Pastor's Blog

A post I wrote a couple of years ago, The Ethics of Killing in Self-Defense , received some renewed attention this past week. Judging by some feedback I’ve received, I thought it might be helpful to set the discussion into a larger context, The Ethics of Killing in general, you might say. Homicide The sixth commandment safeguards human life with the prohibition, “You shall not murder” (Ex. 20:13). It should be pointed out, however, that the verb in the commandment (Heb., ratsach ) is more general in meaning than “murder.” Kill is the single word that perhaps best captures its meaning. It indicates a range of actions from murder, to causing death by negligence or reckless behavior. The word which is used in modern jurisprudence is homicide, derived from the Latin homō , meaning man, human being , and the suffix -cide, which indicates an act of killing . Thus the term refers to the killing of a human being. [1] Homicide is a neutral term. Any killing of a human being, whet...

With the George Zimmerman trial in full swing, we might benefit from considering what the Scriptures teach concerning the ethics of killing in self-defense. The subject is broached in Exodus 22:1-4. The passage as a whole is concerned with the crime of theft, and in what manner a thief is to make restitution for his crime, but verses 2-3a deal with a special case—that of a homeowner who uses lethal force to protect himself and his property. If a thief is found   breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no bloodguilt for him, but if the sun has risen on him, there shall be bloodguilt for him. Photo credit:  dutytoact.com The concern of the law at this point is to determine when a homeowner is and is not justified in using deadly force against a thief. In short, he is justified when the thief is actually caught in the act.  If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no bloodguilt for him  (v. 2). The me...