Has the 6th Commandment Ever Really Been Upheld?

OK.  I know that was unfair.  Many of you are scratching your heads wondering just which one is the 6^th commandment.  But, you’re in good company.  Biblical scholars don’t all agree on the numbering of the commandments themselves.  So to put you out of your (and their) misery, I am referring to Thou shalt not kill.

Let’s look at it closely.  Both the Bibles (plus the on-line lists) I consulted, quote the commandment that way.  Note that it does not say Thou shalt not kill people.  Nor does it say Thou shalt not kill people, except for your enemies.  Nor does it say Thou shalt not kill unless the person you’re trying to kill is already trying to kill you!  It just says Thou shalt not kill.  Period.  End of commandment.  Now if you really want to uphold it, that means you can’t kill the enemy who has invaded your country, the mosquito that just bit you, or the weeds that are strangling your precious food crop.  Of course, since you can’t kill your food crop to eat it, that last part is probably moot.  (Strictly speaking, you can’t even kill the bacteria and viruses that are doing their best to kill you!  So you are violating this commandment every time you wash your hands with anti-bacterial soap.)

If you believe in an all powerful and omniscient God, and you believe that God was the author of all the commandments, then you have to take him at his word and not kill anything.  So the only things you can eat are

·         leaves since you can selectively take leaves from a plant and not kill it,

·         fruit that you don’t eat the seeds of (apples, pears, cherries, etc.),

·         unfertilized eggs since they wouldn’t be growing into anything anyway,

·         milk products, and

·         honey.

But you can’t eat

·         meat, poultry, or fish;

·         fruit whose seeds you eat (berries, nuts, etc.);

·         fertilized eggs;

·         grains; and

·         root vegetables.

Alternatively, you can say “Well, God didn’t mean it that way…”  But, I’m sorry.  If God is omniscient he should have been able to craft a sentence that said exactly what he did mean.  Unless, of course, God didn’t really write the commandments which calls into question the whole God-given-ness of the Bible.  But that’s an argument for another blog…