Symmetry wrote: You're both right in some ways. Traditionally it's "kill" and it's very far from being just Mennonites who translate it that way. Most Bibles translate it that way, notably the KJV in English.
That "tradition" applies to Christians, but Jews have more often viewed it as meaning "murder". In truth, Christians (other than certain groups) have typically been free with the exceptions. Many people were not even considered "real people", and therefore not subject to that rule. Jews, on the other hand, tend to be a bit more consistant.
Symmetry wrote:
Some more modern Bibles use "murder", but it's far from being a clear cut issue even now. I've heard "unjust killing" brought up, but I can't give you references right now.
St Augustine's treatise is one of the most famous, discussing the "just war concept". For individuals,
this has more to so with our changing language than any real change in how the Bible is understood. In the past, many people were simply "excluded', it was "understood" without saying that it was OK to kill enemies that attacked your family, etc. In more recent times, many Christians have taken a different view. However, this gets complicated because, for example, a commong theme in Judaism is "mercy" , even for the animals they eat. Animals must be slaughtered so they endure the least pain possible. Christians have pretty well discarded that and, for many years, passed on completely false notions of what "Kosher" meant.
