Man the Outlaw #5: Do Not Murder

Again, as with "Do Not Steal," we would think this is a no-brainer. People who murder go to prison or get executed. Surely we do not have a problem with keeping that commandment, even nonbelievers. Right?

Ahem. We have ALL kinds of problems with that. 

It is a good rule of thumb with sin that the more you look, the more you will see, and the way to stop seeing is to stop looking, pretty much. So we have areas where there has been a sort of public consensus to say, "well that does not count." We will not see that. In some cases these socially accepted blind spots can cover hundreds of thousands of deaths.

Lets start with an easy example. Using drones, using robots, to take out suspected terrorists with hellfire missiles. Nobody is actually on the ground to shoot the terrorist and not to kill the cowering wife and infant in the crib; were troops actually there, we could try to do that (though that is still no guarantee of zero innocent casualties.) We would at least be trying to not kill noncombatants. With drones, we aren't even TRYING to not kill innocents. Someone makes a decision that a terrorist is sleeping in a certain house, and the drone fires a hellfire missile and KILLS EVERYONE in the house.

Kills the terrorist, assuming he is even there.

Kills his wife who wouldn't hurt a fly.

Kills his preteen daughter who aspired to learn to be a makeup artist.

Kills his young son who liked playing ball.

Kills his helpless infant child in the crib.

So clearly, our society is deciding that the murder of the innocent is totally okay in the name of OUR greater good. Contrast that with the commandment in Judaism (oft ignored by the Israeli Defense Forces which after all is a secular organization) that you should be willing to

DIE

rather than wrongfully kill an innocent.

That is one of the two things that you should be willing to die rather than do. The other is deny G-d.

Hmm. That's not a very popular sentiment, is it? We don't like that idea too much. Someone points a gun at your head and says, "kill that dude I tied up over there or I'll kill you," we are going to be tempted to do what he says, especially if we believe that this person has no other reason for wanting us dead. Better them than us, right?

We have ALL kinds of damn reasons for breaking the 6th Commandment. I'm not even talking yet about the thing I think you are sure I am going to talk about. We'll talk about that in a bit.

How about the US-sanctioned killing by drone of Anwar al-Awlaki? He was a terrorist, a bad dude, surely no good American grieves him, right? He was a dick.

Here's the problem. al-Awlaki was an American citizen. He had committed no crime that is punishable by death in the United States. He may have published horrible propaganda for Al Qaeda, but that is not punishable by death in the United States. As far as we know, he never personally killed anyone. He was kind of a nerd. He might have funneled money and resources to terrorists and propagandized for them, but then again that is not a crime punishable by death in the US. Also in the vehicle and also killed was Samir Khan, also an American citizen, a publisher of a pro-terrorist web magazine. He also had not committed any crime punishable by death. Neither of them were given their due process rights. Both were citizens of the US.

If the government can commit an extrajudicial killing on al-Awlaki, it can commit an extrajudicial killing on anyone. It can commit one on us. Obama, much beloved by liberals, did this, as well as signing off on drone killings which took many innocent lives. The government has become its own god, holding life and death in its hands.

THE COMMANDMENT WAS BROKEN.

G-d will not excuse the intentional death of even one innocent. Many innocent children have been killed in drone strikes. G-d rules: not you Obama, not you Trump, not the government, nobody else.

And many such things we excuse and many such murders we excuse because they serve our interests. This is something that so many people have a hard time wrapping their heads around: the fundamental moral decrepitude of human beings. Sin. We don't believe we are sinful and we don't believe in sin. Of course we excuse such things, what is to stop us? But the truth about human beings is an ugly thing. Without G-d's regenerating grace, the human being is a truly ugly thing, a monster. Powerful, lustful, greedy, ruthless, evil. That is not what G-d wants for us. But it may be what we want for ourselves. Human power is a monstrosity above all others.

* * *

Okay, you knew I was going to go there. I actually struggle with presenting this material in an unemotional manner. I should be emotional. People are killing their sons, their daughters, for what?

Convenience? Because kids cost money? Because kids interfere with their fun? Because they can't be bothered with birth control?

In 2015, the last year for which data is available, 638,169 children were intentionally killed by abortion. That's just about even with the number of people who died of heart disease in 2015, but the difference is that people may not have a choice of whether to die of heart disease. Sometimes despite best efforts, that's what people die of. These deaths by abortion were intentional killings. In comparison, the number who died that year of conventionally defined murder were 15,399.

I don't know if I can ever adequately express how truly hateful this is to the Lord G-d of Israel. There are no human words to express it. These least able to defend themselves are killed, often for minor reasons. YOU ARE MURDERING YOUR OWN SONS AND DAUGHTERS. It is a marvel of the age that this actually requires me to spell it out.

How do I know that this is hateful to the Lord G-d? Abortion as we now know it did not exist in biblical times, but similar things did exist. 

You shall not give any of your children to

offer them to Molech, and so profane

the name of your God: I am the Lord.

~Leviticus 18:21

And you took your sons and your daughters,

whom you had borne to Me, and these you

sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your

whorings so small a matter that you slaughtered

My children and delivered them up as an

offering by fire to them?

~Ezekiel 16:20-21 (emphasis mine.)

The children you bear do not ultimately belong to you. Your own life is not yours. If you take your life, which is a gift from G-d, for your own corrupt use, you will lose life.

They sacrificed their sons and their daughters

to the demons; they poured out innocent

blood, the blood of their sons and daughters,

whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,

and the land was polluted with blood.

~Psalm 106:37-38

For you created my inmost being;

    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful,

    I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you

    when I was made in the secret place,

    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed body;

    all the days ordained for me were written in your book

    before one of them came to be.

~Psalm 139: 13-16

Behold, children are a heritage

from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.

~Psalm 127:3

Then he took his oldest son who was to reign in his

place and offered him for a burnt offering on the

wall. And there came great wrath against Israel. And

they withdrew from him and returned to their own land.

~2 Kings 3:27

I could go on and on. I don't as much blame the purely godless, they don't know better. As Jonah 4 says about the citizens of Nineveh, they do not know their right hand from their left. They are like ignorant children playing in their own filth. They haven't learned better.

But you liberal Christians who approve of this, G-d will shut His ears to your prayers. Your rituals will fall on silence. You are offending G-d, and you are constantly finding new ways to offend G-d. He will not listen to your prayers, if you approve this.

YOU ARE MURDERING YOUR OWN CHILDREN AND APPROVING THE SAME. You are shameless, without conscience, heartless, ruthless, violent. Do you imagine that G-d will approve of you when you murder the helpless and facilitate others doing so??? He will NOT. How is it possible that I need to explain this to anyone?? How far have we fallen from G-d's grace and wisdom that I actually have to explain this shit?

THIS IS A COMMANDMENT FROM THE MOST HIGH G-D, GIVEN TO US IN THE TORAH. DO NOT MURDER, ANY INNOCENT AT ALL WHATSOEVER. NO INNOCENT CHILDREN, NO INNOCENT ADULTS, NO INNOCENT UNBORN, NO INNOCENT ANYONE. OBEY IT.

* * *

I would be remiss to end on such a bitter note. What we may see as rules designed to spoil our fun, are actually meant to lift us out of the bitter dregs of our unregenerate nature. G-d gave us a nature that is capable of all things, good and bad, because He respects our right to choose. He wants us to learn, not be brainwashed. However, although many roads lead to sin, truly only one road leads to goodness. That is why we often choose the easier roads and lose the path to the good road.

G-d wants good things for us, truly. He wants us to live as His very own, His children. In the mud of our sin, it may be very hard for us to see this vision: indeed I cannot see all of it. Some things G-d keeps in reserve. What I can see though, is glorious.

I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to me,

“You are my son,  today I have become your Father.
~Psalm 2:7

They will neither harm nor destroy
    on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord
    as the waters cover the sea.

~Isaiah 11:9

Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.

~Daniel 12:3

The Children will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. All of the trouble, tears and degradation of this Earth and our lives in it will be wiped from existence. There will be an eternal Sabbath, an eternal glory. No human mind can imagine the wonders that your Father has in store for His own. Keep the faith. Stay uncontaminated. Pray and read the Tanakh every day. Tell who will listen. It will be so worth it, both here on Earth, and in the Kingdom of the Righteous.