“Physician, heal thyself!”

Jonathan Neville is upset at all the division being needlessly caused by “M2C.”* As he wrote in his April 1, 2019, post (an appropriate date, I might add), “David Whitmer on the stumbling block,”

Everyone who believes the Book of Mormon is an authentic history of ancient people could come together by supporting the consistent, persistent teachings of the prophets:

1. The Hill Cumorah is in New York.
2. We don’t know for sure where the other events took place.

As long as some believers in the Book of Mormon teach that the prophets are wrong, the unnecessary and counterproductive division will remain.

This is, frankly, nothing more than rank hypocrisy coming from Neville.

Remember, the same Jonathan Neville who is so worried about the “unnecessary and counterproductive division” being caused by “M2C intellectuals” is also the one who derogatorily refers to FairMormon as “Fairly Mormon” and Book of Mormon Central as “Book of Mormon Central Censor.”

This is the same person who has repeatedly claimed that the BYU/CES “fantasy maps” are damaging Church members’ testimonies.

This is the same person who at the end of the very same blog post where the above quote appears subtly and falsely accuses “M2C” proponents of encouraging the same kind of apostate teaching that is in vogue in the Community of Christ (viz., that accepting the Book of Mormon as authentic ultimately isn’t important).

This is the same person who has openly accused Church employees of conspiring to dupe the leaders of the Church by withholding crucial information about Church history.

This is the same person who routinely accuses “M2C intellectuals” of “rejecting the prophets” and being responsible for all the problems in the Church.

This is the same person who habitually misrepresents the views of those who disagree with him in order to turn them into objects of derision and scorn.

Jonathan Neville has absolutely no standing to accuse others of divisiveness. He has built his entire following by dividing Latter-day Saints into the categories of enlightened, faithful defenders of the prophets (those who accept a New York Cumorah) and censorious conspirators who are responsible for all the problems and shortcomings facing the Church (“M2C” advocates).

Simply put, he is a hypocrite.

—Captain Hook

* “M2C” is Jonathan Neville’s acronym for the theory that the Book of Mormon took place in Mesoamerica and that the hill Cumorah in the Book of Mormon is not the same hill in New York where Joseph Smith received the plates of Mormon.