Wednesday, March 23, 2005

The Philosophy Of Death: Part 1

Today I’m going to talk about my philosophy, my philosophy on death and killing. The truth about death is that we all are on the list; we all are going die someday. But the manner of our death is what we wish we could control. Personally, I believe that killing is all right. No, I am not buying into the philosophy of Peter Singer, but I believe that there are three justifications for killing, and anything other than that is murder. But let me state that I strongly believe that murder is in fact, wrong!

The first justification for killing is if you are defending a life that is being threatened by another, example, cops. Police do it everyday, they take the life of a criminal who tries to kill them or someone else. This is more than reasonable; it is necessary for the safety and survival of a society.

Second, it is justified to take life as punishment for the taking of another life; the death penalty. If you are convicted of murder by a court, then I feel it is the society’s obligation to end your life to maintain law and order. Now we cannot misinterpret murder for accidental manslaughter. People have killed others by accident because that is reality, accidents happened. It’s sad but different than premeditated murder. Murder is methodical and intended to take innocent life. I still think that punishment should be enforced, but not to the same extent as if it were murder. Scott Peterson was convicted recently for murdering his wife and unborn son. He is now on death row waiting to appeal the courts decision. He was convicted by a jury of his peers to be put to death; he is having to face the consequences of his actions. Sadly though due to our failed judicial system he will probably live a long life in his cell and never see execution day, but at least he is being punished for his crimes. He murdered, and now he must be put to death, period.

But with that you have to ask hypothetically, what about a mobster who shoots another mobster? He probably was not taking innocent life since both were in the crime business? Then is that murder since innocent life wasn’t taken? My answer, yes! It was premeditated, and to maintain law and order, we use a judicial system to decide who is innocent or guilty. If we didn’t anyone could go and kill and murder whomever they like. Under current laws you are innocent until proven guilty. Do I agree with this? It doesn’t matter, I am not writing to change the laws, I am just writing explaining and justify my beliefs in conjunction with the laws. Then, what is innocent life? Under Christian beliefs we are all guilty of sin. I belief that innocent life on Earth is defined as one that is not guilty of premeditated murder, or atrocities to mankind. Yes, we are all guilty of sin, but Jesus Christ is what has set us free of that sin. So, for as long as we are on this Earth, to maintain the safety of our society murder is the only crime that is punishable by death.

The third justification for killing is in wartime. Sadly, war is a part of human nature; it is unavoidable. There will always be someone in this world until its end that is bad and wants to murder and destroy innocent life. That person will find others to follow and he will build armies, and then will execute his wishes to murder through those armies. That is why it is a society’s obligation to protect their prosperity and civilian lives through war if needed. Now there are still rules of engagement that the innocent nation must follow to remain innocent, but the cry that all war is murder is wrong. The United States went to war with Iraq to stop Saddam’s tyranny and find his weapons of mass destruction. Though we have not found the WMD’s yet, we have stopped his rape rooms, torture camps, and have found mass graves of innocent lives that he has executed for unjust reasons. Those were more than justified reasons to go to war and kill members of his army.

In conclusion I’m going to have to assume that some might misinterpret my statements as being malice and psychopathic, but really it all has to do with wording and interpretation of our laws and language. Killing in the most part is the taking of a guilty life, while murder is the taking of innocent life. One is justified, and the other is punishable by death.

2 Comments:

Blogger Shelle said...

Great Blog, gotta add you to mine.

Thanks Lt Dan

4:38 AM  
Blogger Amanda said...

Well Said! I think "Killing in the most part is the taking of a guilty life, while murder is the taking of innocent life" Is really what a lot of the people who are against war and death penalty don't seem to understand. Keep up the good work!

8:15 PM  

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