4. “Were there Nephites left after that battle? Some, yes. The scripture makes that clear.”
In fact, the scriptures as Sorenson uses and as listed in the previous post, make it abundantly clear that there were NO Nephites left after that battle. Moroni tells us they all died and that he was the last alive, and as a result, he was alone (Mormon 8:3).5. Mormon observed to his son that "many of our brethren have dissented over unto the Lamanites" (Mormon 9:24).”
This is an inaccurate reference. In one instance, Mormon wrote: "And a few who had dissented over unto the Lamanites, had fallen; and their flesh, and bones, and blood lay upon the face of the earth, being left by the hands of those who slew them to molder upon the land, and to crumble and to return to their mother earth." (Mormon 6:15). Sorenson is referring to Moroni 9:24, which does state that many Nephites had and would dissent over to the Lamanites. But nowhere does it say "large numbers" and some, if not all of these were killed in that final battle (Mormon 6:15) or were hunted down and killed (Mormon 8:2). Moroni makes this perfectly clear: "I say no more concerning them, for there are none save it be the Lamanites and robbers that do exist upon the face of the land." (Mormon 8:9)
To further this, we find in Alma that Mormon knew exactly what the Lord had in mind for the Nephites. Mormon wrote: "But whosoever remaineth, and is not destroyed in that great and dreadful day, shall be numbered among the Lamanites, and shall become like unto them, all, save it be a few who shall be called the disciples of the Lord; and them shall the Lamanites pursue even until they shall become extinct. And now, because of iniquity, this prophecy shall be fulfilled" (Alma 45:14). Later, we find Moroni, finishing his father's record, adding: "The Lamanites have hunted my people, the Nephites, down from city to city and from place to place, even until they are no more; and great has been their fall; yea, great and marvelous is the destruction of my people, the Nephites" (Mormon 8:7). 6. On this subject, Sorenson also wrote: “The Doctrine and Covenants says that modern descendants of not only the Nephites but also the major lineages allied with them, the Jacobites, Josephites, and Zoramites, will yet be identified (D&C 3:17-20; 10:48).”
Were there Nephite survivors of this last great battle? No! Were there Nephite survivors of the Nephite nation? No. Then how will the scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants be fulfilled? They will be fulfilled because there had been Nephite dissenters throughout the history of the land of promise and no doubt there was Nephite blood mingled among the Lamanites. Then, too, the final split (4 Nephi 1:35) between the Nephites and the Lamanites around 231 A.D. was not over descent from the original brothers, but between those who were followers of Christ (4 Nephi 1:36) and those who were followers of evil (4 Nephi 1:38). Thus, there would be descendant lineages of all the tribes among the descendants of the surviving "Lamanite" forces which successfully annihilated the Nephite nation.
In addition, and most importantly, some 20,000 to 25,000 men, women and children, both Nephite and converted Lamanite, joined forces in about 46 B.C. and sailed “to a land which was northward” aboard the ships built by Hagoth (Alma 63:6-7) These individuals settled in the land now called Mesoamerica in the first century B .C. and there built cities, palaces and temples rivaling those of the Land of Promise. From there they evidently migrated northward, through Mexico and into the United States. Joseph Smith found a “white Lamanite” named Zelph in the Illinois area, and described the prophet Onandagus known from the east coast to the Rocky Mountains.
Obviously, through this source, Nephites and Lamanites survived for many centuries. But no Nephites survived in the Land of Promise described in the scriptural record as Sorenson and other Mesoamerican theorists continually want to claim contrary to the record.
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