Psalm 139:13. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Under the title of violence I want to point out that this 6th Commandment forbids abortion. We need to be very aware of this application. We have no right to take any human life that God has created. Abortion is a form of violence and has a dehumanising effect on society. All you need to do is to consult the many books and journals available on the subject to verify this assertion.
This commandment also forbids euthanasia – also known as mercy-killing. When we legalise any form of violence like abortion or euthanasia, it dehumanizes us and pulls us downwards morally. This is illustrated by an occurrence in a hospital in Vienna when four nurse-aids began to engage in the process of euthanasia, quite illegally, by helping elderly patients who were suffering intolerably to take their own lives, by taking them off life-support systems or giving them over-doses. They thought they were doing it as an act of mercy but something happened to their hearts in the process. They became hardened and discovered a way in which they could get rid of elderly patients who were troublesome. In this instance they were subsequently convicted of murder because 42 elderly people had died (Weekend Argus, 2 March 1991). Of course the news item is dated in my files but plenty of other anecdotal evidence is available on the internet and other sources which is much more up-to-date.
What a world! We seem so bent on destroying each other. Only the God of mercy in His grace towards us, enables us to live together in relative peace.
Are you at war with anyone? Will you stop it?
Prayer:
O God. Please soften my heart. Help me to shed all grudges and bitterness. Help me to live constructively and not destructively. Amen