THOU SHALT NOT KILL

 A SERMON FOR THE 5TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

“Thou shalt not kill.”  It’s the Fifth Commandment, and one which, thankfully, most of us never literally break.  Generally speaking, most people are not guilty of the sin of having killed someone, and if any of us actually did, it would weigh terribly on our conscience until the day we die.  Even when our killing is justified, as is the case for a soldier in battle, or accidental, when we crash our car into a pedestrian, for example, the thought of having been the cause of death of another human being is a terrible burden to bear.  I remember back in 1976 when a murderer called Gary Gilmore was executed by firing squad, we learned that one of the rifles used in the execution, no one knew which one, was loaded with a blank.  This was to allow each of the members of the execution squad to believe that maybe they had fired the blank and therefore had not been responsible for Mr. Gilmore’s death, thereby mitigating the terrible feelings of guilt that so many of our veterans have to live with.

Until we do cause the death of another person, we can’t know how difficult it is to cope with the memory of what we’ve done.  Imagine then how much worse it must be for the murderer who has killed someone deliberately, or even in the heat of the moment.  In his case, the guilt he feels is well deserved, and surely God will require heavy restitution for such a terrible deed.  The deliberate taking of a human life is one of the worst sins we can imagine.  The sin can be more or less serious depending on various circumstances: for example, the relationship of the murderer to the victim. It is worse to assassinate a member of our own family, for instance, than a perfect stranger.  It is a worse crime to kill an innocent unborn baby than an unruly ruffian in a bar.  Both may be mortal sins, but surely, the punishment due to these crimes should differ in their severity.  The gravity of the sin also depends on the motive.  If we kill someone for their money, it’s more serious than if we kill someone who has injured our wife or children.  Again, objectively, both are murder, but the punishment should fit the crime.

Laws against murder must be powerful and strictly enforced by civil law.  Murderers should never be able to get away with their crime.  The punishment should be swift and severe in order to protect the lives of the innocent and to be a deterrent to the guilty.  The death penalty, ironically, is one of the ways that God permits in order to protect the lives of the innocent.  Those who claim to be pro-life often have a hard time reconciling their support of “life” with their support of the death penalty.  The conciliar Church has resolved this conflict by condemning the death penalty.  This goes blatantly against the practice of the saints of the Old and New Testaments, and certainly against the practice of God himself, who in times past did not hesitate to wipe out tens of thousands for a single grave sin of the people.  It also goes against the time-honored teaching of the Church that that the State is given the power by God to enforce the law with punishments that fit the crime.  The State has the authority in other words, to remove serious criminals from society, usually by incarceration, but in the worst cases, by execution.  This is not against the Fifth Commandment.

The Fifth Commandment in the original Hebrew does not exactly mean Thou Shalt Not Kill.  Rather, it should be translated as Thou Shalt Not Murder.  In other words, it does not forbid the lawful killing by the State of someone who has been convicted of a terrible crime.  Thou shalt not kill means thou shalt not kill unlawfully, thou shalt not kill an innocent person.  So while execution is not against the law of God, the killing of an innocent unborn baby most certainly is against the law of God.  It is no coincidence that the Democratic Party is pro-abortion and anti-execution.  It is because they deliberately seek the overturning of God’s laws.  Like the usurpers of power within the Catholic Church, the progressive thinking of the Marxist Democrats is to overthrow the democratic system and install their own authoritarian “morals” on the rest of us.  That means they need to persuade the masses that what is good is actually evil, and conversely, that what is evil is actually good.  While it’s a bad thing to murder the unborn, they constantly plug the idea that it’s a good thing because it “protects the mother”.  The mothers who are now in hell because they murdered their unborn children might disagree…  And while it’s good, or at least necessary to execute the worst murderers, the Democratic party suddenly becomes “pro-life” by trying to protect the guilty from such “cruel and unusual punishments.”  Everything in their sick agenda is simply upside down—they make Satan their God while they make God into a malicious tyrant who is hell-bent on preventing us from having a good time and doing whatever we want.  And then they accuse us of the very perversion of truth they themselves are guilty of—remember how fast they dropped the “my body, my choice” slogan when it came to refusing the COVID vaccine?  How easily the masses are swayed…   

Finally, there’s the question of self-defense.  This is very much in the news these days, especially when it comes to the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms.  There seem to be two diametrically opposed positions on this, although the US Constitution is very clear on the issue.  However, in the eyes of God, the Constitution of the United States is not the ultimate factor on which morality depends.  What does the law of God have to say about the right to bear arms?  The Church, and coincidentally for once, the State also, recognizes the inherent right of every human being to defend himself against an unlawful aggressor.  The Church has no specific position on whether we have the right to carry a lethal weapon in order to have that ability to protect ourselves.  However, given the proliferation of the criminal use of guns to rob, intimidate, and simply kill innocent people, it would appear to have become necessary these days for these same innocent people to have at their disposal the means to defend themselves and their families.  This is part of the natural law, the permission to kill in self-defense.  If we are subjected to a lethal threat, we may respond lethally.  But again, the liberals have turned it all upside-down.  Criminals with guns are allowed to return to the streets without even paying a penny in bail, the prisons are being emptied, the mental hospitals closed, the police are being defunded or otherwise persecuted, and in short, everything is being done by the Democratic Party to protect the “rights” of criminals to have the right weapons at their disposal to pursue their crimes.  Meanwhile, they would like to confiscate guns from the innocent who seek only to protect themselves from the maniacs they continue to unleash upon us.

Thou shalt not kill.  It’s important that we understand what it really means.  Thou shalt not kill?  No.  Thou shalt not murder.  Thou shalt not commit unnecessary violence against another.  Thou shalt not hate thy neighbor.  Thou shalt not even be angry without cause at your neighbor.  Let’s go back to our Lord’s Great Commandment on which all the other Ten Commandments depend: “Love God with your whole heart and mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.”  Therein is the spirit of all laws, including the Fifth Commandment.  Not so much what it forbids but what it commands—love your neighbor and you won’t be attacking him in thought, word or deed.  Love your neighbor and protect your neighbor from the harm that the enemies of God would like to do to him and all of us.