Shoot Me First
Why Should a Person Obey a Command that Conflicts with Personal Conscience?
This question creates more questions then answers. Thou shall not kill. The laws of the land prosecute and imprison murderers. How many types of deaths conflict with thou shall not kill? There are first, second and third degree homicide. “Some states break down the degrees a little further. Most states also make a distinction between homicide, which is more intentional, and manslaughter, in which there is less proof of malicious intention.” There is also the death penalty, assisted suicide and family members and/ or doctors unplugging life sustaining machines. When it comes to death there is also partial birth abortion, suction, D&C, Saline Amniocentesis, Prostaglandin, Inter-cardiac Injection and morning after pills. At what point do we consider a justified homicide for our police officers and the defense of our country by our soldiers. These types of deaths conflict with personal conscience. There is a time to kill. There are so many gray lines when it comes to obeying a command like thou shall not kill. I do not know what my threshold is when it comes to disobeying this command. Could it be the rape and murder of my wife or my Goddaughter? I do not have trust in the current legal system. The judiciary system should include all evidence, legally or illegally found, in a trial to ensure the person is found innocent or guilty amongst a group of his or hers own peers. There are to many guilty persons walking free. One innocent person put to death from an unjust trial is too much for me. Lawyers’ fight for the highest paid criminals and completely slant innocence to the highest bidder. We swear to tell the whole truth and lawyers half-truth witnesses and victims according to their agendas. At what point do we want to be protected by law enforcement? At what point does race and gender lines get blurred between victim and perpetrator? At what point are we considered guilty until proven innocent? At what point can a police officer use deadly force to protect him/ her and others? What about capital punishment? Should have Ted Bundy, Timothy McVeigh and Stanley “Tookie” Williams been put to death? There are so many questions this question asks. What about our soldiers Rules of Engagement? “The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nuclear attacks near the end of World War II against the Empire of Japan by the United States at the executive order of U.S. President Harry S. Truman on August 6 and August 9, 1945, respectively.” At what point can the President make an executive decision to ensure our way of life? “The bombs killed as many as 140,000 people in Hiroshima and 80,000 in Nagasaki by the end of 1945, with roughly half of those deaths occurring on the days of the bombings. Amongst these, 15–20% died from injuries or the combined effects of flash burns, trauma, and radiation burns, compounded by illness, malnutrition and radiation sickness.” The majority of the dead were civilians in both cities. Would I be willing to kill thousands to ensure the lives of hundreds of thousands are saved? What about just one life? Would I be willing to accept an abortion by a young family member? I can usually take a stand when it comes to many subjects. This question just leads to many other questions. There is also a point when religion is introduced as the command. Man’s law and God’s law can influence many people to do the wrong thing. "Jim Jones (May 13, 1931 – November 18, 1978) was the founder and leader of the Peoples Temple, which is best known for the November 18, 1978 death of more than 900 Temple members in Jonestown, Guyana along with the deaths of nine other people at a nearby airstrip and in Georgetown.” I will end with one more example of how there is no answer to this question, only more questions. “The Amish school shooting refers to an attack that occurred at the West Nickel Mines School, an Amish one-room schoolhouse in the Old Order Amish community of Nickel Mines, a village in Bart Township of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States, on the date of October 2, 2006. Gunman Charles Carl Roberts IV took hostages and eventually shot and killed five girls (aged 6–13) before committing suicide in the schoolhouse.” “On the day of the shooting, a grandfather of one of the murdered Amish girls was heard warning some young relatives not to hate the killer, saying, "We must not think evil of this man." Another Amish father noted, "He had a mother and a wife and a soul and now he's standing before a just God."” My Mother has a saying, “It’s Ok to love the sinner and still hate the sin.” The oldest girl in the schoolhouse that day stood up and said, “Shoot me first.”
Works Cited
answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060825165307AAIOHBG
wiki.answers.com/Q/What_types_of_abortion_is_there
wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish_school_shooting
wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki
wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jones
