To: wcbtinman
Don't have a Torah handy, but somewhere in there I have read that (paraphrasing) 'if an enemy comes to kill you, you should rise up and kill him first'.
The Torah, in its most specific meaning, refers to the Pentateuch, ie., the Books of Moses, the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Given the specificity of instructions in the Pentateuch of what does or doesn't constitute a murder (see Numbers 35), a preemptive strike scenario based on an assumption of intent seems to be inconsistent with what is actually there.
31 posted on
01/05/2003 6:27:37 PM PST by
aruanan
To: aruanan
If a man points a gun at my head, and I somehow overpower him, and then kill him to stop the threat, then I have made a pre-emptive strike under the rule you propose. I don't think that God ever intended us to remain passive in the face of a mortal threat.
The Bible is full of common sense laws, and I have no doubt that to kill someone who has announced their intention to inflict death and mutilation is within the purview of permitted actions in the Bible, notwithstanding the legal system.
We don't seem to take the Bible in the literal terms as I suppose it used to be, or we wouldn't have the homosexual problem that is so 'in your face' today.
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