https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.religion.mormon/G9aCAg_0eFg[51-75-false]
I debated these issues with TBMs for several years. This thread concerns the book "Exploring the Lands of The Book of Mormon" by Joseph Allen. A TBM named Charles Dowis suggested that we evil, ignorant apostates read the book. I happened to have a copy, so I wrote this post to refute Allen's silly theories.
To quote from Allen (p. 279):
"The Book of Mormon requirement for the Narrow Neck of Land/Narrow Pass is that
it divided the Land Southward from the Land Northward:
'And now, it was only the distance of a day and a half's journey for a Nephite, on the line Bountiful and the land Desolation, from the east to the west sea;
and thus the land of Nephi and the land of Zarahemla were nearly surrounded by
water, there being a small neck of land between the land northward and the land
southward.' (Alma 22:32.)"
Allen then offers, "I propose that the Narrow Neck of Land is located in what
is now called the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Southern Mexico. Furthermore, I
propose that the Narrow Pass runs through the Isthmus in a north-south
direction and runs between two mountain ranges, as opposed to running between
two oceans or seas."
The first and most glaring fatal error in Allen's proposal is one of distance.
At its narrowest point between the Gulf of Mexico on the north and the Pacific
Ocean on the south, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec is 125 miles wide. The Book of
Mormon verse quoted above clearly states that it was "a day and a half's
journey" for a "Nephite" to travel "from the east to the west sea." Obviously,
no "Nephite" or any other human could travel 125 miles in a "day and a half" in
the era proposed in the BOM, unless he possessed a means of travel unknown to
modern science.
Secondly, the BOM text calls for an "east sea" and a "west sea," whereby the
"narrow neck of land" would necessarily run north-south (as the BOM states, the
"land northward" and the "Land southward.")
Contrary to that, the actual physical layout of the Isthmus and its surrounding
bodies of water is 90 degrees rotated from the directions stated in the BOM; so
in proposing the Isthmus as the "narrow neck of land," Allen must misrepresent
what the BOM actually states concerning directions. Twisting and
misrepresenting what the BOM actually states is a common habit of Mormon
apologists, including Charles Dowis. By engaging in such twisting, they render
everything written in the BOM meaningless.
Thirdly, the BOM states that "the land of Nephi and the land of Zarahemla was
nearly surrounded by water." Allen proposes that the "Land of Zarahemla" lay
in the southern and narrowest point of the Isthmus (in present-day Chiapas),
and the "land of Nephi" was 200 miles or so to the east (in present-day
Guatemala.)
The problem here is that in light of the proposed areas and distances, no
ancient person would have described such a large area of land as being "nearly
surrounded by water." The term "narrow neck of land" requires, in the eyes of
an ancient, primitive observer, an easily visible, measurable span. Obviously,
no observer of 2000+ years ago would describe a region which was at least 125
miles thick at its narrowest point as a "narrow neck of land." Also, Allen's
proposed areas and distances do not in the least fit the BOM's description of
the region as "being nearly surrounded by water." The BOM's description
requires the area to be more like a small peninsula of no more than 20-50 miles
separating the two "seas" by which it is "nearly surrounded."