I listened to a podcast from Bethel church about a month ago and was reminded of it last night when Pastor Ken Shigamatsu from Tenth spoke about the sixth commandment. The speaker on the podcast was Kris Valloton (and I tried to upload the audio here but it won’t work – you can check it out on iTunes, it’s free) and he gave a very powerful argument that relates to God’s commandment “You shall not murder” (Deuteronomy 5:17 and Exodus 20:13).
The invasion of China by Japan before World War II was motivated by a number of things including the plentiful natural resources available to the Japanese along the Chinese mainland. The utter destruction and brutality, including the rape and murder of women and children, was motivated or more mildly put, allowed, by something else entirely. The Shinto beliefs that were prominent among the Japanese in those days promoted the Japanese people as higher life forms. The Chinese they were attacking were not divinely approved of, they were not as human, not as important, intelligent, special, or worthy of life as the Japanese people were. And so, the Chinese were dehumanized and thus their destruction was not an offense.
The Second World War was the result of another group of people that believed God had granted them a special favour and that they were the chosen and superior race. The Nazis were able to justify their treatment of Jews because the Jews were somehow thought to be less than human.
Closer to home… when Canada was initially colonized there was some awful treatment of the First Nations people. Somehow Europeans felt justified in their advancement into occupied territory, killing, raping, and devastating Native populations – often in the name of Christianity and the expansion of the Kingdom of God. These First Nations people were thought to be savages and again, less than human.
Now we come to today… and hopefully you have figured out the bias we are creating and what population we are dehumanizing. Will generations after look back and condemn our actions? Will it only be in hindsight that we see how similar we are to the Japanese, Nazis, and Europeans or old (not to mention similar instances in Cambodia and Sudan)?
A wanted life is always called a baby!
The Bible does not specifically address the issue of when an unborn fetus is considered a life. It was not an Ancient issue – it is a modern one. But David and Jeremiah both write about God’s intimate role in a mother’s womb:
Psalm 139:12-14 “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”
Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
Pastor Ken closed his talk by stating that the sixth commandment can be written in a more positive light to read; “You shall honor life”
There is so much more that can be said about this subject including the intrinsic value of life solely based on the fact that we, and all people, are created in the image of God but that is for a more advanced writing.
My research is not very deep – taken from the two speakers – so I hope I haven’t miss-quoted or miss-represented anything. I hope the idea is conveyed correctly and without offense. This would make a great NATS paper…
