Going to hell or not?
Only very pacifist sects or denominations such as Quakers or Mennonites view most all killing as a sin. Most denominations wouldn’t have a problem with it, in a similar vein to just war theory.
It gets more than just tolerating. As soon as Constantine recognized Christianity, the Council of Arles (314) declared that deserters/those that refused military service on religious grounds even during peace would be excommunicated. The church was always subordinate to the state once they were in accord (or the pope got invaded).
https://www.fourthcentury.com/arles-314-canons/
- Concerning those who lay down their weapons in peacetime,[1] be it resolved that they be excluded from fellowship.
It also excommunicated actors and charioteers, which didn’t last long considering the hippodrome ended up being more important than the Senate in running Constantinople.
Those switches ain’t gonna burn themselves! Though it’s possible they didn’t consider them “people”.
Just speculating here:
Bak in “Ye Olde Times”, it was said that the king was ordained by God, who is infallible. The king must therefore be infallible. As such, the King only selects infallible subordinates. If someone is sentenced to death by one of the kings subordinates (or the king himself), they have been indirectly sentenced by God, through his infallible messengers on earth. Therefore, the hangman is only acting as the “Hand of God”, carrying out the judgment indirectly passed by God himself.
Problem solved :)
… Therefore, your honor, by virtue of the transitive property I, as a citizen of this fine kingdom, am also infallible and cannot be held accountable for crimes committed by the hand of God.
The defense rests.
No! Not like that!
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“doing gods work”
I’ve actually thought he meant the Game “Hangman” and was wondering why the Church might have an official stance on a simple game ._.
This relates to the Catholic Church. I don’t know about other sects.
It depends on the time and place, but a lot of the time the inquisition would torture someone they accused of heresy (which might be just disagreeing with one particular pope). After extracting the “confession,” the prisoner would be handed over to the king for execution, usually by burning.
They were allowed to inflict horrific tortures for as long as they wanted, lie to the prisoner and even forge confessions, but they drew the line at killing. Sometimes.
I imagine it depends highly on what church and which hangman, since, at least with an American perspective, churches are scattered across basically any ideology you can think of, and people have been hung for any reason under the sun as well.
“The Church” has traditionally referred to the Roman Catholic Church, especially in historical contexts.
Or the Orthodox Church depending on the location. Those two were more or less conjoined for a while too before the schism.
I mean, if we do it that way they’re pretty openly against the act and probably consider it a pretty major sin for the active participants but that’s less fun than having it be an open ended question.
Why past tense?
Thought about using present tense.
Sorry. I didn’t get it. Thought we were talking about the game hangman…
Talking about real ones… I’m pretty sure most of the religions that have the concept of hell and heaven also love killing in the name of god. Half of the holy books are stories about that. So if you’re doing the hanging in the name of the lord, or when ordered by someone affiliated with him: heaven. If you’re doing it for someone else or a different god: hell.
But sure. There are several countries with sharia law out there. And countries that are said to be christian also still have the death penalty. This is still an issue.
And Jesus kinda died for my sins anyways. Might as well kill a few people then. To make it worth his effort.
I’m pretty sure most every youth group and Sunday school plays hangman, so I’m guessing the church wouldn’t say no.
