Articles
Coping with Life 37 – Murder
Coping with Life 37 – Murder
Mike Willis
For four years in a row, the city of Indianapolis has had more that 200 murders per year (each year ranged between 215-252 homicides). In addition to that, there were people wounded who recovered, meaning that additionally there were failed attempts to commit homicide. To keep these statistics local, there is a homicide in Marion County every 1.6 days. We are living in a society that has many citizens willing to kill a fellow human being, and sometimes for no reason at all (a drive by shooting).
There is a trickle down effect from the frequency of hearing about murders—the effect of numbing our reactions to the taking of another person’s life. I will bring this article closer to home. When I was in high school, my cousin and his wife were alienated; she decided to divorce him and leave with his two sons. My cousin killed his wife and then himself. Our entire community was shocked and everyone mourned over this homicide/suicide. This was a rare tragedy. Today, the report of a person being murdered is so commonplace that we hardly react, except when it is someone we know.
The Ten Commandments teach, “You shall not murder” (Exod. 20:13). The seriousness of the offence is measured by what God instructed Israel to do with those who had violated the prohibition of murder: “If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the evidence of witnesses. But no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness” (Num. 35:30). And, God was well aware of frailties of men’s justice systems when He instructed, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, BY MAN shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image” (Gen. 9:6).
Notice the reason that murder is so abominable—“for God made man in his own image.” Despite the beliefs of animal rights advocates otherwise, killing a man is considered different from killing a wild beast or a tamed animal for food. When one’s morals are egocentric, one can justify the removal of anyone who gets in his way. Murders are committed sometimes for political purposes, at other times for financial gain (during a robbery), and sometimes because one has no control over his own temper.
How do we cope with murder in our society? The American plan is to incarcerate the murdered for life, and if we are really emphatic in the punishment of a serial killer, we might give him multiple life sentences (as if that amounted to some difference). “It is appointed for man to die ONCE” (Heb. 9:27), so adding life sentences is a joke! Our prison system operates on the idea that murderers can be rehabilitated. The likelihood of a murderer who is released being arrested for a violent crime is 22%, for another murder is 2%, and for any crime is 51%. At some point, what is best for a stable state has to be weighed greater than the criminal’s desire to be released.
Jesus’s commandment that one love his enemies is directed toward the disciple of Christ not allowing his heart to be filled with hate or to plan to take personal vengeance (Matt. 5:43-48). Jesus’s commandment was not God’s plan for the administration of the civil state (Rom. 13:4).
There are people in our communities whose lives have been torn apart by murder. Let us attend to their needs and minister to them. Their survivors and children left behind have needs that we can help to fill. In addition to the financial help we may provide, both the surviving parent and their children have hurting hearts that we should reach out to help, if they are open to receiving it. We can always pray for those who are hurting.
