Biblical morality and 'Thou Shall not kill'

  • Thread starter Thread starter Abyssinia
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
A

Abyssinia

Guest
Is it hypocritical that there was the Cannanite genocide etc. and the commandment ‘Thou shall not kill?’
 
One of the monks at my school put it something like this (I’m referring to way back in the early OT):

“The Israelites themselves were just as wild and nomadic as the other pagan tribes back then. Killing like that was only justified by the ‘style’ of that time”
 
Are you implying that genocide is not “unjust”?
Of course not, but I don’t know the specifics of the “Canaanite genocide”, nor am I a Scripture scholar. Therefore I left the analysis of that particular event to those who know more than I.

I was merely making the general point that the Fifth Commandment is not a blanket condemnation of killing. Otherwise, it would have been immoral to declare war on Nazi Germany.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top