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Murder, Sin & the Law

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” (Isaiah 5:20)

A few years ago, a man was convicted of a double murder here in Moscow. He had killed his wife and the baby she was pregnant with. The baby was considered a human being who had been murdered. However, if a woman wishes to abort her baby, the baby is not considered a human being, and killing the baby is not considered murder. Apparently in this country we can have it both ways.

We cannot have it both ways with God. There are two kinds of laws of men (of all nations):

1. malum in se: This refers to behaviors which are evil in themselves.
2. malum prohibitum: This refers to something which is evil simply because it has been prohibited.

An example of the first is murder. All states have laws against murder. Making the law is not what makes the murder evil. It was already evil.

An example of the second is a 55 mph speed limit. Exceeding that limit is not intrinsically evil. It is only wrong because the civil law says that it is wrong.

We have come to believe that malum prohibitum is senior to malum in se and can override something that is intrinsically evil, saying it is okay. This is calling evil good and good evil. The murder of infants is allowed in this country if the mother wishes it. The same murder is commanded in China. Other countries such as Soviet Russia, Nazi Germany, Saudi Arabia, and many other totalitarian states have both practiced and commanded murder.

The laws may change in this nation. We may say that evil is no longer a crime. That does not mean it is no longer a sin. Sin is a violation of the holiness of God. Sin is not relative. It is absolute. It is not defined by the Constitution.

God has a solution for sin. It is not by changing the definition of sin so that we do not feel guilty.

“Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.” (Romans 7:13)

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

In the Lord Jesus Christ,

Jim Wilson

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