Description
Understanding the Commandment: You Shall Not Murder
Today’s meditation focuses on the commandment from Exodus 20:13, ‘Y… (visit YouTube for more)
Transcript
Today’s meditation is on one of the 10 Commandments, and it’s a commandment that shouldn’t be controversial, and yet it seems to be. Exodus 20, verse 13. You shall not murder.
Now to many people, this seems like a very black and white verse, and it probably is. Murder is illicit killing.
Now, we do see in the Bible that God specifically permits certain types of killing. There were capital punishments in the Old Testament in particular, and he sanctioned war.
But murder has never been okay in God’s book. In fact, Jesus expands on this further and says that we shouldn’t even be angry with our brothers because in doing so, we are murdering people in our hearts. And God doesn’t want this for us. He wants us to have pure intentions towards everyone.
So what does that mean on sensitive subjects like abortion? Well, it’s fairly clear, isn’t it? If we look through the Bible, life comes from God. And God insists that he is in charge of life and death.
And so is it ever right to commit abortion? There are some circumstances in which there may be no choice, where the life of one or the other mother and baby is risked. But as a broad principle, it’s pretty clear.
Don’t murder, God says. He generally doesn’t say it’s okay to kill people. And if we say that a baby in the womb isn’t a person yet, well there are verses that clearly show differently. Like I knew you in your mother’s womb. He calls people out by name before they are born.
God is the author of life. And except in very specific circumstances, he is not willing to delegate his authority over life.
So yes, this can be controversial today. But it’s in our Bibles and it is a principle that we see throughout from the start to the finish. Whatever we do, however we treat people, we must always defer to the Maker of life.
