The Ten Commandments:
Commandment VI

Thou shalt not kill.

I don't like this translation, the word should be murder and not kill. There is a huge difference between killing a person and murdering them. If a person is killed by accident, they were not to be put to death. The laws of Israel said that from the start. David was a king of Israel that was, and still is, dear to God's heart. He was a warrior, through and through and killed many people. War is a different situation from what this commandment is speaking about. Accidents are different. Capital Punishment is different. In these examples the person killing another is doing this from a sense of duty, mishap or protection of the innocent.

In our society, we tend to forget the nature of this commandment. People are routinely punished for killing by accident because somebody has to pay for the loss of an innocent life. I'm not saying that this loss isn't grievous, but accidents do happen. The illustration in the Bible is of someone dying at the hand of another during work. This killer is not intoxicated or angry or acting irresponsible in any way. That kind of a person will punish themself plenty for the accident and imprisonment will not add to the pain they feel. Likewise, they have nothing to be reformed of.

War is the next case I mentioned. Soldiers tend to sign up for the military to serve their country. When the time comes to fight, though, they are actually serving the guys in their unit. They look out for each other as they work toward a mutual goal that inevitably must be peace. The Geneva Convention recognizes this, but many civilians do not. Theoretically, if captured by an enemy, you are to be treated decently until the conflict ends and you can return to your home. If your tenure ends during a conflict and you go home, you can't always count on decent treatment from the people you were representing. If you don't believe me, ask any Vietnam veteran.

The last circumstance I mentioned is the killing of convicted criminals. This is a very hot topic in today's world. All I'm going to say for now is to look back to the laws handed down from God. Execution was demanded not only for murderers, but also for rapists. How far would a bill that mirrored that sentiment get in today's version of government?

You're welcome to agree or disagree with me on any of this, but please consider my source. If I've totally missed the intent, you can say so, but I'll expect to see some Biblical documentation to back your point up. If you strongly disagree and if I've upset you, please look to the Commandment we're discussing before taking any action!

Yours in Christ,

---

Sometimes you need to break something in order to fix it. Military training is just that. The drill instructor removes the individuality of the soldiers and convinces them that their old ways of doing things was incorrect. When this is achieved, the job is to build them back up into troops that fit the ideal of a strong military. Likewise, you can't rebuild a car engine without taking it apart. It must be broken down and then rebuilt.

Day 2

Have you noticed how often this story is told in the Bible? No, we're not re-reading. These words were duplicated in several books for a reason. Perhaps in the original translations, the differences were more profound with other views of the events expressed. Perhaps this sad story is just one that God wants to be sure we don't miss out on. If that's what he feels, then I certainly won't make a shorter version of this newsletter next year, for I'm not one to try and outsmart our omniscient God!

Zedekiah certainly was quite a character, though. He was the 20th or so king from Saul and he had sunk so low as to not even be true to his idols. After turning his back on God in favor of graven images, he then turned to Jeremiah to ask about some divine intervention! I guess he was trying to stack the deck, but God didn't sugar coat his response. Jeremiah reported the coming destruction that was as inevitable as the corruption of any society that turns away from the Lord.

Day 3

Jeremiah couldn't have been the only traveler on that day, but he was singled out and imprisoned. Once again, Zedekiah broke faith with his idols to ask about a message from God and once again he was given bad news. At least he succumbed to reason and let Jeremiah out of the dungeon and into the courtyard of the guard. He continued to give his honest prophesy to anyone who would hear him and was then thrown into a cistern, largely due to a king's lack of a backbone. Shortly afterward, he was raised from the cistern on the suggestion of a Cushite to the king and Jeremiah was once again in the courtyard. This shows the problems of the Israelites. They either had bad leadership or spineless leadership for so long that they didn't know any better!

For a third time, King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah. Jeremiah's answer is beautiful! In challenging Zedekiah with the truth, he got a concession for his safety, he opened the king's ear just a little and he was given a royal command on how to respond to anyone who questioned their conversation.

Day 4

So after this week of reflection, Ezekiel was commissioned to be a watchman to Israel. The post of a watchman has one major characteristic. He was to warn them of the consequences of their actions. If they failed to listen, he would not be held responsible. If he failed to warn them, though, he would be held accountable for their blood. This sounds a bit symbolic, but it was truly a matter of life and death and it holds true even today.

The manner in which Ezekiel demonstrated his message was a bit eccentric, I must say. This is all in the wishes of God, but I tend to go for a more straightforward approach. Of course, Jeremiah had used that blunt approach without success for his entire life, so a change in plans would be in order. This is further testimony to the closed hearts of the Jewish population of the time. They were so unresponsive to the clear message that God had His prophet use different tactics. Either this other method was intended to work more effectively or another method of message delivery was utilized to be sure Israel couldn't claim that the one message was hard to understand. Does this sound odd to you? I work closely with customers in my job and there are times when clear responses fly right by them and I have to rephrase my answer for them into something more abstract.

Day 5

This verse toward the end of Chapter 7 caught my attention. God said that He would deal with the people according to their conduct and judge them by their own standards. Isn't that what so many people out there are banking on today? They think that as long as they're decent people and haven't committed any grievous sins, they shouldn't be condemned to suffer for the sins they did commit in their lifetimes.

What many of these people are overlooking is the standards upon which these observations are based. I recently celebrated my 30^th birthday and have found myself looking at junior high kids and wondering whatever happened to morality. Some kids are parents before they're even teens and many more than that have had abortions without their parents even knowing about it. Their language is vile. The music they seem to enjoy can only be described as "angry." They are disrespectful of everybody and everything except themselves. My benchmark for morality is not very old, neither was my parents' view when I was younger. If you think about it, every generation for the last century or more has looked at the one after it and wondered, "What's wrong with these kids? Don't they know better than that?"

Now that I've explained that idea to you, let me inject into this outlook a perfect God. A God that has been with us from the beginning and before. A God that has noticed the erosion of morality for each and every generation since Adam and Eve with very rare contradictory examples. Now tell me. Is your version of morality one that you want to bank on when it comes time to present your case that you belong in glory? Me? I'm counting on the victory of Jesus Christ. I'm not be good enough to pass into Heaven and neither are you, but the price paid for our sins is enough to gain access. That is what its really all about.

Day 6

Many of the complacent leaders of the people of Israel had the notion that the city of Jerusalem would be a safe place in the coming trials. The death of Pelatiah was good evidence against that misguided notion. When it became apparent that the situation was dire, Ezekiel fell down and begged God to save a remnant of Israel. True to form, God reassured him that the remnant would be spared and they would return to the land promised to them, and that they would be better after their experience, turning to God instead of away from Him. It's too bad that it would take such horrific events to accomplish this.

I'd be lying if I told you that I had any sympathy for the religious leaders and diviners who were condemned for their disservice to the people. They spoke of peace at a time when that peace just wasn't in the cards and they knew it. Perhaps they were enjoying the financial gifts of their followers or just wanted to keep the people happy with encouraging words. For this reason, I have trouble respecting any church leader who sugarcoats his message. All is not good. We are not able to pass the test prescribed by God. We can only cling to the gift freely given by God, but so many find that gift difficult to accept. Those are the people we need to reach out to!

Day 7

At one time, the people of Israel had a chance to delay their destruction, possibly even to avert it altogether. By now, God was thoroughly fed up. Three great examples of Godly men are mentioned here. God is using them to say that even if they were in the city, the city wouldn't be spared. When you stop to think about these men, this statement becomes more and more profound. Noah was singled out from the population of the world as the only one worth saving! Job was noticed by Satan as God's "flagship" of sorts because of his righteousness. Daniel had the faith to challenge the wishes of the most powerful king in the world at that time while he was nothing more than an exiled refugee.

Weekly Link Crosswalk.com is a for-profit religious corporation dedicated to building up the Church, which is the Body of Christ. Here's an excerpt from the site: Our aim is to offer the freshest and most compelling biblically-based content to Christians who take seriously their relationship with Christ. Crosswalk.com is built around four primary content areas - Faith, Family, Fun and Community. Each category is further subdivided into areas of significance to many Christians, including Bible Study, Devotionals, Marriage, Parenting, Music, etc. Within this framework, we work hard to provide timely, relevant, life-enhancing material from qualified, respected Christian sources, including major ministries such as Focus on the Family, Family Life Today, The Bible Answerman and Insight For Living.

I hope you enjoyed this e-zine. If you know anyone else who would enjoy this newsletter, please forward this e-mail to them or direct them to http://www.coffeeswirls.com/weeklybible/
Thanks for sharing my goal of reading the Bible in its entirety this year!