The Morality of Bloodshed

Reflecting on my Mormon past, I cannot remember the homicide prohibition ever garnering the same obsessiveness as the other commandments. Sexual thoughts always felt more sinful than violent thoughts. I could daydream about military conquests or violent revolutions ad nauseam, but any thought of “marital relations” was off limits. Movies like Titanic (1997), Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992), or Romeo and Juliet (1968) offended the conscience (“the Spirit”) exclusively because of the nudity: The homicides were irrelevant. I never needed to confess to having watched a violent movie or played a violent video game. Furthermore, I could peruse a gun store at will (and even enjoy some range time), but even in marriage, just looking at a sex shop felt inappropriate. Outside of murder, manslaughter, and abortion (each as legally defined), bloodshed just did not feel immoral.

Technically, self-defense killings are inconsistent with Jesus’ teachings (Matthew 5:39). Jesus was a pacifist who accepted death without violent resistance. “All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword” (Matthew 26:52). Even so, defensive killings have typically seemed like the most reasonable homicide type. (This may be one instance of the “one true church” catering to American culture.) So how certain, imminent, and inescapable must a threat become for God to approve bloodshed? A 100% chance of death within 30 seconds seems reasonable enough. What about a 50% chance within 30 days? A 25% chance within 10 years? What if the threat were lethal and imminent but unintentional?

God is extremely clear about chastity, pornography, masturbation, impure thoughts, and gay sex. God can be clear when it…matters. But violence doesn’t seem to matter that much. Often, God lets the government sort things out. Legal killings are moral killings (except for abortion and euthanasia). And even some illegal killings are okay if done in the name of religion or revolution. Few Americans consider George Washington or Robert E. Lee to be murderers whose actions require sincere repentance… But would the same absolution extend to modern revolutionaries? How established must a government be before God bestows the authority to kill? When two nations go to war, does God remain neutral?

The Old Testament contains the simplest justifications for killing. The Mosaic code prescribes the death penalty for various evildoers and enemies of the state, including disobedient children and gay people. Killing an immoral person is biblical. Genocide is biblical (see Numbers 21:3). Mormons have little incentive to condemn state violence. Today, temple recommend holders can support diverse types of violence without fear of divine censure: assassinations, drone strikes, capital punishment, police brutality, even castle doctrine. The obsessive purism, so characteristic of the Mormon experience, is suspiciously absent. And yet, God is extremely picky about Sundays, coffee beans, leggings, swear words, crosses, face cards, self-reliance, tithing, and a godhead with three SEPARATE beings—everything except making the world a better place.

😮‍💨

The rules are made up.