>>>>>I saw a copy of the old testament recently that had the commandment as 'Thou shalt not murder'; which of course makes self-defense and war ok, while 'Thou shalt not kill' seems a bit more stringent. But 'Thou shalt not murder' seems to me to be one of those 'interpretation' things. I don't read Aramaic, so I can't know, but I still like 'kill' better than 'murder' in that context.
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>>>>This would be a case where you need to take the Bible as a whole. In many places the Israelites were commanded to sacrifice animals. In Genesis, man is given dominion over the animals. Man is allowed to eat animals - so - in the context of the Bible as a whole, killing of animals is allowed.
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>>>>One of the reasons (I think) that the killing of man is such a big deal is that man was made in the image of God - animals were not.
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>>>>As for the original language (I don't know it either), my source says that word is "ratsach." It further states that that word is normally used to indicate murder or assassinate.
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>>>So we are in agreement on the concept of killing critters just for the sake of having them dead? Fly swatting, trophy hunting etc. All bad?
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>>No, we're not in agreement. Man has dominion over the animals to do as he wishes - as far as I know the Bible does not really address this issue except that it does say that man will have dominion over the animals.
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>And yet, his wish to do harm to them for no good reason is somehow seen as acceptable? I take it then that as long as man has dominion over something there is no requirement for him to act in a decent way toward whatever it is? Kill animals for no reason, torture them if you like, rape the earth? It's all ok, because I have dominion over them? The more you tell me about how one is supposed to behave as a true believer, the more the concepts fly in the face of my own sense of decency, and the more I want to stay far away from them.


You are the one who mentioned torture and rape - not me. You asked if killing of flies and trophy hunting were bad. I believe that while man does have dominion, he also has a responsibility. The Bible does not explicitly state whether or not the things you mentioned are wrong (as least I don't know where it does - actually I believe the rape of animals is in there somewhere as not being allowed.) In my personal opinion, I believe those things you mentioned in your last message would be things one should not do. Are they sins? I really don't know. You seem to have more concern over a fly than you do your own soul. Perhaps you should reconsider your priorities here...