Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Elaboration on the Sixth Commandment

You shall not kill.
Now, in a time where debating over abortion, war, and human rights is more popular than ever, this commandment must be listened to. Simple, yet meaningful in a thousand different ways, You shall not kill lays down the law directly and without any question.
Don't kill.
Yet people still try to bend it and mold it to their will, to their own liking. "Well, its alright to kill if you don't love the baby. If you don't love it, it doesn't have a soul, and without a soul, its not really alive. It can't have rights if its not even born." But the Ten Commandments come from God himself, and there's no wiggle room in a law. Black and white. Kill or don't kill. You can't twist God's words without first claiming that you're better than He is, that you know more than he does. And you don't- because God knows everything and understands everything and sees everything.
And He loves everything.
But even with such an obvious commandment as You shall not kill, people still have several questions. I'll try to answer the more common ones, but feel free to ask any I don't cover.

What about abortion?
When you kill an unborn baby, you KILL it. There's no debating. God sent that child into the world for a reason, and that reason was not to have you dispose of it like a tumor. Abortion is killing, made even more evil by the fact that the unborn infant has committed no crime, no sin of any sort. The public wouldn't allow a massacre of infants, so why does it allow a massacre of the unborn? Common responses include 'her body, her choice', that the baby wouldn't have a good life, exc. These are ridiculous. Life is worth more than anything else on this planet; it is holy and special and something man will never be able to create. I would gladly sacrifice my freedom for a year to save someone's life- isn't that what soldiers and heroes do every day? Don't they undergo pain and suffering and hurt to save lives? People should not have the right to choose who lives and who dies- only God should have that right. How can you know how that infant will impact the world?
There is the valid argument that if, in a rare case, a mother does not undergo an abortion she will die. The Catholic Church acknowledges this, as did the late Pope John Paul II, who wrote that a mother has the right to defend her own life. But only if an abortion will save a life is it the right action to make. If the baby is an "inconvenience" then a mother should still have it. Life is a blessing, not a curse, not something you can just toss away and forget about. Because as well as the Eighth Commandment, the Catholic Church, and God saying abortion is wrong- modern day mothers say its wrong. Women who have undergone abortion tell horrible grief stricken stories of guilt and hurt that they have to live with for the rest of their lives. Just another one of the countless reasons we should listen to God-He loves us and tells us the best thing to do.

What about killing animals?
If you kill animals for food, or because they're hurting you, or even because that stupid ant won't leave your house, then yes, its alright to kill them. Naturally you can't just go around slaughtering without reason. But if you need the animal for food or if its hurting you or whatnot, you may kill it.

What about killing murderers?
Use common sense- if killing one person can save the lives of others, then God understands that person must be killed. But if a murderer or rapist or convict of any kind is locked up, kept away from others then there is no reason to kill them. they have the rest of their lives to turn over a new leaf and inspire others, in both good and bad ways, not to convict crimes. Their lives can become better, the lives of those they interact with can become better; everything is webbed together. Cut that person out of the web and you can never tell what you are loosing. And how can we accuse the convict of murder if we want to murder them?

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