The Coolidge examiner., 1938-11-10

Lesson subjects and Scripture texts Sc
lected and copyrighted by international
Council of Religious Education; used by
permission.
The sanctity of human life finds
its foundation in the fact that God
created man in His own likeness
and image. Because that is true no
man has any right to take the life
of another for any cause except at
the direct command of God. Only
by the orderly process of law for
the protection of society and in ac-
cordance with the Word of God may
there be any such action by man
toward man. Both of these truths
are declared in Scripture in Gods
covenant with Noah (Gen. 9:5, g.,
which was made possibly thou
sand years before the Ten Com
mandments were given to Moses.
Life is held rather cheaply in our
day. Nations count their boys and
girls as only so much war mate
rial" Life is destroyed on the
highway, in the shop, or in the
home. Let us declare again the
solemn command of God, Thou
shalt not kill"
1. The Prohibition of Murder
Exod. 20:13).
The word "kill' in this command
ment is one which means a vio-
lent and unauthorized taking of life,
and is therefore more properly
translated murder" Not all kill
ing is murder. A man may kill an
other entirely accidentally, or he
may be the duly constituted legal
officer carrying out the law of the
land in taking the life of one who
has forfeited his right to live be-
cause he has slain another. There
is also the right of self-defense, be
it individual or collective. But these
are the only exceptions; let us not
attempt to justify any other.
Murder is too prevalent in our
land. In 1886 there were 1922 out
right killings-a murder every 40
minutes. The head of the United
States secret service estimates that
there are 100000 persons at large
in our land who "have murder in
their hearts and who will take hu-
man life before they die Also in
1886 there were $1,000 deaths in au-
tomobile accidents. Some of these
were by unavoidable accidents, but
many were really murder because
the one responsible drove with de-
fective brakes, dangerous tires, or
while he was intoxicated. Add to
these the deaths in industry caused
by failure to provide proper safe
guards or healthy working condi-
tions, and by the exploitation of
child labor, and we say again, that
we should cry aloud, Thou shalt
do no murder"
ii. The Cause of Murder CMatt.
5:21, 22).
The Sermon on the Mount, from
which the rest of our lesson is taken,
while it describes the character
of the citizens of the earthly king
dom which the Messiah came to
set up" and assumes a class Of
people already saved, regenerated,
and in fellowship with their King"
Games M. Cray, does provide fun
damental principles for the guild
ance of the Christian.
In this matter of murder, Jesus
cuts right through the outward as
poets of the matter and points out
that an angry hatred in the heart
is the root of all murder. If we
hate, we have murder in our hearts.
Circumstances may hinder its full
fllment, but the danger is always
there until we remove the cause.
Just being angry-calling our broth
er "Raca" (the modern equivalent
of which is nobody there'D, and
calling him Thou fool" which clas-
sites him as morally worthless
these are the three dreadful down
ward steps to murder. And they
begin in anger. May God help
those of us who have strong feelings
that we may not yield them to the
devil in such anger against our
brother
iii. The Prevention of Murder
(Matt. 523-26, 38-42).
Prevention with God means more
than putting up barrier to keep us
from killing. He deals with the
heart, and thus puts the whole life
right. 1t is not even question Of
how we may feel against our broth
er. If he has aught against us we
are to do all we can to win him.
He may be unreasonable, grasping,
and unfair. However, the spirit that
will win him is not that of retalia-
tion or Sullen submission to the in
eVltable, but rather free and will
ing going even beyond what is re-
quired.
The full Interpretation of this pas
sage is not possible in our limited
space. 1t is clear from other scrip
lures that it does not mean that
wicked and unscrupulous men are
to be permitted to defraud and de-
stroy Gods people. At the same
time, we must not explain away the
heart of our Lords Interpretation
of this great commandment Let