So, if the garden of Eden was in Misourri .. People must have migrated over to The Holy Land part of the world… And then They migrated back to America. For example, Maronite.. And then he was in South America and had a need to bury the plates so he went up to NY state to bury them… ?
This is correct ? They did all of this on foot, for rhe most part ? Why did Mormon not bury rhem In South America? Ok, the main question is the back and orthnand all over question.. This is the sequence and the Mormon churches present stance ? Yes ?
One Response to “So, if the garden of Eden was in Misourri .. People must…”
Felipe Delgado
2013-08-11 20:39:18
How I feel every time someone suggests a Bushwacker (Missourian) Garden of Eden is central to the Mormon faith.
Hi L. First off, the Book of Mormon teaches that Moroni lived thousands of years after Adam and Eve had been expelled from the Garden of Eden, so these two stories are not as intimately related as your question suggests, even if you do take them literally.
Secondly (and far more importantly), the idea that the Garden of Eden was in Missouri is simply not an important teaching in our faith. Practically the only time I ever hear it mentioned is when those who do not belong to our religion want to make Mormons out to be "unusual." These folks rarely mention how unimportant and insignificant the Missouri idea really is. There are plenty of faithful Mormons who don't believe the Garden of Eden was in Missouri. There are plenty of faithful Mormons who see the Garden of Eden as an allegorical rather than a literal place. And there are many, many Mormons who simply don't care where the Garden of Eden was located. It's a little bizarre to me, frankly, how much some outside our faith emphasize this idea, given how unimportant it is inside the church.
Your question about Moroni is more interesting, though, since it's more relevant to mainstream Mormon thought. Most practicing Mormons, though not all, see the Book of Mormon as being literally true, not just allegorically true. For those Mormons, questions about Book of Mormon geography can sometimes be important (though, again, most Mormons don't really care about this kind of stuff).
The church doesn't teach where the events of the Book of Mormon took place. Most Mormon scholars believe that Central America best fits the geography and culture described in the Book of Mormon, but there are other theories as well.
For those who tend to believe the Book of Mormon literally took place in Central America (myself included), there are two prevailing theories:
1) Moroni carried the plates from Central America to New York. The Book of Mormon does describe him wondering in the wilderness for 16 years after the destruction of his people, so such a trip would have been entirely feasible. In fact, he would have had to walk only about half a mile a day. His total trip would have been 2 1/2 times longer than the trip the Mormon pioneers made on foot in the 19th century, which took only several months.
2) Moroni actually buried the plates in Central America. It was God who made them available to Joseph Smith. The foundational stories of Mormonism, as well as those of all religions, involve supernatural (divine) events, so why not just accept that this aspect of the story is also supernatural?
For what it's worth, I tend to favor the first explanation.
Secondly (and far more importantly), the idea that the Garden of Eden was in Missouri is simply not an important teaching in our faith. Practically the only time I ever hear it mentioned is when those who do not belong to our religion want to make Mormons out to be "unusual." These folks rarely mention how unimportant and insignificant the Missouri idea really is. There are plenty of faithful Mormons who don't believe the Garden of Eden was in Missouri. There are plenty of faithful Mormons who see the Garden of Eden as an allegorical rather than a literal place. And there are many, many Mormons who simply don't care where the Garden of Eden was located. It's a little bizarre to me, frankly, how much some outside our faith emphasize this idea, given how unimportant it is inside the church.
Your question about Moroni is more interesting, though, since it's more relevant to mainstream Mormon thought. Most practicing Mormons, though not all, see the Book of Mormon as being literally true, not just allegorically true. For those Mormons, questions about Book of Mormon geography can sometimes be important (though, again, most Mormons don't really care about this kind of stuff).
The church doesn't teach where the events of the Book of Mormon took place. Most Mormon scholars believe that Central America best fits the geography and culture described in the Book of Mormon, but there are other theories as well.
For those who tend to believe the Book of Mormon literally took place in Central America (myself included), there are two prevailing theories:
1) Moroni carried the plates from Central America to New York. The Book of Mormon does describe him wondering in the wilderness for 16 years after the destruction of his people, so such a trip would have been entirely feasible. In fact, he would have had to walk only about half a mile a day. His total trip would have been 2 1/2 times longer than the trip the Mormon pioneers made on foot in the 19th century, which took only several months.
2) Moroni actually buried the plates in Central America. It was God who made them available to Joseph Smith. The foundational stories of Mormonism, as well as those of all religions, involve supernatural (divine) events, so why not just accept that this aspect of the story is also supernatural?
For what it's worth, I tend to favor the first explanation.
I hope this answer helps. Best of luck to you.