Rev. David Holwick V
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
July 2, 1995
Exodus 20:13
THE CULTURE OF DEATH
I. A basic commandment.
A. The principles of the Ten Commandments are widespread, but the
prohibition of murder is universal.
1) Every known society condemns murder.
2) Unrestrained killing leads to anarchy.
B. Not all killing, but murder in view here.
1) Many provisions for legitimate killing in the Bible.
a) Capital crimes in OT.
b) War in OT.
1> A stumbling block for many people.
c) NT acknowledges use of sword by government.
2) Is murder only in view here?
a) Jesus expands meaning to include anger.
b) It is not enough to say "I have not murdered."
Are you filled with anger?
Do you use violence to solve things?
C. There is still a need for the sixth commandment.
1) 1991, Texas. Wanda Webb Holloway was the organist at the
local Baptist church.
She also tried to murder Amber Heath's mother.
This way Amber would be too distraught to win a spot on the
freshman cheerleading squad, and Wanda's eighth-grade
daughter Shanna Harper would win instead.
Wanda's ex-brother-in-law told police she toyed with the idea
of killing both mother and daughter, but couldn't afford
the $7,500 fee.
The previous year she got her daughter disqualified when she
showed up at school and handed out promotional pencils and
rulers imprinted "Shanna Harper for Cheerleader."
Wanda was convicted of murder but due to a bad jury it was
declared a mistrial.
She has now been honored in an HBO movie.
The school principal, James M. Barker said, "After all, it's
the American way.
We all want our children to achieve.
There is a part of Wanda Holloway in all of us."
#1680
2) Murder storywriters assume we all have within us the
capacity to murder.
Chesterton's Father Brown said, "You see, it was I who
killed all those people."
When the wells of rage and hatred in the normal human heart
are tapped, the results are fearful.
Better people than you and I have committed murder.
Most of us have let the thought cross our mind.
Only the grace of God enables anyone to keep this commandment.
#817
II. Culture of death in modern world.
A. A child's perspective.
Alexander M. Sanders, Jr., is the Chief Judge of the South
Carolina Court of Appeals.
He told this story to the Graduating Class of the Univ. of
South Carolina on May 8, 1992.
His daughter Zoe was a member of the class.
When his daughter Zoe was three years old, Sanders came home
from work to find a crisis in his household.
Zoe's pet turtle had died, and she was crying as if her heart
would break.
Her mother, having coped with the problems of the home all day,
turned that one over to the father to solve.
At the time, he was practicing law and serving in the
Legislature.
Frankly, he felt it was a problem a lawyer politician was not up
to solving.
The mysteries of life and death are difficult, if not impossible
for the mature mind to fathom.
The task of explaining them to a three-year-old was completely
beyond either his confidence or experience.
But he tried.
First, he made the obvious argument that they would get another
turtle to replace the one that died.
They would go down to the pet store and buy another one just
like the one who was gone.
He got nowhere with that argument.
Even at three years old, Zoe was smart enough to know that there
is a certain non-transferability about living things.
A turtle is not a toy.
There's really no such thing as getting another one just like
the one who died.
Zoe's tears continued.
Finally, in desperation, he said, "I tell you what, we'll have
a funeral for the turtle."
Being three years old, she didn't know what a funeral was.
So, he quickly proceeded to expand on the theme.
He was employing the typical lawyer's tactic of diversion.
If you can't win on the issue at hand, take off on something
completely beside the point.
"A funeral," he explained, "is a great festival in honor of the
turtle."
Well, she didn't know what a festival was either so he quickly
proceeded to explain further.
And, as he did so, he began to depart from the lawyer's tactic
of diversion and engage in the politician's prerogative of
outright lying.
"Actually," he said, "a funeral is like a birthday party.
"We'll have ice cream and cake and lemonade and balloons, and all
the children in the neighborhood will come over to our house
to play."
"All because the turtle has died."
Success at last!
Zoe's tears began to dry, and she quickly returned to her happy,
smiling self again.
Now, happy. Then joyous at the prospect of all that was going
to happen.
All because the turtle had died.
Then, an utterly unforeseen thing happened.
They looked down, and lo and behold, the turtle began to move.
He was not dead after all.
In a matter of seconds, he was crawling away as lively as ever.
For once, a politician was struck dumb for words.
He just didn't know what to say.
But Zoe appraised the situation perfectly.
With all the innocence of her tender years, she looked up at her
father and said,
"Daddy, LET'S KILL IT."
#2431
B. Death is a solution to society's problems.
1) Pregnancy a burden? Abortion.
2) Angry? Shoot them.
3) Crime too high? Death penalty.
4) Grandma a burden? Mercy killing. (Euthanasia)
5) Depressed? Suicide.
C. Killing solves things, but it doesn't honor God.
III. Areas where the sixth commandment applies.
A. Abortion.
1) Controversial, but really a few essential points.
a) Is fetus non-human, human, or somewhere in-between?
1> The Bible says God knits us together in womb.
2> If this is so, then it cannot be just a decision
involving one person, but two.
b) Are there loopholes?
1> Sometimes a choice of one life for another.
2> Also, concessions to hardness of human heart. (rape)
3> Loopholes would cover few of the 1.5 million abortions
performed each year.
2) But abortion as birth control would violate this commandment.
B. Capital Punishment.
1) Supporters appeal to Old Testament.
a) Called for in Genesis 9:6.
b) Demonstrates the seriousness of crime.
c) Provides a deterrent.
2) The New Testament should give us pause.
a) Restoration and healing are a higher calling.
b) Easy to abuse.
1> Poor and blacks are executed disproportionately.
2> Even OT has a broader range of capital crimes than us.
3> Do we ever have complete knowledge?
4> Capital punishment may be necessary as a last resort,
but it is not a solution to the crime problem.
c) NT warns of eternal damnation, not just death sentence.
C. Euthanasia and Suicide.
1) "Dr. Death" Kevorkian.
a) Cutting edge of new movement.
b) Practiced in Europe, especially Holland.
2) Medical advances raise troubling questions.
a) Who judges when life is worthless?
b) Is pain always to be avoided, and never valid?
c) (personal experience of gentle man dying of Lou Gerig's
disease in Ohio hospital.)
3) Guidelines for Christians.
a) Extraordinary measures to prolong life are unnecessary.
1> But omitting feeding is tantamount to killing.
b) Life is worth living, even in pain.
1> God gives us life, he takes it.
2> Suicide and euthanasia are selfish ways out.
3> (Jackie Onasis control freak who arranges own death?)
D. War.
1) War allowed in Bible, but restricted.
a) Note that King David not allowed to build Temple because
as a soldier he was a man of blood. 1 Chron 22:8
b) New Testament says governments use sword for a reason.
1> Rationale for "Just War."
2> Problem is that Just Wars are pretty much like all
wars. (Nuclear annihilation)
2) God's kingdom is a higher calling.
a) Jesus didn't resist evil people, tells us to do the same.
b) The only war to be really worried about is Armageddon.
IV. Killing and communion.
A. Jesus allowed himself to be killed so we could live.
1) Early Christians were noted for their rejection of violence.
2) They also went beyond this and affirmed life, rescuing
abandoned children and inventing hospitals.
B. How we can affirm life.
1) Reject violence in your personal life.
a) Many Christian families harbor abuse.
2) Support activities that promote life.
a) Visit sick and dying.
b) (Examples of life-affirming Christians, like prison
ministries.)
c) Organ donation, etc.
C. Overcome evil with good, not evil.
1) It's wrong to bomb abortion clinics, or gov't buildings.
2) Jesus could have called ten thousands angels to attack,
but didn't.
3) There is much evil in world, but good is the only way
to combat it.
[for documentation of illustrations, download Holwick's Sermon Illustration
database at http://illust.holwick.com]
============ Study notes ===========================================
Briscoe, "Ten Commandments"
I. Sixth commandment forbids murder, not all killing.
A. OT has rules for warfare, but severely limits it. Deut 20
B. Killings are differentiated on basis of motive. Exod 21:12f
1) Cities of Refuge for unintentional killing.
2) Punishment dealt out by family.
II. In the image of God.
A. Law of retaliation. Gen 9:6
1) Actually, limits on retaliation.
2) Human life is sacred because we are in image of God.
B. Humans are animals.
1) We have similarities. (medical experiments)
2) But we are not JUST animals.
3) What makes us different?
a) Conceptual thought?
b) Creativity?
c) We can cooperate with God.
1> In care of creation.
2> In moral sensitivity.
d) We can communicate with God.
C. Murder challenges divine intention.
1) A person is trying to take the place of God.
2) Man is God in effigy, and when we destroy man, we insult
God.
III. Practical application.
A. Abortion.
1) Roe vs. Wade in 1973. 4,000 abortions a day.
a) Woman's individual rights is only consideration.
1> However, not an absolute right.
2> Advancing limits by trimester.
b) Highly emotional issue.
2) Is child in womb made in image of God?
a) If so, abortion is horrendously wrong.
b) Biblical data:
1> Exodus 21:22. Demand life or fine?
2> Jer 1:4-5. God formed & and knew him in womb.
3> Ps 139:13-16. God wove us together.
4> NT John leaps in his mother's womb.
3) Medical opinion on beginning of life.
a) Conception.
b) Implantation.
c) When human shape appears. (45-49 days)
d) Animation.
e) Viability. (may be possible in first trimester)
f) Birth.
g) One year after birth.
4) Concern for mother is also important.
B. Capital Punishment.
1) Supporters appeal to Old Testament.
a) Called for in Genesis 9:6.
b) Demonstrates the seriousness of crime.
c) Provides a deterrent.
2) The New Testament should give us pause.
a) Restoration and healing are a higher calling.
b) Easy to abuse.
1> Poor and blacks are executed disproportionately.
2> Even OT has a broader range of capital crimes than us.
3> Do we ever have complete knowledge?
C. Suicide.
1) Major problem, with 5,000 young people each year. (+300%)
2) Different views.
a) Heroic kamikazes.
b) Romantic Romeo and Juliet.
c) Depressed approach.
3) Worst form of murder.
a) Ancient church refused them Christian burial.
b) G.K. Chesteron: "Suicide is the refusal to take an
interest in existence; it insults everything on
earth."
4) Christian response is to help bear one another's burdens.
D. War.
1) Different approaches.
a) Activist approach.
1> Defend the homeland if asked to.
b) Pacifist approach.
1> Non-retaliation taught by Jesus.
c) Selectivist approach.
1> Some wars are just.
2) Threat of nuclear war.
a) Poseidon subs targeted 160 cities, with each warhead
equivalent to 3 Hiroshimas.
IV. Overcoming evil.
A. The trouble lies in our hearts. Matt 5:21f
B. Overcome evil with good, not evil. Rom 12:17-21
1) Don't bomb clinics.
First Baptist Church; Ledgewood, New Jersey
This document last modified June 1, 1999