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Christian Dogs: The Commandment Against Murder

SERIES: In Tables of Stone #7 of 11

2008-11-02

PRODUCTION #: 1126

SPEAKER: Shawn Boonstra

I have this friend who spent some time going to school deep in the American South. He lived a good distance from the campus out in the country and on the road back and forth to school he always passed these two old guys, country farmers whose house looked like something out of the Depression era.

Now, these two old guys weren’t friendly. They never smiled, pretty much kept to themselves. Most people were advised to leave them alone. And because my friend was something of a city slicker, he followed their advice.

Now these two guys had a dog, a black and brown barnyard mutt that snarled and growled at absolutely everybody and everything. So everyday as my friend drove past the house, the dog would chase his car and start barking uncontrollably. And most of the time, he just ignored the dog and kept driving.

But then one weekend, my friend got out his bicycle and when he pedaled past the house, the dog came out and growled, barked, and chased him—the usual dog-and-pony show, except with no pony.

It was the same as always, except this time the dog managed to catch him and bite him. Now, my friend just pedaled away and got the bite treated and he decided not to pursue the matter with the owners. But he did admit that more than once, as he drove past that house, he was sorely tempted to get revenge by running over that nasty dog.

As it turns out, he didn’t have to, because a few months later that dog just disappeared—just like that it was gone. A week or two later, another dog appeared in its place. Now my friend assumed the old one had died, and what was really interesting about the new dog was that in the beginning it didn’t chase him.

It just stood on the front lawn of the house and watched the cars go by. But then, over time, he started to act like the first dog, barking and snarling and chasing the cars. Before long, the new dog was just as mean and nasty as his predecessor.

So here is the question: Why did the second dog turn out just like the first one? Did those two old farmers just happen to walk into the pound and pick out two nasty dogs in a row? To be honest, I don’t think so. I think the truth is that both dogs, in their own doggy way, started to reflect the meanness and nastiness of their owners.

It’s not that they purposely trained the dog to growl and bark and bite. I think the dogs, all on their own, started to pick up their nasty attitudes. The only difference is they took out their nastiness on passing cars. Now really, there’s something to this. Experienced veterinarians can tell a lot about the character, mood, and demeanor of dog owners they’ve never met, because those kinds of traits seem to come out in the dogs that they own.

I know of someone else who worked taking blood pressure in health vans that would drive through the city, kind of a public service. Many of the people who worked in these vans lived together in this big mansion, which also functioned as the headquarters for their work. One day they hired this new guy who had a dog that he brought to the headquarters with him. Over time, people started having a hard time with this new guy because he was always angry and critical and just hard to get along with.

Here is what is interesting: One of his coworkers said, “I stay away from him because he doesn’t have a Christian dog.” It was true. The dog in his own doggy way was reflecting the negativity, the hostility and the nastiness of his owner.

Now, you’re probably wondering what this has to do with anything. Well, hang in there, because my subject today is the sixth commandment, that one that says, “You shall not murder.” Of course, few people would ever dispute that the sixth commandment is still relevant for modern life.

It seems that in spite of all our advances in the areas of science, culture and technology, murder is as big a problem as it has ever been. Somehow we’re still killing each other like we used to back in the so-called less civilized times. Social commentator, Richard John Newhouse, wrote in the late 1990s:

“In this century so many people have been deliberately killed by other people that the estimates of historians vary by the tens of millions and they end up by agreeing to split the difference or to round off the victim count at the near ten million.”

Whether it’s the Rwandan genocide, the Holocaust, the killing fields of Cambodia, Darfur, the Stalinist atrocities, or whatever it is, the morbid list of mass murder in the 20th century goes on and on and on.

Unfortunately, the new century isn’t starting out too much better. This century we’re in now wasn’t even two years old when 9/11 hit, in which 3,000 innocent men, women and children were murdered in one of the most brutal terrorist attacks in modern history. The problem simply won’t go away and the value we put on human life seems as low as ever. And that brings me to an important point.

As we’ve been exploring the Ten Commandments on It Is Written, we’ve been doing it against the background of modern thought. Many people describe the period we now live in as the postmodern era, a time when the idea of objective truth has been dismissed as a byproduct of the sterile coldness of the modern era.

Now, instead of believing in absolute right or wrong, we somehow think that codes of human behavior and morality are nothing more than human constructs—things we just made up for ourselves.

We’ve come to the conclusion that nobody’s code of conduct is better than anyone else’s. At the end of the day, we’ve convinced ourselves that we should set all the rules for ourselves and never pass judgment on someone else’s moral code.

You know, it’s funny, but one expert in postmodern thought, Dr. Stanley J. Grenz, wrote—with his tongue in his cheek—that postmodernism was born in St. Louis, Missouri on July 15, at 3:23 p.m.

Now why did he say that at that time? Well, that was the moment when some of the famous housing projects hailed as the epitome of modernist architecture were razed to the ground because the inhabitants had run them down so badly they were no longer inhabitable. That demolition was deemed by some people as the event that ended the modern era and brought in the postmodern one.

I can’t say I necessarily agree that this was the beginning of the postmodern era; I don’t really know when it began. But I know the date the postmodern era ended for many people: September 11, 2001.

The cold-blooded and calculated slaughter of thousands of innocent people brought it home for many people in real time. It was suddenly so obvious that evil like this could never be justified on the basis of culture. This wasn’t the difference between one culture’s preference for croissants and another culture’s preference for English muffins.

On 9/11, people saw the face of moral evil, an evil that simply transcends all cultures and all traditions. Suddenly, the objective reality of evil, the real existence of morality, hit home for people as never before. It that seems all you need to do to prove the existence of evil is to witness it practiced to the extreme, and even postmodernists can agree that murder is utterly wrong.

You just can’t justify it by appealing to cultural preference or ethnic diversity. In fact, most people don’t even have to check the tables of stone to figure this one out. We just know it’s wrong. That brings me back to the dogs. Listen now as Jesus weighs in on the subject of murder in Matthew, chapter 5 (Matthew 5:21-26). This is important:

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny.”

Now put aside the immediate cultural issues involved in this passage and look at the principle that Jesus is stating. You don’t need a table of stone to know that murder is wrong. But Jesus unwraps this commandment and its deeper meaning for us.

It’s not just talking about the extreme act of physically killing someone. Jesus actually equates murder with some of our thoughts, our feelings and our words. Of course, that’s a whole new ballgame. How in the world can your thoughts and your words be the same as murder?

Well, let’s go back to the dogs. The anger and bitterness felt by their owners was so obvious that even the dogs picked up on it and started to act it out. If that can happen with a bunch of dogs, what do you think happens when our anger and bitterness spill over onto other people?

Not to get too New Age or anything like that, but in one little way, all of us kind of give off an aura—not the colorful force field that psychics claim they can see around your head, but the general atmosphere around you created by your emotions. We just can’t help it.

What percolates in our minds and hearts shows up on our face. It changes our demeanor, our words, and that can have a real impact on the people around us.

Jack grew up in a home where his dad continually abused his wife and children, both physically and verbally. And when Jack grew up he did the same thing to his family. Now is that a coincidence? Of course not, and Jack doesn’t think so either.

He pretty much knows that it’s ruining his life and his kids’ lives. So can you imagine how much better it would have been if whatever made Jack’s dad like that had been nipped in the bud before it started bearing such bitter fruit down through several generations?

When you harbor resentment and hatred, it can have a devastating effect on people’s lives for generations. That is why Jesus warns us so strongly to reconcile with people now. Otherwise your emotions might just eat you alive—and not just you, but also the people who live with you.

Jesus tells us to uproot the early sentiments that eventually end in murder. He takes a commandment against killing and paints a much bigger picture for us, one that includes important concepts like forgiveness, reconciliation and healing. In a sense, and this is interesting, Jesus is showing us that this commandment is not only for the benefit of would-be murder victims. It’s also for the benefit of would-be murderers. He’s trying to spare us the bitterness, the hatred and the suffering that comes from harboring bitter feelings all your life that can lead to murder. But even then, it doesn’t have to lead to murder to ruin your life.

A few centuries before Christ, there was this leader named Fabius who led Rome during one of the Punic Wars. Fabius learned that one of his officers was provoking discontent among the soldiers, even trying to get them to desert. I don’t need to go into all the gory details about what Romans usually did to rebellious soldiers, but here is what Fabius did:

Instead of torturing and killing the officer, and getting revenge, he called the officer into his tent, talked with him and asked him to come to him with his grievances instead of others. At the end of the conversation, he gave the officer a number of gifts, including an excellent horse. The end result was an officer who now became Fabius’ most loyal soldier.

Now, I hope you can see the point. Jesus isn’t just telling us not to commit murder, he’s telling us to extinguish the thoughts, the anger, and the rage long before they turn to murder. Just think about how much better you would feel if you could just let go of the anger and bitterness that’s ruining your life and only differs from murder by a matter of degrees. Here is what Jesus essentially is saying: reconcile, reconcile, reconcile—not just for the sake of your enemy, but for your sake, too.

Here is another good example from the history of the ancient Romans. A Carthaginian military leader was getting ready to go fight the hated Romans when his son, a boy of 10, asked if he could go along. The father laughed him off, but the kid pleaded and pleaded, “Daddy, please, can I come?”

Finally, the father stopped and grabbed the startled boy and carried him off to one of the temples where children were sacrificed to the Carthaginian gods. He held his boy over one of the fires that burned in the temple, and naturally, the boy was terrified. Was his dad really going to throw him in the flames?

The father, holding the boy over the fire, shouted at him, “Son, do you swear eternal hatred to the Romans? Swear it boy. Swear it or I'll throw you in the fire.”

“Yes, Daddy. Yes, Daddy. I swear. I swear.”

“And will you fight the Romans until the day you die? Swear it boy. You swear it.”

“Yes, Daddy. I swear. I swear.”

The father set the boy down, and took him to the war. When the father died years later, his son took over the army. That son was known as Hannibal, the man who for years caused havoc and bloodshed in Italy. Eventually, so angry at Hannibal’s 15-year occupation, the Romans sailed to Carthage, burned all the Carthaginian ships in the harbor, and then went house-to-house murdering the occupants and taking the survivors into slavery.

Now, I don’t know for sure, because the Romans were hardly good neighbors, but maybe, just maybe, if the father had said to young Hannibal, “Let’s reconcile with the Romans, son, let’s try and be friends like brothers.” If that were what he did instead of filling the boyish heart with hatred, maybe that chapter in history wouldn’t have to have been so tragic.

Can you see my point? If only we could squash the early sentiments, we would eliminate a lot of murder. And then, Jesus takes things even further. Not only does he tell us to stop killing, not only does he tell us to stop hating, but He takes it even one step further. Listen to this (Matthew 5:43-44):

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.”

Try to wrap your mind around that. Its one thing to tell us not to hate people who make us mad, and it’s understandable to hear that we should reconcile with people who are at odds with us, but to tell us to love them? How in the world are we supposed to do that?

Uwe Boll is a German movie director who makes movies based on popular video games. And the critics skewer his films over and over again.

It got so bad that Boll, 41 years old and a former boxer, got full of rage and anger over what he thought was unfair treatment. So he made cinematic history doing something that, as far as I know, no director had ever done before. He challenged his critics to boxing matches. Now, amazingly enough, the three worst offenders, the ones who hurt him the most, took up his challenge and one by one he pummeled them into the ropes.

He skewered them worse than they had ever skewered his films. When it was over, he grabbed a mic and, beaming ear to ear, shouted, “I'll hit them so hard they have brain damage. They love my movies now.” I don’t know about that, but I know that Uwe Boll, at least for a few moments, was able to let off some of the rage and anger that had boiled up inside of him.

Yet, I really don’t think that’s going to last. I think he’s going to need more than that to deal with his anger—more than just a temporary fix of pounding his fists into the faces of his critics. And, no doubt, most of us need more than that, too. I mean, who hasn’t been hurt by life?

Who hasn’t felt rage or anger or frustration at how they’ve been treated? I really doubt any of us can totally escape those kinds of feelings. Maybe there are times when you’ve thought about pummeling the people who’ve hurt you.

Let me tell you something I'm guessing you already know. I don’t think that approach is really going to solve the deeper issues that are going on inside you. Anger simply breeds more anger. Harbored resentment ruins not only your life, but also the people around you. And Jesus is saying that He can fix the problem so completely that you not only stop hating people, but you also learn to love them.

In His hand He’s holding the keys that will set you free from years of life-crushing bitterness. Maybe you’ve allowed the people who’ve hurt you to keep on hurting you because you’ve been held prisoner by your hatred for them. Right now, you can experience freedom from that.

Jesus Himself dying on the cross, suffering for the sins of the world, Jesus, who was treated so unfairly, so unjustly, He had all the reason in the world to be full of anger and bitterness, and what did He say? “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do.”

If you could, don’t you think you’d rather have that? To give up hatred would change your life and the lives of people around you. Jesus knows full well what it means to have been ill-treated. He knows what it means to face injustice.

He knows what it means to have been unfairly maligned and condemned, but He never allowed himself to fall victim to the rage and hatred that these things can so easily cause. And because he is God, He can free you from the rage, the anger, the bitterness that’s inside your mind right now, that is, if you give yourself to Him and accept that He forgives you. Something remarkable happens when you see what God has done for you. You start to believe that you can do it for others.

If God refused to hate you even after everything you did, those times you broke His laws and shook your fists at heaven when it wasn’t God’s fault, those times you hurt one of God’s children. If God can forgive you for that, then maybe you can start forgiving other people. After all, your hatred is not only killing them, it’s killing you, too.

No question, our world is full of hate, so much that even people’s dogs reflect it. But you don’t have to be that way. There’s no doubt about it, the love of God changes our hearts. It can even teach us to stop hating those around us and help us live a much more abundant life. Why don’t we pray together right now?

PRAYER:
Gracious Father in heaven, it’s with humble hearts that we see Jesus on the cross of Calvary forgiving those who hurt Him. And we ask that you give us that same kind of grace, the kind that teaches us to love our enemies. Gracious Father, we want to live that better life and we ask for it now in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Scriptures Used in “Christian Dogs: The Commandment Against Murder”

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny.”
—Matthew 5:21-26

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.”
—Matthew 5:43-44