the Sixth Commandment: “You shall not kill”(Exo-dus 20:13).
1.Why is civil law limited when it comes to prosecuting criminals?
If civil law can prove that you are planning to assassinate the President, you can be prosecuted and severely punished. That law, however, is limited in its search for evidence—it can’t see what a man thinks.
2.Most people will claim to be not guilty of violating the Sixth Commandment. How can you explain God’s perspective?
With the all-seeing eye of our Creator, His Law searches the heart, and He sees “evil thoughts.” To even think hatred is to transgress the Sixth Commandment.
3.Why does God consider hatred to be murder?
Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said by them of old time, You shall not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say to you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment” (Matthew 5:21,22). The Bible further adds that if we hate someone, we are murderers (1 John 3:15). There are many who would like to kill, but refrain because of fear of punishment. God counts them guilty of murder.
4.Is there someone you dislike strongly enough to not want to see the person in heaven? Do you think God considers you a murderer for this?
If we hate someone, the last thought in our minds will be sharing the gospel with them out of concern for their salvation. In that sense, we too become a murderer, desiring the person’s eternal death, by not giving them the words of life.
Some states have laws that declare a bystander guilty for standing by and failing to prevent a crime. In the same way, God declares us guilty of murder if we stand by and do nothing to prevent someone’s eternal death. Their blood is on our hands (see Ezekiel 3:18).
5.Do you think God views abortion as murder? Why or why not?
At 21 days gestation, the child’s heart is beating, and at 40 days brain waves can be measured. If by our medical criteria a life is ended when there is no heartbeat or brain activity, then surely by their presence we can assert that life has begun. The Bible tells us that taking the life of the unborn is clearly murder: “He slew me not from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave” (Jeremiah 20:17), and God vowed to punish those who “ripped up the women with child” (Amos 1:13). God, the Creator of life, commanded us, “Do not shed innocent blood” (Jeremiah 7:6).
6.Does the Bible equate capital punishment with murder? Why or why not?
Some equate capital punishment with murder, and cite Jesus’ command to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44) as evidence that He did not endorse capital punishment. However, just because we have love for an enemy doesn’t give us the right to allow him to escape punishment for murder. The Bible says, “Let every soul be subject to the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resists the power, resists the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation . . . But if you do that which is evil, be afraid; for he bears not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that does evil” (Romans 13:1–4).
The Bible says that anyone who deliberately takes a life should lose his own: “Whoso kills any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses: but one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die. Moreover you shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death” (Numbers 35:30,31). Genesis 9:6 says, “Whoso sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.”
Memory Verse
“Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer: and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”
1 JOHN 3:15
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