Okay guys, so in this episode we're gonna tackle another book of warning
conspiracy theory. I really like these episodes because it just shows to what
lengths people will go to try to discredit the Book of Mormon. But here's
the gist of the theory. The Book of Mormon contains 86 geographic names.
Some people believe Joseph Smith simply made some of these places up based on
actual geographic locations he was surrounded by. What's it called? It's
called... waynestock, it's called waynestock. Let's see if there's any clout to that
claim.
In the most popular anti Latter-day Saint literature right now, only 20
locations out of 86 are under the microscope for being taken from Joseph's
surroundings. We're gonna take a look at them a few at a time. The Book of Mormon
locations: Alma, Ani-Anti, Boaz, Shilom, Land of Noah, and Jerusalem all
supposedly match up with the following locations: Alma, West Virginia or Ohio or
New York; Antioch, Ohio; Boaz, West Virginia; Shiloh, Pennsylvania; Noah Lakes, Ohio;
Sodom, Ohio; and Jerusalem, Ohio. To some people that might seem pretty concerning
at face value... except none of these places existed in 1830. There was one
house in Jerusalem, Ohio in 1830 and really even if Joseph was a fraud,
wouldn't the Bible be a more logical explanation for where he got Jerusalem?
In fact, Sidom, Noah, Shilom, Jerusalem, and Boaz all have matches
or near matches in the Bible. Coincidentally they're all words found
in the Old Testament which is the portion of the Bible that Book of Mormon
characters would have had access to. Here's our next batch: The waters of
Ripliancum, Jacobugath, Ramah, Shurr, Kishkumen, and Manti all must correspond
with Ripple Lake, Ontario; Jacobsburg, Ohio; Rama, Ontario; Sherbrooke, Quebec;
Kiskiminetas, Pennsylvania; and Mantua, Ohio. Technically it's possible Joseph
could have known about these places. Is it likely? The chances are 725 to one
- Well that's up to you. Ripple Lake is one of like a thousand small lakes
located over 300 miles from Joseph at the time. Jacobugath and Ramah have Bible
roots. Sherbrooke got its name in 1818 and was a tiny community over 400 miles
from Joseph. Kishkumenetus is over 300 miles from Joseph, wasn't officially
established until 1876 but does show up in a post-office guide from 1825. Mantua
is almost 300 miles away, it wasn't established until 1898 but does show up
in an 1823 post-office guide. Why Joseph is apparently really into post-office
guides, I don't know, but here's our last batch. Jordan, Lehi, Helam, Antum, Morianton,
Land of Oneida, and Oneida Hill must come from Jordan, New York; Lehigh,
Pennsylvania; Hallam, Pennsylvania; Antrim, Pennsylvania; Moravian Town, Ontario;
Oneida County and a village called Oneida Castle, New York. These are the
strongest parallels in the whole batch but again Jordan, Lehi and Helam are in
the Bible. Moravian Town is an Indian Reservation in Canada almost 300 miles
away from Joseph but you can make up your minds about the others. But out of the 86
geographic names in the Book of Mormon, this is apparently the best theory
critics have got. But wait, there's more. In addition to these twenty there's also
the theory that Joseph got the name Commorah from the Comoros Islands off the
coast of Mozambique over 8,000 miles away and to spice things up critics are
quick to point out that there's a city in this island country called Moroni but
critics have struggled to piece together how Joseph would have known about Moroni
considering the fact that in Joseph's time Moroni was so small that nobody has
yet found a map or Gazette contemporary to Joseph that goes to the trouble of
identifying it but could it possibly just be coincidence that a name as
unique as Moroni exists outside the Book of Mormon? Well, considering the fact that
some of the other locations in this country are Damoni,
Chomoni, Fomboni, and Pomoni, I don't think it's that much of a stretch. Now, as
I was researching this topic I thought I'd do a little five minute experiment
for the sake of science. A fine day for science! First, I made up a
few names that I thought sounded like something you might find in the Book of
Mormon. Morah, Stelancum, Shumim, Zenihah, and i threw the Bible name David
in there just for kicks and giggles. Then I wondered if I could find actual
locations that were matches or near matches to my made-up names. Since Joseph
was headquartered in New York during the Book of Mormon translation,
I picked Kentucky as my headquarters. Lo and behold I found matches or near
matches for three out of the five names in Kentucky. Coincidence? Well, yes,
absolutely! I've never heard of any of those places. The point is I think this
whole argument is devoid of any real credibility. In fact, even the author of
the anti Latter-day Saint literature in which this argument appears recognized
years ago how weak this argument was and considered just editing it out of his
book completely. I think that says something. If you have more questions
about this topic, check out our website and the links in the description. A lot
of this information comes from a presentation by Scott Gordon from Fair
Mormon so shout out to him and have a great day.