Has any Christian ever committed murder?

Question

It was just suggested to me that no Christian has ever murdered because a REAL Christian would never do that.

So... has any Christian ever committed that sin?

Answer 1

Of course! For instance, Adolf Hitler was a Bible-believing Christian, and he used Christianity to justify what he did against Jews and other people -- Christians will vehemently deny this now, but they are in denial.

Answer 2

Yes, Christians like all other humans sin and sometimes even commit murder.

The measure of a good Christian is what they do after they have sinned. If they are a true Christian than they will generally repent (admit that what they did was wrong, do what they can to repair the damage, and take measures to stop themselves from doing the same thing again).

Moses and David both commited murder, but they repented and made their peace with God.

God Called David "A man after my own heart"

Answer 3

I think a true Christian is still only a human being. The only difference between a true Christian and a non-Christian (OR one of the many "Christians" who are really just part of the religion for a sense of belonging and socialization) is that true Christians are making an hour-by-hour, concious and extensive effort to live by the Christian disciplines and principles. This is a considerable difference. However, as I said, still human. Being a true Christian does not result in obtaining perfection in any way, shape or form. Further, a true Christian would not commit murder "in the name of God" or based on some political or social agenda. I think the only feasible condition in which a true Christian would do such a thing is if they broke under pressure and "snapped" (a thing that can happen to most any human).

Answer 4

Well, seeing as the US is ~75% Christian I would guess that they commit ~75% of the murders in the US. It would be hard to imagine that 25% of the population commits 100% of the murders in this country.

The only definition of a Christian is someone who believes that Jesus of Nazereth was(is) the Christ and therefor the son of God. What constitutes a *real* or *true* Christian is endlessly debatebly and therefor unanswerable. If everyone could agree about that there would not be a need to have thousands of different Christian denominations.

Answer 5

yes

Someone can commit murder before they become a Christian. It's possible for them to commit murder after they've become a Christian, too, if they 'repent' afterwards (are really sorry, won't do it again..) - or if it was done in self-defense or something

Historically, a lot of people called themselves Christians (eg. almost everyone in England in Queen Elizabeth I's reign) and for a long time in England you could be fined for not going to Church - or perhaps tortured or executed for not being a Christian. So of course everyone claimed they were Christian, and pretty much everyone thought they were Christian. But a lot of these people committed murder > during colonisations, and during the Crusades, and the witch hunts. A lot of so-called Christians were slave-owners, or involved in lynching in America. Were these people 'real' Christians? A lot of them weren't, but its very interesting (and scary) that they THOUGHT they were real Christians. Some 'were' real Christians, like John Newton, a former slave trader, who found the real 'God', and consequently gave up the slave trade and fought against slavery (he wrote 'Amazing Grace')

And in the Old Testament, lots of 'real' Jews, like King David (who was called the man closest to God's heart in the bible) killed heaps of people - yet they were still following God and accepted by him > which would be really controversial today (the general idea is that Christians should not murder, and I agree)

Beyond that, George Bush considers himself an good Christian, and most Christians in the U.S seem to support him because he is Christian - yet he (and is supporters) are for the war in Iraq (which I presume involves murdering people...)

Answer 6

Matt 5:21-23

"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder , and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.' 22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother,'Raca!' shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says,'You fool!' shall be in danger of hell fire.

Well, I think that sums it up. As far as the murdering a person as in, they no longer breath? I am sure it's happened. But I can assure you that at the time, they were not walking in a right relationship with Jesus. And if the mind works the way I know it does, they may never again. Who knows...

Except for soldiers. Those who go into battle, whether for a right reason or wrong, are being obedient to their country. If a Christian on a battle field must kill, it's not murder.
Unless, of course you talk to ... oh no.. I hope I didn't open up a can of worms with that one.

Answer 7

Well, if you exclude the 40,000 Jews and Muslims of Jerusalem that were exterminated by Christians during the Crusades; the tens of thousands of so-called heretics and/or "witches" slaughtered by Christians during the Inquisition; the hundreds of thousands of Africans who died when good Christians enslaved them, carried them in filthy conditions across the Atlantic, and then treated them like animals in the U.S.; the millions of native people in the Western Hemisphere that were annihilated by good Christians through disease, genocide, and slavery; and the six million jews who perished during the Holocaust when a lunatic Christian known as Hitler led the good Christians of Germany to eradicate all things Jewish....well, the sad fact is that even if you exclude all those notorious examples, Christians are still committing murder every day. Take for example the horrific slaughter of Iraqi civilians that are dying, NOT because of sectarian violence, but because of U.S. assaults that include mass bombings of cities, as well as the use of chemical weapons, such as napalm and other agents. Christians appear to have such a complete disregard for human life that they, under the guise of the U.S. military, are using even the most heinous weapons such as cluster bombs to accomplish what can only be considered ethnic cleansing in Iraq.

Answer 8

Well if one is going to argue that no "real" or "true" Christian has every committed murder one must first define what a "real" or "true" is within their cultural paradigm. So far this has never been done to any satisfactory level.

If you were to ask me, and I'm sure many would agree, i would say that a "real" or "true" Christian is someone who refers to themselves by that moniker, and attends a church regularly (and yes, holidays only does count as regularly). By that definition hundreds, thousands, nay, millions of "true" Christians have committed the "sin" of murder.

To say that no "true" Christian would do such a thing is simply to dodge the question.l

Answer 9

Christians have committed sin before even murder.And what exactly do you mean a real Christian? Only God knows are hearts,he is the only one to decide who is a "Real Christian".It does not say any were in the bible that any one is perfect except for jesus himself.

Answer 10

Of course. Christians, being humans like everyone else, aren't perfect. The only perfect man was Jesus Christ.

Ku Klux Klan, the Crusades, etc.

Note:
Hitler's not necessarily a good example seeing as he believed in Darwin's theory of evolution and 'survival of the fittest', which he used to justify killing the Jews. I actually read an article that showed a written interview with Hitler, and it turned out he had despised Christianity almost as mush as he hated Judaism. He actually said in one instance "There is something unhealthy about Christianity..."

http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/tools/Quotes/hitler_keith.asp

Answer 11

Hey, I read a questions from someone earlier asking where a good place to meet people was. Someone church because you knew they wouldn't be a liar.

**sigh**

Pastors and reverends have killed people. They were probably respected, even admired Christians up until the point of the murder. Just goes to show that a) you never know what people are really thinking, b) you should always be a little skeptical of everyone, and c) even Christians f*ck up.