Foundations for Success > Sixth Commandment

Honor Life

The Bible teaches that we humans were created in God's image. Holding this belief as axiomatic, Western Society has held to the intrinsic value and dignity of human beings and has erected laws to protect that value and dignity. Accepting the Ten Commandments as ground rules for civil law, our forefathers and mothers held that murder was one of the most reprehensible actions known to man because it struck out at the very image of God.

Clearly it was not killing that was against the laws recorded in Jewish and Christian scriptures but unjust killing or murder. The same God who commanded us to not murder had the Israelites wage war against His enemies. The God who commanded us to not murder, commanded the Israelites to execute people who committed certain capital offenses.

Simply refraining from killing another human is evidently not what is aimed at here. Consider a loved one who is about to be murdered by a thief. Is our behavior honorable if we do nothing to prevent it? What of a man like Hitler who is hell-bent on destroying all those humans who are not the sorts of humans he places any value upon? Wouldn't passivity toward such a person actually reward his behavior? What about the person who is so angry with their neighbor that they would murder him if they knew how to get away with it? Have they refrained from breaking this law? According to Christ the answer is no they have not: that the murderous anger of the heart is as sinful as taking a weapon and killing someone unjustly. (Matthew 5)

Quite apparently God values life and wishes for us to do the same. This means, on one hand, that we refrain from murder but, on the other hand, that we do whatever is necessary to protect or guard life even if this means the taking of another life. In other words this commandment is not as easy to deal with as it appears! Probably the best way to state the matter is to say that, while life is sacred it is not the highest value. What is the highest value? God's will regarding human action is.

If life were the highest value then it would be wrong to lay one's life down for a friend. If life were the highest value then it would be wrong to offer one's life in support of a noble cause. If life were the highest value then I would be wrong to take the life of someone who was clearly seeking to murder an innocent human being. If life were the highest value then God would not have sacrificed His son's life on behalf of deeply flawed, ungrateful mortals.

The Dignity of Being Human

All this being said I want to return to the idea of human dignity. We humans are made in God's image. All humans are. The janitor I pass by in a hallway and act as if he were invisible is made in God's image. The child who interrupts an important phone call is made in God's image. The mentally ill are made in God's image. The coworker who rubs us the wrong way is made in God's image.

So how do we treat people who are made in God's image, with the proper dignity? At the very least I believe it means that we keep the Ten Commandments toward them. We don't kill them, we do not steal from them, we do not betray their families, we do not lie about them and we do not covet what belongs to them. I suggest this also implies, whenever possible and appropriate, that we also seek to add life to others, add value to their property, add to their family's honor, speak well of others and be glad when those around us prosper. In other words, when the Commandments prohibit certain behavior they are presupposing certain other behaviors.

In refraining from unjust murder we should also seek to treat others with dignity by reflecting back to them their worth as human beings. Imagine if all the people you see today were to experience you as someone that, first and foremost, saw them, not as cogs in a wheel, someone to be moved or manipulated or endured but as individuals who are made in God's image. Imagine what would happen in your relationships with others if they knew that you valued them more for who they were as God-created-individuals then for what they could do for you. Imagine what would happen if your constant thought was, "How do I honor this human is made in the image of God?" Imagine how you would feel if others treated you this way.