Posted in Ancient Near East Antiquity Arabia Arabian Peninsula Book of Mormon Evidence Faith Problems Scholarship

Further Thoughts on Nephi’s Three-Day Journey: Going the Distance with Google Earth

My recent post on Nephi’s three-day journey, the leg of Lehi’s Trail that reaches the River Laman in the Valley of Lemuel, discussed the significance of Exodus themes in Nephi’s…

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Posted in Arabia Book of Mormon Evidence Origins Problems Scholarship

Nephi’s Three-day Journey into the Wilderness: The Natural vs. the Naturalistic Reading

Of the many interesting details in Nephi’s description of his journey through the Arabian Peninsula, one of the first comes after his mention of reaching the “borders” of the Red…

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Lehi-and-Sariah
Posted in Arabian Peninsula Book of Mormon Books Evidence Media Scholarship

A Key Book to Understand Nahom and Bountiful is Now Free Online: Warren Aston’s Lehi and Sariah in Arabia

A thorough and valuable book on Lehi’s Trail and the Arabian Peninsula evidence for the Book of Mormon is now available free online, thanks to the generosity of the author,…

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Posted in Arabian Peninsula Bible Book of Mormon Critics Evidence

About That Burial Marker in Yemen for a Man Named Ishmael: Impossible That He Was a Hebrew?

Neal Rappleye recently reported that a grave marker in Yemen bearing the name Ishmael could fit the time and place for the burial of Ishmael inn the Book of Mormon. David Bokovoy argues that this is impossible because the marker bears the image of a face, and real Jews forbade images of faces. I discuss why that is an oversimplification of ancient Jewish practices. If cherubim in the Tabernacle can have faces, I suppose a grave marker can, too, as long as no idolatry was intended.

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Posted in Arabian Peninsula Book of Mormon Critics Evidence

“O Captain, My Captain”: Walt Whitman’s Surprising Role in the Ultimate Refutation of All Book of Mormon Evidence

Fond Memories from Before the Blast Back before a massive nuclear logic bomb wiped out Latter-day Saint apologetics a few days ago,  the story behind the map below once counted…

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Posted in Arabia Arabian Peninsula Book of Mormon Evidence

An Update on Maps of the Arabian Peninsula Showing Nahom-related Names

In 2008, James Gee published the results of his extensive search for the rare European maps of Arabia that included names that seem related to Nahom, the place where Ishmael…

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Posted in Arabian Peninsula Book of Mormon Evidence Race Scripture

Recent Discoveries and Advances Published by Interpreter, Part 1

If you aren’t following the journal Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship, you may have missed some discoveries and advances in understanding our scriptures that could be…

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Posted in Arabia Arabian Peninsula Book of Mormon Evidence

Warren Aston’s Search for Shazer: Another Breakthrough for the Arabian Peninsula Evidence for the Book of Mormon

Important new evidence for the plausibility of Lehi’s Trail in the Book of Mormon has just been published based on 2019 fieldwork in the Arabian Peninsula by Warren Aston. See…

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Posted in Arabian Peninsula Book of Mormon Evidence

Another Update on the River of Laman

Warren Aston, whose personal explorations in the Arabian Peninsula have done so much to expand our knowledge of Lehi’s Trail and the candidates for some of the places mentioned by…

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Posted in Arabian Peninsula Book of Mormon Evidence

Three Days to the Valley of Lemuel — But From Where?

One of the things I enjoy about blogging is having readers with diverse perspectives who aren’t afraid to point out flaws in my views. This forces me to either hide…

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