Does understanding the geography of the Book of Mormon matter? Apparently it does. Remember a few things that Mormon mentions: 1. The Book of Mormon was written for us. 2. Only 1/100th of what Mormon wanted to tell us was actually written 3. Moroni said that the akwardness of their hands made writing difficult 4. The Book of Mormon was written for the “convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ”.
Considering these four points, why in the world did Mormon dedicate over 550 verses to teaching us the geography of the Book of Mormon? Nephi gives us a clue. Nephi tells us that even his people had a hard time understanding the words of Isaiah because they did not understand the Jew’s manner of prophesying. But Nephi rejoiced in the words of Isaiah and stated, ” I of myself have dwelt at Jerusalem, wherefore I know concerning the regions round about.” It was Nephi’s opinion that a key factor in understanding scripture was to understand “the regions round about”. If geography helps us understand the message of Isaiah, the same rule should apply to the rest of the Book of Mormon!
I have and currently do study, intently, the geography of the Book of Mormon. As I have done so, I believe that Mormon used those 550 verses relating to geography to help us better understand the message of the Book of Mormon – that Jesus is the Christ.
The purpose of Living Heritage Tours is to teach the geography and the culture of the Book of Mormon so you can better understand the spiritual message behind the geographical and cultural symbols.
Tom Pettit
