A time to kill and a time to heal

EC. 3:3 A time to kill, and a time to heal. May 23, 2007
Although there are many who would disagree with both me and more importantly the Bible, there is in fact a time to kill. Many people and organization wish to promote peace and pacifism to such an extant it cripples justice. They would tell you wars, capital punishment, and perhaps even self defense needs to be laid down, at the expense of justice and freedom. All this is done they will tell you, in obedience to the sixth commandment, "Thou shalt not kill". So we now have a contradiction in the Bible it would seem, but the commandment is speaking clearly of murder. It is not saying we cannot exact justice, for God said that a man who murders another man shall surely be put to death. It is not saying to never war for God commanded the Israelites to go to war in several places in the Old Testament. To top it all off, Ecclesiastes tells us there is a time to kill. Were it not for capital punishment our prisons would be strained even more than they already are, filled with those who deserve death for their heinous deeds. Were it not for war we would still be a colony of England, or more likely we would be under Nazi rule. There comes a time in every generation that men are asked to give their lives for God and country, and in every generation there are those who rise to the occasion. I hear people all the time saying things like, "How many more of our soldiers will have to die before we get out of this war?" The bible says there is a time to kill and there is a time to die, countless other Americans have killed and been killed in order to throw off tyranny, oppression, and other evils. To quote the Spider man movie, "With great power come great responsibility." The United States is the most powerful country in the world, we have a great responsibility not only to protect ourselves, but use our power and influence to bring freedom to the rest of the world, and sometimes that includes death to both the good guys and the bad.
By the same token we ought not be warmongers constantly looking for a fight or a reason to kill. There have been times down through the ages when one army has put another to flight at much loss to themselves, and a portion of the victorious army wishes to press their advantage, follow the fleeing army and kill them all. Now perhaps there is a time for this, but most wise leaders will allow their men to heal and recuperate before continuing the war. After the shootings at Virginia Tech, nothing could be done to exact justice, the killer was already dead. After so much senseless death not many people wanted to see any more killing, this was their time to heal. A healthy balance is needed, to say killing is always necessary would be completely wrong, but to say it never is would be equally untrue. There is a time for both.