The ten commandments say thou shall not kill, so, for Christians, where is the ammendment that says it's OK to kill killers. I'm referring mostly to the death penalty, but it could apply to warfare as well. Those Christian writers who discussed capital punishment during the first three centuries after Jesus' execution were absolutely opposed to it. Christians were instructed to not execute a criminal, to not attend public executions and even to not lay a charge against a person if it might possibly eventually result in their execution. 1 One example is Lactantius (260 to 330 CE) who is primarily known for his books "Introduction to True Religion" and "The Divine Institutes." He wrote in The Divine Institutes, Book 6, Chapter 20: "When God forbids us to kill, he not only prohibits the violence that is condemned by public laws, but he also forbids the violence that is deemed lawful by men. Thus it is not lawful for a just man to engage in warfare, since his warfare is justice itself. Nor is it [lawful] to accuse anyone of a capital offense. It makes no difference whether you put a man to death by word, or by the sword. It is the act of putting to death itself which is prohibited. Therefore, regarding this precept of God there should be no exception at all. Rather it is always unlawful to put to death a man, whom God willed to be a sacred creature."
All religions are full of hypocrisy. However, religion is "supposed" to be seperate from the state. Laws are supposed to be made free of religious bias. Christians may not agree with it, but the law is the law.
Hey spidergoat, First thing i notice is the LACK of Christians at this thread....yet, hehe seems you have exposed a taboo. taboo is a strange thing. there are many ways it manifests. one is an ignore-ing of criticsm as though it isn't there.......There is a fmous tale of Robinson Cruso and Man Friday (which i have forgetton right now)...where Man Friday asks a question that really shows un the contraditiocc of Cruso's Christian faith, and Cruso pretends he didn't hear him....! It is no excuse this argument that Christians have to obey the 'law', as in allowing people to be killed, and murdering. The Crusades? the Inquisition?.....and look at Bush, Blair etc, all claiming to be Christians, in the former case;born agin' christians....yet between them they have caused so much fkin horror while they've had power. Killing thousands of children, women and men, and Bushjunior champions the death paenalty as we know biggest bunch of hypocrites........
Let us remember that the 10 Commandments are part of the Torah, the Jewish Law. And let us also remember that the Torah includes injunctions such as "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." Well, I'm not a Jewish scholar, so the best I can come up with is The West Wing. In an episode in which the death penalty comes up as a personal decision by the President, a rabbi explains to Communications Director Toby Ziegler that sure, various laws prescribed the death penalty, but that the Rabbis who wrote the Talmud created so many preconditions that would be required before you could actually execute anyone that they more or less made it impossible.
but that doesn't really explain WHy they should defy a commandment from their 'God' that says: "Thou Shalt Not Kill"...??
