The Sanctity of Life - part 2

The Sanctity of Human Life part 2

Can we be Pro Life and Pro War and Pro Death Penalty?

We will go back to the Bible, book of Exodus chapter 20.

The Ten Commandments, the moral law of the Bible, are good standards for Christians and all humanity.  The spirit of the Ten Commandments should be displayed in the lives of God's people. However, if you want to get in trouble in our American culture, all you have to do is put the Ten Commandments up at your workplace, or in your classroom, or at the courthouse.... And someone will eventually ask you take them down. Why? What is the big deal? The truth is, almost all of these commandments cause controversy in a culture that rejects God and absolute truth.

The truth is the sixth commandment is about the only commandment everyone still seems to agree with. It is so contrary to the law of nature that every culture has some sort of law against it. Even in America, homicide is still a criminal act, for now.

But beware! We will find out that no commandment is more brutally violated than the sixth commandment.

We discussed in part 1 how this applies to abortion, murder of the preborn.

Let's review.

Jesus summarized the Ten Commandments in the New Testament (Matthew 22:34-40) when He said we should love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength – this covers the first 4 commandments. And then Jesus said secondly, to love our neighbor as ourselves. - this covers the Commandments 5 – 10. We should love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves.

Go back to Exodus chapter 20, verse 13... The 6^th commandment. “You shall not Murder.”

That may sound simple and straightforward, in English. The Bible, the Old Testament, was originally written in the Hebrew language. In Hebrew this commandment says” lo ratsach.”

The Hebrew language uses 8 different words for killing in the Bible. This word was specifically chosen for this commandment. In the Bible, this word is never used in the legal system or the military or in the execution of a death sentence or the kind of killing a soldier does in combat or for hunting or killing animals. This commandment is forbidding exactly what it says - murder.

God is forbidding the unlawful killing of a human being. Unlawful in God's eyes includes premeditated taking of innocent life, deliberate killing of a personal enemy, any form of wrongful death like a crime of passion or some forms of accidental deaths - although unintentional are also liable. Leviticus and Deuteronomy cover all sort of situations where killing is against God's law. These cases give us a better idea of how God values life. 

Is it ever lawful (or not sinful) to kill someone?

The Bible covers some situations where taking a life is not only allowed, but actually warranted.

One of those situations is self-defense. - The protection of yourself and your family from violent attack. Self-defense is not about taking vengeance – getting revenge due to the hatred of another person.

In the Bible, Exodus chapter 22:2-3 ... “If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no bloodguilt for him, [3] but if the sun has risen on him, there shall be bloodguilt for him. He shall surely pay. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.”

In these verses, we have two Old Testament civil law cases. We must imagine this as if we lived back in these Old Testament days. In the first case, someone breaks into your home at night – no electricity, no lights switches, no flashlights - You can't see the thief and can't see what the intruder is doing. Maybe he is there to steal, or maybe kidnap your children, or maybe rape your wife, or may he’s there to kill you… It’s dark and we don’t know what this intruder's intentions are because we can’t see anything.

So, men, what do you do? Well, if you’ve got a big rock sitting close by your bed at night, you pick it up and smash the intruder over the head with it. And let’s say… in doing so, the intruder dies. Well, in that case, by Old Testament civil law, you would be justified in killing that person. You would not be held liable for his death. In other words, that would not be considered “ratsach” that God is speaking about in the sixth commandment.

But let’s flip these circumstances and go to the second case. Notice in the second case from Exodus chapter 22 that it’s day time. So, there is light, we can see and probably able to discern his intentions. And in this case, let’s say, you notice he’s a thief - He’s taking your big screen tv off the wall, or he’s going through the jewelry box - And you’re catching him in the act of theft in broad daylight. So you rightly discern he is a thief. 

Well, in that case, you would NOT be permitted to kill the intruder. Now, to be sure, that crime is worthy of punishment, but in Old Testament civil law, stealing was not worthy of death. This is also one example of how not all sins are the same in God's eyes – all sins separate us from God, but they are not all worthy of death. But that is a different topic for another day.

Another hot topic among those in our culture today is the death sentence. Is it lawful for the government to punish evil doers by death?

Capital punishment – when it is rightly administered by governing authorities – it’s not murder - not ratsach - it is called justice. Capital Punishment is a law repeated in all five books of Moses. In the Bible, book of Genesis chapter 9, verse 6 says:​ “Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man."

We also find it in the New Testament. Paul said in Romans chapter 13, verses 1-7: ​”Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he (the one in authority, the government) does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.”

And in 1 Peter 2:13-14 we read, ​“Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.”

These verses tell us that God is the one who gives government the authority they have. That authority includes being able to carry out punishment on those who commit deadly crimes.

Governments also have the God-given right to go to war.

Now, war is always a terrible thing, but inside of this sinful world, sometimes war is necessary to prevent and protect from an even greater evil. God has given governments the right to engage in those conflicts. And if you’re a soldier in one of those wars and you must kill other soldiers to win that war, then that’s not ratsach. Yes, it’s killing - But that’s not unlawful murder. That’s not what God is speaking of in Exodus chapter 20, verse 13.

Some people will say “But God told Joshua and the Israelites to kill everything, men, women and children – And God killed every human being on the face of the earth with the exception of 8 people and the animals on the ark during the Great Flood - Do those killings make God a murderer?”

God created mankind, so God has the right to do with His creation what He pleases. He expected obedience from His creation. In order for God to murder (ratsach), God would have to act unlawfully. And we know from scripture that the God of the bible does not act unlawfully - He is the faithful God who does absolutely no wrong - He is upright and just in all of His ways.

And when mankind took it upon himself to disobey God from the very beginning, then mankind became guilty of offending His maker. .Therefore mankind is due the righteous justice of God for His rebellion. Since God is a just and good judge, it is impossible for Him to allow the wicked to go unpunished.

As Psalm chapter 7, verse 11-13 says: “God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day. If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword; he has bent and readied his bow; he has prepared for him his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts.”

What about those “innocent” women and children in those whole cities that God wiped out? One major fundamental error in that question.

Because of Adam’s sin (the first man), everyone born from his seed throughout all history has been born into this life a sinner, born guilty before God - And each of us deserve His justice due our sin from God.

We are so quick to accuse God of not being fair, but we do not want "fair" from God. God has “just cause” to wipe every human being off the face of this planet. And if God did that, then that would never be murder - It would simply be justice, what sinners rightly deserve from a Holy sinless God that created them.

Let this be clear - Men do NOT have this same authority – as righteous judges. Sinful man cannot rightfully administer that kind of justice upon other sinful men, but only God who has righteous indignation toward sin because of His holiness.

God is also filled with grace and mercy. The fact that you woke up today is God’s amazing grace to you - we are still alive, our hearts are beating. We have another chance to turn from our sins and turn to God. God gives us another day to place our trust in the gospel – in Jesus Christ the Son of God to save us from an eternity in hell, separation from the glory and love of God. As a Christ follower, we have been given Jesus Christ – the hope of eternal life where there will be no sin - that is more of an amazing grace to you than anyone could ever begin to comprehend. And I could not begin to explain the full depth of the gospel in this post. When a Christian places their faith in Jesus to save them, they need not fear death anymore. They don't fear the judgement of God because In Jesus the Son of God alone they stand. Jesus lived the sinless life and paid the bloodguilt debt for their sins when he was crucified on the cross. We are stained with guilt, but because of Christ's sacrifice and the mercy and grace of God, we who give our life to Jesus will be found 'not guilty' on the day of judgment because we repent and believe the gospel.