Dr. Kathy's Couch, the Reprise: 3 Days of Darkness and Destruction

Despite the threat from the Gadianton terrorists, the Nephites continued in their "fall from grace." The prophet, Nephi, describes it thus: the people began to forget those signs and wonders which they had heard, and began to be less and less astonished at a sign or a wonder from heaven, insomuch that they began to be hard in their hearts, and blind in their minds, and began to disbelieve all which they had heard and seen— Imagining up some vain thing in their hearts, that it was wrought by men and by the power of the devil, to lead away and deceive the hearts of the people; and thus did Satan get possession of the hearts of the people again, insomuch that he did blind their eyes and lead them away to believe that the doctrine of Christ was a foolish and a vain thing. And it came to pass that the people began to wax strong in wickedness and abominations; and they did not believe that there should be any more signs or wonders given; and Satan did go about, leading away the hearts of the people, tempting them and causing them that they should do great wickedness in the land. (3 Nephi 2: 1-3)

The believers knew what was coming. When Samuel, the Lamanite prophet, had prepared then with signs of Jesus' birth, he also told them what to expect at the time of Jesus' death. These are a few signs of Jesus’ death prophesied by Samuel:

· In that day that he shall suffer death the sun shall be darkened and refuse to give his light unto you; and also the moon and the stars; and there shall be no light upon the face of this land, even from the time that he shall suffer death, for the space of three days, to the time that he shall rise again from the dead (Helaman 14:20).

· There shall be thundering and lightnings(v 21)

· The earth shall shake and tremble (v 21)

· There shall be great tempests (v 23)

The Book of 3^rd Nephi in the Book of Mormon describes the fulfillment of these prophecies.

The geological and meteorological events that took place in Central America concurrent with the crucifixion were even more cataclysmic than the storm that rent the veil of the temple in Jerusalem . Foretold by Samuel, the Lamanite prophet, these events are chronicled in great detail in 3 Nephi, chapter 8, of the Book of Mormon. They include:

· A great storm the like of which had never been seen before (no rain mentioned)

· Terrible thunder – such as was never heard before

· Exceedingly sharp lightning – as was never seen before

· Shaking of the earth lasting 3 hours

· Cities combusting and burning

· Cities sunken into the sea

· Cities buried in the earth

· Whirlwinds

· Mountains where there had been none

· Rocks broken and seams and cracks upon on the face of the land

· Darkness over the face of the land for 3 days – a darkness that was felt as a vapor

· No light – sun, moon, or stars – for 3 days

· Darkness so heavy that no light could be kindled – no candle nor torch nor fire.

· Uncountable human misery - pain, injury, and death – great howling and mourning

· Radical changes in the topography of the land in its aftermath (3 Nephi 8: 5-23).

Again, critics claim “overkill” in the Book of Mormon. “If the Bible says 3 hours of darkness,” they argue, “then the Book of Mormon says 3 days of darkness.” This time the science of geology comes to the rescue.

A few years ago, I took a geology class at the local community college. It was hard work for my ageing brain to learn it all, but learn I did. What I learned has strengthened my testimony of Biblical and Book of Mormon accounts of events at the time of the crucifixion.

To understand both accounts, it helps to understand the geological concept of plate tectonics. According to geologists, the crust of the earth – the top layer – is not one solid, unbroken land mass. Rather, it is made up of a series of plates - looking like a huge jigsaw puzzle - that “float” on the earth’s mantle. The mantle itself is made of extremely hot, molten rock called magma. The heat of the magma causes the plates to move. The map at the left shows a myriad of plate boundaries surrounding Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. Today, it remains a hot spot for earthquakes (remember Haiti?)

Where two plates come together, the movement of the magma causes the plates to do one of three things: they will pull apart - divergent; one will move under the other - convergent; or both will slid back and forth, each going in the opposite direction. The latter is called a strike-slip or transform boundary. The places where these plates come together are often called faults. Any of the three movements can cause both earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

I believe that the Book of Mormon records volcanic eruptions with resultant earthquakes and tsunamis. If the geographical area of the Book of Mormon covers southern Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize (as LDS scholars believe), then it is a hugely volatile zone for volcanic activity – one of the most volatile on earth.[5] There is a strike-slip boundary of the Caribbean Plate and the North American Plate that runs along the northern borders of Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras. To the west, the North American Plate has a strike-slip boundary with the Cocas Plate near southern Mexico, and to the south, the Caribbean Plate bounds the South American Plate near Panama.[6]

One of the dangers around these multiple fault lines is that one seismic event can trigger another. We saw this recently in Japan when a second earthquake followed the first (a completely different quake, not an aftershock). Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions can also be related. A magnitude 4.2 earthquake in March of 1980 and a second 5.1 earthquake a few weeks later in May preceded the eruption of Mount St. Helens that same year.[7] Earthquakes can precede volcanoes and volcanoes can trigger earthquakes.

All of the events described in 3 Nephi are geologically accurate representations of volcanic eruption. Here are some of the things which accompany large eruptions, particularly explosive eruptions which emit huge amounts of magma, ash, sulfur, gas, and pyroclastic “bombs” in a short amount of time.

· The heat of the magma superheats the air causing great storms – violent wind, lightning, and thunder – but no rain

· Shaking in the earth that can last for hours (as opposed to the minute or two experienced in an earthquake)

· Great football-shaped pyroclastic “bombs” of hot lava burst out with such force that they cause anything they touch to burst into flame

· Tornados

· Tsunamis that can wash away anything in their paths

· Massive amounts of lava extruded

· Earthquake(s) creating cracks and fissures in the earth

· New volcanic dome mountains

· Huge amounts of ash that can darken the skies for days

· Huge amounts of sulfur and other gases, such that candles, etc., could not be lit

· Massive devastation

Popocatepetl; an active volcano in Mexico

The worst of these explosive volcanoes are called supervolcanoes. They “produce devastation on an enormous . . . scale.”[8] According to geologists, “supervolcanoes are hard to identify centuries later, given the enormous areas they cover . . . Large igneous provinces are also considered supervolcanoes because of the vast amount of basalt lava erupted.”[9] There is a large igneous province along the Caribbean Plate.[10]

Joseph Smith lived in 19^th Century New York – not a volcanic zone. Little was known of the science of volcanology at that time (in fact, the concept of plate tectonics wasn’t understood until the 1960’s). If Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon as critics claim, how could he have so accurately described volcanic destruction understood by science only within the last century?

[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucifixion_of_Jesus#Darkness_and_eclipse

[2] Ibid

[3] Ibid

[4] Ibid

[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcano

[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caribbean_Plate

[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquakek

[8] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcano

[9] Ibid

[10] Ibid

Pictures:

Nephites in darkness from www.lds.org