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The context of Alma 24 is that a group of Lamanites (later calling themselves the “Anti-Nephi-Lehies”, which I shorten to “ANLs”) had been converted by the preaching of the sons of Mosiah, and turned from their violent, bloodthirsty ways, to the point that they became pacifists, and even buried their swords so that they couldn’t use them again.
[As a side note, many Mormons try to argue that BOM swords are not metal, even though the BOM clearly speaks of metal swords, and never describes swords as being made of anything else (see also Rusty swords and other metals in the BOM (inspired by Mosiah 8) and Metals in the BOM). These swords can’t be wood, since they are said to be “bright”, and to have been washed free from the past blood they had slain, which is fitting for metal but not for wooden swords. These swords are said to be buried in the ground, but later chapters speak of them being dug up. Again, that doesn’t fit wooden swords, which would be badly degraded by being buried in the ground, though metal swords would last for a long time, even if buried. Now, back to the main point.]
As the title says, this post compares Nephi to the ANLs. First, let’s look at how the ANLs are described:
- v6 says, “there was not one soul among all the people who had been converted unto the Lord that would take up arms against their brethren; nay, they would not even make any preparations for war;“
- v9 has the king saying that the whole group of them have been convinced of our sins, and of the many murders which we have committed.“
- v10 says that God “hath aforgiven us of those our many sins and murders which we have committed,“
- v11-12 repeats this refrain, saying that since they had so repented and that God had forgiven them, “then let us stain our swords no more with the blood of our brethren.” V13 continues with the king saying he feared that if they took up the sword again, that they would not be forgiven by God.
- V15-16 has the king suggesting that they bury their swords instead, so that they can’t possibly use them in a bad way, saying they’d rather die than do this, because they know they’ll go to heaven: “if our brethren destroy us, behold, we shall ago to our God and shall be saved.” V17 says that they did bury their swords.
- 18 And this they did, it being in their view a testimony to God, and also to men, that they anever would use weapons again for the shedding of man’s blood; and this they did, vouching and bcovenanting with God, that rather than shed the blood of their brethren they would cgive up their own lives; and rather than take away from a brother they would give unto him; and rather than spend their days in idleness they would labor abundantly with their hands.
- 19 And thus we see that, when these Lamanites were brought to abelieve and to know the truth, they were bfirm, and would suffer even unto death rather than commit sin; and thus we see that they buried their weapons of peace, or they buried the weapons of war, for peace.
- The rest of the chapter continues by saying that the ANLs did indeed refuse to defend themselves so that over 1,000 were murdered by the Lamanites, but that in the process, the Lamanites had a change of heart at seeing the ANLs meekly choose death rather than kill their enemies even to save their own lives, and more Lamanites were converted than the number of ANLs who had been killed.
I make special note of v18-19, which clearly says that these converted ANLs considered killing people, even in battle, was unacceptable and even sinful, and that they would rather die than to commit sin.
Now, contrast this with Nephi in 1 Nephi 4, who takes up Laban’s sword to behead the unconscious Laban, and justifying it, by claiming that God told him to! I’ve had some Mormons try to defend Nephi’s murder of Laban by saying that if Nephi hadn’t killed Laban, then Nephi’s own life would have been at risk (even though Nephi and his brothers had gotten safely away from Jerusalem, and then Nephi went back for the brass plates). Yet here we have converts saying that they’d rather die themselves than to “murder” or “sin” in the form of what most people would consider to be justifiable homicide — saving their own lives and those of their wives and children, and/or in killing enemy soldiers. Indeed, even the modern LDS Church is not a pacifist organization and has no problem with its members joining the armed forces, and fighting — and even killing — enemy soldiers.
This contrast struck me when reading through the BOM this year, and I’m not sure how Mormons would justify it. Most likely they’d say that Nephi was right, and that the ANLs were more like “super-righteous”. However, the chapter sounds more like the ANLs were doing the only righteous thing, which by contrast would mean that Nephi had committed murder, and his sword was stained so that it could “no more be bwashed bright through the blood of the Son of our great God” (v13), and that he should have “suffer[ed] even unto death rather than commit sin“.
TOYBOM: The One Year Book of Mormon 