About a third of the Book of Mormon is devoted to warfare, whether preparing for war, conducting war, or dealing with war’s after-effects. Noel B. Reynolds explains that ancient societies tended to see warfare as inevitable and therefore committed most of the government’s resources to the military. The citizenry composed most of the army, so they were more involved militarily than in most modern societies. Therefore, it is not surprising that an extensive amount of Book of Mormon narrative focuses on warfare.
Modern scholars, including William J. Hamlin, a history professor at BYU, have discovered that even though Joseph Smith lived in modern times, the warfare described in the Book of Mormon reflects patterns of ancient warfare. Furthermore, Book of Mormon armies did not use horses or other animals during war, and Mesoamerican archaeological studies back this up. Scholars have also determined that the weaponry used in the Book of Mormon is similar to weapons used in other ancient locations. (See Echoes, 143–145.)
The Mission of Freedom
President Ezra Taft Benson also offers this insight regarding the inaliable rights of men to defend their freedoms:
While attending the Fairfax Christian School in Virginia, my grandson Ezra Taft was introduced to the historical character Israel Putnam. Israel Putnam was one of the Revolutionary War farmers who left his plow in the field and gave up his comfort in order to protect his family, defend his inalienable God-given rights, and help establish this great, free country. It is heartening to know that today there are still those who answer to the rallying cry of God, family, and country.
Recently it was my privilege to walk across a part of that sacred soil where some of the best blood of Israel Putnam’s generation was shed for freedom and the redemption of this land. Those noble souls did not initiate freedom, and one of the privileges of mortal life is the opportunity to rise in freedom’s defense during the time when Lucifer is permitted to tempt and test men with his satanic schemes of slavery. This is part of our mission today. The same sun that shone on Israel Putnam during his mortal probation shines on us. And the same issues of light and darkness, force and freedom, right and wrong, that provided men a chance to prove themselves in his day continue to sift the souls of men today. (God, Family, Country: Our Three Great Loyalties [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1974], 401)
A Final Note on War
President Spencer W. Kimball shares this thought-provoking commentary about the destructiveness of war for both the victor and vanquished:
Great cultures stagnate in war shadows and cease to survive when continuous wars make people migrants and when fields are abandoned and livestock is appropriated for nonproducing soldiers; when in wartime forests are destroyed without replanting and farmers and builders become warriors. Men cannot plant, cultivate, and harvest when in camps, nor build when on the run. Long and bloody wars mean sacked, burned, ruined cities, confiscatory taxes, degenerated peoples, and decayed cultures.
Victory and defeat alike leave countries devastated and the conqueror and the conquered reduced. Wickedness brings war and war vomits destruction and suffering, hate, and bloodshed upon the guilty and the innocent alike.
This book [The Book of Mormon] should convince of the futility of war and the hazards of unrighteousness. A few prophets swimming in a sea of barbarism find it difficult to prevent the crumbling and final collapse of corrupt peoples. There is a great but conditional promise:
“And this land shall be a land of liberty unto the Gentiles, and there shall be no kings upon the land… .
“And I will fortify this land against all other nations.
“I, the Lord, the king of heaven, will be their king, and I will be a light unto them forever, that hear my words.” (2 Nephi 10:11–12, 14.) (Faith Precedes the Miracle (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1972), 332–334)
They Were Fighting for Their Homes and Their Liberties
This conflagration is the collision of two diametrically opposed forces: power-hungry pride and opportunism on the one hand and the cause of liberty and the protection of the church and family on the other. The Lamanites, under King Zerahemnah, seek to bring the Nephites into bondage. Moroni leads the Nephites to victory on the basis of complementary factors: they are better prepared, their desires are pure, they are “inspired by a better cause” (Alma 43:45), they are not guilty of the first offense nor the second (see Alma 43:46), and they have a strong faith in Jesus Christ (see Alma 44:5).
What is the context for this kind of battle? The timeless confrontation between good and evil. “It musts needs be, that there is an opposition in all things,” Father Lehi proclaimed (2 Nephi 2:11). One perennial manifestation of this is the constant clash among men between the forces of materialism and unrighteous dominion on the one hand and the forces of liberty and justice on the other.
In this context, President David O. McKay taught the following:
So fundamental in man’s eternal progress is his inherent right to choose that the Lord would defend it even at the price of war. Without freedom of thought, freedom of choice, freedom of action within lawful bounds, man cannot progress. The Lord recognized this and also the fact that it would take man thousands of years to make the earth habitable for self-governing individuals. Throughout the ages advanced souls have yearned for a society in which liberty and justice prevail. Men have sought for it, fought for it, have died for it. Ancient freemen prized it; slaves longed for it; the Magna Charta demanded it; the Constitution of the United States declared it.
“This love of liberty which God has planted in us,” said Abraham Lincoln, “constitutes the bulwark of our liberty and independence. It is not our frowning battlements, our bristling seacoasts, our army, and our navy. Our defense is in the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit, and we have planted the seeds of despotism at our very doors.” (Gospel Ideals: Selections from the Discourses of David O. McKay [Salt Lake City: Improvement Era, 1953], 288)