In the past few years, there have been two major theories proposed about where the actual events in the Book of Mormon took place. Filmmaker Kieth Merrill gave one important bit of advice to any Book of Mormon “geography hobbyist” about suggesting their theory is the official position of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When Merrill was reviewing productions about a new major film on the appearance of Jesus Christ in the New World, President James E. Faust took him aside and directed him not to portray or use any recognizable location to imply that the Church endorses any location over another. President Faust simply said: “We do not know.” Merrill got the message.
Today, two different groups occupy the stage and take turns pitching their theories: one group at Brigham Young University is convinced that it’s somewhere in southern Mexico or Meso-America, a theory that was first proposed about the turn of the 20th-century by scholars in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; their group, Book of Mormon Central, backs this theory.
The second theory, the one that proponents at Book of Mormon Evidence say was what Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Brigham Young. Parley P. Pratt and other early brethren supported, is that it took place in the upper midwest and northeastern states of the United States, specifically, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and as far west as Iowa.
While there are new publications and studies being released by this group, Book of Mormon Evidence, about new archaeological and geographic findings. this podcasts focuses on what the Prophet Joseph said about the “western Indians” to whom early missionaries were sent, particularly to the tribes in the upper midwest.
Latter Day Radio’s guest in this podcast, Rod Meldrum, focuses on those events and passages in the Book of Mormon that support his “Heartland” or “Hopewell” theory. Co-author Bruce Porter, along with Rod Meldrum, suggest in their book “Prophecies ad Promises, the Book of Mormon and the United States of America” that, instead of just reading specific passages in the Book of Mormon that deal with just geography, it is better to establish a “hierarchy of multiple witnesses that are unambiguous, clear and unassailable” rather than trying to make a few passages fit a preconceived idea for a romantic notion of where the key events in the Book of Mormon took place. They point to first, what Book of Mormon prophecies and promises testify of in relation to the Promised Land and the people associated with it; second, they consider the inspired and revealed statements by the Prophet Joseph Smith associated with specific locations (like comments he made on the Zion’s March, such as the reference to Zelph’s grave); third, look at physical, “real world” evidence such as correlating civilizations in the correct time frame (600 BC to 400 AD), archaeological findings with the text, cultural lifestyles, genetic relationships and linguistic ties; and, fourth, they point to passages contained within the Book of Mormon that are locatable geographical indicators.
Meldrum and his allies emphasize that no one knows for sure where the final events in the Book of Mormon took place, but they insist that there is one Hill Cumorah and that the final Nephite “extinction” battle took place near that hill around 400 A.D. But, they also admit that after that period–a very, very long time ago—that the descendants of that awful battle spread all over the western hemisphere taking their stories, their oral histories and the legends with them, likely as far away as South America.
Now, you can decide if the “Heartland” model holds any merit. Latter Day Radio, like the Church itself, takes no official position, except this one: The Book of Mormon is exactly what it proposes: Another testament for Jesus Christ published for our day.
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