Did Sorenson Read the Scripture?

Considered to be the guru of Mesoamerican theorists and, therefore, the man supposedly most knowledgeable about the scriptures and the location of the Nephites’ Land of Promise, it is interesting how often he seems to have neglected to read more than one scripture on a subject, if at all. As an example, on page 139 of his book “An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon,” he wrote:

“The experience of pioneers suggests that first success for an imported crop does not necessarily mean continued vigor for it. What happened later to those plants from the seeds the Lehi party carried across the ocean is not stated.”

However, the Book of Mormon scriptures tell us exactly what happened to those plants from the first seeds planted. The first crop, of course, grew exceedingly and provided an abundant harvest (1 Nephi 18:24). Soon after, Lehi died and Nephi was commanded to flee. He took his journey into the wilderness for "many days" (1 Nephi 5:7) to a place they called the Land of Nephi (2 Nephi 5:8). In this new place they planted their seeds AGAIN, and had another abundant crop.

“And we did sow seed, and we did reap again in abundance” (2 Nephi 5:11).

Over one hundred years later, Enos writes about the bounty these seeds were still producing (Enos 1:21), and more than three hundred years later, when Zeniff returned to the Land of Nephi, he planted wheat and barley, obviously some of the original type of Old World seeds Lehi brought from Jerusalem. The scriptures tell us they grew abundantly (Mosiah 9:9).

Thus, Sorenson’s statement that what happened to the seeds is not stated is grossly incorrect. As are so many others these Mesoamerican Theorists make regarding the Land of Promise when trying to justify their model based on the scripture. For a better understanding of this, read “Inaccuracies of Mesoamerican & Other Theorists,” in which there are over 500 pages written regarding almost 200 inaccurate or questionable statements made that are not consistent with scripture.

By the way, of this crop Zeniff planted, Sorenson adds on page 28):

"The 'wheat' and 'barley' said to have grown in the land of Nephi, if taken at all literally"

Which is merely another disingenuous statement to alter scriptural meaning, since wheat and barley would not have grown, if at all, let alone abundantly, in his Mesoamerican model—but in the Land of Promise, they grew in abundance.