THE GREAT BYU INVITATIONAL
What is it?
A fight to the point of extinction!
Hypothetically, imagine a war between Brigham Young University and the University of Utah. Picture over 30,000 students on either side, plus their families of over a hundred thousand each. The goal? Kill every opponent from the strongest man to the feeblest adult and the smallest baby.
Yes, that is far-out, since these universities have nothing to do with such barbarianism. Yet, many people believe a similar story from the Book of Mormon, the greatest war in the history of our hemisphere. The Book of Mormon people, the Jaredites, split into warring factions as two armies fought to extinction in New York State between 600-300 BC. One army had two million “men” plus women and children, making it at least four million people (Ether 15:2).
The other side was its equal. So a mere 260,000 at BYU is nothing in comparison to an excess of eight million on the little hill Cumorah Utah has less than three million people. Eight million could fill the LA basin. Or imagine the complete population of NYC on the campus of BYU. You couldn’t breathe, let alone fight! If the other great cities of New York State converged upon Cumorah, they would include Buffalo 270,240, Rochester 207,294, Yonkers 201,066, Syracuse 138,560, Albany 93,836, Cheektowaga 77,500, New Rochelle 74,281, Mount Vernon 68,815, and Schenectady 61,469. That makes just 1,193,031, not even close to two million.
The LDS leadership urges its members to leave LDS geography alone, but everyone should know about Cumorah. The church nervously changes the locations so now it may be at one of two locations of the Mexico-Guatemala-Honduras area. How odd that a wealthy church with its own revelator cannot find Cumorah! Riley L. Dixon has a telling book on this called, “Just One Cumorah.” Apparently, the LDS leaders do not believe the Book of Mormon because it tells us exactly where Cumorah is.
The prefaces are not viewed as scripture but are regarded as true. The Ether 15 preface (before 1981) stated the obvious, “The hill Ramah or Cumorah.” Verse 11 confirms that this is where Mormon hid the records - or where Joseph found the Golden Plates. So Cumorah is at Palmyra, NY, in the land of Moroni near the Smith family home (14:11). The LDS Cumorah visitor’s center affirms, “Yes, this is the place.” That is why the LDS church holds an annual pageant of the battle there. (Mormon Doctrine, pp. 174-175; “A Marvelous Work and a Wonder,” p. 7; Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 3, pp. 232-243).
The Cumorah war in the New World would be far before the age of steel over here (see the Smithsonian statement to follow). Yet they had swords, shields, breastplates, and head-plates (15:15, 20-24). The standard Mormon excuse is to say that the soil has so much acid that it ate up the metal. The New York locals really laugh at this foolish yarn because the soil is fertile.
Wouldn’t you expect there to be a mountain of armor nearly as big as the hill itself? Then why doesn’t the LDS church use its wealth for excavation and lay aside the controversy? There cannot be “no evidence.” Call the Smithsonian or National Geographic and say, “Let’s dig!” Cumorah has a history of farming and even excavation with the LDS visitor’s center and a paved road near the top, so someone must know how many swords were found.
With no axe to grind, experts for these studies say there is no axe to find. Since eager Mormons claimed the Smithsonian used the Book of Mormon as a guide for archaeology, the Smithsonian grew irritated and prepared a statement exposing the folklore. The form letter is available on many sites such as:
www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2210200/posts or http://mrm.org/smithsonian.
While Mormon archaeologists are missing steel weapons, what happened to the steel mills or the mines of “mighty heaps of earth to get ore”? (Ether 10:20). It would be easier finding Nemo than one of the swords of Cumorah because arrowheads are all they have found. Animation or imagination, the Book of Mormon is simply an 1830 story that has fallen onto its own sword.
And how ridiculous is it that not one of those sadistic men of Cumorah had enough sense or love for the mothers and children to let them escape! None turned back while the hill was red, with blood flowing in every direction. Somehow, not one soul was wounded as they were all killed. Yet to find an enemy in the mounds of bodies would be practically impossible. The Indians of the Book of Mormon rode around wearing armor in their chariots, but apparently there were no horses at Cumorah? (Alma 18:9 & 12; 20:6; 3 Nephi 21:14). Not a very smart war!
The chapter heading for Ether 15 says, “Millions of Jaredites are slain in battle.” That’s an understatement! How amazing as the most evenly matched armies in history fought down to 52 from the army of Coriantumr and 69 of the army of Shiz (Ether 15:23). In comparison, if two packs of dogs fought, wouldn’t one logically prevail or does it get to one-to-one?
Millions and millions of warriors fell and it was finally one-to-one? Just coincidently, Coriantumr and Shiz were the army leaders, That’s like it just happened to be the president from the University of Utah and the president of BYU. (It sounds childish! Coriantumr went on to join the “Mulekites”? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulek ).
Considering more of the logical inconsistencies, did early Americans round up every colonist and Indian and fight to extinction? The pilgrims survived early America and our dear Native American tribes are all over the country.
Reading on, as one General faints, the other smites off his head. Then without a head, super-hero Shiz rises and struggles to breathe (15:29-31). Determination without a brain! So is it super-hero or super-fantasy? As the Mormon religion stakes its reputation on this tale, how can so many very intelligent people believe it?
Mormon productions play soft music, claiming the Book of Mormon is a “History of Ancient America.” If so, why don’t the universities teach it? BYU? Yes. You find more honest history from the National Enquirer. For example, where is ancient “Bountiful” or “Ephraim” except as being towns in Utah? You can swim the Sea of Galilee but never walk in one of the 38 cities of the Book of Mormon. Where are the maps?
American writings clearly mention the Great Lakes, the Gulf of Mexico, the Rockies, Niagara Falls, the Appalachians, or the great rivers used to describe America. Why doesn’t the Book of Mormon? Its like a truckload of tangled fishing line as LDS scholars try to unravel the knots. Any atheist can see the historical accuracy of the Bible but it would be easier to find the ruins of the bottomless pit than reality from the Book of Mormon. It takes more than any LDS faith-promoting rumors to compare to the 25,000 archaeological sites of God’s Word, the Bible.
The Book of Mormon is the baited hook to lure thousands into a faith with many defenders but no defense. Amateur archaeologists overstate their claims on Yucatan or the Mayans as being trophies of truth. Those inscriptions are pagan: idol worship, cannibalism, human sacrifice, witchcraft and animism. Nothing of Jesus!
With a motto: “The glory of God is intelligence” (D&C 93:36), it makes you wonder. LDS missionaries grasping to defend their faith flee to stories from the 1800’s, “asking God (their god) if these things are so.” Pray to a false god about a false battle to the death in a false book and you will get a false answer. Credible faith is based on relevant information, not just the claim for truth or simply wanting it to be true. Faith in religious fiction is insulting to God.
To find information about Bible lands, just dig. Isn’t there a real Hebrew language? And if the Bible was reinterpreted into endless error, how come the ancient Dead Sea Scrolls read just as the Bible? “But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (1 Peter 1:25).
Is the Book of Mormon fact? In places it is, of course. Wherever Joseph Smith plagiarized the Bible, I bear witness that it is true. The Mormon church is based on fiction. At least when Mark Twain wrote about Tom Sawyer, he never claimed it was the word of God.
Picture two boys playing army at BYU. They pretend 230,000 warriors are on campus from 385 AD, calling them the Lamanites who defeat the Nephites, later to become the American Indians in the storyline (Mormon 6:9-15; 8:2-3).
Then young Joseph imagines another war and says, “Hyrum, nearly a thousand years earlier, millions of warriors and their families fought to their death here.” Little Hyrum says, “Let’s call it Cumorah.” Now logically, why would both wars be on that same insignificant spot of BYU? So really, that Palmyra hill? Did the Revolutionary War and Civil War overlook one great battlefield or was there all of America in which to fight? And wasn’t this near Joseph Smith’s childhood home? It’s pure make-believe and the LDS call it scripture.
Cumorah is just one example but there are lots of big problems in the Book of Mormon. Is it the most correct truth for the LDS faith? Yes, it is. The introduction explains, “Concerning this record the Prophet Joseph Smith said: ‘I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by it’s precepts, than any other book.”
Well, sure he said it was true! Self-affirmation is like claiming the Qur’an is the most correct book according to Mohammed, the Mass is real according to the Pope, the Watchtower to Jehovah’s Witnesses. It’s like Harold Camping claiming to know prophecy, or Brigham Young boasting that his words are as good as scripture. Many LDS are shocked to hear that Joseph Smith was the actual “author” of the Book of Mormon. See the original Book of Mormon preface page: www.mormonwiki.org/File:1830_BOM_page_1.jpg
To escape the obvious ramifications, some Mormons claim that an evil, demonic printer changed the original wording. Pretty lame! Why not say he changed the Cumorah story too?
The Cumorah of Joseph and Hyrum Smith was Carthage where they were jailed after ordering the destruction of a printing press exposing polygamy. Joseph was in conflict with the Masons for stealing their ceremonies, so when a mob attacked it was like an old west gunfight. Joseph killed two men and shot one (not a lamb or martyr) before they were killed. (History of the Church, vol. 6, pp. 432, 448; vol. 7, p. 103).
For God’s record on how to have eternal life, we all must have the truth. “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life” (1 John 5:11-13). To have Jesus Christ (not the LDS church, temples, commandments and ceremonies), is to gain God’s celestial heaven.
Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that were I am, there ye may be also.” With Jesus where? The Father’s house! What is the way there? “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:2-6). LDS stuff is not the way.
To watch several DVDs on Mormonism online see:
Are you weary of the LDS missionaries? Not being able to defend their stories, they usually retreat to some gushy testimonies but the religious deceit is clear.
Thanks to Charlie Carles for the above
