Thou Shalt Not Kill

by Robert Klassen
by Robert Klassen

That seems simple enough. God gave the Commandment to Moses without qualification. No fine print. No, Thou Shalt Not Kill UNLESS …. Nope, apparently God did not consult Bush, Ashcroft, & Co., before issuing this order, ummm, some time before they came along.

For my disadvantaged readers in DC, I would like to explain that this order from God appears in the Ten Commandments that were delivered to Moses somewhere on a mountain in a Middle-Eastern desert thousands of years ago. That’s a long, long time ago, way before television.

I would enjoy reading a transcript of DOJ lawyers arguing the meaning of this sentence before the Supreme Court. Maybe God didn’t speak English back then and, of course, neither did Moses, so maybe the order was entirely different. Maybe it was, stop wasting perfectly good goats on sacrifices. Or, stop killing each other over family feuds. Or, maybe Moses didn’t have enough space on the stone tablets to spell out the caveats.

Alas, even the mighty Justices must look down ruefully at the black book on their bench, for it’s been around far longer than they have, and it still exerts considerable influence that they can only covet in vain. God spoke. They are speechless. Alas.

So what of this so-called Christian army that once again calls for the death and destruction of our fellow human beings in far off lands? Are they Christians? They say they are, though they don’t follow the law laid down by God. What do you call these Christians? Hypocrites? I mean, if somebody wants to throw the Ten Commandments out the window, fine, but they should then call themselves something else, not Christians.

Sometime in the last week of October this year, a nice looking fellow came knocking on the door. I thought he might be lost, not an unusual occurrence in these mountains during the deer season, but no, he was hunting for voters, not deer. I told him I wasn’t interested. Not good enough. Then I told him that if I ever needed a president, I’d buy one. He didn’t laugh. I was about to throw him out when, just for fun, I asked him about his candidate’s position on the war in Iraq.

Apparently that was a touchy subject, because he began by declaring that he was an ordained minister. So what? On his authority, he declared that this was a holy war.

I let him rant for a minute, then I said, "Thou shalt not kill."

Enraged, he was out of his chair in a second, screaming, "You’re one of them!"

I never found out what one of them was, because this time I did throw him out. This encounter was unique in my experience, and I can’t say it proves anything except that there is at least one deranged person running around in the world. Yet I keep seeing a similar attitude expressed in the media, and it makes me wonder.

Lying, cheating, stealing, coveting, and killing are all forbidden by God in the Ten Commandments, and yet all of these forbidden actions are practiced by our elected political government, the leaders of which call themselves Christians. Why does this fraud stand unchallenged by the churches? What do they expect to gain by aiding and abetting a direct contradiction of their own law? Is it so hard to understand?

Thou shalt not kill.

November 19, 2004

Robert Klassen [send him mail] retired from a forty-year career in critical-care respiratory therapy. He is the author of five books, including Atlantis: A Novel about Economic Government, and Economic Government, which describe a solution to the problem of political government. Here's his web site.

Copyright © 2004 Robert Klassen

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