Excuses People Make

Human beings are wonderfully skilled at justifying their actions, including all manner of breaking the Sixth Commandment. Many point to Israel’s destruction of most of the nations of Canaan as an excuse to kill. But why did God command Israel to destroy the Canaanites?

Notice this: “When the LORD your God shall bring you into the land where you go to possess it, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you; and when the LORD your God shall deliver them before you; you shall smite them, and utterly destroy them; you shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them: neither shall you make marriages with them; your daughter you shall not give unto his son, nor his daughter shall you take unto your son. For they will turn away your son from following Me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy you suddenly. But thus shall you deal with them; you shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire” (Deut. 7:1-5).

The reasons become clear why God was forced to destroy these nations instead of allowing them to co-exist with Israel.

God, as the Giver of life, has the right to decide who lives or who dies. He decided to destroy the Canaanites because of their immorality and corruption, which included child sacrifice, rank idolatry and gross perversion. Modern nations are in danger of receiving the same death penalty.

God knew that this was inevitable and told Abram, over 400 years before, “And you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they [Abram’s seed—the nation Israel] shall come here again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” (Gen. 15:15-16).

Another excuse used to justify violence and killing is the “obligation” of vengeance. Romans 12:19 states, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”

This verse shows that vengeance cannot be used as an excuse for violence. Living by this scripture would eliminate useless, agonizing worry and suffering! It is better to let God settle the score.

Leviticus 19:18 states, “You shall not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the LORD.”

Make no mistake. Men and nations are not free to go to war and kill because of any supposed Old Testament authority to do so.

Media’s Devastating Influence

Of all the factors that influence youth, hardly any dominates more than television. Its effect has been nothing less than devastating. Consider the following quotes.

“American children watch an average of three to four hours of television daily. Television can be a powerful influence in developing value systems and shaping behaviour. Unfortunately, much of today’s television programming is violent. Hundreds of studies of the effects of TV violence on children and teenagers have found that children may: (1) become “immune” to the horror of violence, (2) gradually accept violence as a way to solve problems, (3) imitate the violence they observe on television, and (4) identify with characters, victims and/or victimizers…

“Extensive viewing of television violence by children causes greater aggressiveness. Sometimes, watching a single violent program can increase aggressiveness. Children who view shows in which violence is very realistic, frequently repeated or unpunished, are more likely to imitate what they see. Children with emotional, behavioural, learning or impulse control problems may be more easily influenced by TV violence. The impact of TV violence may be immediately evident in the child’s behaviour or may surface years later, and young people can even be affected when the family atmosphere shows no tendency toward violence” (American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, “Children and TV Violence,” No. 13, April 1999).

“Do you despair at the sight of the youngster in a trance in front of the television set? You are not alone. With sets turned on in the inner city for 11 hours a day, with video, pay per view and multiplying cable channels, TV has become the closest and most constant companion for American children. It has become the nation’s mom and pop, storyteller, baby sitter, preacher and teacher. Our children watch an astonishing 5,000 hours by the first grade and 19,000 hours by the end of high school—more time than they spend in class…

“The concern is that in later life, those conditioned to violence will intuitively continue to regard it as exciting, charismatic and effective. Consider how pervasive it is. By the age of 18, according to one estimate, a youngster will have seen 200,000 acts of violence on TV, including 40,000 murders. TV Guide looked at 10 channels on one normal 18-hour day and found 1,846 individual acts of violence—and every hour of prime time carries six to eight acts of violence. Violence has become normal, the Pied Piper to lure the vulnerable to a darker world.

“The youthful world has become dramatically more violent. Consider this piece of anecdotal evidence turned up by CBS News: The seven top problems in public schools in 1940 were identified by teachers as talking out of turn, chewing gum, making noise, running in the halls, cutting in line, dress-code infractions and littering. By 1980, the seven top problems had been identified as suicide, assault, robbery, rape, drug abuse, alcohol abuse and pregnancy” (U.S. News & World Report, “The Victims of TV Violence,” Aug. 2, 1993, Vol. 115, Issue 5, p. 64)

“In World War II, the Japanese would make some of their young, unblooded soldiers bayonet innocent prisoners to death. Their friends would cheer them on. Afterwards, all these soldiers were treated to the best meal they had had in months, sake, and the ‘comfort girls.’ The result? They learned to associate violence with pleasure.

“This technique is so morally reprehensible that there are very few examples of it in modern U.S. military training. But the media is doing it to our children. Kids watch vivid images of human death and suffering, and they learn to associate it with laughter, cheers, popcorn, soda and their girlfriend’s perfume.

“After the Jonesboro shootings, one of the high school teachers told me about her students’ reaction when she told them that someone had shot a bunch of their little brothers, sisters, and cousins in the middle school. ‘They laughed,’ she told me with dismay, ‘They laughed.’ We have raised a generation of barbarians who have learned to associate human death and suffering with pleasure” (National Forum, “Teaching Kids to Kill,” Fall 2000, Vol. 80, Issue 4, p. 10).

It is not an exaggeration to say that television has now replaced God, that Hollywood has replaced as teachers the Levitical Priesthood, and a cheap, shallow world of fantasy has replaced the truth of the Bible, virtually the world over!

What If…?

Once again, we present the same question: what if the whole world kept the Sixth Commandment, even just in the letter of the law? Military assaults and invasions would no longer be carried out. The ever-present threats of nuclear, chemical, and biological warfare would no longer exist. The defence budgets of all nations would be available for more constructive uses.

On the domestic level, people would no longer have to live in constant fear for their lives. Homicides, suicides and abortions would end. Police forces would be reduced. Television and movies would not glorify violence and murder. This is another glimpse into Jesus Christ’s soon-coming millennial rule, where individuals and nations will finally be at peace.