2007-03-11 04:27:20 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
The commandment in the original Hebrew is "thou shalt not murder," so in a war or in self defense it's not murder and is allowed.
2007-03-11 05:23:07 · answer #1 · answered by LadySuri 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The prohibition on kiling members of your own tribe has been in place for thousands of years in all tribes. Any tribes who didn't have such a moral rule died out by self-destruction.
Thousands of years before the alleged life of Moses, the same principle is expressed in the Papyrus of the Scribe Nepseni, in the Egyptian Book of the Dead. The rule that you must not murder was common to all enduring cultures, and the version of it ascribed to Moses and his Ten Commandments is just the relatively recent Hebrew version.
And it is "not murder," correctly, not "not kill." The Commandment does not have any bearing on warfare or on the death penalty or on abortion or on euthanasia.
And the Commandments, like any other tribal set of tules, was never intended to apply to people outside the tribe, either to protect them or to restrict their behavior. The Decalogue is a legal code for the Chosen People only. The "people of the land" had no protection from Israelite law, or any duty to obey it.
So the Israelites happily slaughtered the peaceful people of Canaan without violating their own moral code. The "goyim" were little more than cattle or wild beasts to them and it was no big deal to kill them for very little cause, like Israeli soldiers in a tank who shoot a small child who picks up a pebble.
2007-03-11 04:52:06 · answer #2 · answered by fra59e 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Kill is a bad translation of murder in old versions of the bible.
Although make no mistake about it, it is by no means a clear cut issue like some would have you believe. Everyone adds their own definition of what murder or kill means to them. Maybe God left it vague for a reason. For those of you who are Christian, for instance, what would Jesus do? For those of you who are Jewish, what would Moses do? What would King Solomon say?
2007-03-11 04:47:56 · answer #3 · answered by Crushstation 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some translations have, "Thou shalt not commit murder", I believe this distinguishes murder from self-defense, or war, to name a couple.
2007-03-11 04:34:04 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Thou shalt not kill or murdered the innocent. GOD BLESS
2007-03-11 04:34:45 · answer #5 · answered by TCC Revolution 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The church has a huge definition on what they consider to be a just war. And you don't need to kill for self defense.
2007-03-11 04:34:27 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, it is Thou shalt not murder. Which is killing without official sanctions.
2007-03-11 04:31:37 · answer #7 · answered by bocasbeachbum 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Or when you stand to make a great deal of money by the murder, or when someone disagrees with your religious views, or when you don't like the way the person drives...
2007-03-11 04:39:45 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
i always took it as thou shalt not take life without good reason ... killing of anything without a reason is wrong ... even animals...even plants ...
2007-03-11 04:31:19 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
A very bad translation for the KJV. Ask any Rabbi and he will tell you--you shall not commit murder.
2007-03-11 04:31:52 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋