Mission Accomplished

This may be the penultimate post on this blog.

When I started blogging years ago, I was making notes to myself that I could access everywhere. People started asking me questions, and it was easier to direct them to the blog than to answer everyone individually. Then I started different blogs for different topics.

Recently I reviewed the Google data on my blogs. Total views exceed 3 million, which surprised me. There are several thousand views every day, with some days spiking quite a bit more than that.

This blog, Book of Mormon Central America, initially focused on the setting of the Book of Mormon. When I started it, the organization Book of Mormon Central was promoting the Mesoamerican/Two-Cumorahs (M2C) theory exclusively (and adamantly). 

I've always said that around 80% of what Book of Mormon Central did was awesome. The other roughly 20%, not so much. 

What I considered poor content consisted mainly of their focus on M2C and SITH (the stone-in-the-hat) theory of translation. 

I'm fine with people believing whatever they want. In the pursuit of clarity, charity and understanding, we can all respect Latter-day Saints who still believe (and advocate) M2C and SITH.

But clarity, charity and understanding should prompt all Latter-day Saints--and especially scholars--to recognize multiple working hypotheses in a spirit of openness, transparency, and respect. From its founding, Book of Mormon Central as an organization refused to do that.

We'll see what the future brings, but I titled this post "Mission Accomplished" partly because by now, Latter-day Saints around the world know there is an alternative to M2C and SITH. I've heard from Latter-day Saints on every inhabited continent, and they're all enthusiastic about being able to make informed decisions without having to defer to scholars.

Latter-day Saints everywhere love to learn from the scriptures, the prophets, and authentic Church history documents.

This blog has been only a small part of educating the Latter-day Saints so they can make informed decisions. There are lots of podcasts, books, and other content that provide the information. 

Probably most important, the Joseph Smith Papers are making authentic historical documents available (at least to English speakers). 

Lately I've noticed much improvement in the content from Scripture Central, which replaced Book of Mormon Central. There seems to be more emphasis of transparency and less dogmatism, which is awesome.

Congrats to Scripture Central!

https://scripturecentral.org/

(We can't say the same for the Interpreter, but that's another story.)

_____

I've posted a few things recently on other blogs:

https://www.ldshistoricalnarratives.com/2025/04/reviewing-rough-stone-rolling.html

https://nomorecontention.blogspot.com/2025/04/latter-day-saints-love-for-each-other.html

https://dailyjonathanedwards.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-topstone.html

And I've added more annotations, such as Mosiah 3 and D&C 28, here:

https://www.mobom.org/jonathan-edwards

 

Gen Conf, SITH, Interpreter, etc.

I'm hearing General Conference will be exceptional, so be sure to watch/listen.

_____

On all of these blogs, we offer suggestions for improvement in the pursuit of clarity, charity and understanding. We charitably assume everyone is acting in good faith with the hope of bringing people to Christ, which is the only reason why we write these blogs.

We discuss these issues to bring clarity and understanding, always in an effort to help people make informed decisions, acknowledging our bias in favor of believing what Joseph and Oliver taught about the origin and setting of the Book of Mormon.

Regarding SITH, there are some new posts:

https://funwithsith.blogspot.com/2025/04/graphic-on-translation.html

https://interpreterpeerreviews.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-interpreter-doesnt-want-you-to-read.html

The latter one includes an in-depth review of Royal Skousen's part Seven, which we discussed on this blog a while back.

https://www.bookofmormoncentralamerica.com/2024/11/thank-you-royal-skousen.html

https://www.bookofmormoncentralamerica.com/2024/12/review-of-royal-skousens-methodology.html

Along those lines, we posted another comment here:

https://www.ldshistoricalnarratives.com/2025/03/royal-skousens-excerpt-technique.html

_____

We also applaud the recent work at Scripture Central to improve its content. For example, they deleted the old Spanish language site that included detailed maps of Cumorah in Mexico.

Book of Mormon Central's M2C map in Spanish

Good work!

Rational Restoration summary

We're releasing the Second Edition of The Rational Restoration soon. 

The Second Edition incorporates lots of feedback and contains new sections drawn from posts on https://www.ldshistoricalnarratives.com/ and other blogs.

Here is the summary at the end of Chapter 10: Reframing Scripture:

_____

Summary

When we reframe the Book of Mormon as an inspired translation of an ancient record that contained “a history of the aborigines of this country” that was “written and deposited not far from” Joseph’s home near Palmyra, New York, we have a rational explanation for all the events and teaching in Church history related to the origin and setting of the Book of Mormon.

When we reframe the translation as Joseph described it—that he first translated individual characters and then the engravings on the plates by means of the Urim and Thummim that came with the plates—we can see that the text he dictated was “after the manner of his language.” (D&C 1:24) We then have a rational explanation for the so-called “errors” such as anachronisms and quotations from the King James translation, which we would expect if Joseph translated it. We also understand why the 1840 edition claims it was “Carefully revised by the translator.”

These rational explanations provide a sharp contrast to the SITH and M2C theories that require us to ignore or reject what Joseph and his contemporaries and successors taught about the translation with the Nephite interpreters known as the Urim and Thummim. We don’t have to ignore or reject what they taught about Cumorah/Ramah in western New York.

We can readily identify extrinsic evidence that corroborates both the origin (translation) and setting (geography) of the Book of Mormon.

The rational explanations of the rational restoration lower barriers to acceptance of the Book of Mormon as another Testament of Jesus Christ.

The red morocco trunk and SITH in Harmony, PA

In the pursuit of clarity, charity and understanding, it's useful to discuss Church history sites.

If you've visited the Priesthood Restoration site in what was Harmony, Pennsylvania, in 1827-1830, you've visited the small house where Joseph and Emma lived when Joseph translated the abridged plates.

(click to enlarge)

In that house there is a "red morocco trunk" on the bureau.

(click to enlarge)

Lucy mentioned the trunk when she related her experience when she came to visit Joseph in Harmony in the fall of 1828. 

when I entered his house the first thing that attracted [p. 135] my attention was a red morocco trunk, that set on Emma’s bureau; which trunk Joseph shortly informed me, contained the Urim and Thummim and the plates. 

In the evening he gave us the following relation of what had transpired since our separation… [quoting Joseph, p. 138] “on the 22d of September, I had the joy and satisfaction of again receiving the Urim and Thummim; and have commenced translating again, and Emma writes for me; but the angel said that the Lord would send me a scribe, and <​I​> trust his promise will be verified. He also seemed pleased with me, when he gave me back the Urim and Thummim; and he told me that the Lord loved me, for my faithfulness and humility.

 https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/lucy-mack-smith-history-1845/142

Despite what Royal Skousen, Scripture Central, and other SITH scholars claim, Lucy's history tells us that Joseph had the Urim and Thummim when he was translating the abridged plates in Harmony. 

Of course, that's what Joseph and Oliver always said.

Here's the fun part.

In this view, you can see the red trunk on the right with the translating table in the left center.

(click to enlarge)

Below you can see the translating table, complete with the plates covered with a cloth and the white top hat visible.

(click to enlarge)

Recall that Lucy explained Joseph kept the Urim and Thummim and the plates in the red trunk. Nothing in the display mentions the Urim and Thummim, and the missionaries there don't tell people about it (at least they didn't when we visited).

Instead, they set up this display to indicate that Joseph use the stone-in-the-hat to "translate" the plates, which were supposedly under a cover the entire time.

I removed the cover to show the plates and took this photo:

(click to enlarge)

The next time you visit the Priesthood Restoration site, ask about the Urim and Thummim that Joseph kept in the red morocco trunk.

Now you have a link to an original source.

Myanmar earthquake

The earthquake today in Myanmar reminded me of our visit there in January 2020 where we saw some of the destruction caused by an earthquake in 2016, particularly to the temples in Bagan. We spent some time with a wonderful senior couple in Yangon who were doing greatly appreciated humanitarian work there.

Hopefully this earthquake has not destroyed more of the temples in Bagan.

archway in Bagan

earthquake damage from 2016

Bagan

temples in Bagan

Cool guys in Yangon

Yangon from our hotel

Shwedgaon Pagoda in Yangon

SITH happens

Scripture Central

 

Mormonism Unvailed

The Mary Whitmer narrative again

Always in the pursuit of clarity, charity and understanding, today we'll discuss an ongoing problem that we can all hope will get resolved one of these days.

The other day I had a conversation with a life-long seasoned Latter-day Saint who has studied the gospel diligently. During the conversation, the topic of the Saints book came up. The person said, "How can I know what is and what is not accurate in those books?"

It's a difficult question because the Saints book (especially volume 1) uses selective footnotes so readers don't know about other authentic, faithful accounts that contradict some of the narratives. To those of us who are more familiar with original sources, some of the errors are obvious, some are matters of interpretation, and some appear to promote a particular agenda.

Yet Saints has, in the minds of some people, replaced the original sources and now constitutes official doctrine about Church history. 

I see no evidence that any Church leaders intended Saints to replace original sources, the teachings of the prophets, or even common sense. Instead, Saints was intended to provide an accessible resource that encourages further study and discussion.

But in the real world, few Latter-day Saints even look at the footnotes, let alone actually read the original sources. For non-English speakers, the footnotes are not useful anyway.

Which is why Saints has become the quasi-canonized version of history, even when it directly contradicts original sources (and in some cases the scriptures).

A good example is the narrative that it was Moroni who showed Mary Whitmer the plates. 

Most readers apparently think, "Hmm, it's interesting that a resurrected being can present himself in a variety of bodies." 

Saints teaches that the Moroni David and Mary Whitmer met was a short old man. But original sources describe the Moroni who appeared to Joseph as glorious and taller than the average person.

Obviously, these dueling narratives are difficult to square with Alma:

The soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame.

(Alma 40:23)

The easy solution is to just refer to the original sources, where we see that 

(i) David Whitmer said Joseph identified the messengers as "one of the three Nephites to whom the Savior gave the promise of life on earth until He should come in power."

(ii) Mary Whitmer said the messenger identified himself as "Brother Nephi," which makes sense because Nephi was among the 12 from whom the Three Nephites came. 

See references here: https://www.mobom.org/trip-to-fayette-references

The original sources make far more sense than the Saints narrative. Plus they don't contradict Alma and other similar scriptures.

While the solution is easy, we can all see that it's impossible to reprint the hard copies of Saints. But the digital versions (which are by far more popular) can be corrected instantly.

So why does Saints continue to promote the Moroni narrative?

We can only speculate, but presumably the scholars at Scripture Central and the Interpreter have significant influence, and they both promote the Moroni narrative.

Scripture Central promoted the narrative with a commissioned painting that even appeared on the cover of BYU Studies.

For example, in my review of Royal Skousen's Part Seven, I noted that Skousen went to great lengths to promote the narrative that it was Moroni who showed the plates to Mary Whitmer. This is the narrative that shows up in the Saints book (volume 1).

Skousen's Part Seven includes a reprint of his 2014 Interpreter article. To his credit, Skousen acknowledges that "there is some issue about the identity of the angel." But then he promotes the Moroni narrative by:

(i) relying on compound hearsay and

(ii) omitting sections of specific references that contradict the Moroni narrative, including references from which Skousen quotes an excerpt!

I discussed Skousen's "excerpt" technique here:

https://www.ldshistoricalnarratives.com/2025/03/royal-skousens-excerpt-technique.html 

And I discussed the Mary Whitmer problem several times, such as here:

https://saintsreview.blogspot.com/2020/10/more-on-fake-moronimary-whitmer-story.html

_______

We can all understand the reluctance to make corrections to the Saints book, but perpetuating obvious errors will continue to undermine the credibility of the book for future generations.