The fifth commandment has more meaning tan just "Thou Must Not Kill."
It actually has many facets and applications that do not deal directly
with murder. It can span all the way from stem research to weapons races
to racism. These are all actions against the fifth commandment.
Stem
cell research is the scientific study of human embryos (technically
live children) to see what uses they have to the medical community. This
entails the killing of a potential life. These embryos do not even
receive a chance to live out their lives and this upsets me greatly. Our
desire for knowledge has surpassed our morals, and no longer does the
value for human life exist. The possibility of finding knowledge never
should trump the value of a human life. never.
Weapons races are
another violation of the fifth commandment, but in a different sense.
This buildup of weapons that began after the second world war was meant
to withhold the peace of the world. All that it has done is made
mutually assured destruction (mass death). If these weapons are ever
put to use there will be no victor; just many lost. These weapons not
only endanger humankind as a whole, they have also plagued us in many
different ways. The spending funding this build up of weapons has
contributed to the economic miseries that afflict the modern world.
Racism,
in my belief, is the worst violation of the fifth commandment. It is a
sin against the human value of life because it is the belief that one
person is completely better than another person, solely based on their
race or where they hail from. This could not be any more of a wrong
thought, because we are all created in God's image. We are all created
equal. Inherently, no one can be outright better just for their skin
color or region of decent. We are all equal human beings, and the value
of human life is equal among all people
