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Moroni 6

Moroni 6:1 I Speak Concerning Baptism:

In Moroni 6:1 the practice of “baptism” is mentioned. Baptism was in the Mexican empire a religious ceremony which in Yucatan was called “Zehil,” signifying to be born again; and the Nahua nations freely admitted that it would cleanse the soul from all sin. . . .”1

Widtsoe and Harris in Seven Claims of the Book of Mormon, p. 107, quote Kingsborough as follows:

The first reason for concluding the Indian tribes to be of Hebrew descent is in their belief in the symbolical purification of water. The inhabitants of Yucatan gave to the water with which they baptized their children, the title of water of regeneration.” 2

Claimed by Certain People to be a Baptismal Font at Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico.

Father Diego de Landa, the first Catholic bishop who labored among the Itza Mayas of Yucatan, claimed the Indians were practicing baptism when the Europeans arrived. T.A. Willard wrote:

“according to illustrations in the hieroglyphic books, coupled with the statement of Bishop Landa, the ancient Itza Mayas practiced baptism for which their word Caputcihil means to be born again.” 3

“Bernardino de Sahagun stated that . . . all the natives of that country [Yucatan] were baptized, no one being allowed to marry before the sacred ceremonies had been performed.”4

  1. (P. DeRoo, History of America before Columbus, 1900, Phila., pp. 466-467)
  2. Kingsborough; Mill. Star 70:836-837. Roy E. Weldon and F. Edward Butterworth, Book of Mormon Claims and Evidences, Vol. 2, p. 65
  3. (Los Empires, p. 422).
  4. (Cited in P. De Roo, History of America Before Columbus --Philadelphia, 1900, p. 466). The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Book of Mormon, Seminary Edition, 1962.