Man brought death into the world, not God.

Exo 20:13 Thou shalt not kill.

KJV-

Mat 5:21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
Mat 5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
Mat 5:23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Mat 5:24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.


Young's Literal Translation-

Mat 5:21 `Ye heard that it was said to the ancients: Thou shalt not kill, and whoever may kill shall be in danger of the judgment;
Mat 5:22 but I--I say to you, that every one who is angry at his brother without cause, shall be in danger of the judgment, and whoever may say to his brother, Empty fellow! shall be in danger of the sanhedrim, and whoever may say, Rebel! shall be in danger of the gehenna of the fire.
Mat 5:23 `If, therefore, thou mayest bring thy gift to the altar, and there mayest remember that thy brother hath anything against thee,
Mat 5:24 leave there thy gift before the altar, and go--first be reconciled to thy brother, and then having come bring thy gift.

International Standard Version-

Mat 5:21 "You have heard that it was said to those who lived long ago, 'You must not murder,' and 'Whoever murders will be subject to punishment.'
Mat 5:22 But I say to you, anyone who is angry with his brother without a cause will be subject to punishment. And whoever says to his brother 'Raka!' will be subject to the Council. And whoever says 'You fool!' will be subject to hell fire.
Mat 5:23 "So if you are presenting your gift at the altar and remember there that your brother has something against you,
Mat 5:24 leave your gift there before the altar and first go and be reconciled to your brother. Then come and offer your gift.


Did Jesus negate this commandment- Thou shalt not kill - ? NO.

People everywhere generally agree this is an acceptable commandment. How do you dispute it, really? Everyone knows murder is inherently wrong- right?

Purposely taking away life.

Recently we had to put our beloved cat to sleep and I'd never had to do anything like that before, and it was so heartbreaking. Did we murder our cat? This is a question that has reared its ugly little head and not for me alone, but for other members of my family. We purposely ended our cat's life. One moment he was alive and the next he was dead all because of our actions. We console ourselves over and over again with the fact it was done purely out of mercy for the cat, he had no real quality of life left and was having numerous problems as he was wasting away to nothing. It was merciful, truly merciful and it would have been selfish of us to keep him alive in the condition he was in. Was it murder though? No. We did not senselessly take the life of our precious cat.

In the above Jesus talks about how it is not only a sin to murder but it's a sin to be angry WITHOUT cause. It's a sin to be filled with rage, and to slander others, just as sinful as murder. Seriously. We've spent so much time labeling sins and degrees of sinning that we tend to overlook the very real fact that the wages of any sin- is death. Outrageous, you cry?! Unfair, you scream?! A tiny sin shouldn't warrant death, only the gravest of sins should to that. You know whose thinking that is? Man's, not God's. Man loves to excuse sin rather than confess and repent of it. Mankind loves to deem sin acceptable so they no longer have to feel the weight of their sin. That little white lie you told a few days ago, well it warrants death whether you want to face that fact or not. We can jail every single murderer we come across - we can condemn every single murderer- but we dare not choose to be deceived into thinking that our non-murderous sins are going to warrant us eternal life and the freedom that affords. While a murderer might be locked up in a cell and become labeled as being a sinner for life, we need to examine our own lives closely because we are ALL labeled sinners. We are all jailed in Satan's prison and condemned to eternal death, to be wiped out of existence forever. Only Jesus can pardon us and set us free, only Jesus can save us and remove the label 'sinner' from us.

Murder will forever be wrong and never be acceptable even is it's sanctioned by the highest court. Taking another person's life, ripping from them that which God gave to them is no one's right. Some people love to point out that God sanctioned a lot of murder, that He's a murderous hypocrite of a God. How often throughout the old testament was God fine with having His people take the lives of many? He ordered His people to destroy the godless-- those ONLY He could ever know would never be His, something WE have no way of knowing.

Never did a single person die under God's command out of murder. Never! People can try all they want to convince me otherwise, but I won't believe them. Murder goes against everything God stands for, everything. Yes, people were allowed to die but it was their own eternal decision that allowed for that result.

If we want to get technical - couldn't those people who claim God is a murderer say that every single death is a murder by God? I know my sister has had a really hard time dealing with the death of her husband and I know she's blamed God and become angry at Him on many occasion, even though she truly does understand that all death is a result of the sin brought into this world by Satan, not God. God created man to live forever- every single human being was to live forever and ever and ever- it was man who chose to sin- it was man who chose to accept the penalty of death for that sin. God NEVER wanted man to experience death. All death is a result of that sin, and NOT GOD. We are BLESSED to have God who has created a way for us NOT to have to experience the second death, the permanent death.

Man brought death into the world.
Jesus brought life into the world.

Studying our God's loving commandments, His amazing, wondrous laws we know that none of them will ever be done away with, not a single one, murder included.

By the grace of God may we keep ALL our God's commandments.

May we realize that commandments encompass much more than just our actions- but our thoughts as well. If we are guilty we must confess and we must repent, choosing by the grace of God to sin no more.

All through His amazing LOVE!

Amen.