Do we have the right to life?

I think the ideas of pacifism and the question of "the right to life" can both be easily linked, well, maybe.

I believe in pacifism. To what extent? To a great extent. I believe that killing is wrong. And that brings up complications in my own life. For example, I often ask myself, if someone was about to murder my entire family, and I could save them by killing him, would I?
And I honestly dont know and hope that situation never comes up. But it also makes me think, does Jesus ever condemn killing? or does he say its ok in some circumstances? He never said it was ok, and he never said it was right either.
But He did say, in paraphrase, "turn the other cheek". So, how do we draw our conclusion?

Karl Barth wrote this on the subject of killing and war and how the church should react...

"The Church can and should raise its voice against the institution of standing armies in which the officers constitute per se a permanent danger to peace. It can and should resist all kinds of hysterical or premature war scares. It exists in this aeon. Hence it is not commissioned to proclaim that war is absolutely avoidable. But it is certainly commissioned to oppose the satanic doctrine that war is inevitable and therefore justified, that it is unavoidable and therefore right when it occurs, so that Christians have to participate in it." (Church Dogmatics, vol. III, pt. 4, p. 460).

It makes me think.

And then pacifism ties in with my view of "the right to life". I believe when you take a life, if the person isnt saved, then you send them to Hell, in essence. Yeah, they made the choice to not believe in God, but you put an end to their life, therefore, they will NEVER be able to make the change and believe from that point on. And even if they never woulda changed, wouldnt you at least want to give them a chance?

So, I believe that all life is sacred. And that killing is almost always unacceptable. Yeah there are gray areas, and I want to know the truth of what to do, if possible, in those areas.

I hope maybe this blog will help you think too, it has helped me to think again about these things so, thats it.

Peace,