“Thou shall not kill.” (KJV Exodus 20:13)
“You shall not murder.” (NRSV Exodus 20:13)
“No murder.” (The Message Exodus 20:13)
In interim pastoral ministry I had the privilege and challenge of teaching confirmation to middle school youth. In confirmation most Lutherans begin to intellectually wrestle with how our faith impacts life issues. Luther honored this commandment as a line in the sand for how we relate to people in everyday life. He thought that the first four commandments focused on our relationship with God and the family into which we were born. All the rest dealt with the larger world of neighbor, tribe, village, state, and by the nature of our community systems, government. He acknowledged that we appoint government leaders to carry out punishments for offenses which could include killing another human being. He valued the commandments as rules that lead us swiftly to the Gospel since we seem to be entirely unable to follow them completely. Jesus set new standards that fulfilled the law. This included thinking bad thoughts about someone as a form of “killing” them. In the Lutheran catechism, Luther’s explanation of the 5th Commandment goes far beyond a literal “don’t kill anyone.” Rather, “We should fear and love God so we should not endanger our neighbor’s life, nor cause him any harm, but help and befriend him in every necessity of life.”
This explanation of the meaning of the 5th commandment includes way too many topics! I would like to discuss three and reserve the right to come back with other topics in the future. I also propose to discuss these topics using the framework of context, reaction, and response because I have found these perspectives to be the most useful in the real world. Research does indicate that experience impacts everyone’s development of opinions and I will share some of my experiences because they may differ from yours. I will also state my position knowing that I have friends, family, and even Christian siblings who will disagree with my position and that is OKAY! I believe it serves God well when we wrestle with these issues and remain open to hearing each other without fear or resentment. Life is not easy. We are not required to agree about everything. We have both Law and Gospel while we wrestle and because of that we have nothing to fear from the healthy discourse of seeking God’s will as we strive for meaningful relationships and fair policy in our governmental system. I don’t really want to change your mind. Your reaction is entirely yours to any issue. It will be informed by your thoughts, feelings, and experiences. How we take our reactions into the world of responding within community and governmental entities is important to consider in the 21st Century. My goal is to help you wrestle while I am still also wrestling. I am choosing to write the next three blogs on the death penalty, abortion rights and military conflict in that order.
Since my fifth-grade class debate on this topic in the state of Michigan, I have taken the position against the death penalty, and I still oppose it. I am not vociferous or militant about this position, I just don’t like the State killing someone in my name when there is a chance for rehabilitation. Back in 5th grade when I was very literal, I couldn’t understand why you would kill someone for killing someone when the commandment says don’t kill. Let’s take a step back and look at the context for the 10 Commandments: They was delivered to Moses by God on Mount Sinai. This is the basis for our Judea-Christian morality. God chose Moses to lead the enslaved Jews out of Egypt and gave them this set of rules to live by after their escape into the desert. Yet, we tend to forget that Moses was a murder! In a moment of righteous rage, he killed an Egyptian official who was mistreating a Jewish slave and he had to run for his life. Read all of Exodus and you will see that God is both compassionate and just. Sure, we have an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth right alongside a system of sanctuary cites where justified murders could live without worry of being killed. Should we take the commandment literally when the Mosaic code also required the killing of enemies and even some family members who broke other requirement in the code. Ultimately it is God who gives and takes life. So, notice that this commandment seems open to interpretation even from the very beginning. You never know what God might be up to…
I served a congregation in Huntsville, Texas as a part time Interim Pastor and there were members of that congregation who worked as prison guards and psychologists. The woman psychologist told me she believed in personal evil because she had seen it in the prison. We had some good discussions about the death penalty. They failed to see how it motivated anyone to not kill. The guards were committed to the safety of the environment and the prisoners on their units. Both psychologists were committed to using their skills to help the prison population reform and I fully supported their work toward rehabilitation. They shared that some who were incarcerated had no moral background nor any desire for one and both psychologists said they were happy to see some people locked up for their crimes for the safety of the community. As interim, I was focused on serving the congregation and did not engage in any intentional ministry to the prison. It was probably my fear of that environment along with the part time nature of the call that helped me rationalize that decision. I might add that there were no members of the congregation who were incarcerated there which would require me to visit. My reaction to the prison was initially emotional—fear. My response was to support the membership who worked in the prison without directly engaging in the gospel imperative to visit those in prison. That job fell to the local Catholic priest who witnessed every execution and took care of the final funeral arrangements for the body with the blessing of the local prison authorities at that time. My time in Huntsville confirmed my opinion against the death penalty in discussion with experts and also reinforced my belief that some criminals should be locked away to protect the public from the consequences of their actions.
I once preach in a maximum-security mental hospital prison while I was taking a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education at seminary. I went through extensive protocols with large security doors banging open and closed just to get into the room where I would hold a 30-minute worship service. Once there I realized how grateful some prisoners were to be able to worship the God they believed in together with other inmates while still incarcerated. They looked forward to each Sunday when a different clergyperson visited. All visitors were welcomed, even treasured. I preached to potentially dangerous crazy people—possibly murderers that God loved. It was a humbling experience. Life is not easy. It is even more challenging in the controlled environment of a prison cell in a mental hospital. I salute the prison ministry of Kairos and all the work they do in visiting prisoners and witnessing to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in prisons. I remain against the death penalty after these experiences because the people involved were walking this planet and deserved a chance for rehabilitation if at all possible. As a citizen in my community, I support tax dollars for the purpose of allowing criminals the chance for rehabilitation even with the understanding that some may not ever be changed.
Prison reform is another topic that deserves some consideration because I don’t believe that prisons run by private companies for profit are willing to put in the money and staff needed to empower rehabilitation. It is also a sad truth that the demographics of the incarcerated population are proof of racism in the criminal justice system. Also, prison is the end step. The beginning is the writing and enforcing of just laws that meet perceived community needs. That is where citizens need to engage their elected officials about issues that concern them. That class debate long ago started me wrestling with the whole topic of the death penalty and prisons. My path in life led me to face some of my reactions to prisons and prisoners. My response will continue to be voting for leadership who will work toward prison reform and prevent pointless killings. Other issues have more of my immediate attention right now. I said I was not vociferous or militant about this issue, but I am ready to respond quickly whenever it surfaces. I will always support policy against the death penalty and policy for prison reform that empowers rehabilitation. I am only one voice, but I can speak for myself because I have sincerely wrestled with this issue. I invite you to wrestle with it too. And I thank you for coninuing to read and think about this unpleasant but necessary topic for all the adults in the room.
For Your Consideration:
Please choose at least one to do or answer:
1. Read all of Exodus 20-22 and make a list of all the laws you think are now irrelevant to life in the 21st Century. Should we follow them because they are in the Bible?
2. Do you know anyone who has ever been in prison? How does this affect your views on the death penalty?
3. Have you ever been inside a prison or jail? What was your reaction? How does that inform your response in your community and to governmental policies?
4. What would you like to see happen with reforms in the criminal justice system?
5. Some court houses have the 10 commandments posted. How do you feel about that? Does it accurately balance law and gospel? Should it? Why or why not?
6. Dream big: How can we take better care of our neighbors to prevent any from ending up in prison on death row?