Killing

[englin]

#1If i’m in a war, and i’m are asked to fire on our enemys.

Is it a sin to kill them even though I was ordered to kill them?

#2 If I’m on the street, and someone charge towards me with a knife and try to kill me, but i manage to grab hold of him, do some self-defence martial arts, and i accidentally kill him.

Am i committing a sin in this manner?

 

[AlanFromWichita]

1-no
2-no

no sin no foul
1civic duty
2self-defense, with no intent to use excessive force or inflict death

Believe me at your own risk. I am not a certified theologian.

Alan

P.S. I think I once read in the catechism that you are obliged to protect life, including your own; thus leading to the necessity of a self-defense exception to accidental killing.

 

[NotWorthy]

Is it a war that is being fought so we can own all the peanut farms in the world (insert your own frivolous cause here) and you joined the army to get a chance to kill people?

Or is it a war where a foreign army has decided that the only good American is a dead American and you are fighting to save millions of lives?

Do you get my point, using these two extremes? What is in your heart?

NotWorthy

 

[otm]

My understanding is that the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” is better translated as “thou shals not take an innocent life”.

In neither scenario that you give are the individuals you are set against innocent. In the first they are combatants; in the second, there is an unjustified attack.

As a note, only in the movies are you able to lay on some martial art and protect yourself. given that he is close enough to kill you, you would be justified in intentionally killing him, as it is only in the movies that you can a) disarm him) or b) wound him sufficiently to protect yourself without killing him.

People are capable of receiving more than one lethal round and still having enough life left in them to dispatch you. Like I said, Life is a little different than the movies.

 

[marty1818]

#1If i’m in a war, and i’m are asked to fire on our enemys.

Is it a sin to kill them even though I was ordered to kill them?

#2 If I’m on the street, and someone charge towards me with a knife and try to kill me, but i manage to grab hold of him, do some self-defence martial arts, and i accidentally kill him.

Am i committing a sin in this manner?

I believe we have a moral obligation to disobey orders in war that are not just. So for instance if you are ordered to kill enemies who are trying to surrender that is morally unjust. However, if they are shooting at you this would be morally justifiable.

If you were to kill someone in self defense by accident I do not believe you would be committing a sin. For sure you would not be committing a mortal sin because you cannot accidently commit a mortal sin, and often times in that kind of situation people act out of reaction not by choice.

matt