Is it considered murder to kill an enemy combatant as a soldier in wartime?
Question
Dear Gramps,
If murder is wrong/breaking a commandment how will the Lord look upon killing another human being during wartime? If I remember right, President David O. McKay gave an amazing piece of sound doctrine regarding this. Again, one of my early morning seminary students gave me this question this morning. please help me out gramps!
Robert
Answer
Dear Robert,
The term, murder, means to unlawfully killing someone, and implies ‘with malice aforethought. Such an act would certainly be condemned by both society and the Lord. It is often referred to in the scriptures as “shedding innocent blood.” However, it is sometimes necessary, and in many cases it is commanded by the Lord, to take the lives of the wicked.
As a case in point, in my own patriarchal blessing, that I received on the very day that I joined the US Army Air Force in WWII, I was told, “seek not to shed blood wantonly, but do your duty to protect this land as a land of liberty and a land of righteousness.”
Gramps
