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Thou Shalt Not Kill

Demian

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I am confused as to the meaning of this sin. No so much because of Christianity because to me "Thou Shalt Not Kill", sounds pretty easy to follow, but in modern society it seems we are vague on the meaning.

Murder is a sin.
Killing in time of war is okay.
Mercy killing is a sin.
Killing criminals is okay.

..and etc..and etc..

So exactly WHAT and WHY is a sin and why?
 

seashale76

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I am confused as to the meaning of this sin. No so much because of Christianity because to me "Thou Shalt Not Kill", sounds pretty easy to follow, but in modern society it seems we are vague on the meaning.

Murder is a sin.
Killing in time of war is okay.
Mercy killing is a sin.
Killing criminals is okay.

..and etc..and etc..

So exactly WHAT and WHY is a sin and why?

Sin means 'to miss the mark.' The mark is, of course, living a life fully in accordance with the life and teachings of Christ. So, to sin is to keep oneself separated from God. Sin can be voluntary or involuntary and can be achieved with our knowledge or our ignorance. Some things you mentioned (like murder) are obvious sins. Others, not so much. Sin is personal in nature and you will find no definitive list of what is or isn't a sin. You can be sure that anything which causes a person to 'miss the mark' is a sin. We don't inherit original sin, just the consequence of it, which is death.

Modern society is quite vague about the meaning of not killing. It doesn't mean that society is right. Of course, I'm a pacifist, so I would say that.

ETA: I was reading what I wrote, and realized that this answer might seem a little deficient. So, I'll continue to try and clarify. However, knowing me, I'll likely confuse you more.

In the Christian view, everyone sins. This doesn't mean that we are born depraved though. We just all wind up sinning in some form or another throughout our lives. The Church is the ultimate hospital and Christ is the Great Physician. To a Christian, we live out our lives in the Church, and must daily make a decision to take up our cross and follow Christ. The Church is there to help us turn from our sins. A person who perseveres in this will attain theosis. Our struggle with sin is something that everyone must contend with.
 
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WarEagle

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I am confused as to the meaning of this sin. No so much because of Christianity because to me "Thou Shalt Not Kill", sounds pretty easy to follow, but in modern society it seems we are vague on the meaning.

Murder is a sin.
Killing in time of war is okay.
Mercy killing is a sin.
Killing criminals is okay.

..and etc..and etc..

So exactly WHAT and WHY is a sin and why?

Remember, the Bible doesn't say "thou shalt not kill", it says "thou shalt do no murder".

The word that the Bible uses that we commonly translate as "murder" is a Hebrew word, ratsach, which refers specifically to killing someone outside of God's will.

It is God's perogative and God's alone to take life. He is the one who gives life, therefore, it is His to take back.

Now, we see many examples of God, in His authority to take life, giving men the responsibility to carry this out on His behalf.

For instance, in the OT, God commands the armies of the Nation of Israel to kill God's enemies.

He commands the judges of the Nation of Israel to institute capital punishment to punish various sins. We see this repeated in the book of Romans when Paul tells us that God has granted the government to carry out capital punishment to punish sins, and the authority to kill in order to protect the innocent.

Likewise, we're told that man has the right to kill in the course of protecting innocent human life.

Each of these things is killing, but none would fall under the category of murder. Thus, they would not be sins.

The soldier is not morally culpable before God for killing an enemy in the course of fighting to protect his country.

A police officer is not morally culpable before God for killing a criminal about to take the life of an innocent bystander.

An executioner is not morally culpable before God for carrying out capital punishment.

A home owner isn't morally culpable before God for shooting a knife wielding intruder at 2 am.
 
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tapero

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I am confused as to the meaning of this sin. No so much because of Christianity because to me "Thou Shalt Not Kill", sounds pretty easy to follow, but in modern society it seems we are vague on the meaning.

Murder is a sin.
Killing in time of war is okay.
Mercy killing is a sin.
Killing criminals is okay.

..and etc..and etc..

So exactly WHAT and WHY is a sin and why?

Hi, God says not to kill and is fairly clear what He means though of course many have different thoughts and belief on the matter.

As to war, Hebrews were commanded to kill in war time, and we have war after war, and so seems apparent to me is okay to kill in war.

Mercy killing is a huge topic, won't go into that.

Killing criminals - because such is done, does not mean it's okay. Though we abide by the laws, and people vary as to whether the death penalty is okay or not.

God says all sin is wrongdoing.

Sin is disobeying God's commands as pertains to sin and other commands.

We all sin;
we start very young;


Well, fairly much, most are unaware of what fate awaits one who dies, with unforgiven sin. Most further feel that they are fairly decent and so depend on or believe in themselves (that because they are fairly decent - or fairly good) so believe in themselves rather than God for salvation, which will not bring salvation.

Some do know what the bible says as pertains to belief in Christ, but many don't. Either way it doesn't matter, as either way they are considered by God as dead in their sins, living in darkness, serving satan (of course unawares fairly much of all of these things and more. Its our state prior to belief in Jesus.)

God created man and angels, both sinned. satan was an angel and sinned and took 1/3 of angels, now called demons along with him when he fell.

Then man sinnned. God said not to do something and they did what God said not to do, and what they did and the result caused many things.

It's in Genesis, first book in the bible, maybe chapter 3 or 4 where this occurs.

Now all man were sinners. Some say cause of Adam and Eve and some say due to their own sin, some say both, I go with my own sin, as is plenty enough for me to deal with.

I lived in this world 33 years, and had no clue or thoughts of any of these things, none of it. Never thought of God, sin, heaven, hell, satan, angels, etc.

As I said, God calls us. I didn't hear an audible call but realized later after I was a Christian that God indeed called me and within a short period of time I came to Christ. He may have called me many times before. I don't know.

But I heard when He called me at 33 years old. I don't know why I heard, and by heard I mean believed in Christ.

Some things ensued once this all started, and I went to the pastor and asked him what was going on with me, I was very confused. He asked me two questions. Would I commit my life to Christ, and would I die for Christ. I do not recall having any other knowledge up to that point though may well have.

The minute I said yes, I was a new creation in Christ, the old had passed the new had come, the Holy Spirit indwelled me and God gave me a new heart, He forgave all my sin, past, present and future, and salvation which can never be taken away.

I asked the pastor a question, he answered I left, and a few amazing things occurred there, but to note, that pastor did not say what I needed to do, did not say a word, did not say read the bible, nada.

Without reading the bible very shortly after coming to Christ, I had no desire for the life i had been living. I lived a very dark life, meaning committed many sins nearly everyone anyone can think of save a few.

And with no man telling me a word, the Holy Spirit, who is God, who now was in me, helped me, and I just no longer desired to sin. (tho we do sin as Christians.)

Jesus died for our sins, yours and mine and the worlds, in being crucified for our sins his blood covered our sins, and then was raised from the dead, called resurrected, and for a time after he was raised, walked on the earth and revealed His risen self to disciples and others. Then He ascended (went up) to heaven.

Jesus is God, He was not created by God, He is God, He always has existed. There exists, God (Father) Jesus (son, God), Holy Spririt (God), one God in what we call 3 persons.

God sent prophets to the Hebrews and they were all killed, and God was with the Hebrews and they knew He (God) existed as was with them, and they desired Him not, they turned away, did not believe, nor trust nor put their faith in Him. They rejected God, So then Jesus came, in the form of a man born to a virgin.

He came to teach, heal, forgive, and to willingly die for our sins.

Since Jesus was resurrected meaning he didn't stay dead in the ground or tomb after He was placed there, after He died on the cross, we know that we too will live and be with God. We know this if we believe in Jesus, trust him, with our lives we are saved.

When one is first a Christian the experience is fairly amazing for many (tho some who grew up in a Christian family may not experience same as some who come later) all that is experienced and every one of us is different, and if someone doesn't have a fairly amazing experience as others have that's okay, cause we are all different.

Mine was fairly amazing as again lived a very dark life, never thought or knew anything to do with God, and now wow, my life was changed 360 degrees in a very short period of time, I began to read the bible, my mind was renewed, that is what I knew was worldly wisdom and now reading the bible, I was learning godly wisdom or godly truths. I sensed Jesus right with me, and this is common to many new in Christ, hyper sensitive to knowing no way do we ever want to sin, and just so many things occur.

At some point don't recall when but was early on, maybe next day, that day, that month, no clue, I listed off every sin I could ever think of and told God of them; I've been told it's like agreeing with God that sin is indeed sin.

He had already forgiven me for all sins when I believed or came to Christ.

You fairly much may know what sin is, as often times, tho not always (it depends on if you have hardened your heart to a sin) but fairly much there is a guilty feeling when we do wrong before we come to Christ.

With me at that age, I had no conscience whatsoever, except maybe a few things I wouldn't do, but I felt no guilt or anything prior to coming to Christ as I was so long in such a dark place.

I hardened my heart, or actually God gives us over to our sin. Instead of us feeling guilty and we keep doing the same sin, eventually God is like, go ahead, have at it, he turns us over to is, and it's also called the hardening of our hearts to a sin or some sin or whatever.

We justify the wrong we do.

As I was 33 and I see you are 14 I imagine your conscience may be much more sensitive than mine was, tho of course we're all different, so I don't know, but i would imagine you know guilt when you do wrong often times, when I didn't as I was much older.

So, again, when one comes to Christ, one is out of the darkness and in the light, Jesus is the light, and the Holy Spirit helps us and changes us as we desire to change.

We desire to not sin, and our whole lives change, tho as all are different, all different ways such occurs, in each ones time etc.

Long story...but yeah

dont know if made sense, as surely answered more than you asked, but have not reread.

Take care, and thank you for the question. Please feel free to pm me anytime.

I promise i wont always write a book.

take care,
tapero
 
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hlaltimus

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I am confused as to the meaning of this sin. No so much because of Christianity because to me "Thou Shalt Not Kill", sounds pretty easy to follow, but in modern society it seems we are vague on the meaning.

Murder is a sin.
Killing in time of war is okay.
Mercy killing is a sin.
Killing criminals is okay.

..and etc..and etc..

So exactly WHAT and WHY is a sin and why?

This is, really, an easier question to answer than it is to follow up on. If you were being instructed on flying an airplane, how much of your Instructor's advice would you comply with? All of it of course (!!!) To use only half, two-thirds or even "most" of the provided instructions would be inviting instant death. Thus, to resolve seeming contradictions to our natural, human reasoning on issues that are found in the Bible, the standard universal rule of biblical interpretation, (hermeneutics,) is to base your interpretation upon all of what is taught in the Bible for any one given subject and this is a classic example:

"Thou shalt not kill."

Why then is the taking of a human life allowed for...Nay, even commanded in the Scriptures elsewhere??? Well, if we read all of what is taught in the Scriptures on the taking of a human life, this action was forbidden for individuals as individuals in the Law, but allowed for in the case of a body of individuals, a national sovereignty being an example. Here we have the Lord agreeing, as it were, with our own human reasoning when a "quorum" or body of individuals is required in the formation of a jury to insure the liklihood of justice and rule out any personal, petty vindication...hopefully. Like it or not, the threat of loosing one's life is a very strong and biting deterrent to prevent an individual from taking another's life, (what we would call murder,) but that taking of the murderer's life is not entrusted to the opinion of only one other individual, but a body of individuals so that there will not be another murder upon a murder, but merely the taking of a life upon a murder. If this kind of reasoning doesn't readily appeal to you, it doesn't really appeal to me either! That is because I am a christian and unconditional love in one's heart makes murder an utter impossibility, however let's face it: There's alot of humanity left who haven't hardly a speck of considerate love left in them and this God sponsored penalty has worked throughout the centuries to preserve a life by the taking of a life. God has allowed for the taking of a human life, (capital punishment,) but only in the hands of a selected body lest murder begat murder. This is a bitter cure for an even more bitter crime and the Lord permits it...Within the bounds of fairness relative to a society and that is the difference between the "taking of a life" and "murder".
 
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Adstar

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I am confused as to the meaning of this sin. No so much because of Christianity because to me "Thou Shalt Not Kill", sounds pretty easy to follow, but in modern society it seems we are vague on the meaning.

Murder is a sin.
Killing in time of war is okay.
Mercy killing is a sin.
Killing criminals is okay.

..and etc..and etc..

So exactly WHAT and WHY is a sin and why?

Different Christians have different beliefs in the particular Commandment you have given as an example.

A sin is doing or thinking something that is against the Will of God.

The Word of God in the Bible and out of the mouth of the Word OF God Jesus. Is the Will of God.

The particular example you put forward says you shall not kill.

But God has at times ordered His followers to carry out executions.

There is a difference between Executing someone and Killing someone, Executing is lawful while Killing is unlawful.

I believe from scriptures and from the Words of Jesus that we Christians must not do either. Killing or Executing. Because the Words of Jesus removed from us the call to carry out executions as a penalty for law breaking. Also from the Words of Jesus i believe we are called to Love our enemies and that means we are not to engage in warfare.

So i believe that followers of the Messiah Jesus should not take part in killing in any form that they may be called upon by the world to take part in.


All Praise The Ancient Of Days
[/FONT]
 
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Emmy

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Dear Demian. you had some very good replies, and I can only repeat. I try and make it short, Jesus gave us 2 Commandments, which contain all 10 Commandments God gave us. 1) Love God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. 2) Love each other as you love yourself. God is LOVE, and Jesus told us to become perfect as God is perfect. He also told us to remember, " If you pick up the sword, expect to be killed by it." We should give the other cheek, which means NOT retaliate, rather walk away. There are many occasions when we cannot do so, for instance in war, when we have to defend loved ones, or save others who are being in danger of being killed, or injured. God said " Thou shalt not kill," He knows our hearts, even our very thoughts. To kill in war is not simply O.K. in most instances it is necessary, simply because it is a case of kill, or be killed, yet each time we should remember Jesus`s Words: " to pick up the sword, one must expect to be killed by it." I say this humbly and kindly, Demian. Greetings from Emmy, sister in Christ.
 
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SoldierOfTheKing

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Let's let the Savior explain:

"Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgement;
But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of judgement"
Matthew 5:21-22

Ultimately, the Sixth Commandment is about the spirit of murder, which is hatred. Anger becomes hatred if it is isn't dealt with. If you're angry with somebody, think about whether you have a good reason to be angry. If you do, then deal with the cause of your anger, with the person you're angry with. Murders occur because people fail to do that.
 
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Merlin

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Hi,

When the Bible was translated, it was thought 'thou'
'shall'
etc. would have meaning to people.
likewise, 'kill' seemed like a good translation at the time.
Murder is more accurate, still not perfect though.
You'd have to take all of the detailed laws into consideration to understand this.
That is one of the reasons the Bible has several hundred laws.
Within those laws are the details of when the taking of a life is appropriate.
 
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Billnew

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Humans are omnivores(eat meat and plants.)
thou shall not kill.
We eat plants(killing them) we eat animals(killing them)
So by our very survival are we sinning?
We do sin, but Jesus ate plants and animals, and most Christians believe he was without sin.
So eating is not a sin. So "killing" is not a sin.

Murder is the killing of another without justifiable reason.
(self defense, protecting others from harm)
So thou shall not murder, means the killing of a person
without justifiable reason.
Killing can mean their spirit too, so its not only limited to
their life.

So soldiers, police, the woman down the street that killed the intruder, did not break the comandment, unless they were not threatened or someone else was not threatened.
The execution of a priosoner, is still not murder. Society has given a fair trial, weighing the evidence and found the peron guilty of a crime worthy of death(depending on your society, could be murder, kidnapping, or even loosing your viginity out of wedlock, in some societys.)
Society must keep order and punish breakers of the law.
If society can punish then the ultimate punishment is allowed. If society cannot punish, then disorder and chaos will result.
Punishment, either society can punish to include the life of the convict, or they connot punish at all.

How can society punish offenders when Jesus told us:
If a thief takes your coat, give him your shirt too?
If we follow Jesus's word, we can not punish anyone, which means society would be ruled by the strongest and harshest non-Christian ruler. Because if you don't punish, then the offender will take more next time, and then even more. Because greed and lust for power will
overrule the love of Christ, no all will do what is right.
Some will do whatever they can get away with.
 
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chilehed

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I am confused as to the meaning of this sin....?
In English we have several words to indicate the taking of human life:
murder is the intentional and unlawful taking of human life.
manslaughter is the unintentional and unlawful taking of human life.
homicide includes both of these, and also includes the unintentional and lawful taking of human life in self-defense.
capital punishment, which of course is the intentional and lawful taking of human life by the state as a penalty for crime.​

The Hebrew word in Exodus 20:13 is ratsach, which like many Hebrew and Greek words can have different meanings depending on the context.

There are other laws that command ratsach be done as a penalty for certain acts, and as I recall there are others that specify conditions under which an individual may perform ratsach without penalty (such as in self-defense).

So as both the Law of Moses and Natural Law describe the circumstances of lawful ratsach, there remains unlawful ratsach, of which Exodus 20:13 says "thou shalt not do".

Thus, Exodus 20:13 means in English "thou shalt not unlawfully take human life", which would commonly be shortened to "thou shalt do no murder" although it also would include "thou shalt do no manslaughter".

But it cannot mean simply "thou shalt not kill".
 
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