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Following Jesus in nonviolent struggle for justice and peace, we love our neighbors and enemies as God loves us all, becoming a peace church to share in God’s work to save the world.

Jesus and World Religions: To Save Life or to Kill?

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JESUS, ANTHROPOLOGY AND WORLD RELIGIONS
Some Good News

by John K. Stoner

2nd of 7.

2. To Save Life or to Kill

    Of all the ten commandments, only one has been interpreted restrictively by the church and the Jewish community. That is the sixth: thou shalt not kill. Why is this?

    The restrictive interpretation plays on the word murder in the English language, claiming that the commandment forbids only that homicide which is done between individuals, and not that which is done by the public, whether by execution or war. Some such restricted meaning may have been intended in the original Hebrew texts. We have noted above that the Old Testament texts speak with at least three conflicting voices on how to deal with enemies, advocating at one time annihilation, at another separation, and at another still reconciliation. This makes it probable, if not obvious, that there were different views on the matter of killing any human being, which is homicide.

    The question remains, if it could be shown decisively that the original meaning was usually or exclusively restrictive, would that dictate that three thousand years of human experience since then should achieve no expansion of the principle involved? Certainly in the case of the other commandments, the effort of interpreters has been to expand the relevance and application of the original words and principles. And so why has this one been interpreted restrictively?

    Could it be convenience which dictates this? Could it be that people who do not know, or refuse to find, a better way of dealing with enemies than killing them have sought justification in holy texts for the behavior they want to follow anyway?

    Historically, a restrictive interpretation of “thou shalt not kill” has proven to be as disastrous as a restrictive interpretation of the prohibitions of lying and theft would certainly be. When the church advocates shaving the edges of moral standards, society will not usually correct the loss. And yet, remarkable as it seems, in some cases it has done just that--I would offer the cases of racial and sexual discrimination, where the leadership did not by any means all come from the church. Perhaps society will yet lead the way in the matter of justified homicide.

    In any case,it is clear enough that Jesus did not interpret this command restrictively. When he said “love your enemies,” he certainly did not mean, “but kill them if necessary.” Moreover, he said it in the context of Israel’s existence as a vassal of Roman military occupation forces, i.e., enemies, and in a context of his own experience of political and ecclesiastical authorities targeting him as their enemy. So he was not talking about loving merely personal enemies. His practice as well as his speech showed that, as described in the previous chapter.

    So how many correct answers are there to Jesus’ question, Is it lawful to save life or to kill?   How many exceptions to the presumption against killing will be justified by those calling themselves his followers?

    If I seem insistent in pressing the question “Is it lawful to save life or to kill?” it is because I understand Jesus to have been insistent with it. Are we in a hurry to divert from this question, to talk about something else, to avoid a clear answer, to find exceptions to the obvious answer?

    Are t

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