Posted on 12/02/2014 7:40:38 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Pacifists use a mistranslation of the Sixth Commandment in the King James Bible to justify their cause.
Ask almost anyone to recite the commandment in the Ten Commandments that prohibits taking a life, and you will be told, “Thou shalt not kill.”
That is the King James translation of the Sixth Commandment. Overall, it is a magnificent translation. But this one has led to much moral confusion.
Yesterday, PragerUniversity.com, which has had more than 20 million views this year, released eleven courses (each five minutes long) — the Ten Commandments and an introduction.
The reason we made these video courses is that I believe that everything we need to make a good world and rid ourselves of evil is contained in the Ten Commandments.
For the next few weeks, my column will be selected transcripts of the courses, all of which I present.
Whatever your faith, or if you have no faith, I invite you to watch the videos at www.prageru.com — the introduction and the Ten Commandments, or any one of the Ten. They are cleverly animated with text and graphics.
Here is the text of Commandment Six — explaining why the King James translation is wrong:
You would think that of all the Ten Commandments, the one that needs the least explaining is the Sixth, because it seems so clear. It is the one that the King James Bible, the most widely used English translation of the Bible, translates as “Thou shall not kill.”
Yet the truth is the quite the opposite. This is probably the least well understood of the Ten Commandments. The reason is that the Hebrew original does not say, “Do not kill.” It says, “Do not murder.” Both Hebrew and English have two words for taking a life — one is “kill” (harag, in Hebrew) and the other is “murder” (ratzach in Hebrew).
The difference between the two is enormous. Kill means:
1) Taking any life — whether of a human being or an animal.
2) Taking a human life deliberately or by accident.
3) Taking a human life legally or illegally, morally or immorally.
On the other hand, murder can only mean one thing: The illegal or immoral taking of a human life. That’s why we say, “I killed a mosquito,” not, “I murdered a mosquito.” And that’s why we would say, “the worker was accidentally killed,” not, “the worker was accidentally murdered.”
So why did the King James translation of the Bible use the word “kill” rather than “murder”? Because 400 years ago when the translation was made, “kill” was synonymous with “murder.” As a result, some people don’t realize that English has changed since 1610 and therefore think that the Sixth Commandment prohibits all killing.
But, of course, it doesn’t. If the Ten Commandments forbade killing, we would all have to be vegetarians because killing animals would be prohibited. And we would all have to be pacifists — because we could not kill even in self-defense.
However, you don’t have to know how the English language has evolved to understand that the Ten Commandments could not have prohibited all killing. The very same part of the Bible that contains the Ten Commandments — the Five Books of Moses, the Torah as it is known by Jews — commands the death penalty for murder, allows killing in war, prescribes animal sacrifice, and allows eating meat.
A correct understanding of the commandment against murder is crucial because, while virtually every modern translation correctly translates the commandment as “Do not murder,” many people cite the King James translation to justify two positions that have no biblical basis: opposition to capital punishment and pacifism.
Regarding capital punishment and the Bible, as I note in my Prager University course on capital punishment, the only law that appears in each one of the Five Books of Moses is that murderers be put to death. Opponents of the death penalty are free to hold the view that all murderers should be allowed to live. But they are not free to cite the Bible to support their view.
Yet, many do. And they always cite the commandment, “Do not kill.” But that, as should now be abundantly clear, is not what the commandment says, and it is therefore an invalid argument.
As regards pacifism — the belief that it is always wrong to kill a human being: again, anyone is free to hold this position, as immoral as it may be. And what other word than “immoral” can one use to describe forbidding the killing of someone who is in the process of murdering innocent men, women, and children, in, let’s say, a movie theater or a school?
But it is dishonest to cite the commandment against murder to justify pacifism.
There is moral killing — most obviously when done in self-defense against an aggressor — and there is immoral killing. And the word for that is “murder.”
The Ten Commandments are portrayed on two tablets. The five commandments on the second tablet all concern our treatment of fellow human beings.
The first one on that list is “Do not murder.” Why? Because murder is the worst act a person can commit. The other four commandments — prohibiting stealing, adultery, giving false testimony, and coveting, are all serious offenses.
But murder leads the list because deliberately taking the life of an innocent person is the most terrible thing we can do. That is why it is so important to understand that the commandment prohibits murder, not all killing. When people liken killing in self-defense to murder — such as when they equate killing the terrorist who is murdering people with the murders that the terrorist is committing — all they are doing is reducing the evil that murder is. And when they use the Ten Commandments to justify that position, all they are doing is making the Ten Commandments, the moral foundation of Western Civilization, morally irrelevant.
The next time you hear someone cite “Do not kill” when quoting the Sixth Commandment, gently but firmly explain that it actually says “Do not murder.”
— Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and columnist. His most recent book is Still the Best Hope: Why the World Needs American Values to Triumph. He is the founder of Prager University
I murdered a plate full of vegetables for dinner, last night.
They had it coming after stalking me.
I tore the eyes out of the potatoes.
Wrenched the neck off a head of lettuce.
I even gutted an avocado for good measure.
After peeling the sking off some red onion i was pretty much good to go.
It was a killer dinner...
Uhm, No.
God says there are penalties for a man who would lurk prively and lie in wait to take another mans life...
“Tell that to the Amalekites.”
Yeah, it turns out that God hates it when a nation attempts to wipe out Hebrews in the most cowardly way possible - attacking the elderly and children.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+25%3A17-19&version=KJV
When it comes to kingdoms and nations, an eye for an eye is really the only thing that works.
If the King James Bible was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me.
I just wonder how Jesus talked in red....
________________________________________________________
Jesus Christ Himself, Jehovah of the Old Testament gives us His law in the Old Testament, He wrote it Himself.
It will be wonderful when His law is written in our hearts, when it is I assure you it will include the Ten Commandments.
I like preventative killing. We need more of that in this Country today. Regardless of what anyone says.
When in war, do we expect our men to wait until they are about to be killed before they take action?
so most of our soldiers will burn in hell then
Nope and that is a plain silly response.
Defense of oneself, your fellow citizen or any other human being warrants physical agression or the threat of it and ultimately, should peaceful terms, under at least natural law be violated, then it’s game on.
War is not murder. It is the failure of peace between people.
all I’m saying is things aren’t so cut and dried.
And if they are, well.....
Really? Threateb someone with violence and display the ability to act on that agression and it’s guards up.
Act on that agression and expect the response to be an even greater agression to end your vile act and momentum.
That might result in death of the aggressor,if that was going to be the result of their action against those they wish to intimidate or subjugate.
Don’t want none? Well, don’t start none.
Peace.
I’m not really arguing with you Vendome. As a matter of fact, I think a thread like this needs to be discussed heavily by all men today, but they won’t.
There is a real war going on right this minute. Men need to decide if only Govt can call a war a war.
Our forefathers had to make the toughest decision when to bring death without Govt consent. I wrote death because bottom line, that’s what they had to do. When you go to war, you kill the man on the other side. One can pretty up or intellectualize war all day. But it’s about killing your enemy.
And now the word of God and Bible come to play.
I didn’t think we were arguing.
Let me temper the tone of my post?
your fine Vendome.
I just didn’t want you to think I was arguing with you.
I wish more really strong biblical men/women would get involved in threads like these where the discussion is the word of God and Jesus and what can men do when things start to get really hot.
Hot like when lives are at stake and nations are ready to go.
Yeahhhhh, pretty sure I let my sarcasm come through on the scale of about 7.5. Enough to be felt and probably unnecessary.
It’s a free service I provide. No, really!!!
I’ve never charged a cent for it but, I use it so often, over the years, I’ve grown extraordinarily strong....or maybe my ego has.
Rubbing shoulders with some if the smartest people ever, here on FR has really improved my sharpness.
I guess sometimes I’m just not very self aware and don’t realize my own strength.
The fault lies with me and meant you no injury.
/S (like that ain’t obvious)
LOL!!!
Lucky Humblegunner and Laz or Shibumi ain’t riding with me these days or this could have been a real free for all.
LOL. Those guys crack me up and are the most self deprecating dudes evuh!!!
I was thinking of responding with some original wise ass tome but, damnit!!! I swear I can smell the BBQ place down the street and it’s two miles away.
Best part is Tuesday’s they have some smoking hot Beer Angel and oddly I drink two more beer than I would normally.
Hate that. I feel bloated and fat when I leave I suck my gut in.
Maybe tonight will be the night she asks for my hand in marriage? I know she’s always wanted a pre-nup and that’s great for me, since I would happily leave her and take nothing but my dignity and pride.
Also, a certain satisfaction that no man will ever live up to my passion, which she would surely come to rely on, like a junkie and a needle.
It’ll be tok bad really. I hate seeing women broken and in therapy for years but, it’s all about me and thatz whatz important, really.
I wonder how it will start?
Maybe I’ll start with “Hey, I like long walks along the River Seine, sipping champagne and sharing chocolate dipped strawberries, while we enjoy the sun setting, the Eiffel Tower and smiling at tourist as they cruise the Seine and wondering just what we have that makes us so happy.
Lil puppies, horseback riding, sailing, long walks on the beach...
Then I’ll say “But, enough about me. Tell me what you like”
Honestly, I’ll have covered everything they probably dream about, so maybe we won’t have much to talk about. That’ll be sad.
It’ll be silent though and I’ve always wanted that in a woman. Or maybe that never learn English.
Gosh, I went on and on....
LOL!!!
LOL
Yer gonna hate what I wrote next...
holy smokes that was a handful of a post. Like an artist shrooming. Now don’t take offense to that Vendome, its kind of a compliment.
ROTFLMAO!!!
I was getting into it once I started thinking about the beer angel.
She’ll be there tomorrow....
;-)
We cool.
You’d be surprised at the atheists (Richard Dawkins included) that point to the Amalekites when they want to talk about why they couldn’t ever possibly believe in a horrible, indecent God that would order genocide.
Of course, they never read any further than that, and refuse to look at the context of a multigenerational war started by the Amalekites who attacked the rearmost section of the Hebrews’ train. The section that contained the slowest of the groups - the elderly and families with small children.
But we cool, bud, I know where you’re coming from. :)
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