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--- jn_en_2018_02_19 [2018/02/19 07:25] – created potthast
+++ jn_en_2018_02_19 [2018/02/19 07:41] (current) – potthast
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 ======  5th Commandment ... ======
-Monday, Feb 19, 2018.
+Monday, Feb 19, 2018. Life is given by God, the creator. He is the one to give life and to
+take life. He is the beginning and the end. It is not up to humans to take life - except for very
+special circumstances. Honoring life, keeping life, that is one of the basic commands we
+hear in the biblical books. But it is not just murder we need to talk about, Jesus talks about
+more ...
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 ** Honoring Life ...**
-The 4th commandment is about your personal relationship to your father and your mother. It says:
+First, let us go back to the 10 commandments, which are written for example in Exodus 20 (2nd book of Moses).
+Here, we read:
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-You shall not kill.
+You shall not kill [murder].
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+We are told not to kill. The word used here refers to killing in the sense of murder. Killing animals,
+killing for defense and other types of killing is not included. We are to honor life, and it is God's
+foremost interest to have humans live together in peace.
+Why do humans kill? Why are we killing each other? Why does murder happen? It all seems easy in cases
+where we do not have conflicts. But humans have conflicts on many layers of their life. We are different,
+we have different talents, different character, different preferences. Also, we have different ideas
+about how we want to carry out things. Sometimes we have conflicts about ressources. We might have
+conflicts about acknowledgements. We might have conflicts about power and control of things. Just
+look around, and you will see many conflicts even in very peaceful societies.
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 ** About Hatred and Murder ...**
+Jesus, in his sermon on the mount, is confirming the commandments. But he is doing much more. He is
+talking about the focal point of all the commandments. He talks about their purpose and inner core. It
+is not just murder which God wants to avoid. It is starting with antipathy, going to disrespect and to
+contempt and to hatred.
+All this is not in God's interest. God is a God of love, of truth, of wisdom. Do not kill, he says.
+Do not murder. Do not disrespect. Do not hate, but love. Come to me and let me change you. In my presence
+you learn to love in the middle of conflict.
+Love in the middle of conflict is not easy at all. There is the danger to move into complete ignorance
+and dishonesty, when you pretend to have good feelings where you do not have them. You are told to love,
+not to play love. You are told to be changed, not to pretend to be what you are not. Here, do not kill
+is a deep and very challenging commandment. It is a commandment which will change all your life when
+you take it serious in the sense of Jesus. It will lead you to the Lord, to ask him, to pray to him,
+to let him come into your heart and your mind ... and then experience unbelievable wisdom and joy!
 (Roland Potthast)
 [[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/en/topics_collection_ix|... further texts]]
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