Why Are There So Many War Stories in the Book of Mormon?

While preparing a lesson for Church today, I came upon this excellent video of a talk given by John Bytheway (yes, that's his real name...by the way), who was earlier known for his brand of "squeaky clean comedy", but later became a Church Educational System instructor.  The linked talk was given during BYU Education Week, August 18, 2003.

John states that because the principal compiler and abridger of the Book of Mormon was Mormon, who was a military man at the end of the days of the Nephite people, naturally many things he included from the Nephite record were from his perspective as a warrior.  Moroni, who was Mormon's son and the final writer on the plates, saw our day and reinforced what he saw by confirming what his father said about our potential destruction should we choose to follow in the same, wicked path as the Nephites of his day.

In the war-torn world of today, it is entirely and absolutely relevant and fair for the Book of Mormon to focus on one of the most desperate conditions of humanity, including what leads to it and how it can be resolved.  Perhaps the righteous Captain Moroni, who lived centuries before Mormon, was Moroni's namesake because Mormon recognized in Captain Moroni the qualities of a man of God who also knew that God abhored war and only allowed it as a last resort when the life, liberties, and happiness of righteous people was threatened by an external show of force upon the righteously obtained territories of God's people.

I've always felt that world peace would come if people in power would just read the New Testament and the Book of Mormon together and hopefully choose to become sincere and submissive to God.  It is incumbent upon all of us to spread the message of the Book of Mormon as far and as wide as possible so that eventually the world's leaders can't help but be influenced by its teachings.

A closer look at the title page

Have a look at the title page. This page was written on the last leaf of the plates themselves and was not written by Joseph Smith. Rather, as with the record beginning with the Nephi and ending with Moroni, Joseph translated it to English from an ancient language.

The title page states that this book is an abridgment. It's not the comprehensive history of the people it talks about. The timeline it treats is between 600 BC and 420 AD. Instead, it is a comparatively brief summary of the high and low points and the main spiritual themes and issues of its day.

The author of this title page, Mormon, writes also that the purpose of this book is "the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that JESUS is the CHRIST, the ETERNAL GOD, manifesting himself unto all nations" (italics added).

From this, we learn that the purpose of the Book of Mormon and the purpose of the Bible are one and the same. Therefore, as we read, we should not be surprised that the teachings about Christ are also one and the same. In some cases, the words Christ spoke to teach the people of the Americas are verbatim with the Bible's account. (And why shouldn't they be? The Gospel is the same universally, regardless of who hears it, when, and where.)