Hemphill - Interesting you should bring up that kind of hypothetical. It's a very common way of trying to goad a person of rock solid conviction into admitting that they're not perfect and under the worst case circumstances they would react like an animal. Of course, reacting like an animal would never mean that's what the person would have chosen to do under different circumstances (or even in retrospect) or that what was done was not wrong.
Anyway, as you can imagine being Rasta and always having espoused the teachings of His Majesty throughout my Life, someone from time to time invariably has posed that kind of hypothetical to me. This is how I usually answer a question like that one when it's posed:
In 1968 when I was going to Malaga Cove school, my P.E. teacher was a fellow named Dan Inosanto (or Mr. I, as we like to call him). Mr. I and Bruce Lee were very close friends and used to practice together all the time. I once asked Mr. I if he would teach me some martial arts moves. His response to me (as close to verbatim as I can get 50 years later) was, "N___, you're the fastest sprinter in the class. You should always do everything possible to avoid a fight. You don't need to fight, just run away. Nine time out of ten you can run away, and the tenth time out of ten you take a punch or two and then run away." Disappointed, I complained, "But Mr. Inosanto isn't that being a coward?" He replied, "No, it's being smart."
Later that year, Mr. I had Bruce Lee come to our school and do a demonstration at an assembly. We kids were all thrilled because we were going to get to see some real hot martial arts demonstrated by two of the best in the world. All Mr. I and Bruce Lee ended up doing for an hour on stage was talk about being disciplined, physically fit, and AVOIDING a fight using every means possible. No punching or kicking were demonstrated. We were pretty disappointed because young boys like us were into violence.
Roughly ten years later, I had a former South Vietnamese Army Colonel and expert in martial arts & guerrilla warfare teach me the identical lesson.
These were all guys who could do whatever was necessary to thrash another human being and they all adhered to the "run away from or otherwise avoid a fight whenever possible" guiding principle.
They were all very credible and wise men so I listened to them and learned.
So if a person finds himself in your hypothetical situation, the answer is: One would never choose to kill another human being; even if one were backed into a corner and disabling his attacker was the only alternative. You'd try to avoid the confrontation using every means available. But if one did happen to kill someone inadvertently, then they'd be saddled with guilt and pain forever (which would be very difficult to shed) because, of course, killing another human being is violating a solemn commandment. But even on a less spiritual and intellectual level, and on a more human level, it would be very difficult to live with having extinguished another precious human life. Anyone who I have ever known who has taken a Life has provided ample testimony to that effect.
Also, we must never disregard His Majesty’s remarkable ways of intervening in our Life situations on our behalves and protecting us. Truly miraculous, but that’s a whole other topic.
Hemphill, have you ever looked closely at a baby's tiny little fingers and watched them move? If you haven't done that or haven't done it recently, try it. It's mind-boggling. The skin, the tiny bones, the nerves, the threadlike flexor tendons… all animated, functional, and glowing with warmth and Life. It's hard to see that miracle and to ever look at another human being’s Life with callousness or indifference after that. ("The biggest man you ever did see was once just a little baby") i would feel very uncomfortable in the presence of His Majesty immediately after destroying the Life of one of His precious Itren for any reason regardless of the circumstances. Of course, i would find peace with Him because JAH’s mercy & forgiveness know no limits never and JAH never lets us down.
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