Christian soldiers: how do you reconcile your duty with the Sixth Commandment?

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Exodus 20:13

"You shall not murder."

I'm going to violate my usual habit of verbose and descriptive OPs, and simply get to the heart of it: How do you justify the commission of your duty, to slay your enemies, when the word of God clearly states you shall not kill your fellow man? Even the US Marine Corps identifies the line of duty as "God, Corps, Country."

This question can be expanded, I suppose, to any religion which condemns murder, but Christianity being that with which I am most familar is my reason for singling it out.

 

[greenpeace]

I predict that the answer will be that they can justify their killing and therefore it is not murder. I would like to debate that, but I'd like to see their justification first.

 

[EnlightenmentHK]

Eh...I've always heard it as 'thou shalt not kill'. Maybe I'm off on the translation. Murder? Yeah, killing on the field of battle generally isn't murder. So if that's what god actually handed to Moses than they're fine. But if it was just 'kill'...than they and alot of other people are screwed.

 

[emzie]

This was brought up with a deeply religous guy I know who's going to Afghanistan soon. I told him this,

"God made you -- us -- the beings we are. This includes our instincts. When we are confronted with a fight or flight scenario, God gave us the preconditioning to make such a call: if we deem fighting our best chance of living, and we've exausted any other possibilities, I hardly see how he could hold that against anyone. Therein is the difference between murder and killing."

 

[Perfection]

Same way all the Jews did.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

I would simply respond that this is God's Law, not Man's, and that God's law is supreme over Man's.

 

[LightFang]

Christianity is at its heart a pacifist religion, you know...

 

[Winner]

Exodus 20:13

"You shall not murder."

I'm going to violate my usual habit of verbose and descriptive OPs, and simply get to the heart of it: How do you justify the commission of your duty, to slay your enemies, when the word of God clearly states you shall not kill your fellow man? Even the US Marine Corps identifies the line of duty as "God, Corps, Country."

This question can be expanded, I suppose, to any religion which condemns murder, but Christianity being that with which I am most familar is my reason for singling it out.

I suppose the enemies are not fellow men and when you kill them, it's not a murder, but self-defence.

I always found that a bit hypocritical. Why have commandments when you can't always live according to them?

 

[MobBoss]

Exodus 20:13

"You shall not murder."

I'm going to violate my usual habit of verbose and descriptive OPs, and simply get to the heart of it: How do you justify the commission of your duty, to slay your enemies, when the word of God clearly states you shall not kill your fellow man? Even the US Marine Corps identifies the line of duty as "God, Corps, Country."

This question can be expanded, I suppose, to any religion which condemns murder, but Christianity being that with which I am most familar is my reason for singling it out.

As several have commented here...the correct translation is indeed 'Murder' and in turn, not all killing is murder.

Killing an enemy on the field of battle is not murder, unless he is somehow at your mercy or surrendered and then you do murder him.

Christianity is at its heart a pacifist religion, you know...

Actually....no.

 

[emzie]

I suppose the enemies are not fellow men and when you kill them, it's not a murder, but self-defence.

I always found that a bit hypocritical. Why have commandments when you can't always live according to them?

Well it rests on how you define murder. Murder is part social construct. If you think of it as any act which results in the death of another human, most of humanity is resting in Hell according to Christians.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

As several have commented here...the correct translation is indeed 'Murder' and in turn, not all killing is murder.

Killing an enemy on the field of battle is not murder, unless he is somehow at your mercy or surrendered and then you do murder him.

Who defines murder?

 

[greenpeace]

Killing an enemy on the field of battle is not murder, unless he is somehow at your mercy or surrendered and then you do murder him.

Not really, if a country declared war on another country and allowed its marines to completely innocent civilians that would obviously be murder.
Still, how do you justify even shooting another soldier if it is entirely possible to stop violence?

 

[Perfection]

Still, how do you justify even shooting another soldier if it is entirely possible to stop violence?

It isn't.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Not really, if a country declared war on another country and allowed its marines to completely innocent civilians that would obviously be murder.
Still, how do you justify even shooting another soldier if it is entirely possible to stop violence?

Don't turn my thread into a political thing. You will not focus on specific things such as this in my thread. The subject is killing and Christianity, discuss that, not Iraq.

 

[MobBoss]

Who defines murder?

Well, the original root word that 'murder' was translated from meant to 'assassinate'.....or to kill in cold blood.

In our modern society its the people, via the law, that decide what murder is.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Well, the original root word that 'murder' was translated from meant to 'assassinate'.....or to kill in cold blood.

In our modern society its the people, via the law, that decide what murder is.

Then why do some translations say "kill" and some say "murder?"

So are you saying that God is saying "[humans] follow your laws?"

How do you define "cold blood," anyway?

 

[CaptainF]

I would actually agree with MobBoss on this one.

Killing someone on a battlefield isn't murder, for two reasons. First being that the whole concept of "war" is basically an unwritten contract that states:

"We hold both parties in a legally binding agreement to kill each other as swiftly, ruthlessly, and totally as possible. This agreement shall only be terminated on the agreement of both parties."

Granted, that might not be how it is on a macro-scale (international strategy wise), but on something as small as a battlefield, it's a very clear reality. Unless your enemy surrenders or is incapacitated (wounded to the point of helplessness), the "contract" assumes that you two are both out for each other's necks.

Which is why Abu Ghraib was so f-ed up.

 

[Perfection]

Then why do some translations say "kill" and some say "murder?"

Because some translators are dumb and others aren't.

So are you saying that God is saying "[humans] follow your laws?"

No, he's just saying don't kill people in a way that would be commonly construed as murder.

 

[EnlightenmentHK]

I would simply respond that this is God's Law, not Man's, and that God's law is supreme over Man's.

Until the question of god's actual existence and actual intentions is settled, God's law is (ideally) and should be irrelevant in the eyes of the state.

 

[Gogf]

I think defining murder as "any killing of another person" completely misses all of the word's connotations.