Maybe it is a little funny but it's a serious question to be asked. That narrow neck just north of Bountiful where Jesus walked.
I guess the answer is no. I figured it would be.
Truthfully? My belief in the authenticity of the Book of Mormon is not based solely upon the location of the narrow neck. And I have literally NO expectation of receiving an answer to that question by praying about it.
I am happy that you feel as though you have received that answer from God. That is YOUR truth.
I realize you believe the Book of Mormon is a witness of Christ on many different levels, but mostly spiritual. I assume you believe that Christ actually came down and ministered on the temple steps of Bountiful. I get that. Fine.
But, I have to wonder if YOU have determined for yourself and at what level of surety have you come to that determination of the location of the NARROW NECK, the neck in which I've made a big deal about in these threads. Do you have a personal belief on where that neck is and can show me on the map, please? Now, if you aren't positive about the narrow neck, then perhaps you will be willing to relate how much you do believe, on a scale of 1-10.
MG, if you don't know the actual location of that neck, will you pray about it and get a revelation by asking God? Tell God that Shulem sent you and is asking you to ask him where the neck is. I realize you are sticking your neck out in doing this. Does it sound like a risky proposition on your part? Would it be tempting God? Don't you have a right to know where that neck is? Don't we all?
So, what will it be?
Laying the gauntlet down in Mormon style. Oooooooooooo Shulem! You gittin tough man! if there is ANY confusion, we were brainwashed taught incessantly to pray to know the truth of anything you needed or wanted. So when it's turned back onto Mormons, they have such cool and neato sounding loop holes like "Oh, that isn't necessary for your salvation." Well, neither are the damn car keys, but Jesus works 24/7 finding them for folks!
Laying the gauntlet down in Mormon style. Oooooooooooo Shulem! You gittin tough man! if there is ANY confusion, we were brainwashed taught incessantly to pray to know the truth of anything you needed or wanted. So when it's turned back onto Mormons, they have such cool and neato sounding loop holes like "Oh, that isn't necessary for your salvation." Well, neither are the damn car keys, but Jesus works 24/7 finding them for folks!
Truthfully? My belief in the authenticity of the Book of Mormon is not based solely upon the location of the narrow neck. And I have literally NO expectation of receiving an answer to that question by praying about it.
I am happy that you feel as though you have received that answer from God. That is YOUR truth.
In order to receive an answer through prayer you have to have faith. Apparently it's not important to you and the narrow neck seems to be a mystery for you because you've not expressed your belief or where it is located. Hence, it's a mystery for you. I KNOW that the narrow neck in which Joseph used for his story is at Delmarva. I'm sure, and, yes, it's my truth. I appreciate the friendly dialogue. But it's disappointing that you won't stretch yourself on this matter and enquire of the Lord. But oh well.
Kudos for the great work and for sharing it with us.
I'm grateful for your appreciation and vote of confidence in these matters. I'm afraid that all this will not bode well for the Church and will prove a very serious threat to Mormon truth claims. I'm inclined to say that many members of the Church will fall away when they learn about this and put the pieces together revealing the original fraud. But more importantly, billions of nonmembers of the Church will learn about this and will never, ever, accept the Book of Mormon as a historical record.
Truthfully? My belief in the authenticity of the Book of Mormon is not based solely upon the location of the narrow neck. And I have literally NO expectation of receiving an answer to that question by praying about it.
I am happy that you feel as though you have received that answer from God. That is YOUR truth.
In order to receive an answer through prayer you have to have faith. Apparently it's not important to you and the narrow neck seems to be a mystery for you because you've not expressed your belief or where it is located. Hence, it's a mystery for you. I KNOW that the narrow neck in which Joseph used for his story is at Delmarva. I'm sure, and, yes, it's my truth. I appreciate the friendly dialogue. But it's disappointing that you won't stretch yourself on this matter and enquire of the Lord. But oh well.
I won't press you further.
Of course he doesn't stretch himself to find out. It will take church leaders telling him to before he ever changes He firmly follows them and their ignorances and ideologies as if they were God. We all already knew that. But it is nice to challenge him in an open public forum. So long as Jesus Christ himself doesn't take a stand on Book of Mormon geography and decides it is not necessary for our salvation and remains ignorant of where his own Nephites existed, MG will simply limp along in faith in the ignorance... and do so blissfully... of course.
Of course he doesn't stretch himself to find out. It will take church leaders telling him to before he ever changes He firmly follows them and their ignorances and ideologies as if they were God. We all already knew that. But it is nice to challenge him in an open public forum. So long as Jesus Christ himself doesn't take a stand on Book of Mormon geography and decides it is not necessary for our salvation and remains ignorant of where his own Nephites existed, MG will simply limp along in faith in the ignorance... and do so blissfully... of course.
The narrow neck in the Book of Mormon is the most strategic portion of land in the entire story. Whoever controls the neck controls the flow between north and south. If the neck is plugged and a stalemate exist then nobody goes through it and the north is effectively cut off from the south. That very condition is explained in the book. And if that's the case the only other option is to sail into the land northward via river.
The Church takes no position because they really don't have a position to take. What narrow neck can the Church endorse? Show me a neck that takes a single day to cross from east to west and is flanked by seas. What candidate does the Church have to fit the bill? I've shown in these threads that apologists have been misrepresenting the dimension of the neck by interpreting the distance across as a day and a half when in reality that given distance (1 1/2) is the length from north to south. The day and half march for a Nephite tells us how long the neck is, NOT how wide it is! This correct perspective is the proper perspective and is the very one Smith was visualizing and attempting to explain as he mumbled those bits out of his hat. Imagine Daniel C. Peterson trying to cross the narrow neck in a single day from sea east to sea west to survey the land and set guards across the landscape. It's over for the Mesoamerican model. Their neck is more than just fat but it's far and wide and not aligned with the directions Smith gave. The neck is a single day across and I challenge the apologists to refute Smith's words or find a neck that fits the bill. But I'm not going to press MG further on this. I can only imagine what he's going through knowing what he knows about the geography. I wouldn't want to be in his shoes.
Truthfully? My belief in the authenticity of the Book of Mormon is not based solely upon the location of the narrow neck. And I have literally NO expectation of receiving an answer to that question by praying about it.
I am happy that you feel as though you have received that answer from God. That is YOUR truth.
In order to receive an answer through prayer you have to have faith. Apparently it's not important to you and the narrow neck seems to be a mystery for you because you've not expressed your belief or where it is located. Hence, it's a mystery for you. I KNOW that the narrow neck in which Joseph used for his story is at Delmarva. I'm sure, and, yes, it's my truth. I appreciate the friendly dialogue. But it's disappointing that you won't stretch yourself on this matter and enquire of the Lord. But oh well.
I won't press you further.
Question: In what ways does your Delmarva theory diverge from Brandley’s?
Without going through everything you’ve posted it would seem to appear that you and he are pretty much running parallel to each other? As you can see, the author of this essay takes some serious looks and criticisms at Brandley’s map. Of course the criticisms are bound by a belief in Book of Mormon historicity, but nonetheless, believers are going to look at Brandley’s views as being skewed.
But of course if you start off with the presupposition that the Book of Mormon as fiction I suppose it’s a different ball game, right?
I suppose the Brandt Gardners of the world are coming at this from 180° different direction than you are. Including this author at NephiCode.
I think that your theory is going to have a hard time taking off with believers in the Book of Mormon. Your audience is somewhere else. But you’ve already pretty much owned up to that, so that’s good.
I think the loophole was just invoked...
