Does Christianity endorse killing nonbelievers?
Luke 19:27 (see 19:11-27)
"But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them - bring them here and kill them in front of me."
This "command" from Jesus is actually part of a parable, rather than a direct command. The parable is
apparently meant to illustrate what will occur when God judges the world. One of those events will
be the "second death" of those who rejected God, i.e. their condemnation to hell, which is what 19:27 illustrates.
Can the king's command in the parable be interpreted as a command to Christians to slay unbelievers?
There are several points that go against this interpretation:
- The parable is clearly not meant to be interpreted too literally.
The king in the parable is obviously not strictly analogous to God,
for he admits he is unethical.[1]
Even skeptics must admit that Jesus would not intend to openly teach that God is unethical.
- If Jesus meant to give a direct command, he would have done so directly, as he often reinforced
important points after telling a parable.[2]
- Such a command would contradict Jesus' earlier teaching, where he rebuked the disciples for suggesting
that a village that rejected him be destroyed.[3]
- The parable is a picture of God's future judgment, not present-day judgment by humans. God is the one
who will execute final judgment - as in fact Jesus' teaching mentioned in the previous point illustrates.
Other judgment-day parables illustrate that it is God who will be in charge of the judgment, and there is no
reason to interpret those as a command to Christians to execute judgment now.[4]
- A nearly identical version of the parable in
Matthew 25:14-30
has the master commanding the lazy slave to be thrown "outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth,"
which can hardly be interpreted as a literal command.
Some skeptics object further that even if the parable isn't teaching that Christians should kill unbelievers,
it's teaching that God will ruthlessly destroy anyone who disagrees with him. However, this is not an
accurate picture. God will judge and condemn those who reject him, but he has the right to do so
(see God's moral authority), and he does so as a judge who must punish
evil but is grieved that he must punish those he loves.[5]
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Footnotes
1. Lk 19:21-22
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2. E.g. Lk 10:29-37;
cf. Lk 8:9-10, where the parable is
intentionally not explained to the crowd
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3. Lk 9:52-55
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4. Mt 25:45-51,
Lk 20:9-18
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5. Ezek 33:11
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