Has anyone ever seen this? https://www.mazeministry.com/mormonism/holley/holleymaps.htm. It’s dated 1992, so it can’t be new.
I noticed links to my blog from the the FAIR board regarding my “Why people leave the church, and what we can do about it” video cast, and someone referenced this map within the thread.
I can’t tell if it’s totally bogus, or something w/ a bit of substance (not a smoking gun, mind you, but maybe one of those “sources of inspiration” aspects to the BOM translation, perhaps). Those of you who know your BOM geography, or know any links that debunk these maps…please post if you can. This has got to be something old and already responded to. Anyone know if FAIR has a response? Sorry…I don’t know where to look. I checked here, but nothing jumped out at me.
I’m sure it’s nothing (I don’t believe that the BOM is disprovable, or it would have been disproved long ago)–but I’d love a concise rebuttal/throwdown if there is one handy.
Thanks in advance.
The Vernal Holley thesis. Sadly, many of the place names used on this map were not in use during Joseph Smith’s day. That’s why this particular theory of the BofM’s source material never took root. I am not a FARMS fanboy by any stretch of the imagination, but this critique of Holley’s theory pretty much covers it:
https://farms.byu.edu/display.php?id=10&table=review
Holley’s complete book is online here:
https://sidneyrigdon.com/vern/vernP0.htm
The July 2004 Sunstone had a letter to the editor from a Clair Barrus plugging Holley’s Book and conclusion. http://www.sunstoneonline.com/Download/bom/133_Letters.pdf
Thanks, ted, for the reference to the Farms article.
It’s alway’s interesting to see that some people seem to have not have seen things, which other’s have been familiar with forever.
This is an old anti-mo chessnut, which at first looks similar to such things as “kinderhook”, a slamdunk against the Church. But, a full and carefully deliberate study reveals otherwise.