33 And now behold I say unto you, has there been so great love in all the land? Behold, I say unto you, Nay, there has not, even among the Nephites.
34 For behold, they would take up arms against their brethren; they would not suffer themselves to be slain. But behold how many of these have laid down their lives; and we know that they have gone to their God, because of their love and of their hatred to sin.
Now this is a powerful statement! “has there been so great love in all the land? Behold, I say unto you, Nay, there has not, even among the Nephites.”
The overruling and overarching reason or factor in all of this is love. Ammon, a Nephite, recognizes and acknowledges that such love was not even known among the Nephites, who have had the Gospel their entire lives. Surely, he that is forgiven much loves much!
Not only would the Nephites fight and kill to preserve their lives, many of them, like those who laughed Ammon and his brethren to scorn, if given the opportunity, wanted to wipe out the entire Lamanite population. And it seems like, if my memory serves me well, they wanted to launch an offensive attack on the Lamanites! That would not be good. That is not justified in the eyes of the Lord.
25 And moreover they did say: Let us take up arms against them, that we destroy them and their iniquity out of the land, lest they overrun us and destroy us.
“Let is take up arms against them, that we destroy them and their iniquity out of the land, let’s they overrun us and destroy us”. That surely sounds like an offensive attitude. That sounds preemptive. That sounds like they would have liked to attack the Lamanites for being attacked. And the reference to “...destroy them and their iniquity out of the land” also smacks of pride. It’s one thing to want those who are trying to kill you to be destroyed. But their iniquity too? It seems to me they should be more concerned about their own iniquity than that of others, as in the mote and beam the Savior spoke of.
Is it any wonder that such love was not found among the Nephites? They suffered from the universal sin, just like we all do.
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