This week's letter will have a bunch of different thoughts on different topics. So, bear with the sudden changes of topic and hopefully we'll learn something. I learned a lot as I studied for these answers.
There is a difference between killing and murdering. The latter is done with malice toward another.
Here is a true story from the life of Corrie Ten Boom. It portrays both viewpoints. Never telling a lie even if it looks like lives will be hurt or lying to protect innocent lives.
“Even though Peter had come home, he was still not safe, because German soldiers were using a method of forced servitude that the Dutch called the “razzia.” They would perform a lightning search and seizure of all the young men they could find and transport them away to work in munitions factories. One night, it happened in their neighborhood, and Peter and his older brother, Bob, rushed into Nollie’s house, looking for a place to hide. Nollie put them in her secret spot in the potato cellar under the kitchen table. When the soldiers burst down the door, they demanded the boys’ younger sister, Cocky, tell them where her brothers were. Without missing beat, she said they were under the table. When the soldiers lifted up the tablecloth, Cocky began to laugh, and so did everyone else. The soldiers, feeling humiliated, left, and the ten Booms spent the rest of the evening feeling both grateful for their safety and arguing over Cocky’s insistence on telling the truth. Nollie stood by her daughter and said, “God honors truth-telling with perfect protection!” Corrie finally realized that the argument was unsolvable and that even though they were often forced to lie, like Christ, they could honor both truth and love at the same time - by dying, if necessary. It was a significant realization for her, and one which would help her through the next few years.”
What would u do? I do not know what I would of done. If a case like that happens to me, I would pray for God to help me do what is right and then decide hopefully in the way that God leads my conscience through His Spirit.
About telling the truth in all areas of life. Someone asked whether we should tell someone we know something that may be the truth, but they may not like such as they have a terrible haircut or something even worse. I think that the truth, tact, proper sensitive delivery as well as knowing the and person whom you are telling whether they can handle it and how to make it so it will go well afterward are very important. Another guy said, "(by the way I still think that after a few lines of discussion you all would agree that lies, thefts and killings are not bad - perhaps only good Christians and extreme pacifists wouldn't)." How could he say that? His perspective was warped and God hadn't opened his eyes to see the truth yet. If someone took a poll of average people on the street, we would find that 99% of them believe that lies, thefts and murder ARE wrong. Why? Because they are moral and generally know the difference between right and wrong, but not specifically because they don't believe the Bible to be the Word of God and that it must be followed in everyday life not just on Sunday. They do generally try to be good and say nice things and not use bad language and all that, but they aren't doing it for God's glory. The guy also said, "Maybe even Hitler himself justified the genocide of Jews rationally." Of course he did! He wouldn't be doing it if he didn't think it was right in his own eyes. That is why there has to be some rule or something higher than us that sets a line between right and wrong. Agreed? That is God's law.
Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. James 4:17