I'm guilty of murder

and by the way, Jem, be careful with posting that link here. you might get banned. well, i'm not really sure, but just be careful, okay? God bless!:-)

The very term "character assassination" has been used widely for a long time! I am not so sure if I can agree that taking ones dignity is tantamount to murder but I certainly see the point! Any act that results in the degradation of another human being is not right. Given the way society seems to head overall we could probably come up with thousands of commandments and still not cover all of the negative things we do to each other. Sad but true.

I wish I could find the article you refer to. I would dearly love to have read it before replying. I agree that to take away a person's dignity is a crime against that person. I hadn't really thought of it as killing but it's quite clear that Jesus did: Matthew 5:21-26 "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing." Yes, there are degrees of murder: the quick way - killing someone premeditatedly (or having them killed) for purely selfish reasons, which everyone would call murder, or the slow way by degrees - wearing down a person's confidence, self respect and dignity till they think less of themselves and their relationship with God than they deserve to do.

I don't know if I'd call it 'murder'. Maybe you can say it is a sin. What about killing someone's soul? I've heard about husbands who put their wives down at every given opportunity and over a period of time they lost themselves. I've seen strong women who have been degraded to that level. Would't that be a great sin tatamount to murder? What if someone takes away your dignity? Wouldn't you retaliate in kind? Would that be called murder too or would it be self-defence?