Faith does not run from questions, but runs to find their answers. And, sometimes, it can be with excitement. If one has faith in his religion, and knows it is true, and a skeptic comes along, saying, "Hey, what of this talk of swords in the Book of Mormon? The people living in the Americas did not have swords. No excavations have unturned any. Metal doesn't just deteriorate and disappear. If there were swords, some would have been found."
Well, then, if a skeptic comes along with a question like this, the faithful person might well even get excited, for he knows the church is true, and it becomes a riddle for him to answer: There must be an answer: Can it be found?
Faith can be a like a Rubik's Cube.
So, what of no swords in America? I cannot share everything in a short blog. Nor, have I time to fully study it. But, I will offer one discovery. As I turn to Alma 24:12, to see where it refers to swords that were stained, as I was reading how they could have been made of wood, and wood stains whereas steel doesn't, I accidentally looked up verse 12 of Alma 1, instead.
And, by coincidence, Alma 1:12 speaks of swords as well. What odds on that, I think, that I should be looking for one verse that uses the term, and accidentally turn to another and find it also has the word "sword" in it. This reference, in Alma 1, speaks of an old man, being attacked by someone, and the old man is so old he cannot withstand the blows. "Blows" is a term more often used if you are being beaten with a club, not a sword. One swing of a sword, and that might be it, but a single blow from a club probably won't kill.
And, I think back to what I had just read in Wikipedia, describing what was a common weapon. "Warriors in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica are known to have used wooden clubs with blade-like obsidian flakes," said the entry, giving us to assume that a club -- albeit with somewhat of a blade -- was a common weapon. If you are making a sword from wood, it might not have a sharp blade, and end up being more of a club.
Alma 1:9 says a man named Nehor was wroth with Gideon, who is the old man in the story, "and drew his sword and began to smite him. Now Gideon was stricken with many years, therefore he was not able to withstand his blows, therefore he was slain by the sword."
My mind then jumps to the story of Coriantumr and Shiz, in the final battle of the Jaradites, and how they are the last survivors of the exterminating war, and of how Shiz has fainted, lying on the ground, and Coriantumr is tired from the battle, and leans on his sword, and cuts off the head of Shiz. Surely, a sword sharp enough to cut off someone's head is not a wooden club-sword, I think.
But, as I think on it more, I wonder. All the swinging of the swords thus far have not resulted in decapitation. Nor does the story say either have severed an arm or leg. Yes, it is for loss of blood that Shiz has fainted, but the blows of a club can also bring blood. If your head was on the ground, with ground behind it so it can't do anywhere, even a dull weapon might severe the head if enough weight is put on it. If you are leaning on that "sword," that is all the weight you have, and enough to bust through the neck and decapitate the head.
I turn to Ether 15, where we find the account of Shiz and Coriantumr. It tells how there were 32 of the warriors of Shiz left, and 27 of the warriors of Coriantumr. "And they were large and mighty men as to the strength of men." Large and mighty can benefit any warrior, but I wonder if in sword fighting, quick and skilled are not more important. In a sword fight, it seems a number of not overly large people might have been skilled and quick enough to be among the final warriors.
But, if you are using clubs, the weight of the swing becomes more important. A large and mighty person becomes more of a thing, as your swing becomes more damaging, and you become more powerful.
Does this solve the riddle? Or, am I in my want to believe just jumping to an answer? I do not know. The church is still true, to me, either way. If this is not the correct explanation, there still is one. Still, if these thoughts are right, then I am grateful for them.
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