Sanctityoflife
SANCTITY OF LIFE EXODUS 20:13
Many Christian leaders from many different denominations and Christian traditions have been warning us in the west that we have created in our own lifetime a culture of death, a culture that has very little regard for human life. Life has become meaningless for many people as seen on the nightly news and as read in the daily newspaper.
Sinful men and women cannot tolerate the idea that God is in control. Rather than acknowledging God’s creative work and submitting to His Law, they would rather believe that the universe just happened, a result of chance events somewhere in time. A God who is nonexistent, irrelevant, or dead can demand nothing. In the words of folk artist Joan Baez, we “are the orphans in an age of no tomorrows.”
Begin with some impersonal force, add the passage of time and a number of chance occurrences, and, “Welcome to a meaningless, absurd universe.”
Perhaps filmmaker and actor Woody Allen expressed this worldview best. Allen may be a filmmaking genius, but he is also one of the saddest popular philosophers of our time. In the film Annie Hall, in what is supposed to be a humorous line, Allen says, “Mankind is left with alienation, loneliness, and an emptiness verging on madness. . . .Life is divided into the horrible and the miserable.”
The billboards on the postmodern road of life read: “You are going nowhere.” “You have no reason to exist.” Why? The reason is modern men and women, in their hostility toward God, have rejected the Maker’s instructions.
Before he tried to commit suicide, artist Paul Gauguin scrawled on his final painting, “Whence come we, what are we, whither do we go?” Here is the answer of modern man. Where do we come from? Nowhere! What are we? Nothing! Where are we going? No Place! P. S. Have a nice life!
Just from reading these statements you will notice a fundamental difference between those who believe all is chance and those who believe in a personal, intimate and involved God. In this command God is signifying the sanctity of life. In other words, this command indicates that life is precious to God because he created it and He is the only one with the right to take it. Therefore, you shall not murder.
The command is crystal clear. It's very simple Hebrew. And it just means "do not unlawfully or immorally take the life of another human." This command is a call to believers to respect life and to take all care to protect and to cherish human life and not to take that life from another wrongly. The Hebrew consists of only two words. You could translate it "no murdering" or "no unlawful killing." It is an emphatic prohibition of the very briefest sort. You couldn't have said it more briefly than God says it in the sixth commandment.
But I want you to see that the phrase "no murdering" or "no killing" is not merely a generic term for any kind of killing, it is a specific term for the violent killing of a personal enemy. This term, found here in the sixth commandment, is never used for acts of war in the Bible. It is never used for capital punishment in the Bible. It is never used for lethal self-defense in the Bible. It is never used on any occasion when God or angels are the subject of this verb. It is always, however, used in the context of, for instance, forbidding planned or premeditated murder or assassination or various kinds of manslaughter.
Yet, every year life is cut short by another individual. In 2006, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported that there were 14,990 murders in the United States. In Alabama, there were reported 349 murders. This is almost a murder a day in our state.
While we still reel from the terrorist murders on 9/11, the motivation of the terrorists' minds continue to come up with new ways to kill those they hate. Every day we hear of another suicide bombing in the Middle East, Central Asia, or North Africa. The Darfur region of Sudan has witnessed the slaughter, rape, maiming, and destruction of hundreds of thousands in the past couple of years. Our generation has witnessed mass slaughter in Cambodia, Rwanda, South Africa, the former Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan, to name a few.
Murder and violence against humanity has become a primary source of entertainment in our own country. "By the time the average child finishes elementary school, he or she has watched eight thousand televised murders and a hundred thousand acts of on-screen violence" [Philip Ryken, Written in Stone, 139]. It makes you want to labor for your child to be below average! Even the New York Times commented, "If you have the impression that movies today are bloodier and more brutal than ever in the past, and that their body counts are skyrocketing, you are absolutely right. Inflation has hit the action-adventure movie with a big slimy splat" [quoted by Ryken, 139]. Video games have become so life-like that participants get the feel of killing someone—further numbing them to the downward spiral of a decadent society, and taking away the horror of unlawful killings. I read recently that one computer game developer has created a Columbine game with actual video footage inside the Columbine school and the crime scene, so that players can make the decision on who to shoot and who to ignore.
Most people are horrified by someone taking another life in cold blood. But this command is about life and death. How many people view abortion or euthanasia or suicide as violating this command? Yet, isn’t it a violation of the sanctity of life.
Just think with me for a minute about the millions of unborn babies who have their right to life snuffed out because of abortions. There have been over 45 million babies aborted since Roe V. Wade in 1973. In 2003, the United States recorded over 850,000 abortions, while Alabama performed a little over 11,000. This does not include the non-reported abortions done every year.
For the opponents of Pro-Life, they want people to believe that this issue of pregnancy is a scientific issue rather than a moral issue. They don’t understand that the moment a baby is conceived is the moment a baby becomes a living human being, which cannot survive outside the womb of the mother. Therefore, evangelicals have fought hard to protect the life of the innocent and those who have not a voice for themselves.
Euthanasia is another way that this commandment is violated. Ask the locals in Waterford Township, Michigan, about Polson Street. They call it “the Road of Death,” because it is there that a man by the name of Kevorkian enabled fifteen or more people to usurp God’s role and take their own lives. Kevorkian himself has more than once expressed his egoistic and nihilistic worldview. “Everyone is a phony”---everyone except him. “Doctors are socially criminal. Legislators are barbarians and church officials are religious fanatics. You don’t see the tragedies. What are we doing? Nobody cares.” Therefore, he says, “Put on the death mask and all will be well.”
Dr. Kevorkian, a retired pathologist, has assisted ninety-three individuals in taking their lives. This is just the list reported in the newspaper, but there are far more murders that have been done in private. He describes himself as a “prisoner of conscience” and “martyr to the cause of the right to choose to die.” Derek Humphrey, president of the Euthanasia Research and Guidance Organization said, “Kevorkian’s martyrdom—self-imposed as it is—will speed up the day when voluntary euthanasia for the dying is removed from the legal classification of ‘murder’ and recognized as a justifiable act of compassion.” In the Netherlands, it is already legalized. No matter how it may read on the statute books of man, it will remain murder on the statute of God’s Law.
Yet, another form of murder is suicide. Suicide is one of the top ten causes of death in America a year. In 2004, there was reported 32, 439 suicides. People are desperately seeking for people to save them from self-destruction. There are more suicides than homicides in the U. S. every year.
As you can see all of these forms of murder violates God’s plan purpose for life, as well as take away the dignity of human life. 1 Samuel 2:6 says, “The Lord kills and brings life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up.” In Ezekiel 18:4, we read, “Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine; the soul who sins shall die.” In other words, we claim to be the captain of our own fate and we determine our own destiny.
Yet, this verse has been misapplied and misinterpreted by various people. These include pacifist in both religious and non-religious circles. As I have stated earlier this command forbids unlawful murder. So that leads me to ask the question is killing ever justified in Scriptures. I believe the answer is yes and there are three cases for justified murder mentioned in the Bible.
The first case is that of manslaughter. In the Old Testament, God provided places of refuge for people who accidentally killed someone. In fact, there were six cities to be designated for this purpose; three beyond the Jordan and three in Canaan. “But if he pushed him suddenly without enmity, or hurled anything on him without lying in wait or used a stone that could cause death, and without seeing him dropped it on him, so that he died, though he was not his enemy and did not seek his harm, then the congregation shall judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood, in accordance with these rules” (Numbers 35:22-24). For example, we could mention taking a life of someone in self-defense or maybe someone in an auto accident without premeditation to do such harm.
A second case would be a defensive war. In such times this would not be considered murder. In fact, there were times when God sent the children of Israel out to battle. So if this was the case, then God would have violated his own commandment. The Dutch theologian J. Douma identified six principles of a just war. "Generally stated, a just war must be waged (1) by a legitimate government, (2) for a legitimate cause, (3) with a legitimate purpose, (4) with consideration of benefits and costs, (5) with means proportionate to the offense, and (6) recognizing the difference between civilians and soldiers.”
A third case would be the issue of capital punishment. There is much controversy over this issue. There are people who assert that the death penalty is to be equated with capital murder because both end with the taking of human life. Some have gone to the extreme of finding the death penalty equated with the Nazi holocaust. Is it possible to equate the slaughter of twelve million innocent men, women, and children and the just execution of a twisted and cold blooded killer?
Someone provided some great insight to this line of thinking: 1) The idea that if two acts have the same result they are morally equivalent is an untenable position. 2) Is the repossession of property in payment of a debt the same as auto theft? 3) Are kidnapping and imprisonment the same since both involve being retained against one’s will? 4) Is killing in self-defense the same as capital murder since both end in taking life?
So what does Scripture say? All through the Old Testament God reminds us that humans are made in the image of God and that those who shed the blood of those created in his image should have there own blood shed. Why? The reason is that God values life.
In the New Testament, Paul in Romans 13 says that God has ordained the institution of civil government. They have a divine sanction to exercise authority and those who are governed by them must submit to it. In the previous chapter, Paul instructs believers not to take revenge and here in this chapter he says that God has given that responsibility to the government. Paul spoke of the authority given by God to the state for protecting its citizens so that "it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it [the state] is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil" (Rom. 13:4). Peter said that the government instituted by God is “to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right” (1 Peter 2:14).
I believe that if I took a survey of what we have talked about thus far all if not almost all would fall on the side of the sanctity of life. We would agree with what God has condemned, but we must ask ourselves have we ever murdered someone. No would be the answer of most of us, but when you get to the bottom of this command there is more than the murderous act involved, there would also be the sin that leads to this act and the causes that are forbidden.
Let’s turn forward to the pages of the New Testament in Matthew chapter 5 verses 21 and following and see just one more thing, the hard application of this command. Jesus teaches us here that since murderous acts flow from murderous hearts, even our thoughts and our words and our attitudes must be guarded against gross violation of the principle of loving one another. Jesus tells us in Matthew 5 verses 21 - 26 that we can violate this command without doing so outwardly. Jesus tells us that we can violate this command without doing it physically. We can violate this command without doing it criminally with regard to our justice system. We can still be murderers.
Notice what he says, "You have heard that the ancients were told, 'you shall not commit murder' and whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court, but I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother 'you good for nothing' shall be guilty before the supreme court' and whoever says "you fool" shall be guilty enough to go into fiery hell. Therefore, it you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go, first, be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering. Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer and you be thrown into prison. Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent." You see Jesus' exposition of the sixth commandment shows us that the law is spiritual. It is of the Spirit. It deals with spiritual matters. It reaches even to the matters of the heart. And He applies the sixth commandment to our hearts and our tongues, and He says that hatred, wrongful anger is heart murder and destructive speech is tongue murder. And He tells us that these tongue and heart sins must be taken with the utmost seriousness.
Allow your eyes to fall back on verse 20 in Matthew chapter 5. "Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and the Pharisees you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." No, my friends, this is why we need a Savior. I am speaking to a moral community. I mean there's going to be no one here standing up, cheering that we disregard human life and that we do our best to establish a culture of death. There's going to be no one here who says, "Oh yes, yes, I murder regularly. It's no big deal." Most of you are appalled by the culture of death in the community and you condemn abortion and you condemn the cavalier treatment of unborn human life, and you condemn the cavalier treatment of people in their agedness being euthanized, murdered. But there's not a one, not a one of us, not a one of us in here who has never murdered with heart and tongue. Is there someone's reputation that you have murdered? Is there a brother, maybe even in this house today, from whom you are estranged? The Lord Jesus says that when you violate the principle of ‘love one another’ and you bring division and discord into the body and there is no reconciliation, you've violated the sixth command. And James tells you that when you've broken one law you've broken them all. And Jesus says that if you don't keep the law better than the Scribes and the Pharisees you're going to hell.
There's no simpler, clearer, and more pointed application to this commandment than the words quoted by our Lord, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." When one particular lawyer sought to justify himself with regard to this command, he asked, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus told the story of a man that fell among thieves while traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. They left him for dead (murderers themselves!). As he lay there half dead, a priest passed by and went to the other side of the road. Likewise, a Levite did the same, both feeling no concern for the man or no call to be involved with him. But a Samaritan, a man not welcomed among Jews, felt compassion for the man. He came to his aid, took care of bandaging his wounds, provided a ride for him to a local inn, and even paid for his stay until the man could get back on his feet. Jesus asked the lawyer, "Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers' hands?" He replied, "The one who showed mercy toward him." Jesus then gave the command, "Go and do the same" (Luke 10:30-37). That is the very essence of the 6th commandment. It is a call to be conscious of others, to be sensitive to ways that we might give them help or come to their aid. Martin Luther gave pointed applications on how we are to keep this commandment.
This commandment is violated not only when a person actually does evil, but also when he fails to do good to his neighbor, or, though he has the opportunity, fails to prevent, protect, and save him from suffering bodily harm or injury. If you send a person away naked when you could clothe him, you have let him freeze to death. If you see anyone suffer hunger and do not feed him, you have let him starve to death. Likewise, if you see anyone condemned to death or in similar peril and do not save him although you know ways and means to do so, you have killed him. It will do you no good to plead that you did not contribute to his death by word and deed, for you have withheld your love from him and robbed him of the service by which his life might have been saved.
I end on an important way that all of us as Christians have a part in obeying this commandment. If we know that a person is in the way of eternal destruction, then what do we do to about it? John Calvin expressed this so clearly (for those who slander Calvin by saying that he didn't care about evangelism, then note what he wrote): "But if there is so much concern for the safety of his body, from this we may infer how much zeal and effort we owe the safety of the soul, which far excels the body in the Lord's sight" [2.8.40, italics added]. If we know that someone is in danger of hell, then by implication, the 6th commandment calls for us to sound the alarm through the gospel! It calls for zeal in telling the lost soul that there is refuge for sinners in Jesus Christ, so that even murderers can be forgiven through the God-satisfying death of His Son at the cross.
The 6th commandment reminds us of how desperately we need the saving work of God's Son. All of us have breached this commandment inwardly and verbally. We stand guilty before the eternal justice of our Creator for unlawfully killing those made in God's image by our attitude, anger, bitterness, hatred, passive aggression, slander, and gossip. To the cross we must go! To the Savior we must find refuge! And like Paul, who gave hearty approval when angry men stoned the godly Stephen, though "chief of sinners," God shows mercy to us through Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 1:13).