The Pure and Simple Truth is best represented by the current Church Publication which presents the 'A Brief History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,' entitled Our Heritage. This text is part of the provided reading material for the Gospel Doctrine course taught by the Church in their Sunday School lessons given to the adult members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the year of 2001. As such this is an authorized publication of the Church which presents the truth of the events of the early history of our Church.
The Church and any Official document put out by the Church and its First Presidency and all the Conference presentations from the Called and Ordained Authorities have always maintained that Cumorah is Cumorah. Many of these have been presented in this presentation of Cumorah is Cumorah. It is primarily upon the part of the 'Academic' world of speculation and self determined analysis and dissection that the 'theories' of the Book of Mormon Geography are propagated which speculate that Cumorah is not Cumorah and that there are 'two' Cumorahs. And while some self accessed commentary, which responsibility is only that of its author and not of the Church, has appeared in 'magazine articles' by various learned persons in Church publications. There has never been any statement put out by the Church that Cumorah is not Cumorah, and quite the opposite is the case. There has never been presented any other concept from the formal Church authorities. From that perspective there has always been just 'one' Curmorah and that is the Cumorah in the state of New York. Thus is there any wonder by the objective mind as to what is being said by the following quotation?
"Moroni had been the last prophet to write on this ancient record, and as directed by the Lord, he had buried it in the Hill Cumorah. He had also buried the Urim and Thummim, which was used by prophets and which Joseph was to use to translate the record.
The angel directed directed Joseph to go to the hill, which was nearby, and told him many important things about the Lord's work in the latter days. He told Joseph that when he obtained the plates, he was not to show them to any person unless the Lord commanded him to do so. Moroni returned to Joseph tow more times that night and once again the next day. Each time he repeated his important message and provided additional information.
On the day following the angels visits, Joseph went to the Hill Cumorah as instructed. . . ."
"At the Hill Cumorah, Joseph Smith received the gold plates from the angel Moroni and was told to begin the work of translation." (Image caption.)
"On 22 September 1827, after four years of preparation, Moroni gave the Prophet Joseph the gold plates and told him to begin the work of translation. Emma Hale, whom Joseph had married earlier that year, accompanied him on that occasion and was waiting at the foot of the Hill Cumorah when her husband returned with the plates. She became an important help to the Prophet and acted as one of the Book of Mormon scribes for a brief time." (Our Heritage pages 5-7.)
Unless I am unable to read, what I read the quoted text as saying is that, 'The Lord directed Moroni to bury the gold plates in the Hill Cumorah. Joseph went to the Hill Cumorah as he was instructed by the Angel Moroni. And four years later, in 1827, Joseph at the Hill Cumorah received the golden plates. And Emma was at the foot of the Hill Cumorah accompanying her husband during this occation.' There is no indication here that there is anything else but just the one Hill Cumorah. There is nothing that presents that there are two such hills of Cumorh, the one the Book of Mormon speaks of and the one the golden plates where in. And the only persons who contrive such, only have their own analysis and dissection according to their own personal opinions and worldly knowledge to speculate anything to the contrary.
And when the 'Ya Buts!' begin, they are to be recognized only as what they are. They are nothing more than the opinions of men, as worldly educated as they may be, beyond what the Church has ever stated on the matter. And without their personally derived opinions, which are not anything but their own opinions, there is no reason or justification for the student of the Church's materials to read them as anything other than there being only the one Hill of Cumorah.
Even Dr. Sydney B. Sperry concluded that there was no doubt that the Angel Moroni total Joseph Smith that it was the Hill Cumorah. (Sidney B. Sperry, Book of Mormon Compendium [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1968], Chapter 23, challenge 6, p. 451.) And it is only Dr. Sperry's own opinion that Moroni, without telling the Prophet, was calling the Hill Cumorah, such after the other supposed Hill Cumorah. And that is only a contrived personal opinion of a man. There is no other factual basis for such a conclusion other than Dr. Sperry's personal opinion contrived in and of only himself.
Later proponents of there being two Cumorahs have even gone further, and in opposition to all the factual evidences presented here in this presentation, they would conclude that the Hill Cumorah was never called Cumorah by the Angel Moroni or by Joseph Smith. And that it is only the contrivance of those who would misread Mormon's hiding all of the records within the Hill Cumorah and confusing it with Moroni's hiding the gold plates in a different hill thousands of miles away form where they would suggest Cumorah to be in Middle America. Or if they don't say that, then they begin to weave a web of if, ands, and buts which further only muddle and confuse the issue even upon the part of their own logic.
The pure simple truth has always been that Cumorah is Cumorah. Those that perpetuated the concept of two Cumorahs are left to their own personal human logic to go conclude by a contrivance within their own minds and they can only feed off of each other on this point. There is nothing in the statements by the Church, the Church authorities, and the scriptures which have ever portrayed anything but the concept of a single Cumorah. And thus they are only left to the creation of their own mind and not what the 'Pure and Simple Truth' has ever supported.