Is killing wrong?

[brian100]

I read the story of David and how he threw small rock and it killed the faithless barbarian. So, I know there is circumstances that require it.

[brian100]

youtube

David and Goliath

Edited July 23, 2020 by brian100

[Wesley L]

Exodus 20:13
“You shall not murder."

Matthew 5:21-22
21 “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ 22 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 the fiery hell.

 

My understanding is that the problem lies in the heart. Hatred is against love.
God tells us to love. The most important of all is love.

If killing includes hatred, then that would be murder, a sin.
But if someone is attacking your family with a weapon, intending to kill. Protecting your family out of love, would mean disabling the attacker by force or maybe even by killing the attacker. Depending on the heart, I would not neccesairy see this killing as murder, thus not as sinfull.
(I can't look into the heart, God can)

 

[David1701]

14 hours ago, brian100 said:

I read the story of David and how he threw small rock and it killed the faithless barbarian. So, I know there is circumstances that require it.

This is a huge subject, because there are so many variables involved.

1) Killing in war

2) Execution for heinous crimes

3) Murder in the heat of the moment

4) Planned murder

5) Killing by accident or negligence

6) Self-defence

7) Defending someone else

8) Execution for breaking an unjust law or for something relatively trivial

Each of these needs to be treated differently and God sees the heart, not only the outward actions.  Anyone who hates someone else, without a good cause, is guilty of murder in God's sight, even if he doesn't do anything to harm that person.

Edited July 23, 2020 by David1701

[LonerAndy]

14 hours ago, brian100 said:

I read the story of David and how he threw small rock and it killed the faithless barbarian. So, I know there is circumstances that require it.

In old English, killing meant murder.  They never referred to for example, the death penalty for murderers, as being "killing".  It was punishment.

Obviously you kill people in war for example.  And all throughout the judges, they nearly all killed people as punishment or war.

And similarly, when Jesus returns, it says he will put his enemies to death, and we know Jesus does not violate the law.

Hope that helps.

[Hawkins]

15 hours ago, brian100 said:

I read the story of David and how he threw small rock and it killed the faithless barbarian. So, I know there is circumstances that require it.

The Jews fought within the promised land. A promised land is for the Jews to extend as the carrier of God's message such that God's salvation can reach today's world to save today's humans. God has a higher mind which is to save human souls while a human body will die anyway in one way or another. However it's not up to humans to kill in accordance to their own wills and judgments which usually are without a purely good course.

To put it another way, David kills as it's under God's permission for the Jews to stand strong at that point of history. More likely it allows Solomon to build the First temple such that Judaism can stand firm and is with an impacting influence. By the Bible story, Solomon is heard everywhere with an extended influence. David becomes a figure how God made Israel the strongest, even it's just a small nation relatively. They all have hope that their Messiah will give them another strong nation (though this nation which is the Kingdom of God, is actually for both the Jews and Christians in the end).

Edited July 23, 2020 by Hawkins

[Billiards Ball]

17 hours ago, brian100 said:

I read the story of David and how he threw small rock and it killed the faithless barbarian. So, I know there is circumstances that require it.

Self-defense is allowed. Cold-blooded murder is disallowed.

Christians were warned by Jesus that to live as a soldier/warrior like David can be dangerous--"He who lives by the sword, dies by it."

David was a giant of faith but disallowed from building the Temple because the church is built by peacemakers.

[Who me]

David 1701 has given, in my opinion, the most balanced answer.

 

You have asked is killing wrong? Killing who or what and in what circumstances?

God has given us permission to eat meat, which means an animal must be killed. Even vegans kill, plants are alive and they have to die so a vegan can eat.

Wars are very destructive, yet while there are those prepared to use violence to achieve a political end we need the military, the same applies to the police.

But there is far more to killing that what I've listed, what are your views on abortion! Or uthanasia!

 

 

[missmuffet]

Question: "What does the Bible say about killing in war? Is killing in war a sin?"

Answer: There are many wars mentioned in the Bible. Wars of conquest (Joshua 1:6), civil wars (2 Samuel 3:1), and even a war in heaven (Revelation 12:7). Of course, wars involve killing; there is no way around it. We know that murder is sin (Exodus 20:13). But what about the killing of an enemy combatant during wartime?

First, we know that not all killing in wartime is a sin because there have been times when God Himself commanded battles to be fought. God told the ancient Israelites to possess the Promised Land; in fact, just before the conquest, the Lord appeared to Joshua as “commander of the army of the Lord”—a man of war (Joshua 5:14). God laid out the battle plans for the fight against Ai (Joshua 8:1–2). God told King Saul to “go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them” (1 Samuel 15:3). King David defeated the Philistines by following God’s strategy concerning the battle (2 Samuel 5:23–25). God never tells people to sin, so the Israelites who followed God’s commands to wage war were not sinning. Killing in war cannot be equated with murder.

This is not to say that killing in war has no effects. David wanted badly to build the temple in Jerusalem, but God did not let him. The Lord wanted a man of peace to build the temple, and David’s history had been anything but peaceful. God said to David, “You are not to build a house for my Name, because you are a warrior and have shed blood” (1 Chronicles 28:3).

There is no theocracy today. No nation has a command from God to wage war, and God is not handing out battle plans as He did to Joshua, Saul, and David. Yet wars continue to be fought. It is part a fallen world’s existence. The Bible never condemns the actions of a soldier following orders on a battlefield. In fact, the New Testament has examples of soldiers who had faith in God—Jesus commended a centurion’s faith in Matthew 8:10; and another centurion, Cornelius, was saved in Acts 10. These men of war were not rebuked for performing the duties of a centurion, nor were they told they must change professions.

Most tellingly, some soldiers came to John the Baptist as he was baptizing in the Jordan River. The soldiers asked John, “What should we do?” This would have been the perfect opportunity for John to tell them to stop engaging in warfare, stop killing, or stop being soldiers. Instead, John replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay” (Luke 3:14). Being a soldier is not inherently sinful.

Paul uses the soldier life as an illustration of spiritual truth (see 1 Corinthians 9:7 and 2 Timothy 2:3). Other references mention battles and warfare (see 2 Corinthians 10:4 and 1 Timothy 1:18). Ephesians 6 contains an extended comparison of the Christian life and warfare (verses 10–17). If being a soldier (and doing the things soldiers are required to do) were sinful, it is unlikely the Holy Spirit would have used soldiering as a metaphor for anything good.

Throughout the Bible, warfare is presented as a grim reality in a cursed world. There are forces of evil that must be stopped, and bloodshed is sometimes the result. Whether a Christian should serve in the military is a matter of one’s own conscience, but killing an armed combatant in the context of warfare is not sinful in itself. There is a time and season for everything, including war (Ecclesiastes 3:8).

https://www.gotquestions.org/killing-in-war.html

Edited July 23, 2020 by missmuffet

[brian100]

No exception to killing.  David should have let him kill him?