Close Topic Options

Preemptive War

Preemptive War

Do you feel the Book of Mormon preaches against the concept of Preemptive War?

War Preemptive

Absolutely. And, that is the ONLY argument against the US involvement in Iraq that I find really persuasive.

However, and this is not an attempt to rationalize, we really do live in a completely different type of world. It wasn't possible, in the Book of Mormon, for a single terrorist to murder over 1,000,000 people in a matter of moments. I am not sure whether the possibility of Iran (or Iraq), for example, being able to provide nuclear or chemical weapons to terrorists or other rogues overcomes that objection, but it comes very close.

In other words, if the Lamanites were building a nuclear bomb, would the Nephites have been justified in going to war to stop them? I think so.

At the same time, consider many of the wars in the Old Testament. The Israelites were commanded to enter into preemptive wars, to keep their culture from being further tainted by pagan beliefs.

Some interesting things to consider there.

Preemptive War Studies Doctrine Mormon

I agree,

I think that the BOM is against any preemptive war. I personally think that the BOM is against any war no matter what it is. I believe the BOM says that all war is due to sin from both parties involved. Even today I feel that preemptive strikes are due to that very concept- sin on both parties that leads one to have to use preemptive measures.

War Preemptive

It could be argued that this war is a continuation of the First Gulf War and thus does not constitute a Pre-emptive war.

The first Gulf War technically did not end because there was a Cease Fire of Hostilities that remained in affect as long as Iraq complied with the agreement. Iraq continually attacked U.S. Airplanes during the Cease fire thus violating the Cease fire agreement that allowed U.S planes to enforce the no-fly Zone. Iraq also attacked Israel covertly by financially supporting Hamas every time a Suicide Bomber killed and ripped the flesh of an innocent israeli.

An equivalent in the Book of Mormon is the Nephites taking up arms against the Lamanites who attacked the Anti-Nephi-Lehites. The Nephites chose to protect these innocent Anti-Nephi-Lehites. Also In the Book of Mormon, A war may cease for a while but when the lamanites would advance toward a city and attack the army or the city, the nephites had every right to fight back(Iraq attacking America's Planes).

In this war the United States had continually been attacked I.e. their Aircrafts patrolling the no fly zone and Saddam had promised and sent checks for 25,000 dollars to the families of hamas suicide bombers killing and maiming innocent Israeli citizen. I believe This was justification enough to continue the war against Iraq


If the Gulf War Two was an extension of Gulf War One and if Iraq had been attacking Israel through Hamas, then it would not be under the Book of Mormon proscription against pre-emptive war.

Of course this is my opinion and may be entirely contrary to the thoughts and minds of the Prophets of the Book of Mormon concerning War.

War Preemptive

I don't think that the Book of Mormon would say that preemptive war is good. There are several scriptures that say that the Nephites saw the Laminites preparing for war, against the Nephites, yet there is no scripture that says that the Nephites took action first, and fought the Laminites BEFORE the Laminites could attack.

I have a question, would you let a person, holding a weapon, attack you, before you neutralize them? If the answer is no, then why would you let a country attack you before you did anything about it?

Preemptive War

I'm not sure since it is not always possible to 'neutralize' a person with a weapon unless you know how to and are prepared to risk making it worst off than before. Preemptive attacks usually mean that you feel that you have the better weapons / army / skill to disable the enemy before they can attack. There is another way... Using the 'we are your friend' method developed in The Art of War where you disable the enemy when they are the most relaxed / comfortable. Modern day preemptive attacks seemed to be drummed up a lot, so enemies more or less know that it's coming. In looking at the Book of Mormon it seems that the ones who used surprise attack the most were those who were former Nephites long rebelled and now leading the Lamanites into battle against the Nephites.

Preemptive War

The book of Mormon does not advocate for Pre-emtive war.

But really there is no Surprise Pre-emtive wars anymore. It has to go through the UN security counsel, its debated in the halls of Congress. We can't even keep our secrets safe.

The Gadiantan Robber's were a weaker enemy but used pre-emtive strikes to try to get the upper hand on the enemy. It was mostly ineffective.

The Patriots of the American Revolutionary War used the same Guerilla tactics when attacking the British, with great success.

Edited: dbackers on 5th May, 2009 - 9:27pm