Those who live in glass houses…
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Tags: Archeology, Heartland hoax, Hill Cumorah, Hypocrisy, Self-awareness, Those who live in glass houses
On July 18, 2019, Jonathan Neville blogged about the Mayan glyph that was in the old FARMS logo that is now the logo used by Book of Mormon Central:
Left: The “Mystic Symbol” on the Michigan Relics, also called “the sign manual of the forger.” Right: The “Mystic Symbol” imagined on Zelph’s breastplate by artist and Heartlander Ken Corbett; image retrieved from Jonathan Neville’s blog. (Click to enlarge.)
—Peter Pan
* “M2C” is Jonathan Neville’s acronym for the theory that the Book of Mormon took place in Mesoamerica and that the hill Cumorah in the Book of Mormon is not the same hill in New York where Joseph Smith received the plates of Mormon.
Book of Mormon Central is doing a great job telling the world that the Book of Mormon is a Mayan codex. They've got their Mayan logo everywhere.…Oh, my dear Brother Neville. Let’s put the shoe on the other foot for a moment, shall we?
Of course, the Mayan logo directly contradicts the Church's policy of neutrality regarding Book of Mormon Geography. It also makes the Book of Mormon look ridiculous to non-LDS experts on the Mayans.
Many believers in the Book of Mormon still accept the teachings of the prophets about the New York Cumorah. That does not exclude Central America as a possible site for some Book of Mormon events, but Book of Mormon Central excludes the New York Cumorah as a possibility for Cumorah!
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Heartlanders are doing a great job telling the world that the Book of Mormon is connected to the Michigan Relics. They’ve got the “Mystic Symbol” logo everywhere, including on the breastplate supposedly worn by Zelph:
Left: The “Mystic Symbol” on the Michigan Relics, also called “the sign manual of the forger.” Right: The “Mystic Symbol” imagined on Zelph’s breastplate by artist and Heartlander Ken Corbett; image retrieved from Jonathan Neville’s blog. (Click to enlarge.)
Of course, the Mystic Symbol directly contradicts the Church’s (supposed) policy of neutrality regarding Book of Mormon geography. It also contradicts James E. Talmage’s conclusion, published in the Church’s official magazine, that he was “thoroughly convinced that the alleged ‘relics’ are forgeries and that they [were] made and buried to be dug up on command.” It also makes the Heartland movement look ridiculous to many Latter-day Saints and it makes the Book of Mormon look ridiculous to non-Latter-day Saints who think it has ties to fraudulent relics.
Many believers in the Book of Mormon accept the declaration of living prophets and apostles that “the Church does not take a position on the specific geographic locations of Book of Mormon events in the ancient Americas.” That does not exclude the American Midwest as a possible site for some Book of Mormon events, but Heartlanders exclude anywhere but New York as a possibility for Cumorah because they selectively interpret specific dead prophets.
Many believers in the Book of Mormon accept the declaration of living prophets and apostles that “the Church does not take a position on the specific geographic locations of Book of Mormon events in the ancient Americas.” That does not exclude the American Midwest as a possible site for some Book of Mormon events, but Heartlanders exclude anywhere but New York as a possibility for Cumorah because they selectively interpret specific dead prophets.
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Who looks worse here, Brother Neville?—Peter Pan
* “M2C” is Jonathan Neville’s acronym for the theory that the Book of Mormon took place in Mesoamerica and that the hill Cumorah in the Book of Mormon is not the same hill in New York where Joseph Smith received the plates of Mormon.
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The other 3 symbols in the logo are the classical Hebrew letter Aleph, the Egyptian heiroglyph for Ra, and the Greek letter Omega. Is that supposed to mean that Book of Mormon Central is asserting that the Book of Mormon events took place in Israel, Egypt and Greece? Or perhaps they are related to the name of FARMS, the Foundation for ANCIENT RESEARCH and Mormon Studies. They are symbols used in ancient writing in several cultures, and convey the idea that knowledge of ancient writings sheds light on "Mormon Studies", a concept put forward by Hugh Nibley in his many books, and which has been expanded upon by many of the scholars associated with BYU and other schools since Nibley's day.
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