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Test #5 North South East and West
Celestial phenomena form the basis for most cardinal and ordinal directional systems and the same was true anciently.Fact #1. In temperate and tropical latitudes (south of the Arctic Circle, north of...
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Sidon East then West
An interesting textual shift occurs at Alma 50:11, a passage describing events in the Nephite golden age ca. 72 - 71 B.C. Alma 50:23. Captain Moroni's ingenious fortifications worked so well at Noah...
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The Church in Zarahemla
We begin with an interesting research question: Could we locate the seven churches Alma1 founded in the greater land of Zarahemla Mosiah 25:23 ca. 120 B.C.? Terms of  interest in the text include...
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Ammonihah Noah & Sidom all East of Sidon
On Thursday, August 2, 2012 I had a lengthy conversation with John L. Sorenson following his excellent presentation at the FAIR Conference about his forthcoming book, Mormon's Codex. I promised to send...
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Isthmuses
I have the pleasure of conversing with V. Garth Norman frequently. He is one of the most astute students of the Book of Mormon in our generation. He, along with many others, believes the narrow neck of...
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Narrow and Small Things
This article will analyze all 17Â occurrences of the word "narrow," all 10 occurrences of the word "strait" and all 50 occurrences of the word "small" in the Book of Mormon text in an attempt to deduce...
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Another Geographic Neck
We have looked at every occurrence of the terms "narrow,""strait," and "small" in the text of the Book of Mormon in an attempt to deduce meaning based on Nephite usage. See the article "Narrow and...
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The Narrow (Small) Neck of Land
The 3 most recent articles in this blog:"Another Geographic Neck""Narrow and Small Things""Isthmuses"have laid important groundwork that will now allow us to establish the textual requirements and...
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The Narrow Pass and Narrow Passage
The last post entitled The Narrow (Small) Neck of Land showed why many Book of Mormon students think a) the narrow (small) neck of land, b) Lib's city, c) the east-west Bountiful/Desolation line, d)...
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The Narrow Strip of Wilderness
The Book of Mormon makes a single reference to the narrow strip of wilderness Alma 22:27 but this natural feature on the Nephite/Lamanite landscape looms large in any attempt to correlate the text with...
View ArticlePlainness
Nephi set a high standard for clarity and precision in his oral communication "I have spoken plainly that ye cannot err"2 Nephi 25:20. He wanted his words to communicate effectively "my soul delighteth...
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Things Near and Far
I was in north central Tennessee years ago looking for a gravel pit operated by one of my customers. Slightly disoriented, I stopped by a farmhouse where an older couple sat on the front porch. I asked...
View ArticleCaptain Moroni Epitaph
A Nephite carved stela erected in honor of Captain Moroni might read something like this:Captain Moroni ca. 100 B.C. - ca. 56 B.C. was military commander-in-chief of the Nephite Republic when the...
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By and By
In 1979 my wife and I lived in Somerville, Massachusetts where many of the locals had never ventured far from their home north of the Charles. One day we had a classic conversation with a...
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Test #6 Relative Distances
We have deduced a likely value for the Nephite standard unit of distance measure called "one days journey"Helaman 4:7. In the New World that value was probably close to 15 air or straight-line...
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Helam
After escaping King Noah's army Mosiah 18:34Â Alma1Â and approximately 450 converts fled eight days' journey Mosiah 23:3 into the wilderness and founded the city and land of Helam named after Alma1's...
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Things Peruvian
Garth Norman and I just returned from a 10 day expedition to Peru where we visited the following pre-Inca sites listed in approximate chronological order by date of first occupation:Caral near Supe,...
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Happy 90th, John Sorenson
Today was not really John L. Sorenson's birthday. He turned 90 on April 8th, 2014. But, today was a large birthday celebration with family and friends. It was a delight to spend a few moments with one...
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Imaging Izapa
The 79th Annual Meeting of the SAA, Society for American Archaeology, was held April 23 - 27, 2014 in Austin, Texas. On Sunday, April 27th, one of the sessions was a symposium on digital archaeology....
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Mormon Christianity
Stephen H. Webb was raised in the Stone-Campbell religious tradition (Churches of Christ, Disciples of Christ). As an adult he briefly espoused Lutheranism and then converted to Roman Catholicism. For...
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