Cumorahphobia and cures

In the ongoing pursuit of clarity, charity and understanding, it may be helpful to think of the Cumorah issue as a psychological condition, which I call Cumorahphobia. 

No one is at fault. It's just a type of mind virus that can be easily cured. 

There are surely a variety of causes of Cumorahphobia. One may be the desire to avoid contention, which is laudable. But problems don't get resolved by ignoring them. 

There's no need to fear the name Cumorah so long as Latter-day Saints understand the context of the historical sources, the teachings of the prophets, and the corroborating evidence. Obviously Cumorah has been important in the history of the Church and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. It's mentioned several times in the scriptures and in the teachings of the prophets.

Scholars and ordinary Latter-day Saints have a variety of opinions (multiple working hypotheses), but not mentioning the name Cumorah accentuates the differences, generates confusion, and prevents people from making informed decisions for themselves. Differences can be acknowledged and discussed in the spirit of clarity, charity and understanding, with zero contention or animosity.

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The pursuit of clarity leads us to make recommendations for improvements throughout Latter-day Saint scholarship and individual study materials, including curriculum, podcasts, books, websites, etc. 

I hope these recommendations will encourage Latter-day Saint scholars and their followers to discuss Cumorah more openly and frankly. Such a pursuit of clarity will help unify Latter-day Saints everywhere and align them with both authentic Church history and the teachings of the prophets.

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In 1842, Joseph Smith wrote "Glad tidings from Cumorah!" (D&C 128:20)

In 2025, the name Cumorah seems to have become anathema for many LDS scholars.

Cumorahphobia--the fear of mentioning the actual name of the "hill in New York" where the golden plates were deposited--is a mind virus that has spread widely among Latter-day Saints, thanks to the efforts of certain LDS scholars, particularly those affiliated with Scripture Central. 

It usually accompanies the condition of Mesomania (the virus that causes M2C).

Our friends at Scripture Central aren't the only ones who have Cumorahphobia, but they are the most prominent carriers.

Fortunately, Cumorahphobia is curable. Seriously, there's no need to fear the name "Cumorah." We can all read it in authentic Church history sources and the teachings of the prophets. We can all discuss Cumorah in a spirit of charity and understanding, based on clarity, and then we can make informed decisions for ourselves.

But to cure a disease, we first have to identify the symptoms.

In the Harry Potter books/movies, Voldemort is "He who must not be named." 

Among LDS scholars, historians and educators, Cumorah is the "Hill who must not be named"

Here are some examples.

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Scripture Central infamously repudiates the teachings of the prophets about Cumorah/Ramah in New York, as we've discussed here:

https://scripturecentralpeerreviews.blogspot.com/2025/01/kno-why-489-where-is-hill-cumorah.html

Cure: revise the Kno-Why with additional perspectives that corroborate the teachings of the prophets.

Recently Scripture Central posted a video titled "The Missing Evidence for the Book of Mormon Battle," which uses a series of logical fallacies to repudiate the teachings of the prophets about Cumorah/Ramah in New York, here (which we'll review soon on the peer review blog):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHxjIunNJ8M

Cure: edit the video with additional perspectives that corroborate the teachings of the prophets, and/or produce videos that specifically corroborate the teachings of the prophets.

For years, Scripture Central's affiliate Book of Mormon Central depicted Cumorah in southern Mexico, an explicit repudiation of the teachings of the prophets, on its affiliate page here:

Cure: delete the map, and/or use it in conjunction with multiple working hypotheses, such as maps that corroborate the teachings of the prophets.

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Other examples of Cumorahphobia include FAIRLDS, the Interpreter, the Saints book, volume 1, the Come Follow Me lesson manual, and even the Joseph Smith Papers.

Let's consider these in reverse order (chiasmus).

I've discussed Cumorah in my series on suggestions for improvement in the Joseph Smith Papers, here:

https://www.ldshistoricalnarratives.com/2025/02/2025-improvements-jsp-on-cumorah.html

Cure: edit the material as suggested in that post.

The Come Follow Me lesson manual for the Book of Mormon, both in 2020 and 2024, never once mentions the name Cumorah. The manuals don't even include a reading from Mormon 6. The lesson manual for 2025 on the Doctrine and Covenants also doesn't mention Cumorah (D&C 128:20). This is appropriate in the sense that the manuals focus on individual spirituality, but the omission reflects the Cumorahphobia problem because Latter-day Saints can read for themselves how important Cumorah was both anciently and in modern times.

Cure: provide Latter-day Saints with references to authentic historical sources and the teachings of the prophets about Cumorah, without getting into the geography issue.

We've previously discussed the censorship of Cumorah in the Saints book. It's bizarre that a book about early Church history never mentions the name Cumorah, except in the , here:

https://saintsreview.blogspot.com/2018/10/saints-in-seminary-and-institute-classes.html

and here:

https://saintsreview.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-hill-in-new-york-problem.html

Cure: edit the material as suggested in those posts to provide an authentic, accurate historical narrative present.

The management of the Interpreter and FAIRLDS have long been adamant that the Hill Cumorah/Ramah cannot be in New York. Their repudiation of the teachings of the prophets is so well known that there's no need to cite specific examples here.

Cure: provide articles and other material from multiple working hypotheses, including perspectives that corroborate the teachings of the prophets.

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In some cases, the omission of Cumorah from the discussion is appropriate, such as in the Gospel Topics entry on Book of Mormon Geography, which we discussed here:

https://www.ldshistoricalnarratives.com/p/book-of-mormon-geography-essay.html

That essay appropriately addresses speculation about Book of Mormon Geography, which is a separate issue from Cumorah/Ramah. The teachings of the prophets have always distinguished between the known fact of Cumorah/Ramah in New York vs the multiple working hypotheses about the setting of the Book of Mormon events.

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Podcast-MBR on Joseph Smith, etc.

Mormon Book Reviews released a new podcast yesterday titled "New Approaches to Joseph Smith." You should definitely watch it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u9-6k0k0Y4

In my view, it makes a big difference to see how God prepared Joseph Smith from his youth for his future role as translator and prophet, instead of the narrative that Joseph was an ignorant farm boy who said a prayer out loud.

As we've discussed before, Joseph himself said the Restoration started when he was a young boy. His brush with death through his leg surgery and recovery made him a religious seeker, as he explained in his 1832 history.

For additional material, see 

https://www.ldshistoricalnarratives.com/2024/09/joseph-smith-early-years.html

and

https://www.ldshistoricalnarratives.com/2024/09/the-embarrassed-narrative-and-sith.html

From Joseph's experience, we each learn that our own spiritual development and relationship with God is directly linked to our desires and the effort we employ to seek God. Which is what the scriptures have said all along.

This is also important for understanding Joseph as a translator, as he and Oliver said. IOW, he didn't merely read words that appeared on the stone-in-the-hat (SITH), but he actually translated the engravings on the plates, as the Lord instructed him, using the Urim and Thummim that came with the plates (D&C 10:41).

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Related to this, I uploaded another annotation of a chapter in the Book of Mormon, in this case Alma 12.

https://www.mobom.org/bm-kjv-and-je-alma-12

and here:

https://dailyjonathanedwards.blogspot.com/2025/01/alma-12-annotated.html

If you'd like the Word version, which is easier to follow because the footnotes are at the end of each page, just email me at lostzarahemla@gmail.com and I'll email it to you.

You can see all the annotated chapters here:

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

It's cool to see how Joseph employed his own vocabulary and knowledge to translate the plates "after the manner of his language."

Plus, seeing the connections with Jonathan Edwards expands the text considerably, just like seeing the connections with the Bible does.

Updated "Simplicity" post

By far the most popular post on this blog over the years has been the one titled "Simplicity."

I recently updated it. 

You can see it here:

https://www.bookofmormoncentralamerica.com/2016/05/simplicity.html

Feel free to share it widely.

Or better, share this link to the Scripture Central Peer Reviews:

https://scripturecentralpeerreviews.blogspot.com/2025/01/simplicity-two-sets-of-assumptions.html

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When we compare the two sets of assumptions, we're reminded of this wisdom from Naval Ravikant.

"It is the mark of a charlatan to explain a simple concept in a complex way" - @naval

Follow the money-Scripture Central, M2C and SITH

M2C and SITH continue to be cited as among the top reasons why people lose their faith in the Restoration. This is obvious when leading LDS scholars teach that Joseph and Oliver deliberately misled everyone about the origin and setting of the Book of Mormon. 

Few if any people join the Church and remain active because of the theories of scholars, but when the scholars repudiate the teachings of the prophets, they cause people to question their faith. 

People often ask how and why so many LDS scholars and their followers continue to promote M2C and SITH. 

It's an easy answer: just follow the money. 

It's basically the same reason why Americans spend more on health care than any other country, with the worst medical outcomes of any developed country, as we'll see below. The solution for the health care outcomes is relatively easy, except that the solution impinges on big corporate interests who fund the politicians.

Likewise, the tragedy is that Scripture Central could easily solve this problem by simply 

(i) acknowledging the teachings of the prophets and 

(ii) acknowledging the evidence that corroborates those teachings and

(iii) encouraging Latter-day Saints and their friends to make informed decisions.

But so far, Scripture Central continues to refuse to do these three things.

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Scripture Central raises and spends millions of dollars annually. No other LDS academic organization comes close.

To participate with Scripture Central as management, as an employee, as a volunteer, as a content creator, or in any other way, you must comply with the Scripture Central's position on the origin and setting of the Book of Mormon. 

This means you must agree to repudiate the teachings of the prophets about the origin and setting of the Book of Mormon; i.e., you must believe, or at least promote, 

(i) the Mesoamerican/two-Cumorahs theory (M2C) of the setting of the Book of Mormon, and 

(ii) the stone-in-the-hat (SITH) explanation for the origin of the Book of Mormon.

In fact, to participate with Scripture Central, you can't even teach what the prophets have taught about the origin and setting of the Book of Mormon because both M2C and SITH expressly and explicitly repudiate the teachings of the prophets about Cumorah/Ramah and the Urim and Thummim. 

We've documented numerous examples of this from Tyler Griffin and others, but in coming days we'll document even more.

Because Scripture Central controls the money, if you want to be an LDS scholar in the present world, you have to comply with--and promote--SITH and M2C.

Scripture Central hosts and coordinates and promotes specific social media influencers, on the condition that they in turn promote M2C and SITH.

Scripture Central funds independent researchers, on the condition that they in turn promote M2C and SITH.

Although much of their content is published anonymously, this list of their "content creators" consists exclusively of people who promote M2C and SITH.

(click to enlarge)

Think about this: for all of 2024, when Come Follow Me focused on the Book of Mormon, these "content creators" generated numerous articles, podcasts, videos, and other content, but not one of them ever once quoted what Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery taught about the origin and setting of the Book of Mormon.

Instead, they promoted their own theories and quoted and cited one another. It's amazing, but not surprising if you follow the money.

(In case I missed an example, let me know so I can correct this post. Email me at lostzarahemla@gmail.com).

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Now, here's the analogy to the US health care system:

RFK Jr. explaining the US health care system

Camus

@newstart_2024

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: "Today, over 100 members of Congress support a bill to fund Ozempic with Medicare at $1,500 a month. Most of these members have taken money from the manufacturer of that product, a European company called Novo Nordisk. As everyone knows, once a drug is approved for Medicare, it goes to Medicaid." "And there is a push to recommend Ozempic for Americans as young as six over a condition, obesity, that is completely preventable and barely even existed 100 years ago. Since 74% of Americans are obese, the cost of all of them, if they take their Ozempic prescriptions, will be $3 trillion a year. This is a drug that has made Novo Nordisk the biggest company in Europe." "It's a Danish company, but the Danish government does not recommend it. It recommends a change in diet to treat obesity and exercise. Virtually Novo Nordisk's entire value is based upon its projections of what Ozempic is going to sell to Americans. For half the price of Ozempic, we could purchase regeneratively raised organic agriculture, organic food for every American three meals a day and gym membership for every obese American." "Why are members of Congress doing the bidding of this Danish company instead of standing up for American farmers and children? Because Novo Nordisk is one of the largest funders of medical research, the media and politicians and the medical schools all go along with them."

https://x.com/newstart_2024/status/1884616729289978182

The narrow neck of land found!

Yesterday I visited an actual narrow neck of land that connects a land northward and a land southward that are surrounded by water in an island of the sea.

Looking southward:

(click to enlarge)

A wide-angle shot shows how narrow the neck is. It could be described as a narrow neck, a narrow passage, or even a small neck of land.

Looking northward, the neck expands into a large island.

On the map it's easy to see the land northward and southward connected by the narrow neck.

To get to Bruny Island we took a ferry from Kettering, Tasmania.

Obviously I don't think this is the land of the Book of Mormon, but it makes the point that once people reject the teachings of the prophets, the way the management and scholars at Scripture Central do, there is no principled limit on the possible settings of the Book of Mormon.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of locations around the world that could fit the description in the Book of Mormon.

That's why it is essential for Latter-day Saints to start by accepting the teachings of the prophets about the New York Cumorah/Ramah. Even when we have the Cumorah pin in the map, there are numerous plausible scenarios, but at least they corroborate the teachings of the prophets.

Bruny Island, south of Hobart

Scripture Central Peer Reviews

There is so much misinformation and disinformation pouring out of Scripture Central lately that we're starting a new blog to provide peer reviews of their content.

https://scripturecentralpeerreviews.blogspot.com/

Here's the first entry.

https://scripturecentralpeerreviews.blogspot.com/2025/01/kno-why-489-where-is-hill-cumorah.html

We'll have peer reviews of the Kno-Why articles, youtube and other videos, and other content.

Feel free to share widely!

Ancient Heartland rap

Fun song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI3odwG5Ww8