H38 Virus | Book of Mormon Geography Lands

What is the H38 Virus? H38 stands for Helaman 3:8 which says:

And it came to pass that they did multiply and spread and did go forth from the land southward to the LAND NORTHWARD and did spread insomuch that they began to cover the face of the whole earth, from the SEA SOUTH to the SEA NORTH, from the SEA WEST to the SEA EAST. (Helaman 3:8)

1. The Land Northward was a prized piece of land. The Jaredites lived there solely, and the Nephites protected it at all costs, living there exclusively just before their extinction in 400 AD. The land was considered “choice above all other lands.”

Ether truly told them of all things from the beginning of man and that after the waters had receded from off the face of this land it became a choice land above all other lands, a chosen land of the Lord. (Ether 13:2)

2. The Land Northward was such a small piece of land, the scent of their dead covered “all the face of the land:”

And the scent thereof went forth upon the face of the land, even upon all the face of the land; wherefore the people became troubled by day and by night, because of the scent thereof. (Ether 14:23)

3. The Land Northward was so small they could see THREE of the FOUR SEAS standing on the Hill Ephraim, in the Land Desolation, by the Narrow Neck. (Ether 7:6-9)

4. The Land Northward was crossed by the Mulekites; they having first landed in the northern border then traveled south later to found Zarahemla. A true model must have a LAND NORTHWARD bordered by the SEA NORTH connecting to the “GREAT DEEP.” (1 Nephi 17:17; Omni 1:16; Ether 6:3, 2:25, 7:27, 8:9; Helaman 12:16; 2 Nephi 4:20)

And it bordered upon the land which they called Desolation, it being so far northward that it came into the land which had been peopled and been destroyed, of whose bones we have spoken, which was discovered by the people of Zarahemla, IT BEING THE PLACE OF THEIR FIRST LANDING. (Alma 22:30)

5. They believed they were on an “Isle of the Sea,” which view would not have occurred with only two or three seas:”

We have been led to a better land, for the Lord has made the sea our path, and we are upon an ISLE OF THE SEA. (2 Nephi 10:20)

6. Book of Mormon “seas” were not “salt” seas. Did the Bible distinguish such seas? Yes:

…and your south border shall be the outmost coast of the SALT SEA EASTWARD: (Numbers 34:3)

7. Helaman 3:8 is not a metaphor. In the same book, we read:

And thus it did come to pass that the people of Nephi began to prosper again in the land, and began to build up their waste places, and began to multiply and spread, even until they did cover the whole face of the land, both on the northward and on the southward, from the sea west to the sea east. (Helaman 11:20)

Note the Sea South and Sea North were not used here, though it was the same author. The reference was not a metaphor; there was a Sea North and a Sea South, but they only bordered the Land Northward, and thus the expression did not fit that verse. Had the expression been metaphoric, that expression certainly would have been used here.

The H38 Virus has systematically removed all references to Helaman 3:8 from Book of Mormon geography maps.

What is the H38 Virus looking for?

It’s looking for a single body of land surrounded by four bodies of water. It’s particularly aggressive against models with a larger northern body of water. Here’s an example of what the H38 Virus seeks to remove from Book of Mormon Geography models.

Sometimes, the virus is unable to remove one or more seas, so it jumbles them around. Like moving the Sea West to the south (Joseph Allen), or Sea West east of the Sea South (Richard Hauck and V. Garth Norman), or the Sea South east of the Sea East (Phyllis Carol Olive). Here’s a list of its latest victims.