The Sixth Commandment: You shall not murder (Exodus 20:13). The old King James translation is: Thou shalt not kill. The New King James Version does away with the archaic idioms of speech from 15th and 16th century England; additionally the original Hebrew and Greek texts dating to the 5th century have been compared to the Dead Sea scrolls to provide the most accurate translation to date. Many lacking knowledge of the Bible have cited the old King James version of this commandment as support for all manner of causes, when reading the next chapter of Exodus (21) it would be clear to anyone the old testament not only allowed killing but set out very specific guidelines and methods. Murder as described and understood at the time of the writing of the old testament was the unethical or immoral taking of a life, the punishment of which was typically killing the offender in the manner proscribed by Jewish law (remember, this was around 3500 years ago and the world was a much wilder and lawless place).
Living on the Spiritual Basis, we look beyond the outer to the inner, for there are deeper layers to this commandment. No one can assassinate, murder your character, peace of mind, reputation or connection to God unless you open the door. Living on the new basis, the basis of trusting and relying on God, we stand in the light, fearless (though often trembling) of the world, for we are in, but no longer of this world, walking the road less traveled. Rejecting gossip, character assassination and condemnation of others we are set free, for we now know in our heart of hearts the truth of being: that we are all children of the Divine and will reap as we have sown. Our job to be of service to all who earnestly seek and to pray in private for those struggling with the truth, asking God to do for them what they cannot do for themselves, never answering the unasked question but willing and ready to help when asked.
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