by Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\t
I. The First Murder<\/p>\n
A. When do you think the first murder took place?<\/p>\n
B. Most people would guess Cain and Abel.<\/p>\n C. Actually, it was earlier. Satan in the form of a serpent\ntempted Adam and Eve to sin. With that sin, they died. Gen.\n2:17.\n D. Jesus remarked that Satan was a murderer from the very\nbeginning – Jn. 8:44.\n
II. God Hates Murderers<\/p>\n
A. Pr. 6:16-19 – One of the things abominable to God.<\/p>\n B. The ten commandments forbade murdering (not killing) – Ex.\n20:13.\n
III. Capital Punishment<\/p>\n A. Even before the old law, God instituted a command that\nmurderers were to be put to death – Gen. 9:6\n B. Putting murderers to death is not a holdover from the Old\nTestament.\n C. It is not some silly thing that civilized people no longer\npractice. The lack of practice shows the disrespect of the\npeople for God’s wisdom.\n
IV. Killing is not necessarily wrong<\/p>\n A. One of the arguments against capital punishment is that\nkilling another human being is wrong.\n
B. Gen. 9:6 shows that there are times when it must be done.<\/p>\n C. The Old Law also recognized that accidental killings happen\nand the person is not guilty of murder.\n 1. Ex. 21:12-14,29 shows a differentiation between\npremediated and accidental killings.\n 2. The laws regarding the cities of refuge were to protect\nthe innocent (accidental murderer) from being killed. –\nNum. 35:15-34 and Deut. 19:1-13\n
V. Murder was wrong when innocent people were killed.<\/p>\n
A. I Sam. 19:5 – Killing without cause<\/p>\n
B. Ex. 21:12-14 – Killing out of hate<\/p>\n C. Egypt and Edom were guiltly of allowing innocent people to\nbe killed within their lands – Joel 3:19\n D. Manasseh killed many innocent people during his reign – II\nKings 21:16\n
E. The wicked are quick to shed innocent blood – Isa. 59:4-8<\/p>\n F. They will even go so far as to pass laws to justify their\nslaughter of the innocent – Ps. 94:20-21.\n
VI. Christians are not to practice murder<\/p>\n A. Remember that the difference between accidental killing and\nmurder was whether a person had hatred in their heart.\n
B. Christians are not to have hate for their brethern – I Jn. 3:15.<\/p>\n C. If you love you neighbor as yourself, you will not commit\nmurder – Rom. 13:9\n D. If you must suffer, suffer for being a Christian and not a\nmurderer – I Pet. 4:14-16.\n
VII. What about wars?<\/p>\n A. Sometimes people use the law against murder to claim that\nfighting in wars is wrong.\n
B. Again, the law said murder and not all killing.<\/p>\n C. Wars are rarely done because of hatred. The soliders\nespecially. \n
D. We can’t claim innocence when both sides take up weapons.<\/p>\n
E. However, killing of innocent bystanders would be wrong.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I. The First Murder A. When do you think the first murder took place? B. Most people would guess Cain and Abel. C. Actually, it was earlier. Satan in the form of a serpent tempted Adam and Eve to sin. With that sin, they died. Gen. 2:17. D. Jesus remarked that Satan was a murderer from…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[880,310,406],"class_list":["post-62675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon","tag-capital-punishment","tag-government","tag-murder"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":95415,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/atheists-ask-about-murder\/","url_meta":{"origin":62675,"position":0},"title":"Atheists Ask About Murder","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 5, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Perry Hall Atheists pose this supposed conundrum: \"Did God condemn murder because it is wrong?\" Or \"Is murder wrong because God condemns it?\" This is the horns of the dilemma atheists are hoping Christians will be gored upon by selecting either choice. A philosophy of mine is, when offered\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58261,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-works-of-the-flesh-murder-real-and-imagined\/","url_meta":{"origin":62675,"position":1},"title":"The Works of the Flesh: Murder – Real and Imagined","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 21, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Kent Heaton The blood of Abel (Genesis 4) still cries through the ages of centuries as a sad reminder of man's inhumanity to man. The early world was destroyed because \"every intent of the thoughts of [man] was only evil continually\" (Genesis 6:5) as men filled with rage against\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56259,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/flee-fornication\/","url_meta":{"origin":62675,"position":2},"title":"Flee Fornication","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 26, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bob West Everyone can see that as the standards of morality decline in society, this has an impact on those who are children of God. That the practice of fornication has increased among young people in recent years, is a fact that few would deny. There are no \"magical\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/Flee-151x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":38555,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-reality-of-satan\/","url_meta":{"origin":62675,"position":3},"title":"The Reality of Satan","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 8, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer \"Satan\" is a descriptive term that means \"adversary.\" \"Devil\" means \"slanderer.\" These terms aptly describe the being who is known as the enemy of God and His people. The first encounter with the devil is seen in Genesis 3, where the creature here slandered God's severity by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7809,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-god-command-us-not-to-murder-when-god-murdered-people-in-the-old-testament\/","url_meta":{"origin":62675,"position":4},"title":"How can God command us not to murder when God murdered people in the Old Testament?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 14, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am a Christian and I was wondering how we deal with the question: \"How can God command us not to murder when God murdered sometimes mass amounts of people in the Old Testament?\" Thanks. Answer: You're having difficulty understanding this because of your imprecise usage of words. God,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":94020,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-god-be-charged-with-murder\/","url_meta":{"origin":62675,"position":5},"title":"Can God Be Charged with Murder?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 18, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton with the help of Copilot The biblical answer is \"No,\" and Scripture gives multiple reasons why. The Bible consistently teaches that God cannot be guilty of murder, because murder is the unlawful taking of life, and God, as the Creator and Judge of all life, has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62675\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}