Leonard Holt was a paragon of respectability. He was a middle-aged, hard-working lab technician who had worked at the same Pennsylvania paper mill for nineteen years. Having been a Boy Scout leader, an affectionate father, a member of the local fire brigade, and a regular church attender, he was admired as a model in his community - until that image exploded in a well-planned hour of bloodshed one brisk October morning. A proficient marksman, Leonard Holt stuffed two pistols in his coat pockets and drove to the mill. He stalked slowly into his shop and began shooting with calculated frenzy. He filled several co-workers with two or three bullets apiece, firing more than thirty shots, killing some men he had known for more than fifteen years. When the posse found him standing defiantly in his doorway, he snarled, "Come and get me, you ________. I'm not taking any more of your _______!" Bewilderment swept the community. Puzzled policemen and friends finally found a train of logic behind his brief reign of terror. Down deep within the heart of Leonard Holt rumbled the giant of resentment. His monk-like exterior concealed the seething hatred within. The investigation yielded the following facts: Several victims had been promoted over him while he remained in the same position. More than one in Holt’s carpool had quit riding with him due to his reckless driving. The man was brimming with resentment — rage that could be held no longer. Beneath his picture in Time, the caption told the story: "Responsible, Respectable, and Resentful." (God Is For Life, 5/16/99, J. David Hoke) We live in a society that is getting increasingly angry. Rage roars around us. Anger and violence bubble closely near the surface of many, barely being kept in check by years of ingrained civility. Social commentators have called our day the "age of rage," a time when despite relative economic prosperity and social well being, there is seething beneath the skins of many people anger and resentment. There is a brooding sense of hostility and frustration which lashes out against others with the ultimate revenge, as with Leonard Holt, but which has infected each of us, too. While of all the commands in the Decalogue we most often feel the safest here, this is the one we break so easily and often with the least sense of shame. Self-justification comes easy when the Sixth Commandment is broken, for the anger we feel may well be merited. So we live with a seething cauldron of rage, all the while thinking that at least on this Commandment, we’ve remained virtuous. This Commandment, like many of those dealing with our horizontal relationships, seems rather pedestrian. How does the prohibition against murder in the Ten Commandments differ from the laws found in other religions or in the laws governing a secular society? For any society to function there must exist some prohibition against murder. So what is it about this Commandment that, as it is explicated in Scripture, teaches us something important to know about the Covenant between God and His people? As we've looked at the Ten Commandments in the past few weeks we've seen how the Law is divided first in our duties toward God and then in our duties toward one and other. In the first four commands we see how God safeguards His glory. He is to be honored above all. In the second set of commands we see how God safeguards our security and well-being. Just as the First Commandment tells us that no glory is to be given to any other god, honor is to be given to parents in the Fifth. Just as God's image is not to be destroyed by fashioning an object of it, so also God's image is not to be destroyed by killing another, as we will see this morning. In the second half of the Law, the individual is protected: no murder; the family is protected, no adultery; the community is protected; no stealing, no lying. And as a fence to protect all these, the Tenth warns against the inward deceit which may provoke the outward actions: no coveting. The Sixth Commandment logically follows on the heels of the Fifth as was made clear when a Sunday School teacher was in the process of teaching the 10 Commandments to her third grade class. She noted: "We have learned the commandments, 'Honor thy father and mother.' Is there one that refers to brothers and sisters?" A little girl responded, "Thou shalt not kill!"
THE COMMAND PROHIBITS THE DEPRIVING OF LIFE The prohibition against murder is limited What is the definition of prohibition against murder? In Hebrew there are 7 words for killing, but the term used here is relatively rare. Those familiar with the KJV know this as "Thou shalt not kill," but the term here refers to the murder of a human being. It is used of violent beating done in anger, in the unjust taking of a life. This term is never used of killing animals, defending of one's family or nation, accidental killings or the execution by civil authorities of murderers. What is the foundation of prohibition against murder? The reason for this kind of limitation is based on the problem that murder is not just the taking of another life, not just the mayhem it creates and the revenge it brings. Murder is wrong not so much because of what it does to us, but rather what it says about God. Each of these commands are not just ethical statements about life, but deeply theological statements about our relationship to God. What is that foundation? This takes us right back to Creation itself. The distinction which belongs to humanity is rooted in that we are the image bearers of God. Genesis 1:26-27 reminds us that we are created in God's image. That image is not found in physical likeness, but in something innate, in the ability to reason, to emote, to will. This foundational aspect is referred to in Genesis 9:6 where our being image bearers is the reason why murderers should have their life taken away as well. It is not just that they took a life of a person, not whether or not it is a deterrent, but that God's image is tarnished when a life is taken. In the recent debates both candidates affirmed their commitment to capital punishment. What persuaded them to adopt such a view was that the ultimate punishment was a deterrent to crime. Sociologist and criminologists are divided whether this is the case. Scripture makes no claims as to the deterring nature of capital punishment, rather that capital punishment is exacted when God’s image is defamed. Life is not holy in and of itself. Life is sacred not for utilitarian reasons, defined by its usefulness or productivity. Rather human life is a gift from God and belongs to God. His signature is written on each person. For this reason to harm another is a curse against God. We must distinguish between unlawful taking of life by evil human intention and authorized taking of life in circumstances carefully defined by God, the Lord and giver of life. The prohibition on murder, therefore is a matter not merely of horizontal human rights, but of our accountability to God for the lives of our fellow human beings. A few seasons back when Mark McGwuire hit 72 homeruns someone purchased the ball which flew over the fence for $2.7 million dollars. Why? There are millions of baseballs in the world, but this one achieved such status merely because a big guy smacked a piece of leather over 400 feet. We know which ball that is, too, by the markings on it which authenticates its status. The value of people obviously far exceeds that of a ball, for you and I bear God’s stamp, His image. Given those parameters which limit the prohibition to murder as a direct attack on God's image, the prohibition is extended far beyond criminal homicide and beyond the act of murder in a fit of rage. The prohibition extends what is included in murder Abortion According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta 1 out of every 3 babies conceived in America is aborted today. Each year 1.6 million unborn children die by abortion. That's 3 each minute, 1 every 20 seconds. Their names would fill the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial wall over 700 times. And 97% of those 37 million lives were ended simply because they were an inconvenience to their parents. These children were not conceived as a result of incest or rape. They were perfectly healthy and the pregnancy did not threaten the life of the mother. No, it was decided to end their lives simply because if they had lived it would have interfered with the plans of other people. A professor at the UCLA Medical School asked his students this question: "Here is the family history: The father has syphilis. The mother has TB. They already have had four children. The first is blind. The second had died. The third is deaf. The fourth has TB. The mother is pregnant. The parents are willing to have an abortion if you decide they should. What do you think?" Most of the students decided on abortion. "Congratulations," said the professor. "You have just murdered Beethoven!" Nothing is so final as murder, even when it is done very early in a life. Euthanasia The shift from abortion to euthanasia is clear, whether it is murder via a RU486, partial birth abortion, or the increasingly acceptable practice of actively killing disabled infants. Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University’s Center for Human Values Peter Singer has said; "Killing a defective infant is not morally equivalent to killing a person." Singer, who is considered the father of the international animal rights movement, has said that children less than one month old have no human consciousness and do not have the same rights as others. (Religion Today, 4/19/99) As more people, churched and unchurched, jump on the euthanasia bandwagon, we should examine the reasons for this phenomenon. For many, quality of life has replaced sanctity of life. According to the flexible moral code spawned by moral relativism, life becomes expendable if a person cannot be productive and independent. The facts of the situation, rather than the nature of killing, become the basis for decision-making. A belief in the individual's absolute autonomy over his life has helped promote the acceptability of euthanasia. Since human life is a reflection of God's life, our dignity comes from Him. All - not just some - are made in His image and thus bear equal dignity regardless of whether they are handicapped, mentally deficient, old, sick, or weak. When confronted with these issues we must realize that the lines of demarcation are never as neatly drawn as we like. As Christians we know that there is more to life than this life. There is nothing inherently wrong with providing care to make one facing death more comfortable but which does not intervene to extend the dying process. In a culture that is so afraid of death, Christians need to relearn the art of dying well, disproving the mistaken notion that the only way to die "with dignity" is through a combination of homicide and suicide. We are called to not only live by faith, but to face our death by faith, as well. Anger Unfortunately that is as far as we like to extend the concept of murder. It exists out there, in the other person, often in the person that is most unlike me, whether those murderers be tormented psychopaths or inner-city gang-bangers whose existence seems all-consumed by crack and drive-by shootings. We like our murderers cut and dried, to be unlike us. We find it easy to point our finger at the woman who chooses abortion or the children who've reached the end of their rope with an aged parent and wish the plug could be pulled. But we aren't let off the hook so easily. 21. "You have heard that it was
said to the people long ago, `Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to
judgment.' Jesus says the 6th Commandment is not restricted to the mere external act of murder but that it should rightfully include the sins of anger and insult as well. Why is it that just being angry with someone or insulting someone is seen as such a serious offense by God? It is because anger and insults are seen by God as manifestations and symptoms of a root desire in your heart to destroy another person created in His image. Jesus's primary concern here is with your heart. He knows that heart murder can take place in the most pleasant of religious surroundings without ever a blow exchanged. What ends up in murder begins with self-love. What is at the root of anger is also the desire to worship before the shrine of self. Just as the murderer kills to satisfy his or her own sense of revenge or to take what is not his, so too with anger do we seek to satisfy our own sense of justice where we are more concerned with being more right than that person with whom we are angry. Anger is just one letter short of danger. Richard Walters is a psychiatrist in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He writes: "People will be murdered today because of someone's anger. Others will die from physical ailments resulting from or aggravated by their angry feelings. Many people die in anger related auto accidents. While others carry out the angriest act of all, suicide. Countless relationships die little by little as resentment gnaws away at the foundations of love and trust. Anger is a devastating force, and its consequences should sicken us." This psychiatrist closes with these words: "Anger related destruction of the human life and spirit is the incredible national disaster. It's a personal tragedy in the lives of millions." (Jim Nicodem, The Straight Scoop on Anger, Preaching Today, Tape 172) So, if I keep my Smith and Wesson locked up, if I keep my tongue under control, if I think only happy thoughts, have I kept this Commandment? Is passivity doing what God demands? THE COMMAND PRESCRIBES THE DEFENDING OF LIFE The prescription for murder is found in compassion The opposite of murder is not indifference to others. It is not a live and let live attitude. No, the opposite of murder is compassion. The summary of the Law is not to ignore the Lord your God and forget about your neighbor, but to love, which is compassion in action. The positive duty implied in the command is that we should do all the good we can to ourselves and others. The mistake is to imagine that if I just ignore the person who rubs me the wrong way, as long as I don’t blow up at the jerks in my life, then I am holy and righteous. Indifference may lack rage, but it lacks also love and is equally insufferable. It is here that we often find ourselves caught. We think we are pro-life when we prohibit the depriving of life, but so often we are far from pro-life in the defending of it, in the positive demonstration of compassion. Since the image of God is the reason behind our concern for murder, the issue is not just the depravation of life, but the necessity to defend life. How does the image of God in others instruct us when we hear that 1 in 5 American children go hungry? Are we indifferent to life when the US child poverty rate is more than double that of any other industrialized nation? How pro-life are we when the US ranks below 20 other countries in infant mortality rates and that every 53 minutes another American child living in poverty dies? Are we really pro-life? It is the conviction that we bear God's image that prohibits murder and prescribes compassion that breaks our heart when we see a prostitute selling her body to keep alive, while others (including those who participate in the same industry through pornography) pour shame and contempt on them. It is that conviction, that religious belief, that binds us to our neighbors and to their interests, regardless of whether they are believers or share our values or our ethnic, cultural, or linguistic heritage. In a nation that prides itself on being the most religious, church-going country, violent deaths are twenty times that of Western Europe and forty times that of Japan. The US has won the dubious title "Most Violent Nation on Earth." In 1990, handguns were involved in the killing of 10,567 people in the US, compared to 87 in Japan and only 22 in Great Britain. Murder is now the most frequent cause of death for women in the workplace. Among elementary and middle school children, homicide is now the third leading cause of death. The equivalent of one classroom full of children is killed by guns every two days. Between 1979 and 1991 firearms took the lives of 50,000 children, about the same as the number of Americans who died in the Vietnam War. You can quote the Second Amendment as a right, but as Christians we must find a way that enables us to be pro-life, a way to not only defend our families, but also defend the image of God borne in every human being. Are we really pro-life? (The Law of Perfect Freedom, Horton, pp. 155-156) These contradictions exist, at least in part, because there is an underlying contradiction in our own thinking as Christians. We believe that religion has to do merely with external morality and codes of conduct, not with responsibilities to one's neighbor. Biblical holiness is concerned with getting us to love God and neighbor in tangible acts of self-giving, not with entangling us in a web of worries and doubts over an internal checklist of personal piety. Holiness is a matter of loving God and our neighbor, not of doing homage to a rule. The prescription for murder is found in death Genesis 9:6 prescribes a murderer to be executed. We are to give an account of our life before God. Yet when we recognize the absolute impossibility of God's Law, we are left unable to respond. I have never pulled a trigger, but I've numerous times lost my patience. I have often obeyed the prohibition of murder, but ignored the prescription of compassion. When I read God's Law, I see His command that I must not murder, but with Jesus's warning that my anger is just as culpable, I see I am guilty and deserve the death penalty. In Deuteronomy 21:22, God’s Law specifies what is to be done with anyone guilty of a capital offense: he is to be put to death, his body hung on a tree. The so-executed is under a curse. When Paul writes to the Galatians, he applies this truth to Jesus Christ in 3:13. The One so cursed for us, the one who knew no sin, yet became sin for us, took on the curse you and I deserve. You and I are law breakers. In our anger and rage as well as in our indifference and lovelessness we deserve the curse of capital punishment. But our Father’s love is such that the curse of the law was placed on Christ who purchased our freedom by His death. It was He who hung on the tree, who took our curse so that we could receive not a curse but the promise of being made His sons and daughters. God does not set murderers free. He does not nullify His own just demands through ignoring what must be done. Rather He offers us not only freedom from the Law’s curse, but a perfect record of obedience to the Law through Christ’s perfect life, lived for us. The response to this is that of gratitude. Having been freed from the penalty of death, we are called to live a life of gratitude. |
