Sixth: You shall not kill - Page 5

Index

Goodwill

But it is not enough for us not to harm or hate or be angry with other people.  What we must do instead is to have goodwill to everyone, and to treat everybody well, even the people who treat us badly.  That is one of the hardest things there is, but it is something which we must all learn to do.  For we shall never be in harmony with Jesus, and he and we will never be really at one together, until we do what he himself did and commanded us to do too: “…Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven…” (NRSV, Matthew 5:44,45).

SUMMARY

1. Human life is a precious gift from God who made us all and cares for us from the moment of our earliest existence, even before we were born, and all through our lives.

2. So human life should be protected and cared for at all stages, from unborn babies, disabled people, right through to elderly people.

3. With a few exceptions, such as a soldier in battle, it is wrong to kill someone else or help someone else to kill themselves. 

4. Malice means ill-will that wishes harm.  Hatred means enmity which desires someone’s death, and so, if we bear hatred, we are murderers at heart.  Anger is a sin chiefly because it is usually accompanied by malice or hatred.

5. We must treat everyone well, including those who treat us badly.

Note

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) reported in March 2009 that “the number of children telling ChildLine that feeling suicidal is their main reason for calling has tripled in the last five years from 909 in 2003/04 to 2,925 in 2007/08”.  For more information and resources, click here.

See also http://www.samaritans.org/default.aspx

Reference

Church of England (1662) The Book of Common Prayer.  A Catechism.  Available from: http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/liturgy/bcp/texts/catechism.html  (Accessed 20 August 2010) (Internet).


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