I found this quotation from George Orwell, written in the middle of WWII, to be fascinating (ht to “The Corner”):
In his Tribune column “As I Please” Orwell wrote (August 4, 1944) that death and destruction were not the most evil thing about war:
“We shall all be dead in less than a hundred years, and most of us by the sordid horror known as “natural death.” The truly evil thing is to an act in such a way that peaceful life becomes impossible. War damages the fabric of civilization not by the destruction it causes (the net effect of war may even be to increase the productive capacity of the world as a whole), nor even by the slaughter of human beings, but by stimulating hatred and dishonesty. By shooting at your enemy you are not in the deepest sense wronging him. But by hating him, by inventing lies about him and bringing children up to believe them, by clamoring for unjust peace terms which make further wars inevitable, you are striking not at one perishable generation, but at humanity itself.”
I’m not seriously claiming George Orwell read the BoM. But once again the BoM is prophetic when discussing war and its effects on the people. In addition to the horrible battle to the death we read about in the Book of Ether, the above quotation reminds me of Mormon 4: 9-12:
9 And now all these things had been done, and there had been thousands slain on both sides, both the Nephites and the Lamanites.
10 And it came to pass that the three hundred and sixty and sixth year had passed away, and the Lamanites came again upon the Nephites to battle; and yet the Nephites repented not of the evil they had done, but persisted in their wickedness continually.
11 And it is impossible for the tongue to describe, or for man to write a perfect description of the horrible scene of the blood and carnage which was among the people, both of the Nephites and of the Lamanites; and every heart was hardened, so that they delighted in the shedding of blood continually.
12 And there never had been so great wickedness among all the children of Lehi, nor even among all the house of Israel, according to the words of the Lord, as was among this people.
Yet, interestingly, many of the BoM’s greatest heroes are warriors. In fact, almost all of the major heroes in the BoM had to fight at one time or another. And, yes, the majority of the battles are in self-defense.
I constantly puzzle over this issue: the horror of war and the BoM’s widespread denunciation of it — contrasted with the apparent inevitability of it. It appears that many people are forced into participating in wars despite their personal righteousness (think of Nephi, King Benjamin, Mormon, Capt. Moroni, etc).
I honestly don’t know what this means for our times, but I’m glad we have a prophet who does know. It seems more important than ever that we follow his guidance to help us through this puzzle.