Thou Shalt Not Kill
"Actually, one who is guided by Jesus Christ will certainly get
liberation. But it is very hard to find a man who is actually being guided
by Jesus Christ...violence is against the Bible's injunctions. How can they
kill if they are following the Bible?"
--Perfect Questions, Perfect Answers
"If you love your neighbor as yourself, then why this 'civilization' which
claims to be Christian, is slaughtering so many animals, and why they are
constantly slaughtering each other in wars, in the streets? Jesus says you
will not kill...and my spiritual master is giving love of God, he is giving
love of God to the world."
--Srimad Bhagavatam lecture, 1971
At a monastic retreat near Paris in July of 1973, the following conversation
took place between A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and French Roman
Catholic Cardinal Jean Danielou:
ACBSP: Jesus Christ said, "Thou shalt not kill." So why is it that the
Christian people are engaged in animal killing?
CD: Certainly in Christianity it is forbidden to kill, but we believe that
there is a difference between the life of a human being, and the life of the
beasts. The life of a human being is sacred because man is made in the image
of God; therefore, to kill a human being is forbidden.
ACBSP: But the Bible does not simply say, "Do not kill the human being." It
says broadly, "Thou shalt not kill."
CD: We believe that only human life is sacred.
ACBSP: That is your interpretation. the commandment is "Thou shalt not
kill."
CD: It is necessary for man to kill animals in order to have food to eat.
ACBSP: No. Man can eat grains, vegetables, fruits...
CD: No flesh?
ACBSP: No. Human beings are meant to eat vegetarian food. The tiger does not
come to eat your fruits. His prescribed food is animal flesh. But man's food
is vegetables, fruits, grains...So how can you say that animal killing is
not a sin?...Jesus Christ taught "Thou shalt not kill." Why do you interpret
this to suit your own convenience? When there is no other food, someone may
eat meat to keep from starving. That is another thing. But it is most sinful
to regularly maintain slaughterhouses just to satisfy your tongue. Actually,
you will not even have a human society until this cruel practice of
maintaining slaughterhouses is stopped.
In 1974, near Frankfurt, Germany, a similar discussion took place with
Father Emmanuel Jungclaussen, a Benedictine monk:
Father Emmanuel: We Christians also preach love of God, and we try to
realize love of God and render service to Him with all our heart and all our
soul. Now, what is the difference between your movement and ours? Why do you
send your disciples to the Western countries to preach love of God when the
gospel of Jesus Christ is propounding the same message?
ACBSP: The problem is that the Christians do not follow the commandments of
God. Do you agree?
FE: Yes, to a large extent you're right.
ACBSP: Then what is the meaning of the Christians' love for God? If you do
not follow the orders of God, then where is your love? Therefore we have
come to teach what it means to love God: if you love Him, you cannot be
disobedient to His orders. And if you're disobedient, your love is not
true...They have rubber-stamped themselves "Christian," "Hindu," or
"Mohammadan," but they do not obey God. That is the problem...The first
point is that they violate the commandment "Thou shalt not kill" by
maintaining slaughterhouses. Do you agree that this commandment is being
violated?
FE: Personally, I agree.
ACBSP: Good. So if the Christians want to love God, they must stop killing
animals...This program follows the teachings of the Bible; it is not my
philosophy. Please act accordingly and you will see how the world situation
will change.
****
The March 1986 issue of Hinduism Today reported that across the board, Hindu
religious leaders condemn abortion at any stage of fetal development as
killing (some say murder) and as an act which carries very serious karmic
repercussions (like the killing of cows). I commented on the Democrats For
Life email list in 2007 that abortion falls somewhere between cow-killing
and murder in the Hindu religious tradition, prompting Bill Samuel (raised a
Quaker and a lifelong vegetarian) to exclaim, "Do something!"
Since all of Srila Prabhupada's words are recorded on CD ROM, we can
determine if Srila Prabhupada ever used the word "murder" with regard to
abortion. My understanding is that Srila Prabhupada referred to abortion as
killing, not murder.
And Srila Prabhupada was very specific in his choice of words! For example,
Srila Prabhupada said in conversation with Father Emmanuel Jungclaussen, a
Benedictine monk, in 1974, "If you do not follow the first order, 'Thou
shalt not kill,' then where is the question of love of God?"
A visitor responded, "Christians take this commandment to be applicable to
human beings, not to animals."
Srila Prabhupada said, "That would mean that Christ was not intelligent
enough to use the right word: murder. There is killing, and there is murder.
Murder refers to human beings. Do you think Jesus was not intelligent enough
to use the right word -- murder -- instead of the word killing? Killing
means any kind of killing, and especially animal killing. If Jesus had meant
simply the killing of humans, he would have used the word murder."
****
"Thou shalt not kill does not apply to murder of one's own kind only; but to
all living beings: and this Commandment was inscribed in the human breast
long before it was proclaimed from Sinai."
---Count Leo Tolstoy
In his 1984 pamphlet, "You Mean *That's* in the Bible?", aimed at a
Christian audience, on the topic of vegetarianism, writer Steven Rosen
notes: "scriptural knowledge is simple for the simple--but it is difficult
for the twisted. The Bible clearly says 'thou shalt not kill' (Exodus
20:13). It could not be stated more clearly.
"The exact Hebrew is lo tirtzach, which accurately translates: 'thou shalt
not kill.' One of the greatest scholars of Hebrew/English linguistics (in
the Twentieth Century)--Dr. Reuben Alcalay---has written in his mammoth book
The Complete Hebrew/English Dictionary that 'tirtzach' refers to 'any kind
of killing whatsoever.' The word 'lo,' as you might suspect, means 'thou
shalt not. DON'T KILL! Let's face it, the Bible is clear on this point."
Rosen repeats this observation in his 1987 book, Food for the Spirit:
Vegetarianism and the World's Religions: "Essential to the principle of
compassion and mutual love is the Sixth Commandment: Thou shalt not kill.
Although simple and direct, the commandment is rarely taken literally. The
exact Hebrew for Exodus 20:13, where this commandment is found, reads 'lo
tirtzach.' According to Reuben Alcalay, the word 'tirtzach refers to 'any
kind of killing whatsoever.' The exact translation, therefore, asks us to
refrain from killing in toto.
"'Thou shalt not' needs no interpretation. The controversial word is 'kill,'
commonly defined as 1) to deprive of life; 2) to put an end to; 3) to
destroy the vital or essential quality of. If anything that has life can be
killed, then an animal can be killed; according to this commandment, the
killing of animals is forbidden.
"Life is commonly defined as the quality which distinguishes a vital and
functioning being from a dead body. Although a complex phenomenon, life
manifests its presence by symptoms as recognizable to a student of the
world's scriptures as to a biologist. All living entities pass through six
phases: birth, growth, maintenance, reproduction, dwindling and death. An
animal, then, by man's definition as well as by God's, qualifies as a living
being. What is living can be killed, and to kill is to break a commandment
as holy as any."
Rosen repeats these arguments again in his 2004 book, Holy Cow. "There are
several studies on the significance of 'Thou shalt not kill' from a
vegetarian point of view. The most noted work from this perspective would be
Aaron Frankel's much-referred to book, Thou Shalt Not Kill--the Torah of
Vegetarianism, which was published...in ...1896."
And again: "According to Reuben Alcalay, one of the twentieth century's
great linguistic scholars and author of The Complete Hebrew-English
Dictionary, the commandment refers to 'any kind of killing whatsoever.' The
original Hebrew, he says, Lo tirtzakh, which asks us to refrain from killing
in toto. If what he says is true, we can analyze the commandment as follows:
'Thou shalt not' needs no interpretation. The controversial word is 'kill,'
commonly defined as (1) to deprive of life; (2) to put and end to; (3) to
destroy to vital or essential quality of. If anything that has life can be
killed, an animal can be killed as well; according to this commandment,
then, the killing of animals is forbidden."
However, Rosen admits: "The Hebrew word for 'murder' is ratzakh, whereas the
word for 'kill' is haroq. The commandment, in the original Hebrew, indeed
states: 'Lo tirtzakh' (a form of ratzakh), not 'Lo Taharoq.' In other words,
it is 'Thou shalt not murder,' as opposed to 'Thou shalt not kill.' Why,
then, does Reuben Alcalay say that tirtzakh refers to 'any kind of killing
whatsoever' ?
"The difference between these two words--'kill' and 'murder'--has more to do
with the modern usage than original texts: the demarcation between these
words may have been different in biblical times. Indeed, the Bible appears
conflicted in this regard, as do the Bible translations. The HarperCollins
Study Bible, which is the New Revised standard Version and the rendition
used by the Society of Biblical Literature, interprets the commandment as
'Thou shalt not murder,' but it then includes a footnote saying 'or kill.'
The New Oxford Annotated Bible does the same.
"The King James Version of the Bible, and others too numerous to mention
here, translate the verse as 'Thou Shalt not kill,' while others keep going
back and forth, changing from 'kill' to 'murder' and, every few years, back
again. Perhaps the most important version to use the word 'kill' instead of
'murder' is The Holy Bible: From Ancient Eastern Manuscripts. This work is
based on the earliest editions of the text, making use of rare Aramaic
fragments. Here we find that the Exodus verse is unequivocally rendered as
'Thou shalt not kill,' though a lengthy Introduction explains why
well-meaning translators choose otherwise."
In Holy Cow, in the chapter entitled 'Thou Shalt Not Kill', Steven Rosen
quotes Philip L. Pick (1910-1992), founder of the Jewish Vegetarian Society,
after researching the subject for nearly 30 years, as having concluded:
"...the oft-used translation 'thou shalt not commit murder' wrongfully
restricts the original meaning of the word. Certainly today, the abundance
of non-flesh, health giving foods unquestionably means that every time a
creature is killed for food a sin against God has been committed."
"If you want to pass from the consciousness of flesh into the consciousness
of Spirit, you must withdraw your attention from the things of the flesh,"
taught Dr. Charles Filmore, founder of Unity.
"You must recognize that there is but one universal life, one universal
substance, one universal intelligence, and that every animal is contending
for its life and is entitled to that life.
"But in the matter of animal slaughter, who countenances it or defends it
after his eyes have been opened to the unity of life? Let us remember that
the right kind of food will give our minds and our spirits opportunity to
express that which is one with ideal life."
Founded in the 19th century at Lee's Summit, Missouri, the Unity School
teaches that the time will come when man will look back upon eating animal
flesh as he now looks upon cannibalism:
"As man unfolds spiritually he more and more perceives the necessity of
fulfilling the divine law in every department of his life. From experience
and observation Unity believes that somewhere along the way, as he develops
spiritually, man comes to question seriously the rightness of meat as part
of his diet. Man is naturally loathe to take life, even though the idea of
killing animals for food has so long been sponsored by the race that he
feels it is right and proper to do so.
"However, the Commandment, 'Thou shalt not kill,' considered in its fullest
sense, includes the killing of animals...There is a kindred spirit in all
living things--a love for life. Any man who considers honestly the oneness
of life feels an aversion to eating meat: that is a reaction of his mind
towards anything so foreign to the idea of universal life."
Civil rights leader Dick Gregory credits the Judeo-Christian ethic and the
teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with having caused him to become a
vegetarian. In 1973, he drew a connection between vegetarianism and
nonviolent civil disobedience:
"...the philosophy of nonviolence, which I learned from Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. during my involvement in the civil rights movement was first
responsible for my change in diet. I became a vegetarian in 1965. I had been
a participant in all of the 'major' and most of the 'minor' civil rights
demonstrations of the early sixties, including the March on Washington and
the Selma to Montgomery March.
"Under the leadership of Dr. King, I became totally committed to
nonviolence, and I was convinced that nonviolence meant opposition to
killing in any form. I felt the commandment 'Thou shalt not kill' applied to
human beings not only in their dealings with each other--war, lynching,
assassination, murder and the like--but in their practice of killing animals
for food or sport. Animals and humans suffer and die alike...Violence causes
the same pain, the same spilling of blood, the same stench of death, the
same arrogant, cruel and brutal taking of life."
In a 1979 interview, Gregory explained: "Because of the civil rights
movement, I decided I couldn't be thoroughly nonviolent and participate in
the destruction of animals for my dinner...I didn't become a vegetarian for
health reasons; I became a vegetarian strictly for moral
reasons...Vegetarianism will definitely become a people's movement."
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