The Commandment Everyone Knows

The scriptures referred to are Exodus 20:1-20.

If you want to win a bar bet ask someone what's the very first commandment God gives humanity in the Bible. It's right there in the first chapter of Genesis. Give up?

In Genesis 1:28, God says to the first humans, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it.” Not only is it the first commandment God gives us, it is the only one we have wholeheartedly obeyed.

Now some people might have thought it was the commandment about the forbidden fruit but that comes later, in Genesis chapter 2. Another popular guess would be “Thou shalt not kill.” That doesn't come in that exact form until today's reading from Exodus 20. But it is anticipated in another part of the previous book.

In Genesis 6:11, we get the reason for the great flood. It says, “Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence.” The Hebrew word usually rendered “corrupt” is more accurately translated as “destroyed” or “decayed.” Everett Fox captures it perfectly by translating it as “ruined.” The paradise God has created has been ruined by men's violence. So he decides to start over with Noah.

In Genesis 9 after the flood, God makes a covenant with Noah. The first part echoes the first commandment: “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.” God is giving life a second chance. But there is a corollary to this command. In verse 6 God says, “Whoever now sheds human blood, for that human shall his blood be shed, for in God's image he made humankind.” (The Five Books of Moses, Everett Fox) Why is murder wrong? Because we are created in the image of God. Therefore humans have an inherent worth. Killing a human being is symbolically killing God.

And lest you think that is a quaint Old Testament idea, Jesus recapitulates it in Matthew 25:31-46. In his parable of the last judgment, the principle used to judge people is how they treat others, specifically those who are hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, imprisoned or immigrants. The reason is that the poor, needy and disenfranchised are to be considered Jesus' siblings and whatever we do or do not do to them, we are doing or not doing to Jesus himself. How we treat human beings, created in the image of God, is how we treat God.

That brings us to the sixth of the Ten Commandments. All modern translations properly render it “You shall not murder.” Literally the Hebrew word describes dashing something to pieces. So the commandment is prohibiting the deliberate destroying of a life. I don't have time to get into issues of war or capital punishment now. We can agree that God forbids any private person taking the law into his own hands and murdering another human being. That is the plain sense of this command.

And indeed the Torah, the law of Moses, recognizes the difference between manslaughter and homicide. In Exodus 21, just one chapter after the Ten Commandments, the law sets up sanctuaries for people to flee to should they unintentionally kill someone and the deceased's relatives are out to avenge him or her. But that protection does not exist for the person who schemes and kills another person deliberately. (Exodus 21:12-14) Premeditation makes it murder.

The Bible also recognizes complicity. Knowing that someone is doing, has done or is about to do something wrong and either not trying to stop the person or not telling someone in authority about it is complicity in whatever evil they do. In modern law you can be charged as an accomplice. Even if you only find out about the person's unlawful act afterwards and help cover it up, or simply keep quiet about it, you can be charged as an accomplice after the fact. It's not an excuse to say, “I didn't actually do it myself.”

In Ezekiel 33, the principle of complicity is laid out for the prophet in terms of a watchman assigned to stand on the wall of the fortified city and blow the trumpet if he sees an army approaching to attack. “Son of man, I have made you watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you will surely die,' and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sins, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man to turn from his ways and he does no do so, he will die for his sin, but you will have saved yourself.” (Ezekiel 33:7-9)

Just as you should not be an active accomplice to a person who does wrong, (Proverbs 29:24) neither should you be a passive one, knowing full well what they are doing and not either trying to dissuade them or tell those in authority so they can stop them. (Psalm 50:18) This is especially true of complicity in murder. (Acts 7:57-8:1)

This is all very well, but what is my point? Surely, no one here is in favor of murder. But are we complicit in it?

Leviticus 19:16 says, “Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor's life.” This is not talking about murder so much as what modern law would call criminal negligence: failing to do something about a situation you know about which is a danger to others. This could mean not fixing a stair that was obviously about to give way or taking care of a dead tree that could fall on your neighbor's house or not fencing in or otherwise restraining a dangerous animal (in Exodus 21 the example used is an ox that is known to gore people). To know about such a situation but to do nothing to warn or protect others would be negligent. And if the danger was in the form of someone who could do intentional harm to himself or others, you would be in God's eyes complicit in that harm.

For instance, let's say you knew that your neighbor had a gun that he just left lying around. You probably would not let your child or grandchild go over to his house, because you would not want your child to shoot himself or anyone else. You may or may not know that on average 5790 children in the U.S. are treated for gun-related injuries, nor that 1300 children die from gun shot wounds each year, nor that shootings are the third leading cause of death for U.S. children. And it really doesn't matter that 21% of these are unintentional. The fact is that guns are dangerous and should not be left where kids can find and touch them.

Now let's make it trickier. You won't let your child or grandchild go over to your careless neighbor's house. But what if he has children? Shouldn't you talk to him about locking his gun up for the sake of his own children? Kids playing with guns not only kill themselves but often kill their siblings and even parents. Toddlers—kids under 5, with 3 year olds the most common shooters and victims—killed more than 50 people last year alone.

And what about letting those children come over to your house and play with your children or grandchildren? How do you know they won't bring the gun they found and do what they see on TV every night—aim it and shoot? In a study published in the medical journal Pediatrics, boys accountted for 82% of all child firearm deaths and 84% of all nonfatal firearm injuries treated. So talking with your neighbor is in your interest as well.

Forget about kids for a second. Let's say this same neighbor is depressed. He tells you he feels that he is a burden to others, he has no reason to live, he feels trapped in his situation and sees no way out. You know he is not sleeping much or sleeping way too much. He has withdrawn from activities he used to enjoy and is isolating himself from friends and family. His drinking or drug use has increased. You know he has just had a major loss in his life: his job, the death of a loved one, or a divorce. You may or may not know that having a gun in the house increases the likelihood of suicide by a factor of 3 to 5 and increases the risk of suicide with a firearm by a factor of 17. You may or may not know that 2/3s of all gun deaths are not homicides but suicides. All you know is your neighbor is feeling hopeless and helpless and he has a gun. Shouldn't you talk him into letting you or someone he trusts take the gun while he gets some help for his depression? I know of veterans who had a friend with PTSD and removed the guns from their fellow veteran's home to prevent him from becoming one of the 20 veterans who kill themselves every day! That is doing something to reduce the danger to your neighbor.

Guns were invented, not for sport or for hunting but for war. They were designed to kill at a distance. Modern rifles have a range of more than 1000 feet. Modern guns can fire many more rounds than the guns that were used at the time of the Revolutionary War. A semi-automatic can fire at about 45 to 60 rounds a minute. An automatic rifle can fire 600 to 900 rounds a minute. Using a bump fire stock, as the Las Vegas shooter had, can get a semi-automatic's rate of fire up to almost that of an automatic weapon. Keeping that rate up can, however, overheat the barrel which may explain why the shooter had 23 weapons in his room. He had to switch them out to keep shooting for almost 11 minutes. (By the way rapid fire automatic and semi-automatic guns were created because the average soldier is not a good shot. All they have to do is spray an area with little regard to accuracy. Which explains why the shooter, while hitting almost 600 people, only killed a tenth of that number. Automatic and semi-automatic weapons are not for marksmen. Or hunters. They are for war. Period.)

Another way to make sure you don't endanger a neighbor is to improve the conditions in the neighborhood. If you had a street corner where a lot of people were getting hit or run over, you would get the authorities to put a stop sign there. Or a stop light. If people were driving down your street too fast you would get speed bumps put in. Yes, it would inconvenience you when you drive but it would make things safer for everyone. And it wouldn't mean you couldn't drive.

Traffic laws and stop signs don't stop all bad driving. You only have to drive US-1 to realize that. But they are observed by most people. And they give the police an objective standard to use and a law with which to pull over and charge speeders and reckless drivers.

There are similar things we can do to to make our neighbors safer. We can contact the authorities and get things like universal background checks for all gun purchasers, a move favored by 92% of gun owners. We can continue to require training for those who want a conceal carry permit, the way we require a driver to know how to use a vehicle and to know the relevant laws. We can require that guns be secured and not easily accessable to children. We can make it illegal to own something that makes a semi-automatic fire 10 times faster. We can make common sense rules that prevent people who shouldn't have access to a weapon of war (children, the mentally ill, criminals and terrorists on the no-fly list) from easily getting one—or 23.

Will this disarm law-abiding gun owners? No. Will it inconvenience them? Yes, the same way it inconveniences me not to be able to drive 70 miles per hour on US-1 even if there is no one on the road at 1 A.M. when I am leaving the jail. But I realize I live in a community and the only way a community can work is if everyone makes some sacrifices. Only small children think they should they should be able to do whatever they want however they want to do it. Grown ups understand about compromise and making concessions for the greater good.

Will these things stop all gun deaths? Of course not. Traffic laws and street signs don't stop all bad driving. But it can reduce the problem. Most people will obey the laws. Many of those who don't respect laws nevertheless will not exert themselves if it is very hard to circumvent the law. And it can make it that much harder for a person to harm and kill hundreds of people in a matter of minutes and by extension traumatize thousands of their mothers, fathers, children, brothers, sisters, cousins, friends, coworkers and fellow church members.

Back to Genesis. One of the most important questions in history is asked by Cain, a murderer. And he asks it insincerely. But it is still important to think about. When God asks him, “Where is your brother Abel?” Cain responds, “Am I my brother's keeper?” That's a bad translation. The Hebrew is literally “Am I my brother's watchman or guardian?” And the answer is obviously, yes. We are supposed to guard our brothers and sisters. We are supposed to watch out for them. We are not supposed to do anything that will endanger them nor are we to ignore situations that could endanger them. We cannot be negligent or complicit. Because if we do nothing, we are not obeying God. We are not loving our neighbors as ourselves.

At the shooting in Las Vegas, no one at that venue with a gun could have saved lives. You know who saved lives? People like Jonathan Smith who is credited with saving 30 people. He took 2 bullets, one in the arm, one in the neck which is still there because doctors say it would be too dangerous to remove. You know who saved his life? Police officer Tom McGrath, who didn't futilely fire at a window a 1000 feet away but dragged Smith off the field and then put his fingers in the wound to stanch the bleeding. Smith considers him a brother. And because the bullet remains in Smith, he is in constant pain. It was the price of saving others.

You know who else suffered to save others? Jesus. His right hand man, Peter, cut off the ear of one of the people who came to arrest Jesus. Jesus said, “Put your sword back in its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.” (Matthew 26:52) And then Jesus healed the man whose ear was cut off. (Luke 22:50-51) Even facing a painful death, Jesus was about life and healing. And because of his awful, painful death, and his glorious resurrection, we need not fear death.

Because ultimately it is a question of faith. Do you trust God? Do you trust his son Jesus who died for you? Do you trust him to be there for you at your hour of death? Do you trust his promise of eternal life? Do you trust him enough to step out into this dangerous world, not putting your trust in weapons of war but the armor of God, bringing to all you encounter not pain but comfort, not fear but faith, not death but life?