Continued from the previous post regarding the reasons why there were no Nephites left other than Moroni after the battle at Cumorah:
5. “Were there Nephites left after that battle? Some, yes. The scripture makes that clear.”
Response: Actually, the scriptures make the opposite quite clear. As an example, Moroni stated after the battle at Cumorah “and I even remain alone to write the sad tale of the destruction of my people” (Mormon 8:3). Behold, they are gone, and I fulfil the commandment of my father...for I am alone” (Mormon 8: 5, emphasis added).
Moroni tells us 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).
6. “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). As Moroni writes about he being the last Nephite alive, he states: “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” (Moroni 8:7). In fact, 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).
Mormon stated it little differently, though retaining the same information since he 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).
7. “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).”
Response: 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 Central America in the first century B .C. and there built cities in Mesoamerica, 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.
8. “Naturally, large numbers of people of Nephite descent had never consented to flee their lands in the first place (Mormon 2:7-8), but had switched their allegiance rather than move out (Moroni 1:2)
Response: Theorists constantly claim that not all the Nephites were killed in the final battle at Cumorah and those tracked down afterward. In fact, they claim that large numbers of Nephites did not agree to flee with Mormon and his armies at all as they retreated ever northward. But Mormon, who was there, tells this quite differently for as we mentioned earlier, he states in 380 AD: “In the three hundred and eightieth year the Lamanites did come again against us to battle, and we did stand against them boldly; but it was all in vain, for so great were their numbers that they did tread the people of the Nephites under their feet. And it came to pass that we did again take to flight, and those whose flight was swifter than the Lamanites' did escape, and those whose flight did not exceed the Lamanites' were swept down and destroyed” (Mormon 5:6-7, emphasis added).
This seems quite clear. Mormon also tells us that the Lamanites swept through these towns and villages that Mormon and his army quit, killing everyone that did not flee with Mormon and his army. He put it this way:
“Whatsoever lands we had passed by, and the inhabitants thereof were not gathered in, were destroyed by the Lamanites, and their towns, and villages, and cities were burned with fire” (Mormon 5:5). So while Theorists can claim from their 20th century offices that “large numbers of Nephites did not agree to join the fight,” Mormon, from his on-the-spot vantage point tells us that those Nephites who did not join the flight of he and his army, were all killed by the Lamanites and their towns, villages and cities were all burned with fire.”
9. “Like in any war, there are always survivors, just as there were among the Nephites.”
Response: At the conclusion of these 63 years of wars, Mormon tells us that “when three hundred and eighty and four years had passed away, we had gathered in all the remainder of our people unto the land of Cumorah” (Mormon 6:5, emphasis added). They had gathered in all the remaining Nephites to their army. That is quite clear! There were no Nephites left!
10. “We do not know how many Nephites survived the Battle of Cumorah, but that some did is unquestionable.”
Response: Unquestionable? As we have stated above, both Mormon and Moroni make it abundantly clear that no one survived other than Moroni. From their writing we know that Moroni was the last prophet to write in the Book of Mormon, and the last known survivor of the Nephite nation. “For behold, they put to death every Nephite that will not deny the Christ. And I, Moroni, will not deny the Christ; wherefore, I wander whithersoever I can for the safety of mine own life” (Moroni 1:1-2).
Thus we know that those who escaped into the south countries (Mormon 6:15, emphasis added), were tracked down by the Lamanites and killed.
Thus, there is no question that all the Nephites except Moroni were killed, and he, as he claims, was the last Nephite alive.
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