“Destruction in the Land of Promise – Part I

Almost anywhere in the world could be shown to fit a description of ancient natural disasters when one limits the impact of those disasters to his own pre-determined intensity.

From the Black Ridge to Entrada, the ground is covered with rock

The entire area of Southern Utah, for instance, is honeycombed with volcanic rock, ancient eruptions, cracks, seams, floods, and signs of tumultuous destruction.
    John L. Sorenson claims that as a result of the destruction at the time of the crucifixion listed in 3 Nephi was not as bad as many people think. He writes “the fundamental features of the landscape were not transformed…we need to use restraint in the picture we allow our minds to construct of the totality of the destruction” (John L. Sorenson, An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon, Deseret Book, SLC, 1984, pp318,319-320). In addition, he adds, “The wide geographical extent of the catastrophe and the drama of the violence notwithstanding, it was mainly the “face of the land” that was affected.“ Again, in an effort to limit the results of this destruction, Sorenson writes: “We should not go beyond what the text declares with measured care.”
    Sorenson, working with Mesoamerica as a model, where similar major disaster like that of the time of the crucifixion in the Land of Promise, soft-pedals the occurrences in his writing for it to be consistent to that which had occurred in Mesoamerica. However, while Sorenson talks of mud slides and deep ash fallout, Samuel wrote something quite different.

Samuel the Lamanite preaching from the temple wall to the Nephites

First of all, this destruction is foretold in two locations, with Nephi speaking from a vision and Samuel the Lamanite speaking in prophesy, with extreme conditions outlined—ones that had never been recorded anywhere in the world, that changed the entire topography of the Land of Promise.
    According to Nephi, in his vision, he saw this destruction and wrote: “I saw the earth and the rocks, that they rent; and I saw mountains tumbling into pieces; and I saw the plains of the earth, that they were broken up, and I saw many cities that they were sunk; and I saw many that they were burned with fire; and I saw many that did tumble to the earth …” (1 Nephi 12:4, emphasis added).
    Of this same event, Samuel, who said the Lord put the words in his mouth, stated: “there shall be many mountains laid low, like unto a valley, and there shall be many places which are now called valleys which shall become mountains, whose height is great” (Helaman 14:23, emphasis added). To make sure the Nephites would know what was coming, Samuel said, “at the time that he shall yield up the ghost there shall be thunderings and lightnings for the space of many hours, and the earth shall shake and tremble; and the rocks which are upon the face of this earth, which are both above the earth and beneath, which ye know at this time are solid, or the more part of it is one solid mass, shall be broken up; Yea, they shall be rent in twain, and shall ever after be found in seams and in cracks, and in broken fragments upon the face of the whole earth, yea, both above the earth and beneath” (Helaman 14:21-22).

Seams and cracks throughout the land, both above and below the surface

While Sorenson states: “We should not go beyond what the text declares,” we say that “one should not lessen what the text declares.”
    While some theorists may try to make a claim to the contrary, the scriptural record is accurate and self-explanatory. In fact, the one thing we do know is that the destruction suggested in the scriptural record was extensive. The possibilities to consider are:
    The two locations indicated by scholars that fall within areas of great seismic activity are:
• the Mesocamerican lands of southern Mexico through Guatemala, or
• the Andes area of Ecuador, Peru and Chile. 
    First, let's take a look at the Mesocamerican model which scholars have listed 9 points (However, these 9 points are not supported completely by scripture):

The face of the land was changed by mountains falling and valleys becoming tall mountains with seams and cracks through out the land

1.  Only the "face of the land" was affected.
The scriptural record says:  The whole face of the land was changed (3 Nephi 8:12); the face of the whole earth was deformed (3 Nephi 8:17); hills and valleys were made in the place where cities had been (3 Nephi 9:8); mountains became valleys and valleys became great mountains (Helaman 14:23); roads were destroyed (Helaman 14:24) and smooth places made rough (3 Nephi 8:13); rocks were rent, broken up, fragmented, with seams and cracks appearing upon the face of the whole earth, and upon all the face of the land (3 Nephi 8:18).
    Any earthquake that shook the whole earth, accompanied by thunderstorms (hurricanes) and whirlwinds (tornadoes) that lasts for 3 solid hours would so deform the land that it would be unrecognizable in many, if not most areas.  After all, the intensity of all this destroyed numerous cities, raised mountains (1 Nephi 9:11) from level plains, sunk mountains into valleys, opened the earth (1 Nephi 9:11), formed lakes and inland seas, split the earth in seams, and ruptured the mountains into cracks that formed canyons, rifts and deep gorges.  Thus, contrary to Mesoamerican theorists of just being "cosmetic alterations" on the face of the land, we find in Helaman that these changes were both above and below the earth (Helaman 14:21-22).
2.  Mormon describes that basic geographical reference points, such as the narrow neck and pass, Hill Cumorah/Ramah, and the river Sidon continued unchanged.                       
Mormon's abridgment of these events were seen by him about 300 years after this great destruction.  Whatever changes to the land that took place, would have been well understood and accepted through three full centuries. 
    Throughout the record both Mormon and Moroni continually try to tie in places and events when they feel the reader might not make the correct connection on his own.  As a result, what the narrow neck of land, the hill Cumorah, and the narrow pass, all looked like before and after the destruction is not stated.  Only that each was still there, though each could have been drastically altered.  As an example, prior to the destruction, the term "narrow neck" is used, after the destruction, the term "narrow pass" is used.  But whatever the changes were, all were identifiable to Mormon in the 4th century AD—more than that we know little concerning them.  As an example, Cumorah could have been taller, shorter, larger or smaller before or after the described destruction. All we know is that it existed in both time frames.  The same can be said for the narrow pass, the narrow neck of land, and other points.
3.  It was the intensity of nature's rampage that impressed the Nephite recorder, not the novelty of the phenomena (3 Nephi 8:5, 7).   

While the storm was intense, the Nephites would have seen other severe storms that rampage across the globe       

This is a conclusion unsupportable by the record.  That is, storms would obviously have been known as well as thundering and lightning—these are common, necessary meteorological events in weather.  However, why should a storm be labeled "such as one as never had been known in all the land" (3 Nephi 8:5) unless the entire event was unusual.  In this vein, it must always be kept in mind that ancient prophets and scribes were limited in their vocabulary when describing unknown events, such as Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel trying to describe the futuristic weapons of war during the battle of Armageddon.
    Mormon tries to describe such things as tornadoes, hurricanes, underground earth movements, sinkholes, water geysers, fumaroles, and other, earth actions that were obviously unnamed in his day.  Just as obviously, when entire cities sink into the earth and are buried under mountains with water filling sinkholes, there has to be unusual, unexplained earth movements that were both cataclysmic and foreign.  Mormon, and the original writers of the events, simply had a limited vocabulary to express what happened in scientific terms.
(See the next post, “Destruction in the Land of Promise – Part II, got mote regarding the destruction that occurred in the Land of Promise at the time of the crucifixion and its severity)