Is it okay to abort a baby when the continuation of the pregnancy may result in the death of his or her mother, according to Catholicism?

I have been thinking lately how odd it is for God to give a Commandment to not kill, but then demand his followers to slay both animals and people, innocents even. It did not have any exceptions like "Thou shall not kill unless commanded to by me to.", just "Thou shall not kill". So I feel this is contradiction. Is this correct?

How did God command the killing of children and woman when the commandments command us not to kill. I understand that God has right to kill who He pleases but why did he command the Israelites (humans) to kill others when thou shalt not kill

I am trying to learn when did things start to go wrong in Christianity and when did it start to change from a peaceful, loving religious group into a movement that engaged in war and physical repression, including executions, in the Middle Ages. Therefore I was wondering who was the first person killed by a Christian, two Christians or a group of Christians due to religious disagreements.

For example, in the Old Testament, Jehovah sends two bears to maul 42 children to death when some of them mocked one of his followers: *" And he went up from thence to Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, little boys came out of the city and mocked him, saying: Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. And looking back, he saw them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord: and there came forth two bears out of the forest, and tore of them two and forty boys. And from thence he went to mount Carmel, and from thence he returned to Samaria."[4 Kings (2 Kings) 2:23-25]* In the New Testament, Jesus kills a fig tree for not being ready to feed him yet: *"12 The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. 14 Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it.* *20 In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots.[Mark 11 12:14,20]* Even an uneducated child would know that trees only grow fruits at certain times of a year. But Jesus was provoked to curse and effectively kill it. I know this will get downvoted by many Christians, doesn't matter. Hate is hate, senseless killing is senseless killing.

I've often heard from skeptics of Christianity, "Look at the many atrocities done in the name of Jesus in places like the Crusades. How can you claim that Jesus is loving?" I know that these claims are preposterous. Look at all the many more wonderful good works done in Jesus' name! But that's beside the point. The Old Testament often speaks of wartime and killing those who occupied Israel in ancient times, but war is rarely mentioned in the literal sense in the New Testament. What is an overview of Assemblies of God / Pentecostal views of killing in war, or of war in general?

The Parable of the Ten Minas > **Luke 19:27** *(NIV)* But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me. Now, this is spoken in the 3rd person (of the "man of noble birth"); however, it still seems the intent of the parable is to order open carnage against those who don't follow the Abrahamic faith (see :9 & :10, that lead into this parable). Interpretation?

There's this person who prays and begs God to kill him but instead an angel comes and gives him water or something like that. I think it's in one of the first readings from April to July 2015, but I couldn't find it.

Did God really have to do all those plagues in order to get Moses' people free? Did each plague have a particular purpose? I heard about a documentary or hypothesis that only first or first few plagues were intended and then the remaining plagues, except the last one, just occurred naturally. Even if we grant that all but the last plague were purposeful or natural, what was the point of killing innocent children, particularly the Pharaoh's son? Why not kill the Pharaoh and then have the son or regent rule and then have the next ruler of Egypt set Moses' people free? Why not send a bunch of angels to threaten the Pharaoh into releasing the Israelites or into offering fair wages? I doubt this is relevant to the problem of evil as God specifically intervenes in human affairs in Egypt. Why all the violence though? It seems to make sense that an omnipotent, omniscient, all-good being who would intervene in human affairs would want to do so with little bloodshed unless there's a specific lesson that the being wants to impart on the Egyptians or Israelites or something of the sort. Maybe the Israelites wouldn't have appreciated God's efforts as much if it was that simple? Also, I seem to recall from high school something about wanting to convert the Egyptians. What does the Catholic Church say about this?

Arguably the killing of Jesus Christ was the most avenged killing in history. There is no other person for whom there were so many other people killed in the name of retaliation. In Russian Empire the oppression of Jews was explicitly justified because of their complicity in Jesus' murder. I wonder whether those Christians who thought that somebody, either modern or ancient, is guilty in killing Jesus, really believe in his resurrection and immortality? How can one avenge a murder of an immortal? Or do those Christians believe in resurrection of Christ only metaphorically/figuratively? Do they think that he was resurrected in the body of the Church or in the spirits of Christians rather than physically? An analogy: your father dead. You think that you or someone else is guilty. Then God miracliously resurrects your father. Do you still feel remorse, guilt or desire for revenge? Is not desire for revenge actually a **disbelief** in real resurrection?

In the Bible God gives many commands, but he doesn't seem to have to keep all of them himself. For example in the Ten Commandments God instructs his people not to murder (Exodus 20:13). But God frequently executes people himself, such as when he killed Korah and his 250 followers in Numbers 16. Why doesn't God have to keep his own commandment not to kill? To disobey any of God's commandments is sinful. So how can God ignore them? Does the Bible explain why?

> **6** When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out > and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. **7** The > Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; > therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of God. After reading those verses, I often think this was over-reacted. Maybe Uzzah wasn't thinking badly, maybe was he just taking care of the ark of God ? So what are the deep/fundamental reasons God killed him ? What's your opinion ?

Exodus holds the 10 commandments. Specifically, we see: >[Exodus 20:13 (KJV)](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2020:13&version=KJV)
>Thou shalt not kill. Since the Ten Commandments say “thou shalt not kill” why do many Christians fight in a war? Note this question is not aimed at pacifist denominations, but at those who do support war (at least in some situations).

I've been reading the answers given in this similar question or even in the "duplicate question" but they don't respond to my question which is slightly different. I'm not wondering if Killing is legit or not, but WHY God commanded to kill in the Old Testament. This is a very common question asked by atheist as a way to show Bible inconsistencies and I believe the question and answers given in the previous questions are not exactly answering that. I'm wondering why, in the first moment, God in the Old Testament was commanding to kill other people when in the New Testament killing is totally forbidden and Jesus never commanded it **in any case**. It sounds like two different Gods: the aggressive one and the pacifist. Some quotes from the old Testament commanding to kill are the following ones: **Leviticus 20:13 NAB** > "If a man lies with a male as with a women, both of them shall be put to death for their abominable deed; they have forfeited their lives." **2 Chronicles 15:12-13 NAB** > They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul; and everyone who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. **Exodus 22:17 NAB** > You should not let a sorceress live. **Leviticus 20:27 NAB** > A man or a woman who acts as a medium or fortuneteller shall be put to death by stoning; they have no one but themselves to blame for their death.

The Bible says in Genesis 9:3 > Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. Nowadays it is consider politically incorrect to defend the killing of animals even when its purpose is to feed us. Some people . Many people , like if they were "things" or some kind of "industrial" machinery. They and try to show how bad it is kill another animal, as if we were just animals as well, at the same level as them. According to Catholicism, what should be our attitude be towards animals? Should we consider them only as "things god put on earth for us to use"? Or should we show some kind of respect to them in the way they are treated / killed ?

The story of Abraham is talking about a man, who is punished by God to victimize his son, to prove his faith ([Gen 22:1–19](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Gen%2022:1%E2%80%9319&version=NIV)) . Abraham decides to follow his God by killing his own son. But at the last moment, God says 'Stop', and accepts an animal as sacrifice. Blind obedience seems to be the main value, taught by this story. Do, what the authorities tell you! However, this is totally against our modern ethics: Killing a person, just to prove something, is considered evil. Now the victimization did not actually take place in the story, but Abraham is praised for doint, what he was told. So does blindly following God justify everything? You could say that this is just a Jewish story, from the Old Testament, but the story is repeated later, whith different roles: God is victimizing his own son, Jesus, to prove his faith in man. For the parallels, see: [Mark 1:11](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%201:11&version=NIV) , [Romans 8:23](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%208:23&version=NIV) , and [John 3:16](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%203:16&version=NIV) . But how can the sacrificing of a human be considered a moral behavior? I was taught that instrumenting a person, using somebody like a thing, exploiting somebody is the root of all evil. Do moral laws that apply to humans not apply to God (even though he created man after his own image)? Did he create moral laws for humans that he does not uphold? The main question is, as stated in the headline: Is it moral to sacrifice your son in order to grant favor with God?

Can you serve in a military service and not violate the will of God?

God says thou shall not kill as one of the Ten Commandments but he actually instructs his chosen people to kill numerous times throughout the Old Testament. Then there is tons of killing, persecution, and even torture performed under the authority of the Catholic Church under the New Testament. Specifically I would like to sight the story of Saul when he is instructed to kill everyone of the Amalekites men, women, and children. Saul failed to do so and he was actually punished for it and would eventually lose his annionted kingship. So in short my question is: Why does God condone or order so much killing when it is against the Commandments?

As the title states. God commanded people to kill in the Old testament, does he still command people to kill today? There are people who claim God commanded them to Kill. Is this legit? Or is there clear evidence in the Bible that goes against this? **Examples of God commanding people to Kill in the Old Testament:** > 1 Samuel 15:3 Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that > they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and > suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. > > NUMBERS 21:3 The Lord gave the Canaanites over to Israel, who > "completely destroyed them and their towns." > > NUMBERS 31:17-18 God commanded Moses to kill all of the male Midianite > children and "kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for > yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man." The virgins > were presumably raped. (NOTE: How could the soldiers know which women > were virgins?) There are lots of sources out there: http://www.evilbible.com/Murder.htm http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Examples_of_God_personally_killing_people http://www.thethinkingatheist.com/page/bible-atrocities I understand that most of this makes sense in context of the Old Testament. But what about people who kill today and say God commanded them to? Is this legit? Can we deny their claim?

> **Possible Duplicate:** > [When do we as Christians draw the line on self-defense?](https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/3734/when-do-we-as-christians-draw-the-line-on-self-defense) I am referring to turning the other cheek. With all the violence going on I am wondering if we can protect our selves or does the turn the other cheek mean we should just let someone harm us?