Goff has noted a potentially deeper connection to theHebrew term <i>naham</i> and the murderousintent of Laman and Lemuel.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn77" name="_ftnref77" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[77]</span></span></span></a>The implosion of the group is remedied only by intervention of the Lord, thusthe reader is given yet another evidence of the Lord’s “power of deliverance”,and the rebels are (at least temporarily) repentant (1 Nephi 16:39). Thisrepentance may yield yet another shade of meaning on <i>naham</i>: “The word<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>naham</i><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>is used in the Hebrew Bible even todescribe Yahweh’s ‘changing his mind’ or ‘repenting,’ as when he was sorry inNoah’s day for having created mankind.”<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn78" name="_ftnref78" title="">[78]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn78" name="_ftnref78" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Thus, not only is Nahomarcheologically attested, but the narrative events which take place therereveal a multi-layered, Hebrew style wordplay at work underneath the surface ofthe English text. Such an authentically Hebrew technique would have very nearimpossible for Joseph Smith to pull off. “</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Nahomis thus a striking fit as a Book of Mormon proper name based on archaeological,geographical, historical, and, to a lesser extent, on linguistic oretymological considerations.”<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn79" name="_ftnref79" title="">[79]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn79" name="_ftnref79" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Lessons Learned From Laman andLemuel’s Action at Nahom</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught animportant lesson using the bad examples from Laman and Lemuel here (primarilyLemuel):<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Early on, Laman rejected the role he should have played,and, instead, wanted to be “top dog in the manger,” resenting all the whileNephi’s spiritual leadership. Lemuel was not only Laman’s dutiful satellite,but he was also his enabler<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #f9f6ed; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> </span>by allowinghimself to be “stirred up” by Laman (see<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">1 Ne. 16:37–38</span>). If, instead, Laman had been fullyisolated, certain outcomes could have been very different. We<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #f9f6ed; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> </span>have enablers in our society too. They allowthemselves to be stirred up against that which is good. They are not entitledto a free pass any more than Lemuel. Like him,<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #f9f6ed; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"></span>their comparative visibility is low, but their hypocrisy is high!<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn80" name="_ftnref80" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[80]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Theprimary problem was that Lemuel allowed himself to acted upon, rather thanacting for himself (see 2 Nephi 2:14). Stephen R. Covey describes thedifferences as being either “proactive” (capable of choosing one’s response tocircumstances) or “reactive” (allowing conditions to determine one’s responseto circumstances).<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn81" name="_ftnref81" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[81]</span></span></span></a>Nephi was a good example of proactivity, he would <i>choose</i> to “go and do.” In the gospel, individuals are taught to beproactive followers of Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The Trek Eastward<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; After staying in Nahom “for thespace of a time” (1 Nephi 16:33),<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn82" name="_ftnref82" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[82]</span></span></span></a>the party pressed onward, only now they changed their direction. Rather thanmoving south-southeast, as they had before, they now moved “nearly eastward” (1Nephi 17:1). I’ve already pointed out that at Nahom, travel eastward becamepossible, and in fact the roads turned that way. Potter and Wellington comment,“Here again the text of the Book of Mormon is in total harmony with the routethe Frankincense Trail took.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn83" name="_ftnref83" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[83]</span></span></span></a>The Astons add that “it is here – and nowhere else – that the trade routebranched <i>eastward</i> toward the Hadhramautcoast.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn84" name="_ftnref84" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[84]</span></span></span></a>S. Kent Brown explains:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">From the general region of the NHM tribe, all roads turned east…Even the<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fbfbfb; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> </span>daunting shortcuts across theRamlat Sab^catayn desert, which left travelers without water for 150miles, ran generally east-west. What is important for our purposes is the factthat the “eastward” turn of Nephi’s narrative does not show up in any<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fbfbfb; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> </span>known ancient source, including Pliny theElder’s famous description of the incense-growing lands of Arabia. In a word,no one knew of this eastward turn in </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">theincense trail except persons who had traveled it or who lived in thatterritory. This kind of<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fbfbfb; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> </span>detail in theBook of Mormon narrative, combined with the reference to Nahom, is informationthat was unavailable in Joseph Smith’s day and thus stands as compellingevidence of the antiquity of the text.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn85" name="_ftnref85" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[85]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Brownagain offers an explanation:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">We first observe that, northwest of Marib, the ancient capital ofthe Sabean kingdom of south Arabia, almost all roads turn east, veering fromthe general north-south direction of the incense trail. Moreover – and weemphasize this point – the eastward bend occurs in the general area inhabitedby the Nihm tribe. Joseph Smith could not have known about this eastward turnin the main incense trail. No source, ancient or contemporary, mentions it.<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>Only a person who had traveled eithernear or along the trail would know that it turned eastward in this area… Themain trail and its spurs ran eastward, matching Nephi’s description. Wells werethere, and authorities at Shabwah controlled the finest incense of the regionthat was coming westward from Oman, both overland and by sea. It is the onlyplace along the incense trail where traffic ran east-west. Further, ancientlaws mandated where caravans were to carry incense and other goods, keepingtraffic to this east-west corridor.<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>NeitherJoseph Smith nor anyone else in his society knew these facts. But Nephi did.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn86" name="_ftnref86" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[86]</span></span></span></a></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Both of Brown’s quotes have stressedthat no sources – contemporary or ancient – knew about this eastward turn inJoseph Smith’s day; a person had to have traveled there to know it. Theeighteenth century maps that some critics assert Joseph Smith could haveconsulted (see above) didn’t even preserve the eastward turn, showing travelfrom Nehhm going southward.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn87" name="_ftnref87" title="">[87]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn87" name="_ftnref87" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">As stressed before that the ability totravel in a certain direction while in the desert cannot be merely assumed.Where there is no access to resources such as food and water, survival isimpossible. Brown begins to touch on this point, mentioning the presences ofwells on the eastward leg. Survivability is particularly significant here,because the text has the group turning toward the <i>interior</i> of the desert, and then asserting that they survived tomake it to the Indian Ocean. No prediction could have been bolder in 1830. TheAstons add to Brown’s remarks concerning the availability of water, adding theneed for topography ideal for travelers with camels: “The trade routesrepresent, of course, the available water sources, but they also must followterrain suitable for camel caravans to use… As consequence, the trade routestended to follow the valleys and plateaus, usually avoiding higher ground.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn88" name="_ftnref88" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[88]</span></span></span></a>It is thus highly significant that the Book of Mormon always gets its travelroutes right, according to known and verified ancient travel abilities.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">That the Book of Mormon has the Lehitegroup turning east in the <i>only</i> placethat travel eastward was possible cannot be overemphasized. While Brown, theAstons, and Potter and Wellington all have the group taking a differenteastward route, all three research parties agree that such eastward routes areonly available at the <i>NHM</i> territory.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn89" name="_ftnref89" title="">[89]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn89" name="_ftnref89" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">To “Wade through Much Affliction” and“Sojourn in the Wilderness”</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Nephi gives the reader preciouslittle information about this eastward leg of the journey, but from what hedoes say scholars have determined this was the most trying and difficult partof the trip for the families of Lehi and Ishmael. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">And it came to pass that we did againtake our journey <i>in the wilderness</i>;and we did travel nearly eastward from that time forth. And we did travel and<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">wade</span><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>through much affliction <i>in the wilderness</i>; and our<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">women</span><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>did bear children <i>in the wilderness</i>. And so great were the<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">blessings</span><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>of the Lord upon us, that while we didlive upon<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">raw</span><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">meat</span><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>inthe wilderness</i>, our women did give plenty of suck for their children, andwere strong, yea, even like unto the men; and they began to bear theirjourneyings without murmurings. And thus we see that the commandments of Godmust be fulfilled. And if it so be that the children of men keep thecommandments of God he doth nourish them, and<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">strengthen</span> them, and provide means whereby they canaccomplish the thing which he has commanded them; wherefore, he did<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">provide</span><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>means for us while we did sojourn <i>in the wilderness</i>. And we did sojournfor the space of many years, yea, even eight years <i>in the wilderness</i>. (1 Nephi 17:1-4).<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn90" name="_ftnref90" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[90]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">HereNephi indicates that the group endure many hardships on this eastward trek;they “wad[ed] through affliction” and “sojourn[ed] for the space of manyyears.” There are currently two methods of explaining this struggle. (1) Thatby cutting across the al-Mahrah plateau they party was subjected to theharshest conditions in their journey yet. (2) By following the main trial, thefamily passed through volatile territory, where they were forced into bondageas slaves struggling to earn their passage through tribal land. Whichexplanation one accepts depends on which eastward route is believed to be themost likely.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The first one is championed by theAstons. Warren Aston explains their position:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Accepting<span class="apple-converted-space"><b>&nbsp;</b></span>thatthis final stage would have been<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>away</i><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>from trade routes helps us understandwhat Nephi recorded. The Lord’s instruction not to “make much fire” (1 Nephi17:12) is highly significant. In well-traveled areas the making of fire wouldnot have presented a problem, and perhaps the group needed to conserve fuelresources. They now ate their meat raw (see 17:2), probably spiced as manyArabs still do; camel’s milk would have helped them cope with reducedavailability of water. All this paints a clear picture of survival in a region <i>away</i><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>from other people. This region todayremains almost devoid of water, people, and roads.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn91" name="_ftnref91" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[91]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Theconsumption of “raw meat” and lack of fire are both details that support theAstons case, and the rhythmic repetition of “in the wilderness” (italicizedabove for emphasis) suggests a monotonous journey, and emphasizes the rigors of“the wilderness,” <i>not</i> the hostilityof tribesmen, as the source of their “afflictions.” If they traveled thisroute, not only would the lack of protected trails leave them potentiallysusceptible to desert raiders, but they would generally lack the resources tostart a fire.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn92" name="_ftnref92" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[92]</span></span></span></a>The “raw meat” the party ate likely causes most modern readers’ stomachs toturn. Brant Gardner, however, comments that readers need not “visualize themgnawing at a freshly cut bloody haunch.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn93" name="_ftnref93" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[93]</span></span></span></a>Rather, the “raw meat” was probably sun dried and spiced or seasoned (thus“sweet,” see 1 Nephi 17:12). Modern readers are familiar with this kind of meat– it’s called “jerky.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn94" name="_ftnref94" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[94]</span></span></span></a>As Aston notes, the Arabs eat their meat this way, and they call it “bastern,”which literally means “raw meat.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn95" name="_ftnref95" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[95]</span></span></span></a>While traveling across a barren and isolated territory, there would have beenprecious little game, if any at all. But as Jeffrey R. Chadwick has pointedout, “Jerky travels well, even in hot desert terrain,”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn96" name="_ftnref96" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[96]</span></span></span></a>and it remains edible for a long time without spoiling. So the group could haveeasily stored up some “raw meat” while restocking supplies at Nahom which theythen consumed while traveling across the lonely and desolate al-Mahrah plateau.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; For all thevirtues of the Astons model, it has one major drawback: duration of thejourney. The Astons would have this part of the journey taking no longer thanit would typically take.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn97" name="_ftnref97" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[97]</span></span></span></a>Indeed, it truly could not have been long, otherwise the whole group would havedied in the inhospitable desert. This is why (as noted above), the Astons haveLehi and company camping out at the Valley of Lemuel for nearly the entireeight-year period, because otherwise their model cannot account for such a longtimeframe for the trip.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn98" name="_ftnref98" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[98]</span></span></span></a>This is where Brown’s model really shines. Traveling along the main route, thefamily would have encountered warring and unfriendly tribes. Brown explains:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">As they moved eastward from Nahom, they… venturedinto territory controlled by warring tribes, as studies have shown.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: #001e4c; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;</span></b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Because southern Arabia has been known for the last 2,000 years asa place of inhospitable tribes and slave trafficking, we reasonably assume thatit was so in Lehi’s time…<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span>^{<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span>}<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The system – and it is a loose system – is called<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>rabī’a</i><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>or<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>rafiq</i>.It means that travelers must be accompanied by a member of a tribe (or anauthorized intermediary) while they are moving through the tribe’s territory.This is the only way that they are guaranteed safety. This also meansbargaining with tribal leaders for safe passage and paying the agreed price forsuch protection and other services. However, when travelers reach the tribe’sboundary, they have to negotiate with the leaders of the next tribe, againpaying an agreed price. The member of the first tribe generally cannotrepresent the interests of the second tribe. Hence, travel is precarious atbest.<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>One can imagine that it isalso most difficult for family members to extract themselves from pricklysituations with self-interested tribesmen, even if the family has fulfilled itsagreements.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn99" name="_ftnref99" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[99]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Potter and Wellington likewise note that heavy levies wereextracted along this main road.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn100" name="_ftnref100" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[100]</span></span></span></a>Brown’s argument continues, pointing out evidence in the text, starting with atextual analysis of the connotations of “sojourn,” and building from there withvarious allusions to the journey elsewhere in the Book of Mormon that suggestconflict and bondage were a part of the founding family’s wilderness journey.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn101" name="_ftnref101" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[101]</span></span></span></a>While much of the argument relies on trace amounts of circumstantial evidencein the text, Brown’s reasoning is forceful, if not quite compelling, and hismodel forms (in the view of this author, at least) the best explanation of thelength of time spent in traveling in the wilderness. The one major drawback isthat along this route, the avoidance of fire and the need to live on raw meatdo not make as much sense, since they would be passing through highly populatedareas.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn102" name="_ftnref102" title="">[102]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn102" name="_ftnref102" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The LandBountiful</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://byustudies.byu.edu/book_of_mormon_charts/charts/148.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://byustudies.byu.edu/book_of_mormon_charts/charts/148.jpg" width="237" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Figure 5.2: </b>Twelve textual requirements for<br />Bountiful<br /><b>Image Source: </b>Welch and Welch, <i>Charting<br />the Book of Mormon</i>, 148</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Regardless ofwhich route they actually took, one way or another the party arrived at a lusharea along the southern Arabian coast in an area “eastward” from Nahom. Thisland had “much fruit and also wild honey” (1 Nephi 17:5), large trees fromwhich a sea going vessel could be constructed, ore for making tools (see 1Nephi 17:9), and a prominent mountain nearby (see 1 Nephi 17:7). All in all,there are twelve requirements for Bountiful which can be derived from the text(see figure 5.2).<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn103" name="_ftnref103" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[103]</span></span></span></a>Once again, if Joseph Smith is making all this up, he has made some bold assertionsabout Arabia that go against the common stereotypes of his day. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The universal consensus isthat the greater land Bountiful is the fertile and green Dhofar region alongthe coast, basically eastward from <i>NHM</i>.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn104" name="_ftnref104" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[104]</span></span></span></a>As LeFevre puts it, “The thin green band of trees, flowers, and grass along theDhofar coast of Oman is not just the best choice for the group to locate whileNephi built his ship, it is the only choice.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn105" name="_ftnref105" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[105]</span></span></span></a>Unknown to any in the Western world in Joseph Smith’s time, many explorers havestood in awe at the contrast of the area versus the barrenness of the interiordesert.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn106" name="_ftnref106" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[106]</span></span></span></a>Lehi and his family would have similarly experienced exhilaration when theysuddenly found themselves at what no doubt seemed like a paradise. Nephi saysthe group “exceedingly rejoiced” (1 Nephi 17:6) at the sight. The vast IndianOcean would have seemed endless to Lehi’s group, who had lived in landlockedJerusalem all their lives. They appropriately called the ocean “Irreantum,”meaning “many waters.” (1 Nephi 17:5). This name is likely derived from SouthArabian or South Semitic roots <i>rwy</i>(with the suffix –<i>an </i>used to indicatea place name) and <i>*tm</i> (<i>Irre-ān tum</i> or <i>Irwayantum</i>) meaning “watering of (super) abundance” or “place ofmany waters.”<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn107" name="_ftnref107" title="">[107]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn107" name="_ftnref107" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Within the Dhofarregion, a few different places have been proposed as the specific place whereLehi’s family settled near the seashore and where Nephi built and launched hisship. The two major candidates at this point are Wadi Sayq/Khor Kharfot(proposed by the Astons) and Khor Rori (Potter and Wellington).<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn108" name="_ftnref108" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[108]</span></span></span></a>While each candidate has its strengths, the majority view seems to favor WadiSayq.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn109" name="_ftnref109" title="">[109]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn109" name="_ftnref109" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Regardless of whichcandidate one favors, the final analysis reveals that the only territory in allof Arabia that satisfies all the requirements described in the text is theDhofar region, eastward from <i>NHM</i>.This is significant because some critics claim Joseph Smith would have knownabout desert oasis’s either from the Bible, or from general knowledge. This,however, completely fails to account for (a) the specific details described inthe text which are matched in the real world, and (b) the accurate placement ofthe “oasis” in relationship with Nahom/<i>NHM</i>and the rest of the trip. The text once again describes a place as being in theonly place it actually is – that is momentous.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Summarizingthe Desert Journey<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Before moving onto discuss the building of the ship and transoceanic passage to the New World,it seems worth it to take a moment and pause in reflection of all thus far discussed.All the major stops made by Lehi’s family in their travels through the desert havebeen shown to realistically describe the kind of places that really exist inArabia. But it is not just that places like those described in the text reallyexist <i>somewhere</i>; they exist in justthe right relationship to each other, along a trail that moves in the samegeneral direction that Lehi traveled, which happens to be the <i>only</i> direction a group like Lehi’s couldhave traveled in the desert and survived for eight whole years. These are notrandom or scattered correspondences; rather they are precise and specific,multilayered and multifaceted, interrelated and thus interlocking. That is, thelocation of each depends on the location of the others. A place like the Valleyof Lemuel <i>must</i> exist within 75 milesof the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba. But that is not enough, because agroup <i>must</i> then be able to travelgenerally south-southeast from there, and within 60-80 miles in that direction,a place like Shazer <i>must</i> exist.Because more precise travel times are given for these two locations, they areespecially interlocking. Still, from the place like Shazer, one <i>must</i> again be able to travelsouth-southeast through the desert. After traveling in that general directionfor longer than four days (at least), somewhere along the trial there <i>must</i> be a place where hardwood can beused to make a bow, and where mountains for hunting are nearby. From there,again, travel in a general south-southeast direction <i>must</i> be possible, where eventually the traveler will come topopulated place known as “Nahom” where travelers could bury their deceasedloved ones. This place <i>must</i> exist.Travel eastward from there <i>must</i> bepossible, and <i>must</i> lead to an arealike Bountiful. Because of the directional turn from south-southeast, Nahom andBountiful are especially interlocking (like Shazer and the Valley of Lemuel).If travel in these directions were not possible, if any one of these placessimply did not exist, then whole case crumbles. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">As it turns out, placeslike those described in the text <i>do </i>exist,and each in the same interlocking relationships as those found in the text. Theaccuracy of the geographic details in 1 Nephi is 100%. What are the odds of arelatively uneducated farm boy, with no resources on Arabia, and indeed livingin a time when none of the now identified places were known to exist, couldproduce a narrative about traveling through Arabia with 100% accuracy?<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn110" name="_ftnref110" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[110]</span></span></span></a>The odds are virtually zero.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn111" name="_ftnref111" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[111]</span></span></span></a></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">As such, the words ofHugh Nibley ring truer today than when he first said them more than sixty yearsago: “<span class="apple-style-span">whoever wouldaccount for the Book of Mormon by any theory suggested so far – save one – mustcompletely rule out the first forty pages.”</span><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn112" name="_ftnref112" title="">[112]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn112" name="_ftnref112" title=""></a></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: center;"><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Nephi DemonstratesUnwavering Faith by Fulfilling the Lord’s Command to Build a Ship<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: center;"><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; After an unspecified amount of time in Bountiful, Nephiis told by the Lord to go up in the nearby mountain, where the Lord reveals toNephi that a ship must be built for the group to use in crossing the ocean (see1 Nephi 17:7-8). This is the first instance where Nephi receives a revelationthat pertains to the whole group. Earlier revelations came when Nephi wasseeking to personally understand the visions of his father, but never beforehad the Lord come directly to Nephi with instructions for the group (at leastnot in what Nephi recorded). Even when he broke his bow, while Nephi showed theinitiative and leadership, he turned to his father for revelation on where tohunt. This time, however, the revelation comes straight to Nephi. This maysuggest that although Lehi is still the patriarch and leader of the family,Nephi’s role as future ruler is emerging as there is a slow shift in the power dynamicfrom Lehi to Nephi. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Nephi responds by asking where he can find ore to maketools (see 1 Nephi 17:9). As has been noted, while Nephi was probably beingformally trained as a scribe, he had more than likely helped with the family metal-smithbusiness. Thus Nephi did not need instruction on <i>how </i>to make tools, only where to find the ore. Regarding Nephi’sresponse, Elder L. Tom Perry taught:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Thisis one of the more interesting stories we have in the scriptures because ittells of an instance in which the Lord provided help but then stepped aside toallow one of His sons to exercise his own initiative. I have sometimes wonderedwhat would have happened if Nephi had asked the Lord for tools instead of aplace to find the ore to<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #f9f6ed; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> </span>make the tools.I doubt the Lord would have honored Nephi’s request. You see, the Lord knewthat Nephi could make the tools, and it is seldom the Lord will do somethingfor us that we can do for ourselves.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn113" name="_ftnref113" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[113]</span></span></span></a><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Nephi was proactive; rather thandemand from the Lord the necessary tools, he asked for help in finding theresources to make tools. The lesson, as pointed out by Elder Perry, is that theLord won’t do for anyone what they can do for themselves. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; After Nephi made his tools and wasgetting ready to build a ship, Laman and Lemuel began to scoff at what they nodoubt perceived as their younger brothers’ naiveté (see 1 Nephi 17:16-23).While Laman and Lemuel’s actions ought not to be condoned, modern readers whohave very little sense of how challenging it would have been for an untrainedgroup of laborers to actually build a sea going vessel should be slow to judgeLaman and Lemuel’s reactions. Many today have no doubt determined that farsimpler tasks were “impossible” (see below for some discussion of ship-building).In a powerful argument against his brothers hardheartedness, Nephi makes astrong and extended appeal to the Exodus, drawing several parallel’s to thepresent situation (see 1 Nephi 17:24-44).<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn114" name="_ftnref114" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[114]</span></span></span></a>Nephi closes his passionate speech with a scathing call to repentance:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Ye are<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">swift</span><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>to do iniquity <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">but slow to remember the Lord yourGod. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Ye have seen an<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">angel</span>, and he spake untoyou; yea, ye have heard his voice from time to time; and he hath spoken untoyou in a still small voice, but ye were<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">past</span><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>feeling,that ye could not feel his words; wherefore, he has spoken unto you like untothe voice of thunder, which did cause the earth to shake as if it were todivide asunder. And ye also know that by the<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">power</span><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>of hisalmighty word he can cause the earth that it shall pass away; yea, and ye knowthat by his word <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">(a) he can cause the <u>rough</u>places <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">(b) to be made <u>smooth</u>, <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">(b’) and <u>smooth</u> places <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">(a’)shall be <u>broken up</u>. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">O,then, why is it, that ye can be so hard in your hearts? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Behold, my soul is rent with anguishbecause of you, <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">andmy heart is pained; <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Ifear lest ye shall be cast off forever. Behold, I am^{<span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"> </span>}<span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">full</span><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>of the Spirit of God, insomuch as ifmy frame had<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">no</span><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>strength.(1 Nephi 17:45-47, <i>PP </i>41-42; 1 Nephi17:47, <i>ET </i>55)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Theantithetical<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn115" name="_ftnref115" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[115]</span></span></span></a>at the beginning really says it all: Laman and Lemuel were “swift to doiniquity, but slow to remember the Lord.” Nephi also says they were “pastfeeling” and could no longer <i>feel</i> theword of God. In this most recent General Conference, President Boyd K. Packerexplained:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Somecritics have said that these verses are in error because you&nbsp;<i>hear </i>words;you do not&nbsp;<i>feel</i>&nbsp;them. But if you know anything at all aboutspiritual communication, you know that the best word to describe what takesplace is the word&nbsp;<i>feeling.</i> The gift of the Holy Ghost, if youconsent, will guide and protect you and even correct your actions. It is aspiritual voice that comes into the mind as a thought or a feeling put intoyour heart.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn116" name="_ftnref116" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[116]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Towardsthe end Nephi uses a simple synonymous pair to emphasize that he is not angry,but rather anguished over his brothers’ eternal fate.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Unconvinced, Nephi’s brothers wereintent on throwing him into the depths of the sea, and were only dissuaded bythe fear of God’s power (see 1 Nephi 17:48). To ensure that Laman and Lemuelgot the message, the Lord told Nephi to “Stretch forth thine hand again untothy brethren…[and] I will shake them” (1 Nephi 17:53, <i>ET</i> 56). After this, Nephi’s brothers were sufficiently subdued andprepared to assist in the important work of building a ship.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Nephi’s Shipyard<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; With his brothers on board, theybegan working on the ship. The reader is not told much about the details of howthis ship was constructed, how long it took, or what materials were used. Whatis made most explicit is that it was not built “after the manner of men,” butrather “after the manner of the Lord” (1 Nephi 18:2). Despite the Lord’sassistance, this was no doubt a monumental task accomplished by Nephi and hisfamily. The modern reader probably rarely gets a good sense for the kind ofwork that would have been required. Potter and Wellington explain:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Like the desert journey, building a ship was part ofNephi’s development under the hand of the Lord. He… would have had to learn lineupon line, precept upon precept, as all who had gone before him or would goafter. The Lord seems to have made a pioneer <i>par excellence</i> of the faithful Nephi, who on his journey acquiredall the basic skills necessary for the creation and settlement of ancientsociety in the strangeness of the promised land.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn117" name="_ftnref117" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[117]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">While Nephi’s ship was indeeddifferent, one can still learn about the magnitude of building a sea worthyvessel by studying the construction of ships in pre-modern times.&nbsp; Nephi’s ship would have still required thesame general materials (wood, rope, fabric for sails, etc.) that were usedanciently. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">For a journey like the one undertakenby Nephi, large quantities of food and water would have had to have beenstored. In addition, they probably would have stopped periodically to restockfood and water supplies, and they also would have fished and collected rainwater (which would require large fishing nets and basins). Water supply forjust a month-and-half could have been more than 1100 gallons.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn118" name="_ftnref118" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[118]</span></span></span></a>In addition to the constant need to maintain the food supply is the need toconstantly fix and repair the ship. This again may have required that they stopfrom time to time. Potter and Wellington observe, “A wooden ship is in constantneed of maintenance, an endless effort that once stopped dooms the ship.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn119" name="_ftnref119" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[119]</span></span></span></a>This may be why precious little is said about the journey. In 2009, WarrenAston sailed on a 600 </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">BC</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Phoenician ship to try to get a sense for what Nephi and his family were upagainst. Aston reports:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">At sea the burdens placed on Nephi wereimmense. In addition to the fulltime needs of the ship and its passengers, hewas a husband, a father and the dutiful son of aging parents. I suspect thatnavigating the ship and the daily demands of a captain meant that recordkeeping had a low priority. This reality seems to be subtly captured in hisaccount.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn120" name="_ftnref120" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[120]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The supplies necessary to maintain the ship may have numberedin the hundreds, including extra rope of various sizes, extra timber and woodchunks, and spare sails.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn121" name="_ftnref121" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[121]</span></span></span></a> The extra sailsthemselves may have weighed two and half tons.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn122" name="_ftnref122" title="">[122]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn122" name="_ftnref122" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Nephi’s shipmay have been between 80-120 feet in length, and would have weighed no lessthan 100 tons.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn123" name="_ftnref123" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[123]</span></span></span></a> To make such a ship,obviously long, strong beams of timber were necessary, as were several miles ofrope. One similar ship was made using over 400 miles of rope made from morethan fifty-thousand coconuts.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn124" name="_ftnref124" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[124]</span></span></span></a> If Nephi had nailed(rather than sewn) his ship together, then it would have required close totwenty-thousand nails.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn125" name="_ftnref125" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[125]</span></span></span></a> As noted, he would have neededseveral sets of sails. The main sail may have been as large as three-thousandsquare feet,<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn126" name="_ftnref126" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[126]</span></span></span></a>which were perhaps made from coconut fibers (like the rope) or palm leaves.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn127" name="_ftnref127" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[127]</span></span></span></a> In addition to theseobvious necessities, Nephi’s group probably had to caulk (seal) and anti-foul(treating the wood with compounds meant to prevent shipworms from destroyingthe wood) the ship, which probably required making compounds of tree gum,mutton fat, fish oil, sugar, and lime.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn128" name="_ftnref128" title="">[128]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn128" name="_ftnref128" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The constanthard work that would have been required to build this ship and the skills Nephiand his brothers must have developed are overwhelming to think about. Forexample, they probably had to make the rope and sails by hand – requiringendless hours of labor. Potter and Wellington summarize:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Building a ship required Nephi to learn… to cut stones toform anchors, to work wood within very tight specifications, to weave sails, tofabricate rope, to mold pots for storing water… and how to fasten the ship’sriggings. Culminating with the building of a great ship, Nephi’s journey was,we might say, his university.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn129" name="_ftnref129" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[129]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The scope of this task is unfortunately lost on most modernreaders. The building of the ship was a great achievement, and it should not beoverlooked.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn130" name="_ftnref130" title="">[130]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn130" name="_ftnref130" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: center;"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Laman and Lemuel Bind Nephi, Who Shows Courage and GratitudeDespite This Trial; After They Free Him, He guides the Ship to the PromisedLand<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: center;"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Havingfinished the ship, Nephi and his brothers would have no doubt run some tests inorder to determine “that it was good” (1 Nephi 18:4). Potter and Wellingtonexplain:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Before theyentered the ship for the voyage to the New World, Nephi’s family knew that thefinished ship was “good,” and the “workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine” (1Ne. 18:4). This implies that they had already conducted successful sea trials.Otherwise, how could they have judged the ship’s workmanship unless they sawthat the hull was sound and watertight, and that the ship handled well invarious seas?… Without sea trials, the words “good ship” would have been asmeaningless as saying a “good” airplane before seeing if it could fly.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn131" name="_ftnref131" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[131]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Having tested theship and found it sea worthy, the family was now ready to embark on their long,transoceanic crossing. This time, the revelation came to Lehi that it was timefor the group to move forward in their journey (see 1 Nephi 18:5). Thisindicates that while Nephi is emerging as the group leader, Lehi is still thefamily patriarch, and when it is time for them to officially leave the OldWorld behind, Lehi is the one the Lord reveals that to. The next day, thefamily loads up the ship with food and other provisions (which they hadprobably been gathering previous to that time), then they boarded the ship andset sail for the promised land (see 1 Nephi 18:6-8)! One imagines howexhilarating, and yet terribly daunting it must have been for Nephi and hisfamily to realize that they really were leaving their old life in Jerusalembehind for good.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Just as thehard work required to build the ship should not be overlooked, modern readersshould not forget how great an accomplishment it was for the family tosuccessfully sail halfway across the world.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn132" name="_ftnref132" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[132]</span></span></span></a> As noted above, successwhile at sea required everybody on board to be constantly working to maintainthe ship. As Laman and Lemuel and the sons of Ishmael, along with their wives, “beganto make themselves marry” (1 Nephi 18:9), they were probably shirking on theirresponsibilities on board the ship. This probably contributed to thefrustration and fear Nephi felt – without them doing their part, what mightbecome of the group on the open seas? Nephi tries to lecture them, but thepredictable pattern is once again repeated: the hardhearted brothers don’t liketheir little brother telling them what to do, so they bind him and take overthe ship (see 1 Nephi 18:10-11). These constant tensions between the brothersserve an ultimate purpose in defining the “ancestral enemy” for Nephi’s people.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn133" name="_ftnref133" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[133]</span></span></span></a> These stories wereprobably told very differently by Laman and Lemuel, who no doubt cast Nephi asthe villain to their descendants. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; As a resultof Laman and Lemuel’s actions, the Liahona stopped functioning. A storm rose onthe horizon, and there was no avoiding it. This storm drove the group back forfour days. The frail condition of their parents, the suffering of the women andchildren; none of these were enough to humble Laman and Lemuel. Only when theyrealized that they face their own destruction did they finally unbind Nephi(see 1 Nephi 18:12-20). Once freed, Nephi drops to his knees and pleads withthe Lord, who then calms the storm and restores the directive guidance of theLiahona (see 1 Nephi 18:15-16, 21). This is yet another manifestation of theLord’s “power of deliverance.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Pre-ModernTransoceanic Crossing</span></b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Critics havemade much of the issues of a transoceanic crossing to America in pre-Columbiantimes. For a longtime, secular scholars have insisted that maritime travelacross the pacific to the Americas never happened in antiquity. That paradigm,however, is beginning to change. Nearly insurmountable evidence of transoceaniccontact with America, mostly between East Asia and Polynesia, but also theMiddle East, has culminated over the years, and Latter-day Saint anthropologistJohn L. Sorenson has responsibly collected the bulk of that evidence.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn134" name="_ftnref134" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[134]</span></span></span></a> Sorenson writes:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The historical paradigm has changed. Hereafter, students ofhistory must start from the position that voyaging across oceans was within thecapability of adventurous<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fbfbfb; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> </span>folks in manytimes and places. Numerous voyages across the oceans were completed that hadsubstantial consequences on both sides of the world.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn135" name="_ftnref135" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[135]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Lest the reader think that Sorenson is overstating his case, notethat Michael D. Coe – the eminent authority of Mesoamerica – wrote in 1999 that“the first Americans may well have taken a maritime route.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn136" name="_ftnref136" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[136]</span></span></span></a>More recently, in a 2011 interview (about the Book of Mormon, in fact), Coestated:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I’m not entirely against the idea of transoceanic contacts[between the Old and New Worlds]. In fact, there is beginning to be evidencefor it. The leading scholar of this kind of stuff is a Mormon, a friend ofmine, John Sorenson, at BYU, who has written extensively on this whole thing –very interesting stuff.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn137" name="_ftnref137" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[137]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">While Sorenson is constantly derided as nothing more than a Mormon“apologist” who has no respect within the academic community, this speaksotherwise. Sorenson, according to Coe, is the leading scholar in thisparadigm-shifting research.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The Winds of Change</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; While secularscholars are beginning to recognize the strong evidence for transoceaniccontact between the Old and New Worlds, there is yet another problem for theBook of Mormon. Prevailing winds and currents would have made a trip across theIndian and Pacific Oceans in an eastward direction essentially impossible. Thesolution to this problem, however, is merely a matter of timing. Monsoonalwinds in the Indian Ocean would have allowed eastward travel, and the <i>El Nino</i> and Southern Oscillation (ENSO)effect on the Pacific Ocean, which happens every three or four years, couldhave driven them toward the promised land.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn138" name="_ftnref138" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[138]</span></span></span></a>Thus, it is likely that revelation came to Lehi to board the ship and set sailwhen all the natural mechanisms were in place for the eastward sea voyage. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Arrivalin the Promised Land<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Nephiassures his reader that his family did, in fact, arrive in the promised land. Atpresent, the precise lands where the Book of Mormon events took place cannot bedetermined with absolute certainty. This is among every critic’s favoritecriticisms against the Book of Mormon. “Civilizations do not just disappearwithout a trace,” many will say.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn139" name="_ftnref139" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[139]</span></span></span></a> The problems with thisargument are at least two fold: (1) It is circular reasoning. (2) It is anargument based on silence.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; First, theargument is <i>clearly</i> circular. <i>If</i> a civilization were to havedisappeared without a trace, how would anyone ever know (short of some sort ofrevelation)? The very meaning of “without a trace” is that there is no evidenceleft behind, thus no one would ever know if an ancient civilization haddisappeared without a trace. That such things don’t happen is an assumption(and, admittedly, a fairly sound one, but an assumption nonetheless), so whenanyone starts arguing this point, they are unavoidably begging the question.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn140" name="_ftnref140" title="">[140]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn140" name="_ftnref140" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Aside frombeing a logical fallacy, though, the more damaging problem is that it arguesfrom silence. New “civilizations” are frequently being discovered, and theyturn out to be vast and impressive. Experts wonder how it was that nobody knewanything about these groups before. This is especially a problem in ancientAmerican archeology, where so little has been done when compared with Old World(and specifically Near Eastern and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Mediterranean)archaeology.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn141" name="_ftnref141" title="">[141]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn141" name="_ftnref141" title=""></a></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Suchdramatic discoveries underscore the problems of arguing from an absence ofevidence. All it takes is for a fool to get lost in the jungle (or desert) anda once lost civilization can be found. Mesoamerican archaeologist John E. Clarkobserves:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Given current means of verification, positive evidence ishere to stay, but negative items may prove to be positive ones in hiding.“Missing” evidence focuses further research, but it lacks the compellinglogical force in arguments because it represents the absence of informationrather than secure evidence.</span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn142" name="_ftnref142" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[142]</span></span></span></span></a><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Critics would prefer tofocus on the “missing” evidence, rather than pay attention to the evidence thatis actually available. This approach has not served them well, as the last 180years has seen several arguments made from silence have been pulled out from underthem; archaeological trends are favorable for the Book of Mormon.</span></span><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn143" name="_ftnref143" title="">[143]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn143" name="_ftnref143" title=""></a></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The problem is not so much that favorable “evidence” for the Bookof Mormon has not been found, but rather that researchers (including Latter-daySaints well versed in the Book of Mormon) lack sufficient information topositively identify them with absolute certainty.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The logical challenges with the firstassertion, that no “cities have been located,” are more subtle. Book of Mormoncities have been found, they are well known, and their artifacts grace thefinest museums. They are merely masked by archaeological labels such as “Maya,”“Olmec,” and so on. The problem, then, is not<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fbfbfb; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> </span>thatBook of Mormon artifacts have not been found, only that they have not beenrecognized for what they are. Again, if we stumbled onto Zarahemla, how wouldwe know? The difficulty is not with evidence but with epistemology.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn144" name="_ftnref144" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[144]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Numerous factors regardingthe current state of New World archaeology contribute to this problem. Thefirst is that the vast majority of <i>known </i>archeologicalsites have not been excavated.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn145" name="_ftnref145" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[145]</span></span></span></a>Furthermore, technologies, methodologies, and paradigms in many instances havechanged and improved since certain sites were last excavated, which elicits thequestion: What more could have been found if the researchers then had thesemore sophisticated tools?<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn146" name="_ftnref146" title="">[146]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn146" name="_ftnref146" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Compounding the problem isa significant lack of readable texts contemporary with Book of Mormon times,and a major discontinuity in place names.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn147" name="_ftnref147" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[147]</span></span></span></a>If such problems persisted in the Near East and Mediterranean, then biblicalhistory would be in just as bad of shape as that of the Book of Mormon.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn148" name="_ftnref148" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[148]</span></span></span></a>Even places and events from ancient texts known to be authentic have been notoriouslydifficult, and in some instances impossible, to verify archaeologically.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn149" name="_ftnref149" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[149]</span></span></span></a>Expecting the Book of Mormon to fare any better, especially when consideringthe fact that it is only available as a modern translation (thus, the sourcetext cannot be examined), is not very reasonable.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Another problem is theblending in of neighboring cultures. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">EvenChristians and Jews in the Old World can sometimes be hard to distinguish fromtheir pagan neighbors.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn150" name="_ftnref150" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[150]</span></span></span></a>“<span class="apple-style-span">In terms of their basicmaterial culture, the Hebrews and their Canaanite, Phoenician, and Aramaicneighbors are quite often archaeologically indistinguishable.”</span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn151" name="_ftnref151" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[151]</span></span></span></span></a><span class="apple-style-span"> </span>Why should theNephites, Lamanites, and Jaredites be any different? Certainly, differentcultures are not <i>completely</i>indistinguishable; in both the Old and New Worlds scholars have been able toidentify various cultures. But finding a specific culture group, such as theNephites, requires substantial information about their way of life, and theBook of Mormon, written for entirely different purposes, fails to provide thatkind of information. No archaeologist or anthropologist (that this author isaware of, at least) would be comfortable taking a modern translation of ahighly condensed record – which focuses on religious matters while givingprecious little information regarding material culture – and then using it as adefinitive guide to discovering and distinguishing a specific group of peoplefrom their various neighbors.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">None of this is to excuse the Book ofMormon from being supported by evidence, but rather to appropriately temperexpectations of what that evidence should be.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn152" name="_ftnref152" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[152]</span></span></span></a>Given the above complications, many critical expectations for Book of Mormonevidence are simply unreasonable standards at this point. Anytime one expects moreevidence than can reasonably be provided by currently available information,they are bound to be disappointed. <span class="apple-style-span"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">A Methodology forBook of Mormon Geography<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Although the locationof Book of Mormon lands cannot be determined with absolute certainty, Book ofMormon geography can be a worthy pursuit, and has the potential of yieldinggreater insights. While there is not space for a lengthy discussion of Book ofMormon geography, understanding the historical, cultural, and geographicalbackground to the text brings out meanings that are otherwise missing. Giveninformation surveyed in the past few weeks, this should be obvious. In order todo that for the remaining portion of the Book of Mormon, a general location forBook of Mormon events must be determined. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Before proceeding,readers should remember that, as previously discussed (see Lesson 1), there is no“official” or “revealed” geography. What is presented here is simply one pointof view among many.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn153" name="_ftnref153" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[153]</span></span></span></a> Other Latter-day Saintsare free to disagree with the setting chosen.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn154" name="_ftnref154" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[154]</span></span></span></a> Despite disagreements,it is hoped that all may be respectful and cordial.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">An Internal Map<o:p></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; John E.Clark has explained, “</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It has been my experience that most members of the Church of JesusChrist of Latter-day Saints, when confronted with a Book of Mormon geography,worry about the wrong things.” Clark continues:</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Almost invariably the first question thatarises is whether the geography fits the archaeology of the proposed area. Thisshould be our second question, the first being whether the geography fits thefacts of the Book of Mormon – a question we<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fbfbfb; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> </span>allcan answer without being versed in American archaeology. Only after a givengeography reconciles all of the significant geographic details given in theBook of Mormon does the question of archaeological and historical detail meritattention. The Book of Mormon must be the final and most important arbiter indeciding the correctness of a given geography; otherwise we will be foreverhostage to the shifting sands of expert opinion.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn155" name="_ftnref155" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[155]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It really should go without saying that any purported real worldlocation for the Book of Mormon must be consistent with the geographic detailsin the text. Brant Gardner adds, “the Book of Mormon is a real record of a realpeople who lived in real time.” Continuing: <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Therefore, water should be found where water is described.Mountains should exist where mountains are described. The relationships betweenwaterways, mountains, and valleys should fit within the proposed geography.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn156" name="_ftnref156" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[156]</span></span></span></a></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">John L. Sorenson, the preeminent Book of Mormon “geographer”explains: “The first place to seek for knowledge of the Book of Mormon contextis the book itself. Going back to the original is the basis of soundscholarship whenever anyone works with an ancient text.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn157" name="_ftnref157" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[157]</span></span></span></a> Later Sorenson wouldexplain, “</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Overall,over 550 verses in the Book of Mormon contain information of geographicalsignificance: the account is steeped with information about the where ofNephite events.”<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn158" name="_ftnref158" title="">[158]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn158" name="_ftnref158" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In order toassess real world locations in terms of all of these geographic passages in theBook of Mormon, researchers put together what is often called an “internal map”of Book of Mormon lands, which involves mapping out Book of Mormon events,irrespective of any real world location (so as to not allow a pet theory tocolor interpretation). Then, this map is compared to various real worldsettings to see if they “fit” reasonably well. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Our first task is to analyze from the text the key characteristicsof the lands described. This will produce a set of requirements. Any area inthe Americas proposed as the location of Book of Mormon events must match thesecriteria or else be judged mistaken. As we check the requirements againstportions of a real-world map, we must eliminate from consideration allterritories that seriously conflict with the requirements.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn159" name="_ftnref159" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[159]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7TmHGxhLu8s/ThZ5129jY0I/AAAAAAAAAAQ/bkqSGS0MSf4/s1600/Mormon%2527s+Map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7TmHGxhLu8s/ThZ5129jY0I/AAAAAAAAAAQ/bkqSGS0MSf4/s320/Mormon%2527s+Map.jpg" width="198" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Figure 5.3: </b>The internal maps of<br />Sorenson (above) and Clark (below)</span><b><br /></b></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Sorenson has puttogether the most comprehensive “internal map,” while Clark has also composedone which is fairly detailed (see figure 5.3).<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn160" name="_ftnref160" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[160]</span></span></span></a>While differing on a few minor points, both maps are remarkably similar, demonstratingthe consistency of the various passages related to Book of Mormon geography. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Given the rapid dictation of the Bookof Mormon (see Lesson 1), the mere fact that a coherent geography for theevents in the text can be constructed at all, aside from any real worldcorrelation, is in and of itself powerful evidence for the books authenticity.Remember that this involves hundreds of interrelated details, casuallyscattered throughout the text. Modern readers frequently struggle keeping thedetails straight, so it is hard to imagine Joseph Smith not only visualizingthese lands (of which he has never seen) but simultaneously keeping the booksvarious narratives and plot twists straight. That such an impressive internalconsistency exists on such secondary details begs to be explained. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/images/review/01_1989_07f.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/images/review/01_1989_07f.gif" width="223" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Impressive as it is, however, it isnot enough to have such a map. As noted by Gardner above, the text purports tobe a record of <i>real</i> people livingsomewhere within the <i>real</i> world.Thus, there must be a location consistent with those geographic features.Sorenson explains: <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Building an internally consistent map is but the firststep. Next we must match up Book of Mormon lands and rivers and mountains withactual places, location for location, as scholars have done for much of theinformation in the Bible. Short of that, Book of Mormon events will remain ingeographic limbo; we would have only a make-believe map.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn161" name="_ftnref161" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[161]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">When using this internal map method, hundreds of criteria areput together as a check on any geographic proposal. When the map is compared tothe real world, only one location survives: Mesoamerica (see figure 5.4).<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn162" name="_ftnref162" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[162]</span></span></span></a> If simply having aconsistent geography is impressive evidence for the genuine historical natureof the text, then fitting that to a real world locale which Joseph Smith wouldnot have been familiar with only compounds the problem for critics:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Book of Mormon account isremarkably consistent throughout…We notice that the configuration of lands,seas, mountains, and other natural features in Mesoamerica are a tight fit withthe internal requirements of the text. It is important to stress that findingany sector in the Americas that fits Book of Mormon specifications requiresdealing with hundreds of mutually dependent variables. So rather than countinga credible geography as one correspondence, it actually counts for severalhundred. The probability of guessing reams of details all correctly is zero.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn163" name="_ftnref163" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[163]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Once this correlation has been made,then the evaluation can move on to other important details pertaining toarchaeology, or more specifically, what archaeology provides about the historyand culture of that area (Clark’s “second question”). It is important not toget caught up in thinking, however, that the history of the area must parallelthe history in the text, and have no other trends or developments. Remember,the Book of Mormon peoples lived among others (see Lesson 1), but they onlyconcerned themselves with the events that were affecting them. Thus, as BrantGardner has observed, “The text must fit into the history, not vice versa.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn164" name="_ftnref164" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[164]</span></span></span></a>In other words, the historical trends described in the Book of Mormon need tofit – but not necessarily <i>represent</i> –the historical trends of Mesoamerica. Mesoamerican historical cycles,therefore, would represent a broader historical context in which the Book ofMormon history would be a part of. Clark has shown that these cycles do in factcorrelate.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn165" name="_ftnref165" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[165]</span></span></span></a>Clark also shows that numerous archaeological and cultural details fit theMesoamerican setting.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn166" name="_ftnref166" title="">[166]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn166" name="_ftnref166" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://byustudies.byu.edu/book_of_mormon_charts/charts/160.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://byustudies.byu.edu/book_of_mormon_charts/charts/160.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Figure 5.4: </b>The basics of&nbsp;Sorenson's proposed Book of Mormon Geography.<br /><b>Image Source: </b>Welch and Welch, <i>Charting the Book of Mormon</i>, 160 (taken<br />from Sorenson, <i>An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon</i>).</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Directions in the Text and the Real World<o:p></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; While thefit is indeed remarkable, one thing that has remained problematic isdirections. Brant Gardner remarks “</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">we have a correlation of geography that fits extremely wellexcept when we come to the terms north, south, east, and west.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn167" name="_ftnref167" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[167]</span></span></span></a></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Sorensonand others have addressed this issue in various ways. The challenge ofdirections that Sorenson’s model leads to is what drives even some Mesoamericanadvocates to dismiss Sorenson’s methodology in favor of alternative approaches.Sorenson has acknowledged the issue of directions, though never fullyconfronted it.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn168" name="_ftnref168" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[168]</span></span></span></a> That is, while Sorensonhas noted that directions are not as expected, and has offer the explanationthat directions are cultural constructs, he has never offered an explanationfor how it was that the Book of Mormon authors conceptualized directions orwhat justifies the apparent “shift” required for his model to fit.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn169" name="_ftnref169" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[169]</span></span></span></a> No attempt will be madeto resolve this issue here, but a few possible explanations will be mentionedalong with a few things that ought to be kept in mind.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; First,things that ought to be kept in mind:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo9; text-indent: -.25in;"></div><ol><li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">1.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">As Sorenson andothers have incessantly explained (all to the deaf ears of critics), directionsare largely cultural constructs.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn170" name="_ftnref170" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[170]</span></span></span></a> As such, moderndirectional systems should not be imposed on the Book of Mormon (which, as atranslation, necessarily uses modern directional labels). Because thedirectional system in the Book of Mormon, whatever it may be, is internallyconsistent, this is a non-issue while constructing the internal map. Whenattempting to relate that map to the real world, however, how the directionalsystem relates to modern cardinal directions becomes a relevant issue. Ofcourse, this does not excuse Sorenson from attempting to resolve thisdifficulty (for which he should be held accountable), but it is something thatshould be taken into consideration, though it is constantly neglected by thecritics.</span></li></ol><br /><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo9; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo9; text-indent: -.25in;"></div><ol><li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">2.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Another problem isthe map perspective vs. the on-the-ground perspective. Modern readers get themap perspective, while the ancient travelers and writers only had anon-the-ground perspective. Brant Gardner explains this problem: “</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">No matter which map we use, the veryfact that we are looking at a map distorts our perception of Nephite perceptualorientation. Our maps take a birds-eye view, and often a literal satellite viewof the land we are interested in. Therefore, our understanding of directions isbased upon a perception of the world that takes in a quantity of informationthat would have been unavailable in ancient Mesoamerica.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn171" name="_ftnref171" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[171]</span></span></span></a>Larry Poulsen adds that ancient peoples “looked at things from a personalviewpoint of how they were related to the immediate world around them ratherthan their location on a global map of the world.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn172" name="_ftnref172" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[172]</span></span></span></a>Precise directional statements are always difficult without a map,<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn173" name="_ftnref173" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[173]</span></span></span></a>but have been notoriously so in Mesoamerica, where a travelers view of the sunis often obscured by the jungle canopy.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn174" name="_ftnref174" title="">[174]</a></span></span></span></span></li></ol><br /><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo9; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo9; text-indent: -.25in;"></div><ol><li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">3.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">It should also be remembered that theNephite directional system (whatever it may have been) was started by afounding generation that had just left their homeland, leaving behind thecultural framework and landscape which had informed their previous sense ofdirection, and sailed across a huge body of water to get to the promised land. Themodern reader should not be surprised then when the travelers now findthemselves somewhat disoriented by this new landscape, and consequently end upskewing their sense of direction somewhat.</span></li></ol><br /><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo9; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Given thesedifficulties, readers should not be surprised to find that the Book of Mormondirectional system is somewhat different from their own. Directions of travelin 1 Nephi correlate nicely to the cardinal directions because they were stillin the Old World and could easily orient themselves using their Israelitedirectional system, and the clear view of the sun which the desert landscape graciouslyprovides unhindered. But after breaking from that cultural backdrop with a longjourney across the ocean into a new and very different terrain, the people hadto find new ways to conceptualize directions, or find ways to apply the oldconcepts to the new surroundings. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">This leads to a fewpossible explanations for the directional anomalies in the Sorenson model:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;"></div><ol><li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">1.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">One way that theancient Israelites oriented themselves was by turning their backs to theMediterranean Sea (which was essentially equivalent to “west” on the moderncompass). Thus <i>yam</i> (sea) was “west”and <i>quedem</i> (front, fore) was “east,”while <i>yamin</i> (right, right hand) was“south” and <i>semol</i> (left, left hand)was “north.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn175" name="_ftnref175" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[175]</span></span></span></a>While the sun also contributed to this orientation, Sorenson explains that thiswas sometimes ignored in practice:</span></li></ol><br /><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Other Semiticlanguages than Hebrew followed similar logic, although their physical settingssometimes confused the model. For example, the Assyrians referred to thePersian Gulf as “the sea of the rising sun,” when actually it wassouth-southeast from them.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn176" name="_ftnref176" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[176]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Thus, if Lehi’sfamily landed somewhere on the Pacific Coast of Mesoamerica south of theIsthmus of Tehuantepec, then the <i>yam</i>,the “sea” that would become their natural marker for “west” would become thePacific Ocean, and therefore toward the Pacific Ocean would be <i>yamah</i>, “seaward” or “westward,” and therest of their directions would naturally follow suit.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn177" name="_ftnref177" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[177]</span></span></span></a> Thus their directionalsystem would have been skewed by their new environment.&nbsp; Sorenson makes this somewhat ironicobservation:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">In the absence of a conscious group decision to shift thesense of their Hebrew direction terms by 45 degrees or more, the little groupof colonists would have fallen into a new directional language pattern as theirSemitic-language model encountered the new setting.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn178" name="_ftnref178" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[178]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">This could veryeasily be what happened to Lehi’s party. This simple, unconscious shift intheir Israelite directions would accommodate for directional difficulties inSorenson’s model.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn179" name="_ftnref179" title="">[179]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn179" name="_ftnref179" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;"></div><ol><li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">2.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">William J. Hamblinhas presented a potential solution based on the linguistic mixing of Hebrew andEgyptian that the Book of Mormon hints at (see Lesson 2). Hamblin adds to theexplanation offered by Sorenson regarding Israelite directions by noting thatthe orientation was also anchored to the rising sun, and that another term usedfor west was <i>anchor</i>, “back.” Theirdirectional system could thus be expressed as: “east” = “front”; “south” =“right”; “north” = “left”; and “west” = “back.” But the Egyptians orientatedthemselves to the Nile, thus “face,” or “front” was “south”; “back” or “back ofthe head” was “north”; “east” was “left” while “west” was “right.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn180" name="_ftnref180" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[180]</span></span></span></a></span></li></ol><br /><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Thus the Hebrew orientationis shifted 90 degrees from the Egyptian. The Hebrew word for<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>west</i><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(rear) has the same basic meaning as<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fbfbfb; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> </span>Egyptian<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>north</i><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(back of the head); Hebrew<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>east</i><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(front) equals Egyptian<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>south</i><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(face); Hebrew<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>north</i><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(left) matches Egyptian<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>east<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></i>(left); with Hebrew<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>south</i><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(right) being Egyptian<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>west</i><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(right).</span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn181" name="_ftnref181" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[181]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The land to the west(“westward”) may have been conceptualized (through the Hebrew lens) as the“land backward,” but when written in Egyptian. This would translate moreliterally as “land northward.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn182" name="_ftnref182" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[182]</span></span></span></a> Hamblin explains:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">If Nephi used the Egyptian terms with Hebrew meanings in mind, andif Joseph Smith then translated those terms literally, a remarkable coincidence<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fbfbfb; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> </span>occurs. In the Hebrew (and modern) conceptof directions,<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>land westward</i><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Hebrew rear) would have been writtenin Egypto-Nephite characters as<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>landnorthward</i><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Egyptian behind),and<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>land eastward</i><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Hebrew front) would have been writtenin Egypto-Nephite as<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>landsouthward </i>(Egyptian<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fbfbfb; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> </span>front). Inother words, the conceptual geography of the Hebrew universe must be“distorted” in relation to the Egyptian vocabulary in precisely the way thatNephite geography seems “distorted” in relation to Mesoamerica.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn183" name="_ftnref183" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[183]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">While this odd explanationmay seem untenable, it would not be without precedent in the ancient world. “SuchNephite behavior would parallel the way the Egyptians dealt with the problem offitting their conceptual scheme to strange landscapes encountered when theytraveled outside Egypt. They did not change their world view to fit the newgeographical facts but simply kept the same terminology.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn184" name="_ftnref184" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[184]</span></span></span></a>This possible linguistic twist would likewise accommodate for the directionaldifficulties of the Sorenson model.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;"></div><ol><li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">3.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">While the potentialsolutions discussed by Sorenson and Hamblin relied on Old World directionalconcepts getting skewed or distorted by their new environment, Larry Poulsenand Brant Gardner have suggested that Mesoamerican directional systems may helpexplain the problem. Mesoamericans oriented themselves using the rising of thesun as “east,” but their conception has a unique nuance. Poulsen explains:</span></li></ol><br /><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">As far back as the Olmec andthe Aztecs we find that the Pre-Columbians thought of their land as a<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>rectangle bounded by four cornerswhich were determined<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>by drawinglines from the center to the corners which were in<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>line with the position of the risingand setting sun at the<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>summer andwinter solstices.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn185" name="_ftnref185" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[185]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The lines thus formedan “x” rather than the “+” that modern readers are accustomed to. Furthermore,directional labels did not go with the specific points on the grid, but rather“east” would be the range of space between sunrise on the summer solstice andsunrise on the winter solstice, and “west” was the range between sunset at eachof the solstices. “North” and “south” thus become the ranges to the left andright of suns pathway through the sky, and although they would take up moreconceptual space, they were less important and therefore less precise than theeast and west quadrants.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn186" name="_ftnref186" title="">[186]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn186" name="_ftnref186" title=""></a></span> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Poulsen applies thisdirectional concept to the proposed Mesoamerican setting for the Book ofMormon, centering the “x” on Zarahemla. This helps resolve some of theproblems, but Poulsen still has to make some adaptations of Sorenson’sgeography because they still don’t seem to fit. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Building on Poulsen’swork, Gardner has pointed out that the “</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Mesoamericancultural understanding was not only different, but differed slightly from onecommunity to the next.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn187" name="_ftnref187" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[187]</span></span></span></a>Thus by centering the directional axis on a specific point, such as Zarahemla,creates a universalized concept of directions that didn’t exist among thepeople. Gardner resolves this problem by moving the “x” around based on wherethe context seems to suggest directions are being given from. Gardner explainshow two specific shifts can explain how the Book of Mormon labels the “east”and “west” seas. The first is the shift to the city of Nephi:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Theoriginal Nephite center point was not Zarahemla, but the City of Nephi. Thatcity was, in their terminology, south of Zarahemla. Moving the center point tothe City of Nephi [in Sorenson’s model] gives us a different picture ofdirections… From that vantage point, the Nephites would have the option ofnaming the Pacific the west sea or the south sea. Because the importantdirections were east and west and north and south afterthoughts, it isculturally logical that they consider the Pacific the western sea.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn188" name="_ftnref188" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[188]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Flanked now by awestern sea, they moved further northward, but remained close enough tomaintain awareness of this body of water, and thus would continue to maintainit as the “west sea.” The next shift Gardner makes is by moving the “x” toBountiful:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Ifwe take Sorenson’s correlation and place the center of the ‘x’ anywhere in theland of Bountiful, then the Gulf of Mexico becomes acceptable as an ‘east sea.’Of course, most of it might also qualify to be called ‘north.’ I hypothesizethat because the Nephites had a continuous knowledge of their west sea fromboth the land of Nephi and the land of Zarahemla (as well as closer to thenarrow neck) that this sea maintained its designation as the west sea. Thus,when they had to describe a sea from the position of Bountiful, the optionswere an east sea or perhaps a north sea. Because their perception of the worldso strongly favored east as a direction (with many Mesoamerican culturesvirtually ignoring the north), I suggest that it was the cultural dominance ofthe east, paralleled to an existing west sea that yielded the designation forthe east sea.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn189" name="_ftnref189" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[189]</span></span></span></a> <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The name of the seascan thus be logically explained by the cultural dominance of the east-westdirectional range combined with local perceptions.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Gardner also makesnote of how local peoples defined the “north” and how it might help explain thelands northward and southward in Sorenson’s model. Gardner reports the“definition” of north as described by a native, who explained that to looknorth, they would stand with their “</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">lefthand toward where the sun goes down.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn190" name="_ftnref190" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[190]</span></span></span></a>Reminding the reader of the “x” shape of the axis, Gardner then explains that“if one were to stand with their right hand to the sun’s rising on the summersolstice, one would be looking ‘north,’ and that north corresponds quite nicelyto the north that Sorenson has suggested.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn191" name="_ftnref191" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[191]</span></span></span></a>By implication, south would be behind them, which would also correlate wellwith Sorenson’s model. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">This Mesoamerican solution is not so sweetand simple as the solutions of Sorenson and Hamblin discussed above. Without adoubt, it is somewhat messy, complicated, and nuanced, and though it has thepotential to resolve some things, it still leaves some difficulties. But giventhat the first directions (after the Arabian journey) are not provided untilMosiah 7:5, when the people would have been well entrenched into the greaterMesoamerican culture, it is likely that Poulsen and Gardner are headed in theright direction.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;"></div><ol><li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">4.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">As one last point, sometimes certainregions or territories come to be designated with a directional label, and isthus called by that designation, regardless of whether it is to a person’snorth, south, east, or west.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn192" name="_ftnref192" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[192]</span></span></span></a>Thus, in some cases it may not be a matter of finding a “directional system”that can accommodate for that relationship, but simply understanding that“east” or “west” was a fixed label for a certain territory.&nbsp; For example, John L. Sorenson points out thatToltec’s and other native peoples called the lowland territory near the Isthmusof Tehuantepec and the Gulf of Mexico “the East,” thus the Spanish Chroniclerswould record statements like “In the lands to the north, that is, ‘in theEast’…”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn193" name="_ftnref193" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[193]</span></span></span></a>This is consistent with the observation made by Andrew J. McDonald in his Ph.Ddissertation. McDonald notes that natives termed the Gulf of Mexico the “EastSea,” regardless of whether they were in northern Mexico (where it actuallywould be east), on the southern Gulf coast (where it would be north, and thearea relevant to Sorenson’s geography), or the Yucatan Peninsula (where itwould actually be west). The Pacific Ocean on the opposite side of the isthmuswas likewise called the “West Sea” regardless of the directional relationshipin any given location.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn194" name="_ftnref194" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[194]</span></span></span></a>“In the center of the land, then, around the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, west is onthe pacific side and east is on the southern Gulf coast area.”<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn195" name="_ftnref195" title="">[195]</a></span></span></span></span></li></ol><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">These geographical designations (whichdo not necessarily match any actual <i>directions</i>)coincide with Sorenson’s model for Book of Mormon geography. If McDonald iscorrect, then such designations may be as much a part of the solution to the“directional problem” as any given “directional system” is. Book of Mormonpeoples, as part of the greater Mesoamerican culture, may have adopted thesedesignations.</span></blockquote><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">As can be seen, there are a number ofpotential solutions to the directional issue, which do not necessitate changingor modifying Sorenson’s correlation, which is important since modifications tothe model – frequently made for the sake of directions – often require creativereinterpretation of the passages in the text relevant to geography.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Faithful-CriticalApproaches to the “Internal Map” Method<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><u><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn196" name="_ftnref196" title="">[196]</a></span></u></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn196" name="_ftnref196" title=""></a></span></span></u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><u><br /></u></span></span></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; As indicated, some have disagreedwith this approach to Book of Mormon geographies, offered their critiques, andproposed alternative methods. Brief examination of two of thesecritiques/alternatives will be made here.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ted Dee Stoddard is another Book ofMormon geographer who also believes that the Book of Mormon took place inMesoamerica. Nevertheless, he disagrees with the Clark-Sorenson approach ofstarting with an internal map. Instead, what Stoddard suggests is a somethinghe calls a “criteria-based” approach to Book of Mormon geography, wherein hesuggests that the reader start with non-geographic criteria to first identifythe right land. Stoddard writes:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I agree that the<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><b>first step<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></b>in locating lands of the Book ofMormon in the New World involves an examination of what the book itselfsays—but<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>not<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></i>what the book says aboutgeography.<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><b>What does it sayabout criteria other than geography that we might use in our search for thelocation of the book’s New World lands?</b><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn197" name="_ftnref197" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-size: 12pt;">[197]</span></span></span></a><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Stoddardthen goes on to propose the following four non-geographic criteria for Book ofMormon lands:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 115%; mso-list: l11 level1 lfo12; text-indent: -.25in;"></div><ol><li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">1.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Evidence for <i>high-level written language</i> contemporary to Book of Mormon times.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">2.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">The area must reflect <i>two high civilizations</i> contemporary toJaredites and Nephites/Lamanites.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">3.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><i style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Archaeologicaldating</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> of sites must beconfirmed as contemporary to Book of Mormon times.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">4.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span><i style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">HistoricalEvidence</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;"> must beconsistent with the Book of Mormon.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn198" name="_ftnref198" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[198]</span></span></span></a></span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Stoddardthen states:</span></li></ol><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">My contention here is that any territory being proposed asthe location of the New World lands of the Book of Mormon must satisfy<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>all four nongeographic criticalcriteria</i>. Failure to meet any one of the four by a proposed territoryshould automatically disqualify that territory from further consideration.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn199" name="_ftnref199" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[199]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Stoddard then proceedsto compare the Heartland setting and the Mesoamerican setting using these fourstandards, and finds that the Mesoamerican setting is the one that holds up. Accordingto Stoddard, “Whennongeographic critical criteria… are applied to all potential territories asprospective New World locations of the lands of the Book of Mormon, the onlyterritory that meets all requirements is Mesoamerica.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn200" name="_ftnref200" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[200]</span></span></span></a>Thus, Stoddard feels that once this correct identification has been made, thereader should then move on to geographic criteria, but adds that “<span style="color: #1a1919;">the land has a right to dictate geography…<b> Once wehave identified the overall location of the New World lands of the Book ofMormon, we should then let the land itself help us with the geography of theBook of Mormon.</b>”<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn201" name="_ftnref201" title="">[201]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn201" name="_ftnref201" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #1a1919;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Stoddard is positively correct that if the Book ofMormon lands could be known with certainty, then that would help significantlyin understanding the textual information about geography, and may even turn outto yield new meanings for some geographical phrases that researchers at presentdo not consider. The problem with Stoddard’s approach is that when the land “dictates”geography, then the textual clues can be manipulated to fit any number ofgeographic locations – as the numerous different models of Book of Mormongeography attest. While Stoddard feels this problem is avoided by using hisnon-geographic criteria first, the truth is that Stoddard has committed thevery error Clark has warned against – worrying about “</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">whether the geography fitsthe archaeology of the proposed area,” thus making himself “forever hostage tothe shifting sands of expert opinion.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn202" name="_ftnref202" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[202]</span></span></span></a>Clark, a seasoned archeologist, knows that the single turn of a spade canchange everything, but geographic features – mountains, valleys, rivers, seas,etc. – are permanent features of the landscape. In laying the groundwork forBook of Mormon geography, readers would be well-advised to use the moreenduring traits and then building on that solid ground. While Stoddard’s fournon-geographic criteria narrow the field down to one territory now, whathappens if those four features are dug up somewhere else? These criteria areimportant, and provide evidence that Mesoamerica is indeed the right place, butStoddard is trying to ask the second question first. The internal map methodholds the same advantage as Stoddard’s “criteria-based” approach – it narrowsdown the options to only one territory – but also holds the advantages that itwill (a) <i>always</i> eliminate all otherlocations, regardless of what other archaeological finds may later be made, and(b) it also eliminates all but one model – Sorenson’s. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">When Stoddard says “</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">onereason we have so much confusion today about identifying the New World locationof Book of Mormon lands can be attributed to the first step followed by mostreaders and scholars,”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn203" name="_ftnref203" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-size: 12pt;">[203]</span></span></span></a> he is absolutely correct;but this isn’t because <i>no one</i> istaking the right first-step, but rather because <i>everyone</i> is taking a <i>different</i>first-step (Stoddard mentions five). The solution is not to propose yet <i>another</i> first-step, but instead to getmore people taking the most obvious and logical first-step – gathering all thegeographic information possible and putting it together into a coherent map, sothat the information can then be used comprehensively to assess possible realworld locations. It should be obvious that comprehensive comparison ofgeography with the interlocking geographic data of the text is the <i>best</i> method. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Stoddard’scriticism that by doing this, Sorenson’s setting himself up as “the ultimateauthority”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn204" name="_ftnref204" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-size: 12pt;">[204]</span></span></span></a>in his method is somewhat justified. Constructing internal maps requires adegree of interpretation, which may vary from reader to reader.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn205" name="_ftnref205" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-size: 12pt;">[205]</span></span></span></a> Still, this could beresolved if more people would take the time to study and construct their owninternal maps (irrespective of any real world location, and any previous map),critique the suggested internal maps of others, and otherwise contribute to thehammering out the details. Thus, no one person would become the “ultimateauthority,” but rather all people working to better understand the text wouldbe making the text itself the “ultimate authority.” Sorenson himself hassuggested that such a vetting of the internal data should be going on byinterested scholars, and it should be happening before any attempt to correlatethe internal map with the real world.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn206" name="_ftnref206" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-size: 12pt;">[206]</span></span></span></a> Again, the problem isgetting all scholars and enthusiasts interested in Book of Mormon geographyworking from the same page – and the right page. Once that is done, much of theconfusion would dissipate and some serious progress could be made.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">RodneyL. Meldrum has also tried to place all the confusion over Book of Mormongeography on the lap of the internal map method. After explaining the internalmap method, which he notes was “outlined and established by Dr. John L.Sorenson,”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn207" name="_ftnref207" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-size: 12pt;">[207]</span></span></span></a>Meldrum quotes from Sorenson’s <i>Mormon’sMap</i> where he notes that at least 80 different Book of Mormon maps have beenproduced, and further quotes Sorenson that this has resulted in seriousconfusion. Meldrum then ups the number of different “hypothetical maps” to 150and then asks: “How well is this method working?”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn208" name="_ftnref208" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-size: 12pt;">[208]</span></span></span></a> He follows this up withanother question: “If the Book of Mormon had sufficient geographic informationto positively produce a cohesive internal map, why would there exist so manydifferent geographies?”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn209" name="_ftnref209" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-size: 12pt;">[209]</span></span></span></a> The obvious insinuationis that the internal map method is responsible for this confusion and is thereforeseriously flawed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Meldrumhas played fast and loose with the facts here. First, consider the quote fromSorenson which Meldrum uses regarding the number of different “maps” and theresulting confusion:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">At least eighty versions of a Book of Mormon map havebeen produced.<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><b>Most start with the writer confidentlyidentifying some American area as the center where the Nephites lived and thendistributing cities, lands, or other features named in the text to more or lessagree with the original “solution.”</b> Ideas have ranged from identifying thepromised land as the entire hemisphere to limiting the scene to a small portionof, say, Costa Rica or New York. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Few of thesewriters have been knowledgeable about the range of elements that would go intoa comprehensive and critical statement of the geography (such as languagedistributions, ecological zones, or archaeological finds).</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> The result has beentremendous confusion and a plethora of notions that holds no promise ofproducing a consensus.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn210" name="_ftnref210" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[210]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Meldrum presents this information on two different slides, and thetext (which is all part of the same paragraph in Sorenson’s book) has beendivided to reflect the two slides used. <b>Bold</b>text is the portions omitted by Meldrum. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Note that on the firstslide, the middle sentence is omitted, and this <i>without </i>any ellipses to indicate that some information is missing.This omitted sentence makes it clear that the 80 Book of Mormon maps Sorensonis referring to are <i>not</i> all based offof the internal map method. In fact, it states just the opposite, with “moststart[ing]” not by creating an internal map, but rather “with the writerconfidently identifying some American area” as Book of Mormon lands, “and thendistributing cities, lands, or other features named in the text to more or lessagree with the original ‘solution’.” This would be more akin to a different oneof the five approaches identified by Stoddard: “</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Choose an obviousgeographic landmark, such as the Hill Cumorah in upstate New York, and thenattempt to associate all other Book of Mormon geographic pointers with thatselection.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn211" name="_ftnref211" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-size: 12pt;">[211]</span></span></span></a>These eighty maps, the reader will find by following Sorenson’s footnote,<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn212" name="_ftnref212" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-size: 12pt;">[212]</span></span></span></a> include the seventy mapsSorenson examines in his source book on Book of Mormon geography.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn213" name="_ftnref213" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-size: 12pt;">[213]</span></span></span></a> This volume includesbasically every notable geography constructed up to that point, including sixteenthat were made <i>before</i> 1938, when thefirst internal map was constructed.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn214" name="_ftnref214" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-size: 12pt;">[214]</span></span></span></a> Furthermore,twenty-eight of the proposals pre-date Sorenson’s work, which is significant ifhe was the one who “outlined and established” the method being critiqued.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn215" name="_ftnref215" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-size: 12pt;">[215]</span></span></span></a> In total (out of the70), nine of these are internal maps that had never been correlated to realworld settings, while 50 are external only, meaning there was never an initialattempt at making an internal map to use in correlating the real world setting.The grand total, then, of maps following the Sorenson internal to externalmethod is 11 (further breakdown of these eleven can be found below). Sorenson’ssource book outlines the history and development of Book of Mormon geography; thus,many of the 80 “maps” Sorenson is referring to do not represent <i>currently </i>competing<i> </i>models, but rather the over-time development of Book of Mormongeography as a “discipline” (if you could call it that), and the vast majorityare <i>not</i> real-world correlations <i>based</i> off of an initial internal map(internal-external maps).<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn216" name="_ftnref216" title="">[216]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn216" name="_ftnref216" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It isunclear how Meldrum gets to 150 (he offers no sources), but it is safe to saythat not all of these are real-world correlations based off of an initialinternal map either. First, a sound assumption is that this 150 is meant toencompass the 80 originally mentioned by Sorenson. Second, it is still doubtfulthat many (if <i>any</i>) of the additional70 that Meldrum counts follow this approach. While there are early internalmaps that differ from Sorenson’s and Clark’s (though they all have the crucial“hourglass” shape), this method seems (so far as this author is aware, atleast) to have culminated with the Sorenson model, which is based off of themost comprehensive internal map constructed to date. With all that in mind,consider Meldrum’s questions again: <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">“How well is this method working?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It isworking quite well, actually. As noted above, out of the 70 models underconsideration by Sorenson (the only models that can be compared, since Meldrumgives his viewers no way to track down the additional 70 models he claims tohave uncovered), only 11 follow this method, but even that number is aninflation. Eight of those 11 are only “minimal” either in their development intotal, or in their correlation to the real world. For example, one is the mapby J.A. and J.N. Washburn (1939), which provides a detailed internal map, butmakes only occasional and scattered reference to the real world, making nosystematic effort at finding the real world location of Book of Mormon lands.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn217" name="_ftnref217" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-size: 12pt;">[217]</span></span></span></a> Two are based on ThomasStuart Ferguson’s efforts (Ferguson 1947 and Ferguson/Hunter 1950) and are solimited (in both their internal and external efforts) that they are listed as“skeletal.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn218" name="_ftnref218" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-size: 12pt;">[218]</span></span></span></a>Thus, when it comes to relatively detailed internal-external correlations, onlythree different models have been proposed. Of those three, one (Birrell 1948)is pre-Sorenson, and is not currently promoted or advocated by any seriousresearchers.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn219" name="_ftnref219" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-size: 12pt;">[219]</span></span></span></a>Another is, of course, the Sorenson model. This leaves only one post-Sorensoninternal-external model to compete with Sorenson’s, that of F. Richard Hauck.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn220" name="_ftnref220" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-size: 12pt;">[220]</span></span></span></a> Hauck’s model, however,was shown to be defective through meticulous comparison to the internal detailsby John E. Clark.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn221" name="_ftnref221" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-size: 12pt;">[221]</span></span></span></a> Clark notes:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">When I read Hauck’s treatment of this issuein his reconstruction of the geography, it differed in detail so greatly fromhow I read those passages that it motivated me to do exactly what he urges hisreaders to do – to read all the geographical passages in the Book of Mormon<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;…</span> The internal reconstruction ofNephite geography described below is significantly different from that proposedby Hauck, but in substantial agreement with that described by Sorenson… Hauck’s<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fbfbfb; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> </span>listing of references has been selected tofit his view of the geography; the subheadings and listings are based manytimes on his assumptions and inferences. More importantly, many criticalreferences are inexplicably absent (and in several instances they are thosewhich discuss distances between cities and places which cannot be reconciledwithin his geography).<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn222" name="_ftnref222" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[222]</span></span></span></a></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://byustudies.byu.edu/book_of_mormon_charts/charts/149.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://byustudies.byu.edu/book_of_mormon_charts/charts/149.jpg" width="231" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Figure 5.5: </b>Summary criteria for Book of<br />Mormon geography according to John Clark<br /><b>Image Source: </b>Welch and Welch, <i>Charting<br />the Book of Mormon</i>, 149.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">At the end of his review, Clark provides tensummary points (see figure 5.5) and then compares both Hauck’s and Sorenson’smodels against these points. Sorenson’s passes in every instance, while Hauck’sfails nine of them, and gets a question mark for the one remaining.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn223" name="_ftnref223" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-size: 12pt;">[223]</span></span></span></a> Thus, up to this point,only one model has survived the test of a comprehensive internal map.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn224" name="_ftnref224" title="">[224]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn224" name="_ftnref224" title=""></a></span> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">“If the Book of Mormon had sufficientgeographic information to positively produce a cohesive internal map, why wouldthere exist so many different geographies?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The real answer to this question should beplain and obvious at this point: because not everybody is following, or hasfollowed, this method.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn225" name="_ftnref225" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-size: 12pt;">[225]</span></span></span></a> A further answer toMeldrum’s second question is explained by what he chose to omit from his secondslide. The “confusion” is not the result of different people all carefullyfollowing the sound methodology, but the general ignorance of the relevanttopics on the part of those who venture into Book of Mormon geography. Sorensonfurther explains elsewhere, “For the external world, we cannot substituteknowledge of scripture for knowledge of climate, topography, hydrography, etc…Most people offering models show they have limited knowledge of that world.”<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn226" name="_ftnref226" title="">[226]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn226" name="_ftnref226" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Inshort, in his attempted critique of the Sorenson method (from internal toexternal), Meldrum has failed to properly distinguish between the variousapproaches used in different geography proposals, and instead lays the heap ofconfusion on the matter at the feet of the one approach that has resulted in a sound,strong correlation between the text and the real world. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Meldrumthen sets the stage for presenting his own, new method by quoting George Q.Cannon, who stated that the Book of Mormon “was not written to teachgeographical truths.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn227" name="_ftnref227" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-size: 12pt;">[227]</span></span></span></a> Meldrum’s new method,therefore, is to use the scriptures “for the purposes for which they werepreserved.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn228" name="_ftnref228" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-size: 12pt;">[228]</span></span></span></a>And “What were these purposes?” Meldrum asks. The prophecies and promises!Meldrum thus proposes that the prophecies concerning the promised land be usedto determine Book of Mormon geography. “Should the proposed method use thegeographical passages over the spiritual passages?” Meldrum says, “This doesn’tmake sense.”<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn229" name="_ftnref229" title="">[229]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn229" name="_ftnref229" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Actually,it is Meldrum’s method that doesn’t make sense. While Meldrum tries to take thehigh road with his rhetoric about using the Book of Mormon for the what isreally for, the truth is neither Meldrum, nor Sorenson, nor anyone else whoengages in Book of Mormon geography, is using the text for “what it is reallyfor.” In fact, Meldrum’s method of using passages with spiritual content todetermine geographical settings is far guiltier of not using the scriptures fortheir true purpose. Spiritual passages should be used for spiritual purposes(in fact, <i>all</i> passages should be usedfor spiritual purposes…even those with geographical content). If geography isthe purpose for going to the text, then the <i>only</i>logical thing to do would be to read the geographical content. Not only isMeldrum using the passages for the wrong purpose, however, but as noted inbefore (see Lesson 4), he is failing to take into account the Nephiteconception of the “promised land.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">NeitherMeldrum nor Stoddard have provided a viable alternative to the internal mapmethod, nor have they been successful in their effort to critique this method.Thus, the internal map method of Sorenson and Clark (and consequently theSorenson model) remains the most sound approach to Book of Mormon geography.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Lehi’sLanding</span></i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; “Supposingthe geographical and cultural setting laid out…is sound, we can now put eventsinto the setting.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn230" name="_ftnref230" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-size: 12pt;">[230]</span></span></span></a> Nephi tells his readerthat they arrived in the promised land and pitched their tents, probably nearthe seashore (see 1 Nephi 18:23). Later Nephites called this the “</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">the place of their fathers’ firstinheritance” (Alma 22:28). The clues in the text suggest that this “land offirst inheritance” (as scholars today are wont to call it) was along thewestern shore, and was the furthest location south in the geography of Book ofMormon events.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn231" name="_ftnref231" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[231]</span></span></span></a>Thus Sorenson postulates that “the southernmost portion of Guatemala’s Pacificcoast or adjacent El Salvador is most likely where Lehi’s party landed andfirst settled.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn232" name="_ftnref232" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[232]</span></span></span></a>Here, the “climate favored rapid crop growth,”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn233" name="_ftnref233" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[233]</span></span></span></a>(see 1 Nephi 18:23) and the lifestyle of the natives who lived there isconsistent with Nephi’s (and Enos’s) later descriptions of the Lamanites, whostayed in the land of first inheritance while Nephi and his group fled north.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn234" name="_ftnref234" title="">[234]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn234" name="_ftnref234" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; One popular tradition amongLatter-day Saints is that Lehi landed in Chile. The origins of this traditionstems from a statement, written in the handwriting of Fredrick G. Williams (acounselor to Joseph Smith in the First Presidency), believed by some to be arevelation from Joseph Smith. “There is no solid historical evidence, however,attributing this statement to Joseph, let alone to revelation, and theassumption that such information was received by revelation is inconsistentwith other evidence.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn235" name="_ftnref235" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[235]</span></span></span></a>The best evidence suggests it was not first attributed to Joseph Smith until1882, which is also the earliest attestation of it being called a “revelation.”This attribution was already being doubted by B.H. Roberts in 1909, and otherevidence contradicts the assertion. For instance, in 1842 (approximately adecade after the statement is believed to have been written [1829-1833]), the <i>Times and Seasons</i> – under the editorialleadership of Joseph Smith – published an article conjecturing a differentlocation for Lehi’s landing.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn236" name="_ftnref236" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[236]</span></span></span></a>“If Joseph had received a revelation concerning Lehi’s landing only a few yearsearlier (or if he knew of someone else’s receiving such a revelation), it isunlikely that he would have allowed this contradictory statement to bepublished.”<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn237" name="_ftnref237" title="">[237]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn237" name="_ftnref237" title=""></a></span> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Given the details above, there is noreason to think that the place of Lehi’s landing has been determined byrevelation. Based on the text, then, Sorenson’s identification appears to belikely.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Anachronisms in the Book of Mormon</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Upto this point, there have been a few occasional items in the text that havebeen alleged “anachronisms” by critics, which have been dealt with on anindividual basis. At this point, the present English text presents severalthings that seem to be anachronisms, thus yet another tangent is warranted.While all these issues may seem peripheral, anachronisms are <i>the</i> argument against the Book of Mormon,<i>par excellence</i>. John E. Clark wrote,“The most frequently mentioned deficiencies of the book concern the lack ofhard evidence in the New World for the right time periods of precious metals,Old World animals and plants, and Book of Mormon place names and personal names.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn238" name="_ftnref238" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-size: 12pt;">[238]</span></span></span></a> Since this is such apersistent argument, it needs to be addressed.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn239" name="_ftnref239" title="">[239]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn239" name="_ftnref239" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Nephifirst tells his reader that upon arriving in the promised land, “</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">we did begin to till the earth, and webegan to plant seeds; yea, we did put all our<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">seeds</span><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>intothe earth, which we had brought from the land of Jerusalem. And it came to passthat they did grow exceedingly; wherefore, we were blessed in abundance” (1Nephi 18:24). He also asserts that while exploring they came across various OldWorld animals, and that he began working with metals (see 1 Nephi 18:25). Righthere are three specific types of anachronisms mentioned by Clark – metals,plants, and animals. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; For Nephi, arriving from the OldWorld with his already demonstrated skills in metal working, finding and workingmetals is not all that problematic. He obviously brought the knowledge andskills with him, so there need not be any evidence of the skills in the NewWorld at this time – a lone man making metal artifacts is just the kind ofthing that would be expected to slip through the archaeological cracks of time.Later on the text will suggest wider metal working practices; the issue ofmetallurgy will be discussed then. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The planting of their Old Worldcrops is not particularly concerning at this point either. Again, they werebrought from the Old World, so there is no need to expect these same crops tohave been growing widely throughout the Americas during this period. It is notunusual for crops to initially flourish in a new climate for the first season orso, but eventually they would struggle and die out. Thus, it is likely that theseeds planted by Lehi’s family initially “did grow exceedingly” and provide“abundance,” but this would have been a short term benefit. In time, the newsettlers would have had to learn to grow native crops. It would not bereasonable to find traces of these Old World crops that briefly flourished some2600 years ago, just as there is no trace of the millet planted by theEuropeans in the early seventeenth century. This Old World crop grew “marvelouslywell” at the start, but quickly disappeared and now botanists are unable todetect its presence.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn240" name="_ftnref240" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[240]</span></span></span></a>Later listings of Old World crops will prove more problematic and will be addressedat another point in time. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; This leaves the list of Old Worldanimals. For organizational purposes, all references to seemingly“anachronistic” animals will be dealt with here, so as not to have to return tothe topic. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Anachronismsand Expectations<o:p></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #1a1919; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Beforediscussing the specific anachronisms, assumptions and expectations need to beexamined. Anachronisms are the critics “silver bullet,” and they have longscoffed at apologetic responses to the argument portraying it as </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">merely a desperate attempt to keep asinking ship afloat. But in their sneering and jeering, they betray theirfundamental misunderstanding of the apologetic argument, and their failure tograsp the expectations involved. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The argument made by the critics issimple, and logically sound: If the Book of Mormon is authentic, one would notexpect it to have anachronisms. That is to say, a text written in a certaintime and place should not mention things that were simply not there and notknown to people living in that time and place. For example, if there were no horsesin America ca. 600 </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">BC</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">,then a person living in America around that time should not be talking aboutthem. On this point, the critics are right on – this is a perfectly fairexpectation. With that said, the problem with the critical argument is that theyfail to take into account <i>other</i>perfectly sound and fair expectations that seriously complicate the process ofdetermining what is and what is not an anachronism.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Another expectation should be thatpeople living in a certain time and place will know <i>more</i> about that time and place than what anthropologists orarchaeologists know in their efforts to piece together that time and placethousands of years later through fragmentary evidence. That is to say, itshould not be a surprise if an authentic ancient text written by a contemporaryeyewitness (and even participant) to the manners, customs, and way of lifeprovides information about that time and place that was previously unavailable.In fact, it is <i>expected</i>. That is whytexts are considered to be so valuable – they can provide far more informationthan some ruins can. Remember the discussion above, where it was pointed outthat many peoples and events talked about in texts <i>known</i> to be authentic are completely unverifiable by archaeologicalmeans. If archaeological verification were required to confirm the presence ofevery item mentioned in a text before it could be ruled authentic, then thevast majority of texts would be dismissed for containing alleged“anachronisms.” Numerous examples of this could be elicited. The Dead SeaScrolls, for example, have been ground breaking texts which provide a host ofnew information about pre-Christian Judaism during the Second Temple period,some of which was considered anachronistic before these texts were discovered.Sometimes the text <i>is</i> the evidence.From the point of view of this expectation, if a text written by someone livingin ancient America ca. 600 </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">BC</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">mentions horses, then a sound conclusion would be that there <i>were</i> horses living in America at thattime, despite the lack of confirming evidence. Again, the text itself would bethe evidence. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; So, what do these two expectationsof an authentic text say about the issue of anachronisms in the Book of Mormon?The first expectation says that the Book of Mormon, if authentic, will not talkabout things that are not there. But the second says that eyewitnesses to lifein ancient America ca. 600 </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">BC</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">to </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">AD</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> 400 would know more about ancientAmerica than presently verifiable. Such persons would indisputably know more aboutthe material cultural, the technology available, the overall way of life, andthe plants and animals that were living within their environment. How, then, isa modern reader supposed to determine if what seems to be an anachronism isreally out of place, or if it is simply an example of an eyewitness knowingmore than has been thus far verified? This is the conundrum faced by scholarsevery time a seemingly ancient document is discovered “out-of-context” (thatis, not in a controlled dig), and debates not too different from the Book ofMormon wars often ensue.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn241" name="_ftnref241" title="">[241]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn241" name="_ftnref241" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Since the Book of Mormon starts outwith a group of people traveling to a new environment, with all kinds of newand previously unknown species of both plants and animals, there is anotherexpectation to consider. When people encounter or discover new life (whether itbe plant or animal life), not surprisingly, their language does not have wordsto accommodate for that life form. So, the standard practice is to use thenames for animals already known to label the new animals (the same thinghappens with plants).<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn242" name="_ftnref242" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[242]</span></span></span></a>Often this happens even when there are local people that could tell the newcomers what the species “really is,” and often the borrowed term later becomesthe standard name for the animal. For example, the <i>hippopotamus</i> was named by the Greeks, who never having seen thisbeast before called it a “river horse.” This happened despite the fact that Egyptianscould have told them to what to call the animal, and has become the standardname. It was the Spanish who first named the red-breasted bird the “robin,”after a completely different bird native to Europe. Like hippopotamus, thisname has stuck. Likewise, “Elk” is the common name for the large North Americandeer (also present in Eastern Asia), though it was applied to the species bythe Europeans and actually means “moose,” which is an entirely differentanimal. Although “buffalo” is technically incorrect, it is still a common labelused to describe the American bison, and is another borrowed term applied bythe Europeans. Sometimes there is a qualifier to distinguish between theoriginal species that bore that name (i.e. “river” in “river horse”), but othertimes there is not. Imagine Nephi and his brothers venturing through theMesoamerican jungle, encountering animals like the bison, brocket, tapir, deer,alpaca, and llama. What are these strange beasts? What is Nephi supposed tocall them? There are no words in either Hebrew or Egyptian for these animals,because no Hebrew or Egyptian even knew about these animals. Readers should <i>expect</i> Nephi to behave as others haveand use the terms he had to label these animals (i.e. horse, cow, ox, ass,goat, etc.). This is a phenomena known as loan-shifting, and it is so wellattested that critics only embarrass themselves when they scoff at it as adefense for the Book of Mormon.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn243" name="_ftnref243" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[243]</span></span></span></a>At the mere suggestion that the “horse” may not have been the “horse” known tomodern readers, critics sarcastically ask “did Joseph Smith not know what ahorse is?”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn244" name="_ftnref244" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[244]</span></span></span></a>This kind of response reveals their failure to grasp the argument.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; One last factor to keep in mind isthat the Book of Mormon is only available as a translation. This is importantbecause it introduces the possibility of “translator anachronisms.” Sometimesthese are simply the result of incorrect translations, resulting when thetranslator was not familiar with a word, or the thing being identified, and sothey apply an anachronous term to it; other times these are basically anotheroccurrence or form of “loan-shifting,” the only difference being it is thetranslator, rather than the original author, who is using a familiar term todescribe something not familiar to them. A translator may not have a direct wayof translating a term, but might recognize it as describing something similarto a thing they are familiar with, and thus use the name of that thing in thetranslation (like the use of the word “compass” in the Book of Mormon asdescribed above). If the Book of Mormon is really a translation of an ancientdocument, then the same kind of labeling issues that plague real translationsshould be <i>expected</i>. Again the criticswill scoff, but at issue is not whether Joseph Smith knew what a horse was, noris it whether he knew the difference between a horse and a tapir (or anotheranimal that might be intended with the word “horse”). More to the point iswhether he knew what “tapirs” or some other animals were, and whether JosephSmith and his contemporaries (those who would first encounter the Book ofMormon text) had a more appropriate word in their vocabulary.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn245" name="_ftnref245" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[245]</span></span></span></a>After all, Joseph did have to <i>describe</i>these animals to his family!<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn246" name="_ftnref246" title="">[246]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn246" name="_ftnref246" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Together, both “loan-shifting” and“translator anachronisms” could be described as “labeling issues.” While JohnSorenson prefers to view the Book of Mormon terms as loan-shifts, Brant Gardnerfavors translator anachronisms.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn247" name="_ftnref247" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[247]</span></span></span></a>Both phenomena are probably responsible for <i>some</i>of the present anomalies. Either way, it stands to reason that if one is goingto consider the possibility of the Book of Mormon as an actual translation ofreal people who migrated to a new and unfamiliar land, then it ought to beexpected to have the same kind of labeling issues that real translations andreal people have when encountering unfamiliar things.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">If the simple possibility ofundiscovered evidence really complicates the process of determininganachronisms, then how much more complicated does the process get if these labelingissues are taken into account? Because of these conflicting factors (all whichshould form part of one’s expectations for an authentic translation), it isnearly impossible to determine definitively if any anomaly in the present textis really an anachronism. John L. Sorenson insisted that “the things said aboutfauna in the Nephite territory have to be carefully analyzed and compared infull awareness of what is known and not known about nature in Mesoamerica aswell as the principles known to govern the labeling of natural categories invarious cultures… In the effort to learn the truth, nothing can be assumedobvious.”<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn248" name="_ftnref248" title="">[248]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn248" name="_ftnref248" title=""></a></span> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Critics, however, ignore the threeexpectations that complicate this process and focus solely on the one,insisting that it is “obvious” that these labels refer to the “normal” animalfor these terms. They then proceed to argue that since no evidence exists forthese animals being in the right place at the right time, they are anachronismsand that therefore the text is inauthentic. This is little more than a case ofquestion begging. Because no legitimate anachronisms would exist in anauthentic text, and because there are expectations that could account for theseanomalies being present if the text is authentic, by <i>assuming</i> that the anomalies are in-fact anachronisms, critics arefirst <i>assuming </i>that the text isinauthentic. Therefore, when anachronisms are then used as <i>evidence</i> that the text is inauthentic, they are assuming theconclusion in order to produce the evidence; that is question begging, orcircular reasoning, and it is a logical fallacy. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">While critics can offer nothing morethan the absence of evidence for their insistence that the anomalies are realanachronisms, Latter-day Saints can offer a number of solid reasons forexplaining these through one of the other three expectations. First, theoverwhelming evidence to the Old World background and real world setting for 1Nephi (much of which is discussed above and in other lessons) makes a strongcase that the first portion of the Book of Mormon, at least, is authentic.Indeed, based on the evidence presented above, this seems to be the<i> most</i> reasonable conclusion. But if thatis authentic, then it stands to reason that the rest of the text is alsoauthentic; in which case, the anachronisms would not be real anachronisms.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://pool.fairmormon.org/images/thumb/2/2f/BoM_Archaeology_1842.PNG/795px-BoM_Archaeology_1842.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="241" src="http://pool.fairmormon.org/images/thumb/2/2f/BoM_Archaeology_1842.PNG/795px-BoM_Archaeology_1842.PNG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Figure 5.6: </b>A&nbsp;comparison to what was known in 1842 </span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">(above)&nbsp;to what was known by 2005 (below) shows </span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">that many things once&nbsp;to be anachronistic were in fact </span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">present in America during Book of Mormon times. &nbsp;</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://pool.fairmormon.org/images/thumb/0/09/BoM_Archaeology_2005.PNG/797px-BoM_Archaeology_2005.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://pool.fairmormon.org/images/thumb/0/09/BoM_Archaeology_2005.PNG/797px-BoM_Archaeology_2005.PNG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Second, time has already demonstratedthat several previously believed anachronisms were actually known in America atthe right place and the right time (see figure 5.6). John E. Clark hascollected sixty examples of alleged anachronisms that have been used againstthe Book of Mormon since 1829 and found that about sixty percent of them havenow been verified by archaeology, while suggestive evidence had emerged foranother ten (of the sixty) criticisms, though this evidence remainsinconclusive.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn249" name="_ftnref249" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[249]</span></span></span></a>All in all, this means that evidence is <i>morefavorable</i> <i>to some degree</i> now thanit was in 1830 in seventy-five percent of the sixty cases. Commenting on thistrend, Clark simply states: “the Book of Mormon looks better with age.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn250" name="_ftnref250" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[250]</span></span></span></a>&nbsp; Adding that the “overall trend in the dataover the past 175 years fits the expectations for the Book of Mormon as historyrather than hoax.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn251" name="_ftnref251" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[251]</span></span></span></a>This trend is hard to square with a fictitious Book of Mormon. Clark expandedon this theme elsewhere; he explained “<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">if the book were a hoax there should notbe any evidence to support it…</span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> <span class="apple-style-span">Because of the logic ofevidence in this instance, one positive correspondence counts for dozens ofmissing ones.”</span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn252" name="_ftnref252" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[252]</span></span></span></a></span> Clark then makesthis observation:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It is in this light that we should consider manyarguments against the Book of Mormon… These deficiencies of negative evidencepersist, for the most part, but they should not distract from the scores ofother unusual items mentioned in the book which have been confirmed througharchaeology – nor from the possibility that missing evidence may someday befound.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn253" name="_ftnref253" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[253]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">This trend would suggest that the now confirmed items wereactually examples of the author of the text, as an eyewitness to life in thattime and place, simply knew more than the “experts” did in 1830. Whenconsidered in the context of this trend, remaining anomalies would seem to bebetter explained as either continuing examples of missing evidence, or labelingissues. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Third,beyond just artifacts that confirm items in the Book of Mormon, Brant Gardnernotes that “</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">aset of cultural correspondences and explanations that come from theMesoamerican cultural context”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn254" name="_ftnref254" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[254]</span></span></span></a>can shed greater light on the Book of Mormon text. These correlations areimpressive because each one involves a network of data converging together intoone harmonious picture. Gardner identifies 15 of these culturalcorrespondences,<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn255" name="_ftnref255" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[255]</span></span></span></a>after which he makes this assessment: <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Against these correspondences, what do we have that might becounterindications? We have the specific descriptive problems of swords, silk,horses, chariots, etc.<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>I find<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fbfbfb; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> </span>it much easier to explain these as labelingproblems than to find an alternate explanation for the type of detailedcorrelation listed above.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn256" name="_ftnref256" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[256]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Complicated cultural relationships, long term trends, and solidOld World evidence are difficult to account for by naturalistic, nineteenthcentury origin theories for the Book of Mormon. On the other hand, thesuspected anachronisms can be easily accommodated by certain expectations of anauthentic text. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">With several lines ofevidence justifying the conclusion that items that presently perplex the modernreader are not true anachronisms, but simply examples of yet undiscoveredevidence or labeling issues related to either translation or linguisticborrowing (loan-shifting), it is fair to explore each of these possibilities inrelation to the fauna mentioned in the Book of Mormon.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">An Empty Bag O’ Bones: But was it Ever Full?<o:p></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The perilsof arguing from the absence of evidence have been discussed. With regards to thekind of animals that used to live in a certain place and time, there is aparticular kind of absence that tends to muddy the waters: bones. Bone specimenhave been notoriously hard to find. While textual evidence for lions in Israelexists from as late as the sixteenth century and stretches back into biblical(Old Testament) times, it was not until 1983 that any bone specimen where foundconfirming their presence during that period.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn257" name="_ftnref257" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[257]</span></span></span></a> Similarly, the Hunsruled the western steppes for about two hundred years from the fourth to thesixth centuries AD, and in that time contemporary sources speak frequently andhighly of the Huns’ horses, of which there may have been hundreds of thousands.Yet the physical remains of these horses eluded researchers until 1990, whenfive horse skulls were discovered in the graveyard of Hun royalty.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn258" name="_ftnref258" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[258]</span></span></span></a> It could appropriatelybe asked, “</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">if Hunnichorse bones are so rare despite the vast herds of horses that undoubtedly onceinhabited the steppes, why should we expect extensive evidence of the use ofhorses in Nephite Mesoamerica – especially considering how limited are thereferences to horses in the text of the Book of Mormon?”<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn259" name="_ftnref259" title="">[259]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn259" name="_ftnref259" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The problem of bone preservation inMesoamerica is even greater due to the climate. Jacques Soustelle, an authorityon the Olmecs, laments at that not a single bone specimen had survived fromOlmec sites due to “the dampness and the acidity of the soil.” This includesnot only the animals expected to have been kept by the Olmecs (such as dogs andturkeys), but even humans.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn260" name="_ftnref260" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[260]</span></span></span></a>Simon J.M. Davis, a zoo-archaeologist, has observed that typically, most boneremains recovered at archaeological digs come from animals used for food andother slaughter products, while bones from animals exploited as beasts ofburden are rare. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; All of this underscores the need forcaution in assuming that just because the remains of certain animals have notyet been uncovered that such animals were never there. The vast herds of cattledriven across the Western United States less than two-hundred years ago haveleft virtually no trace behind.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn261" name="_ftnref261" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[261]</span></span></span></a>Again, the intent here is not to dismiss or excuse the need for evidence, butrather to temper expectations of such evidence to realistic levels. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Having laid out what expectationsought to be of an authentic document, determined that various lines of evidencesupport the assumption that animals mentioned in the text are not trueanachronisms, and noted that expectations of animal remains ought to becautious and measured, consider a few possibilities for the various animalsmentioned in the text.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn262" name="_ftnref262" title="">[262]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn262" name="_ftnref262" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Horseand Ass</span></u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Though critics constantly insistthat the horse is problematic, the horse is actually one of the items discussedby Clark as having indeterminate evidence. Several examples of horse bonesfound in a pre-Columbian context have been uncovered,<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn263" name="_ftnref263" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[263]</span></span></span></a>but since these are out of place, according to the present paradigm, they veryoften get ignored or even discarded.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn264" name="_ftnref264" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[264]</span></span></span></a>In one instance, such bones were carbon-dated to just before the time of Christ.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn265" name="_ftnref265" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[265]</span></span></span></a>The horse, therefore, may be an example of Nephi and others, being in Americaanciently, providing information not presently available to modern researchers.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The possibility of a loan-shift ortranslation anachronism should also be acknowledged. Critics often tease thesuggestion that the horse could have been a “tapir,” but the suggestion is notridiculous as it sounds. Many native groups used the word for tapir to describethe horses and donkeys of the Spanish, and other scholars have noted the similaritybetween the horse (or donkey) and tapir. In fact, horses are among the closestanimals related to the tapir (some even think it is an “unevolved” horse). It isalso significant that some farmers have used tapirs to pull ploughs, indicatingthat they <i>could</i> have been used asbeasts of burden.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn266" name="_ftnref266" title="">[266]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn266" name="_ftnref266" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; All that said, the tapir is perhapsa better match as the Book of Mormon “ass” (donkey), for which there currentlyis no evidence to suggest it was ever present in the New World (thus, it ismore likely to be a loan shift).<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn267" name="_ftnref267" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[267]</span></span></span></a>Some natives have adopted the Spanish term <i>anteburro</i>for the tapir, which means “once an ass.”<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn268" name="_ftnref268" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[268]</span></span></span></a>Other possible loan-shifts for the horse are deer, which epigraphic evidencesuggests were used for riding by pre-Columbian peoples, and which are known tohave been “herded” in Mesoamerica.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn269" name="_ftnref269" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[269]</span></span></span></a>While some natives called horses “tapir,” others used the native term for“deer” to refer to the horse.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn270" name="_ftnref270" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[270]</span></span></span></a>Llama’s and alpaca’s, which are native to South America while some evidencesuggests they were once domesticated in Mesoamerica as well, may have served asbeasts of burden, and therefore been termed as a “horse” or “ass” by Nephi andhis descendants (or by Joseph Smith in his translation).<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn271" name="_ftnref271" title="">[271]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn271" name="_ftnref271" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In sum, the following are viablecandidates for the “horse” in the Book of Mormon: a true horse, the tapir,deer, or llama/alpaca. For the “ass,” tapirs and llama/alpaca are suitableoptions. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Cow,Ox, and Cattle<o:p></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; There are no potential hints, atpresent, for cattle in pre-Columbian America (as there are for the horse), but anyof the animals discussed above – the tapir, deer, llama/alpaca – could havejust as easily been referred to as “cattle” (and hence cows and oxen) by Nephiand his party. The cow is yet another animal brought over by the Spanish forwhich the native word for “tapir” was applied.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn272" name="_ftnref272" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[272]</span></span></span></a>Bison, a member of the bovine sub-family along with cattle, can be added to thelist of possibilities. While today they are mostly confined to pockets of NorthAmerica, they used to be “present as far south as Nicaragua in directassociation with inhabitants of the period of the early Nephites.”<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn273" name="_ftnref273" title="">[273]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn273" name="_ftnref273" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Goatand Wild Goat<o:p></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The best candidates these are thebrocket and perhaps some of the other deer species.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn274" name="_ftnref274" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[274]</span></span></span></a>Some Spanish referred to the brocket as a “kind of little wild goat.”<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn275" name="_ftnref275" title="">[275]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn275" name="_ftnref275" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Sheep<o:p></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">No mention of the Nephites actuallyhaving “sheep” appears in the text, while “sheep” are included as being amongthe Jaredite animals (see Ether 9:18). Since readers are told quitespecifically that the Jaredites brought animals with them (see Ether 6:4), itis possible that the labels <i>do</i> referto the Old World animals, brought over by Jaredites, but eventually dying outshortly after or even before the end of Jaredite times. Thus, such animalswould have been present on this continent for a relatively short period oftime, and therefore be hard to detect archaeologically (as noted above,scholars have lamented at the lack of bones of known <i>native</i> species at sites contemporary to Jaredite times).Nonetheless, there is frequent reference by analogy to “sheep” throughout theNephite portion of the record, and though this is probably due in part to theinfluence of Isaiah on Book of Mormon authors (several of the references to“sheep” are from Isaiah quotations), and perhaps partially due to the KJVinfluence on the translation (that is, these are probably translatoranachronisms), it still seems reasonable that the term translated as “sheep”made reference to some sort of animal that the audience (some group of peopleliving in Mesoamerica) could have related to. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Some sheep’s wool was found in anarchaeological dig in Mexico that is potentially pre-Colombian, leaving openthe possibility that real sheep were known in Mesoamerica before the arrival ofthe Spanish.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn276" name="_ftnref276" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[276]</span></span></span></a>Possible candidates for a loan-shift or translation label as “sheep” are thellama and alpaca. Sorenson also suggests the paca and agouti (both types ofrodents).<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn277" name="_ftnref277" title="">[277]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn277" name="_ftnref277" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Sowand Swine<o:p></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Nephites mention “sow” and“swine” with disgust, and probably did not cultivate them, while thenon-Israelite group (the Jaredites) did use them for food (see Ether 9:18). Thepeccary is a native pig that lives wild in Mesoamerica and was valued as asource of food. This is probably what most Book of Mormon occurrences of“swine” or “sow” refer to.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn278" name="_ftnref278" title="">[278]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn278" name="_ftnref278" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Elephant<o:p></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Elephants are another animal mentionedonly in Jaredite times (see Ether 9:19). Both Mammoths and Mastodons are knownto have lived on the American continent.&nbsp;While generally believed to have gone extinct long before Book of Mormontimes, scientists have long acknowledged that pockets of them, in both Americaand elsewhere, survived into fairly recent times. For the most part these“pockets” date to 4000-5000 </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">BC</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">,still too early for Jaredite times, though a few of them date to later timeperiods, with some remains dating to around the time of Christ. Additionallines of evidence, such as artwork and native traditions, support a latesurvival for “elephants” in the Americas as late as 2000-1000 </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">BC</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">, well within Jaredite times.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn279" name="_ftnref279" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[279]</span></span></span></a>Another possibility for the “elephant” is the gomphotheres, a pre-historicelephant-like animal that lived on both the North and South Americancontinents. Generally believed to have lived long before Book of Mormon times,pockets of this animal did survive as recently as </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">AD </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">400, thus easily accommodating thesingle Book of Mormon reference.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn280" name="_ftnref280" title="">[280]</a></span></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn280" name="_ftnref280" title=""></a></span>&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">OtherAnimals<o:p></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; A few other animals which arementioned in the text include dogs, which are not a problem (certain speciesare known to be native in the Americas).<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn281" name="_ftnref281" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[281]</span></span></span></a>“Wolf” and “wolves” are mentioned metaphorically, usually in association with“sheep,” as are “lions.” Again, whatever the terms used for these were, theyprobably had reference to some sort of animal that the audience of ancientAmerican’s could relate to. The wolf is not a problem as it is native to theAmerica’s, and though (like bison) generally thought of as a North Americanspecies, their range of territory once included most of Mexico.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn282" name="_ftnref282" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[282]</span></span></span></a>“Lions” were not present in the Americas, but the term so translated could haveeasily referred to one of the big cats native to the America’s, such asjaguar’s (which the Spanish referred to as “lions” and sometimes “tigers”),<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn283" name="_ftnref283" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[283]</span></span></span></a>or cougars (pumas), which continue to bear the common name of “mountain lions.”The “cumoms” and “cureloms” (see Ether 9:19) are Jaredite terms for some animals,though since no one knows what is meant be those terms, they can’t really besaid to be anachronistic.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn284" name="_ftnref284" title="">[284]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn284" name="_ftnref284" title=""></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In sum, the animals mentioned in theEnglish text can be well accounted for by taking into account the expectedlinguistic complications (loan-shifting, translation anachronisms) that such atranslated record might have, and also by remembering that not all the evidenceis in. As John L. Sorenson states:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Presentknowledge of the species in Mesoamerica indicates there were enough of theright sorts of animals in that setting that all twelve of the Book of Mormon’sbeasts can be plausibly accounted for.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn285" name="_ftnref285" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">[285]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">As noted before,solid forms of evidence justify Latter-day Saints in trying to account forthese animals through one of the other three expectations (rather than simplyviewing them as anachronisms).<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn286" name="_ftnref286" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[286]</span></span></span></a> &nbsp;Since these expectations and what is knownabout animals in Mesoamerica can accommodate the anomalously listed animalsfairly easily, there is no need to abandon the book on these grounds.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn287" name="_ftnref287" title="">[287]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn287" name="_ftnref287" title=""></a></span> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The Irony of Anachronisms<o:p></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">One thing all of thisshould make indisputably clear is that the naming of animals, historically, hasnot been an exact science. The advent of modern, scientifically precise namesfor animals is a fairly recent arrival.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn288" name="_ftnref288" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[288]</span></span></span></a> Prior to that, alltaxonomic systems were informal and existed independent of each other. Thus,when two cultures collided, as would be the case in the Book of Mormon when theOld World immigrants entered the New World, so would classification systems, ascan be seen with the Spanish/European encounters with Native American species,and vice-versa. The result would be a confusing mess; a taxonomic nightmare.Thus, an ancient text could not be fairly scrutinized on the basis of moderntaxonomy, nor could the translation of such a text be so judged, as it islikely to suffer from the difficulties of trying to parse through theconfusing, primitive system. As such, in a rather ironic twist, by holding theBook of Mormon up to modern scientific standards of classification, critics areactually applying those standards <i>anachronistically</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Nephi’sExodus and Nephite Genesis Complete</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Having addressedthose important issues, one final insight is worth making. Several scholarshave noticed important parallels between the Exodus and 1 Nephi (see figure 5.7).<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn289" name="_ftnref289" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[289]</span></span></span></a> Each of these have madedifferent comparisons and observations, and no two are exactly alike, but Ed J.Pinegar and Richard J. Allen provide a useful summary of the similarities:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Nephi, the son of a wealthy citizen ofJerusalem, would have been quite familiar with the story of the children ofIsrael and their flight from slavery. Many parallels are apparent between thetwo stories: both groups were led by prophets and departed from lands that hadbeen condemned by God; both groups miraculously crossed immense water barriers toreach safety; both groups had a rebellious faction that murmured in thewilderness due to lack of food; both groups were commanded to “look” upon ametal object (the Liahona for the Lehites, a brazen serpent for the Israelites)in order to “live,” and both groups were led by God to a promised land.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn290" name="_ftnref290" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[290]</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Several other parallel’s could be made, such as: both Nephiand Moses are called up into a mountain to converse with the Lord; Nephi isinstructed to build a ship, Moses is instructed to build the tabernacle; theLehites are guided by the Liahona while the Israelites were guided by a pillarof fire, and both parties were miraculously nourished by the Lord (broken bowincident and the manna from heaven). Some of the parallels are explicitly madeby Nephi (see 1 Nephi 4:1-3; 17:23-42), others are subtle and implicit.Critics, noticing these parallels, have made accusations of “plagiarism.” Theproblem is the Exodus motif is too well interwoven into both the narrative of 1Nephi, and the collective Nephite memory (with several later prophets bringingthe two stories together) to be dismissed as cheap plagiarism. Furthermore, theExodus was the bedrock of Israelite identity, and as such its themes wereconstantly drawn upon by the ancient Hebrews, who relished repetition andreenactment over originality. Given that Nephi was a well-educated Israelite,it would have been nearly impossible for him to miss the similarities in theirsituation and the Exodus. As Terrence Szink has written:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">One of the most important “things of God” for the children ofIsrael was the Exodus from Egypt. That event more than any other defined themas a people.<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fbfbfb; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> </span>Their journey to thepromised land in Canaan is recalled time and again throughout the OldTestament. Not surprisingly, then, Nephi would be reminded of the Exodus whilehis group made their own wilderness journey through Arabia.<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn291" name="_ftnref291" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">[291]</span></span></span></a></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;It should therefore beexpected that he would draw on Exodus typology to make his record. In thatview, the Book of Mormon would be far more suspect if it did <i>not</i> draw upon the Exodus when recountingthe flight into the wilderness and to a promised land.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Along withthe Exodus, the story also mirrors two other biblical archetypes: the creationand the flood (see figure 5.8).<a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftn292" name="_ftnref292" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-size: 12pt;">[292]</span></span></span></a> In each instance, thesestories mark a “beginning.” The creation is “the beginning” (Genesis 1:1),while the flood wiped the slate clean for a new start, and the Exodus markedthe beginning of the Israelite sovereign state. So, too, is Nephi’s record a“beginning” or a “genesis” for his people. Thus, 1 Nephi can be said to be boththe “Genesis” and the “Exodus” of the Book of Mormon.<o:p></o:p></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://byustudies.byu.edu/book_of_mormon_charts/charts/93.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://byustudies.byu.edu/book_of_mormon_charts/charts/93.jpg" width="286" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Figure 5.8: </b>Archetypal "beginnings" compared <br />with 1 Nephi<br /><b>Image Source: </b>Welch and Welch, <i>Charting the Book<br />of Mormon</i>, 93.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://byustudies.byu.edu/book_of_mormon_charts/charts/94.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://byustudies.byu.edu/book_of_mormon_charts/charts/94.jpg" width="290" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Figure 5.7: </b>Similarites between 1 Nephi and the Exodus</span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Image Source: </b>Welch and Welch, <i>Charting the Book<br />Mormon</i>, 94.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: center;"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Conclusion<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: center;"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; A lot hasbeen covered in this lesson, with considerable time being dedicated to issuessuch as geography, archaeology, directions, and anachronisms. These excursions,peripheral as they seem, were necessary because (a) with the arrival in thepromised land, it is necessary to establish a geographical, cultural, andhistorical context within which Book of Mormon events can be situated andexamined for greater insights. The value of having these contextual factors todraw from should be evident from previous lessons and the early portion of thislesson. This was also necessary because (b) critics have raised numerous issuesin relation to these topics, which have proved to be obstacles for some,preventing them from feeling the power in the book which draws people nearer toGod (see Lesson 1). Indeed, some of the top criticisms against the booksauthenticity have been tackled here. In addition to addressing the argumentsmade against the Book of Mormon, considerable space was also granted torehearsing important and powerful evidences in favor of the books historicaland divine origins. Namely, the remarkable accuracy of the Arabian journeyseems too good to have been manufactured in the mind of Joseph Smith. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; With thataddressed, this conclusion can focus on the important theme of the narrativebeing discussed in these chapters. As noted above, Nephi has patterned hisnarrative after the Exodus and other important archetypal “beginnings” inIsraelite lore. The modern reader can use those same themes as a metaphor and aguide for their own lives. All who been converted have left behind a world ofsin, crossed through the waters of baptism (a “rebirth,” and hence “newbeginning”), been given a “director from the Lord” (the Holy Ghost), and mustcontinually received nourishment from the Lord, ascend the “mount” (go to thetemple), and endure to the end, being lead into a “land of promise” (thekingdom of God). Thus, each individual must embark on a personal “exodus” backinto the presence of God, marked by a new “beginning.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div><br /><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div id="ftn1"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-align: center;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b>Notes:</b></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title="">[1]</a></span></span><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""></a></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> See Jeffrey R. Chadwick, “The WrongPlace for the ‘Valley of Lemuel’ and Lehi’s Trial,” <i>FARMS Review</i> 17/2 (2005): 211; Jeffrey R. Chadwick, “AnArcheologist’s View,” <i>Journal of Book ofMormon Studies</i> 15/2 (2006): 73.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn2"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[2]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> See S. Kent Brown, “Refining theSpotlight on Lehi and Sariah,” <i>Journal ofBook of Mormon Studies</i> 15/2 (2006): 48. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn3"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[3]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Warren P. Aston, “Across Arabia withLehi and Sariah: ‘Truth Shall Spring out of the Earth,” <i>Journal of Book of Mormon Studies</i> 15/2 (2006): 13.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn4"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[4]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> George Potter and Richard Wellington,<i>Lehi in the Wilderness: 81 New,Documented Evidences that the Book of Mormon is a True History</i>(Springville, UT: Cedar Fort, 2003), 53. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn5"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[5]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> See Brant A. Gardner, <i>Second Witness: Analytical and ContextualCommentary on the Book of Mormon</i>, six volumes (Salt Lake City, UT: GregKofford Books, 2007), 1:152, cf. 1:275. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn6"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[6]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> See David A. LeFevre, “We Did AgainTake Our Journey,” <i>Journal of Book ofMormon Studies</i> 15/2 (2006): 60-61.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn7"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[7]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> See Hugh Nibley, <i>Lehi in the Desert/The World of the Jaredites/There Were Jaredites</i>,<span style="font-variant: small-caps;">The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley</span>,Volume 5 (Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1988), 60; Lynn M. Hilton and Hope Hilton,<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>In Search of Lehi’s Trail</i><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book,1976), 50. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn8"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[8]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> It should be noted that while thelonger stay seems to be the majority view (with its adherents consisting ofAston, Potter and Wellington, Gardner, LeFavre, Nibley, and the Hiltons),Chadwick and Brown are important dissenting voices that should not be ignored.Furthermore, the balance of opinion is not as lopsided as it might seem. Nibleydid his research on Lehi’s desert experience from the comfort of a library, andwhile portions of his work are still relevant, and his contribution to thefield invaluable, it has been superseded by the direct fieldwork of the severalof the other mentioned researchers. Gardner, also, has done no field work inArabia, and it not an Old World expert. Though he skillfully parses through therelevant research for his commentary on 1 Nephi, he spends no time weighing thedifferent opinions on this point (none of this is discredit his commentary,which is absolutely superb). LeFevre also has no field experience. That leavesthe Hiltons, Astons, and Potter and Wellington (three researching parties)holding the extended-stay view, while Brown and Chadwick (two researchingparties) hold to a short-stay view. Each of these five parties have done fieldwork in Arabia, but the Hiltons, like Nibley, have had much of their worksuperseded by these other researchers. Thus, among <i>current </i>researchers with field experience, the balance itessentially two for the longer stay and two for that shorter stay. I personallyfavor a longer stay, though I find the extreme view of Aston (nearly the wholeeight year period) to be unlikely. I suspect that they stayed a little over ayear, but no longer than two (thus accounting for two seed-gathering seasons).Three years is possible, but I don’t find it likely. Any longer than that seemsuntenable. In general, I suspect that the eight years is divided up relativelyevenly among each of the camps along way, with the stops at the Valley ofLemuel and Nahom being a little longer (somewhat over a year, but no longerthan two), while stops at Shazer and the place of the broken bow being a littleshorter (a few months to perhaps a year). Thus, from Jerusalem to Nahom wouldhave been about 4-6 years, and then from Nahom to Bountiful would have been 2-4years (with the possibility of sometime in bondage, see below).&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn9"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[9]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> See Neal Elwood Lambert, “Liahona,”in <i>Book of Mormon Reference Companion</i>,Dennis L. Largey et al., eds. (Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book, 2003),519-520. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn10"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref10" name="_ftn10" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[10]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> See Jonathan Curci, “Liahona: ‘TheDirection of the Lord’: An Etymological Explanation,” <i>Journal of Book of Mormon Studies</i> 16/2 (2007): 60-67. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn11"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref11" name="_ftn11" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[11]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> See Hugh Nibley, <i>Since Cumorah</i>, <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">The CollectedWorks of Hugh Nibley</span>, Volume 7 (Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book andFARMS, 1989), 251-263.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn12"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref12" name="_ftn12" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[12]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Merriam-Webster online, sv“encompass” gives as the first definition, “to form a circle about.” <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/encompass?show=0&amp;t=1327434220">http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/encompass?show=0&amp;t=1327434220</a>(accessed January 24, 2012). <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn13"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref13" name="_ftn13" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[13]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> As a fun linguistic aside, it isinteresting to note that Merriam-Webster online, sv “compass,” places thenotion of the magnetic compass as the <i>third</i>definition (3a), <i>after</i> definitionsthat hail back to its connation as “round” or “circular.” Definition 1a is“boundary, circumference,” with 1b is “a circumscribed space.” Definition 2 is“<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">a curved or roundabout course</span>.”Also noteworthy, “compass” is also defined as “<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">any of various nonmagnetic devices that indicate direction”and “an instrument for describing circles” (3b and 3c). It would seem thecritics insistence on reading “compass” as the anachronistic magnetic compassis a very narrow view indeed. </span><a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/compass">http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/compass</a>(January 24, 2012). <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div></div><div id="ftn14"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref14" name="_ftn14" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[14]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Austin Brewer, personal communicationto author, January 24, 2012. Brewer served an LDS mission in Thailand. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn15"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref15" name="_ftn15" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[15]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> David A. Bednar, “That We May AlwaysHave His Spirit to be With Us,” <i>Ensign</i>(May 2006): 30.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn16"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref16" name="_ftn16" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[16]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> S. Kent Brown, “Lehi¹,journey of, to the promised land,” in <i>Bookof Mormon Reference Companion</i>, 512.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn17"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref17" name="_ftn17" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[17]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> See Aston, “Across Arabia,” 12-13;Warren P. Aston and Michaela J. Aston, Stephen D. Ricks, and John W. Welch“Lehi’s Trail and Nahom Revisited,” in <i>Reexploringthe Book of Mormon: A Decade of New Research</i>, John W. Welch, ed. (Provo,UT: FARMS, 1992), 47-50; Warren P. Aston and Michaela J. Aston, <i>In the Footsteps of Lehi: New Evidence ofLehi’s Journey across Arabia to Bountiful</i> (Salt Lake City, UT: DeseretBook, 1994), 4-6, 30;&nbsp; LeFevre, “We DidAgain Take Our Journey,” 61; George Potter and Richard Wellington, “Lehi’sTrail: From the Valley of Lemuel to Nephi’s Harbor,” <i>Journal of Book of Mormon Studies</i> 15/2 (2006): 26-43; Daniel B.McKinley, “The Brightening Light on the Journey of Lehi and Sariah,” <i>Journal of Book of Mormon Studies</i> 15/2(2006): 78; Eugene England, “Through the Arabian Desert to a Bountiful Land:Could Joseph Smith Have Known the Way?” in <i>Bookof Mormon Authorship: New Light on Ancient Origins</i>, Noel B. Reynolds, ed.(Provo, UT: FARMS Reprint Edition, 1996), 150; S. Kent Brown, “New Light FromArabia on Lehi’s Trail,” in <i>Echoes andEvidences of the Book of Mormon</i>, Donald W. Perry, Daniel C. Peterson, andJohn W. Welch, eds. (Provo, UT: FARMS, 2002), 83-85; Noel B. Reynolds, “Lehi’sArabian Journey Updated,” in <i>Book ofMormon Authorship Revisited: The Evidence for Ancient Origins</i>, Noel B.Reynolds, ed. (Provo, UT: FARMS, 1997), 381-382; Potter and Wellington, <i>Lehi in the Wilderness</i>, 53-72; Gardner, <i>Second Witness</i>, 1:276;<i> </i>Ed J. Pinegar and Richard J. Allen, <i>Commentaries and Insights on the Book ofMormon</i>, two volumes (American Fork, UT: Covenant Communication, 2007),1:80-81.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn18"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref18" name="_ftn18" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[18]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> See England, “Through the ArabianDesert to a Bountiful Land,” 143-156; Brown, “New Light From Arabia on Lehi’sTrail,” 69-76.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn19"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref19" name="_ftn19" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[19]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Dan Vogel,<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>Joseph Smith: The Making of aProphet</i><span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Salt Lake City:Signature Books, 2004), 609 n. 17.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn20"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref20" name="_ftn20" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[20]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Remember in Lesson 2, note 24, it waspointed out that Lehi was probably a metalworker rather than the caravaneer, asis popularly believed. In addition to the sources cited there, Potter andWellington, <i>Lehi in the Wilderness</i>,59-61 make a strong argument as to why Lehi was probably not a caravaneer.&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn21"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref21" name="_ftn21" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[21]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Brown, “New Light From Arabia onLehi’s Trail,” 83.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn22"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref22" name="_ftn22" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[22]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Aston and Aston, <i>In the Footsteps of Lehi</i>, 4.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn23"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref23" name="_ftn23" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[23]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Potter and Wellington, <i>Lehi in the Wilderness</i>, 59. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn24"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref24" name="_ftn24" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[24]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Critics endlessly wonder why “others”are never mentioned. This has been addressed, somewhat, in Lesson 1. Inspecific regard to their wilderness travel, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that“others” are never mentioned. If I were to tell you about my trip with myin-laws, where we drove from Salt Lake to Brawley, California, I probablywouldn’t say a word about anybody besides the people in my wife’s family,despite the fact that we stopped at gas stations and restaurants where we sawand interacted with such people. Surely you wouldn’t assume, due to my failureto mention them, that there was no one else traveling on the road. In additionto that, D&amp;C 33:8 implies that Nephi preached to people in the wilderness,and the Nahom incident (discussed below) implies the presence of people.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn25"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref25" name="_ftn25" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[25]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Pinegar and Allen, <i>Commentaries and Insights</i>, 1:78.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn26"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref26" name="_ftn26" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[26]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Pinegar and Allen, <i>Commentaries and Insights</i>, 1:80.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn27"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref27" name="_ftn27" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[27]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Potter and Wellington, “Lehi’sTrail,” 28. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn28"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref28" name="_ftn28" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[28]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Hilton and Hilton,<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>InSearch of Lehi's Trail</i>, 36.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn29"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref29" name="_ftn29" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[29]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Potter and Wellington, <i>Lehi in the Wilderness</i>, 53.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn30"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref30" name="_ftn30" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[30]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Nibley, <i>Lehi in the Desert</i>, CWHN 5:78. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn31"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref31" name="_ftn31" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[31]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Nigel Groom, <i>A Dictionary of Arabic Topography and Placenames</i> (Beirut: Librairiedu Liban; London: Longman, 1983), sv “shajir.”<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn32"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref32" name="_ftn32" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[32]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> See Potter and Wellington, <i>Lehi in the Wilderness</i>, 73-78; Potterand Wellington, “Lehi’s Trail,” 29-30. Chadwick, “An Archeologists View,” 73(who typically disagree with Potter and Wellington) is impressed with theircandidate for Shazer, though he urges caution regarding linguistic arguments. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn33"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref33" name="_ftn33" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[33]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> See Potter and Wellington, <i>Lehi in the Wilderness</i>, 80-98; Potterand Wellington, “Lehi’s Trail,” 30-32. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn34"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref34" name="_ftn34" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[34]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Potter and Wellington, <i>Lehi in the Wilderness</i>, 83; Potter andWellington, “Lehi’s Trail,” 31. While I disagree with the “linguisticacrobatics” (as LeFevre, “We Did Again Take Our Journey,” 62 calls them) usedto argue that “fertile parts” or “fertile pieces” is an actual, or “official”name for the territory that Nephi is using, I do find it significant that otherancient sources corroborate the perception of this territory as “fertile.” Whatthis means is that this is more than a clever argument by Potter andWellington, who make creative use of tactical pilotage charts (TPC) todemonstrate the fertility pattern; it is a real and noticeable feature of theland that other travelers in ancient times noticed.&nbsp;&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn35"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref35" name="_ftn35" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[35]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> LeFevre, “We Did Again Take OurJourney,” 62<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn36"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref36" name="_ftn36" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[36]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> William J. Hamblin, “The Bow andArrow in the Book of Mormon,” in <i>Warfarein the Book of Mormon</i>, William J. Hamblin and Stephen D. Ricks, ed. (SaltLake City, UT: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1990), 374-375. This is yet another verysubtle detail that is strikingly actuate – it seems highly unlikely that JosephSmith would have understood the wear and tear process of a bow and the effectthat a change in climate could have on its effectiveness; he was no archer.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn37"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref37" name="_ftn37" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[37]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> See Hamblin, “The Bow and Arrow,”373.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn38"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref38" name="_ftn38" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[38]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> See Hamblin, “The Bow and Arrow,”374.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn39"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref39" name="_ftn39" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[39]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> See Potter and Wellington, <i>Lehi in the Wilderness</i>, 99.&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn40"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref40" name="_ftn40" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[40]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> See Nibley, <i>Lehi in the Desert</i>, CWHN 5:61; England, “Through the Arabian Desertto a Bountiful Land,” 151; Potter and Wellington, <i>Lehi in the Wilderness</i>, 99-105; Potter and Wellington, “Lehi’sTrail,” 32. I have not personally taken a position on which of thesepossibilities is correct, primarily because I feel here that the text is tooambiguous to determine with precision. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn41"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref41" name="_ftn41" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[41]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> See commentary in Gardner, <i>Second Witness</i>, 1:284, where Gardnerexplains why the text just has “arrow” although Nephi very likely made severalarrows.&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn42"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref42" name="_ftn42" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[42]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> See David S. Fox, “Nephi’s Bows andArrows,” in <i>Reexploring the Book ofMormon</i>, 41-43; also see Hamblin, “The Bow and Arrow,” 392-393.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn43"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref43" name="_ftn43" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[43]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> See “Research Corner,” <i>Insights</i> 3/2 (1983): <span style="color: red;">??</span>; “The Message of the Broken Bow,” <i>Insights</i> 4/1 (1984): <span style="color: red;">??</span>; Alan Goff, “Dan Vogel’s Family Romance and theBook of Mormon as Smith Family Allegory,” <i>FARMSReview</i> 17/2 (2005): 387-388.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn44"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref44" name="_ftn44" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[44]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Gardner, <i>Second Witness</i>, 1:284. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn45"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref45" name="_ftn45" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[45]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> James E. Faust, “Some Great Thing,” <i>Ensign</i> (November 2001): 48.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn46"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref46" name="_ftn46" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[46]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Stephen A. West, “Out of SmallThings,” <i>Ensign</i> (May 1999): 29. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn47"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref47" name="_ftn47" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[47]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> See Ross T.Christensen, “The Place Called Nahom,”<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>Ensign<span class="apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space">(</span>August 1978): 73. Formore information on these and other maps with some variant of “Nahom,” seeJames Gee, “The Nahom Maps,” <i>Journal ofthe Book of Mormon and Restoration Scripture </i>17/1-2 (2008): 41-57.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn48"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref48" name="_ftn48" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[48]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> See Aston and Aston, <i>In the Footsteps of Lehi</i>, 14-19.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn49"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref49" name="_ftn49" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[49]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> See Aston, “Across Arabia,” 14-15; S.Kent Brown, “New Light – ‘The Place That Was Called Nahom’: New Light fromAncient Yemen,” <i>Journal of Book of MormonStudies</i> 8/1 (1999): 66-68; Warren P. Aston, “Newly Found Alters FromNahom,” <i>Journal of Book of Mormon Studies</i>10/2 (2001): 57-61<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn50"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref50" name="_ftn50" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[50]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Brown, “New Light From Arabia onLehi’s Trail,” 82.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn51"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref51" name="_ftn51" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[51]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> S. Kent Brown, “New Light – Nahom andthe ‘Eastward’ Turn,” <i>Journal of Book ofMormon Studies</i> 12/1 (2003): 112.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn52"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref52" name="_ftn52" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[52]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> See Aston and Aston, <i>In the Footsteps of Lehi</i>, 12. Potter andWellington, <i>Lehi in the Wilderness</i>,112-113 and Potter and Wellington, “Lehi’s Trail,” 32 say that there aremultiple places called <i>NHM</i> and theyidentify a Jabal Naham (mountain), Wadi Naham (valley), and Furdat Naham(hill). They also differentiate between the cemetery “Naham,” and the regionNihm. I think that Potter and Wellington are confusing the issue. Each of theseland marks are within 16 miles of each other, and should be understood as beinga part of the greater <i>NHM</i> territory.As Warren P. Aston, “Identifying Our Best Candidate for Nephi’s Bountiful,” <i>Journal of Book of Mormon and RestorationScripture </i>17/1-2 (2008): 59 points out, “it is amistake to conclude that there are separate places called NHM. They are all simplyfeatures of one tribal area – only one south Arabian location has the name NHM.”Adding in the footnote: “The bottom line, however, is that the name NHM isfound only once in southern Arabia, even though a mountain, a valley, and ahill within the area also have NHM in their name, formal or otherwise. The siteof Provo offers a useful analogy: even though people speak of Provo Canyon, theProvo River, Provo city, and the Provo cemetery, for example, there is stillonly one place called Provo, not several.” (Aston, “Identifying Our Best,” 63n. 2). Potter and Wellington are working on a more micro level, tryingto pinpoint exactly where Lehi’s family were when Nephi said they were at“Nahom,” and there view can be easily reconciled with Aston’s and others, sincethey (Aston et al.) are working on a more general level versus the specificityPotter and Wellington are seeking. See the commentary in Gardner, <i>Second Witness</i>, 1:287-289 to see howseamlessly the research of the different parties can be interweaved. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn53"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref53" name="_ftn53" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[53]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> See Aston and Aston, <i>In the Footsteps of Lehi</i>, 19-20; Aston,“Across Arabia,” 15.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn54"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref54" name="_ftn54" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">[54]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> See Aston and Aston, <i>In the Footsteps of Lehi</i>, 22; Brown,“New Light From Arabia on Lehi’s Trail,” 88-90; Brown, “New Light – Nahom andthe ‘Eastward’ Turn,” 111-112.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div id="ftn55"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///H:/Neal/Gospel%20Writings/Scholarship%20and%20Apologetics/Sunday%20School%20apologetics/Lesson%205/Lesson-5.docx#_ftnref55" name="_ftn55" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span cl