Update from India 17

Hi all,

Kris is going to do the blog this month as I still find writing hard work; however I still want to continue my series on the commandments.

So, this month it’s number six ‘Thou shalt not kill’.

Mmm hard one this isn’t it, on the surface it seems so simple but it is a deep dark pool indeed.

Since Cain killed Abel, the first recorded murder in the bible man has debated the rights and wrongs of this commandment.

Remember that Moses and the Ten Commandments was at a time when God killed many people for various reasons, the enemies of the Israelites, the children of Egypt, he even slew a man for touching the Ark of the Covenant. He destroyed a whole army at the crossing of the Red sea. So what about as it says in the Bible ‘I am a vengeful god’ what can we discern from this. 
The Old Testament makes it very clear God is to be obeyed, feared and sacrifice made to appease him for our sins. He is all powerful and feared and held in awe by his people for that power over them. Do you think I go too far, I dont think so, imagine yourself living at that time and being told by God that he required your only son ( Abraham and his son Isaac) as a burnt offering? I don’t know if I could obey.

As you can see God allowed killing under certain circumstances.

Since the coming of Christ all our sins are forgiven by his ultimate sacrifice on the cross. We are no longer required to offer sacrifices such as burnt offerings. So some will argue that we no longer have to obey the commandments, I disagree (for more on why see last month’s blog) in this the 21^st century I believe we need them now more than ever.

So what do I believe it means?

Is it acceptable to commit state murder as execution?

Can a man kill in war to defend his country’s political system?

Can a foetus be aborted? As separate questions we must also include …when it is convenient or when it is necessary for the mother, or perhaps the child is impaired in some way.

If you kill to defend yourself or your family is that acceptable?

If you deliberately go out to kill a person?

If you accidentally kill someone?

You I hope can see my point, the list is almost endless.

Jesus condemns killing, (Mathew 5 1-2, 21) The sermon on the mount,’ And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them saying…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’.

As we have seen, under the Old Covenant God allowed humans to kill their fellow man under certain circumstances. However, what about today, and those who are now under the New Covenant, should we participate in the execution of a murderer? Should Christians involve themselves in warfare? 
They should not participate in such activities because the New Covenant is a covenant of life rather than death (2Corinthians 3:4-11).

Under the New Covenant, Christians do not execute people for sinning.

The most drastic steps anyone can take against an unrepentant Christian are withholding brotherly fellowship from him until he repents (1Corinthians 5:9-13; 2Thessalonians 3:14-15); Under the New Covenant a change occurred. Christians are not to execute sinners.

Although they should not wage carnal war they should engage in spiritual warfare (John 18:36; 2Corinthians 10:1-6; Ephesians 6:10-18; 1Timothy 1:18-20; 6:11-14; 2Timothy 2:3-5; 4:6-8). Christians must be peacemakers (Matthew 5:9, Romans 14:19), forgiving those who do them harm (Ephesians 4:29-32; Colossians 3:12-14; Matthew 6:9-15; Mark 11:25-26) and treating their enemies with love (Luke 6:27-36). Hatred which is the same as murder (1John 3:15), is unforgiving, vengeful and hostile towards Ono's enemies.

(With thanks to Calvin Lashway).

Some vegetarians even try to use this commandment as the reason not to kill animals although God gave us dominion over all animals for our use (Genesis 1:26-30  9:1-4).

I have seen quoted ‘Thou shalt not kill any living thing, for life is given by God, and that which God has given let not man taketh away’ from ‘Jesus, Gospel of the Holy twelve’. By this they completely ignore the fact that plants have life or do we now have to start defining what we mean by life? Oh deep deep water.

The Hebrew Bible states:

The Hebrew verb רצח (r-ṣ-ḥ, also transliterated retzach, ratzákh, ratsakh etc.) has a wider range of meanings, generally describing destructive activity, including meanings "to break, to dash to pieces" as well as "to slay, kill, murder".

Another verb meaning "to kill, slay, murder, destroy, ruin" is h-r-g, used of Cain slaying Abel in Genesis 4:8. When Cain is driven into exile, complaining that "every one that findeth me shall slay me" in Genesis 4:14, he uses the same verb.

The commandment against murder can be viewed as a legal issue governing human relationships. The Torah gives permission to kill a person as a result of a crime, murder, adultery, idolatry, having sexual intercourse with a person of the same sex, incest and more. Also to kill in war is approved.

(Chapter 68). Murderer and Protection of Life - Rotze'ach u-Shemiras Nefesh

It is forbidden to murder, as it says "You shall not murder" (Exodus 20:13, Deuteronomy 5:17).
A murderer must be put to death, as it says "He shall be avenged" (Exodus 21:20, see Leviticus 24:17,21); it is forbidden to accept compensation from him instead, as it says "You shall not take redemption for the life of a murderer...; and there shall be no atonement for the blood that was spilled... except the blood of him that spilled it" (Numbers 35:31-33). It is forbidden to execute a murderer before he has stood trial, as it says "And the murderer shall not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment" (Numbers 35:12). However, we are commanded to prevent an attempted murder by killing the would-be murderer if necessary, and it is forbidden to refrain from doing so, as it says "And you shall cut off her hand; you shall not be merciful" (Deuteronomy 25:12); and similarly for attempted fornication, as it says "[If the man seizes her and lies with her...] just as a man rises up against his friend and murders him, so is this thing"(Deuteronomy 22:26). It is forbidden to refrain from saving life when it is in ones power to do so, as it says "You shall not stand on your friend's blood"(Leviticus 19:16).  — Rabbi Dr. Azriel Rosenfeld

John Calvin viewed the purpose of this commandment as the safety of all being entrusted to each person. All violence and injustice, and every kind of harm from which our neighbour’s body suffers is thereby prohibited. Christians are therefore required to faithfully perform that which is within their power to defend the life of their neighbour, be vigilant in warding off harm, and assist in removing danger when it comes. Calvin asserts that the same rule must also be applied in regulating the mind against anger, arguing that since God sees the heart and mind, the commandment against shedding innocent blood also prohibits murder of the heart and requires a sincere desire to preserve our brother’s life. The hand does not commit the murder unless it is conceived by the mind under the influence of wrath and hatred. According to Calvin, where wrath and hatred dwell, there is an inclination to do mischief, quoting the Bible, “whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer”(1 John 3:15) and “Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgement”                          (Matthew 5:22)

For me personally I can’t answer all the questions raised by this commandment, some I agree with others I have problems with, you will have to decide for yourself, do some more research if you want to, there are plenty of different opinions to look at, find your own answer, for me its best summed up by the following quote from an unknown writer,

‘Note that the first five commandments relate strongly to man's duty to God and that the latter five commandments describe duties toward humans. The commandment against murder can also be viewed as based in respect for God himself since man is made in God's image, the shedding of innocent blood is viewed as a direct offence against the Creator’.

It is after all God’s law we are talking about here.
What you believe really matters, it influences your daily life and in a wider sense society as a whole, can you countenance murder in any form? Remember Jesus when asked which was the most important of the commandments replied by giving us two, one of which is ‘love thy neighbour as thy self’. Is His message really that hard to understand?

Visitor to the garden 2.5" long no idea if friend or foe

'Long Melon' can't be grown in Rajasthan so of course we have to try!

'Loki' sort of a sweetish marrow, great in stir fries or curry, anywhere really. We have had a really good crop, given dozens away over the last year.

Comments from Kris

Well folks this month the main writing will be from me as Chris has not been well enough to do this as he normally does, more on this later. He is hoping to add his piece on the 10 Commandments.

Things I have been amazed at on the roads this month include:

Watching a guy reverse at full speed the wrong way up a dual carriageway towards me, this in itself is not unusual here, it was the fact that he could not see where he was going as he had the car packed to the rafters with clothing, bedding etc. and could not possibly see anything out of the back window and it did not look like he had any side mirrors,

I expect he was trusting in faith as a lot of Hindu’s do. 

Then there was the rickshaw in town that was so overladen with parcels hanging out the back and sides and wedged inside that there was just enough room for the driver, not sure how he managed to pull away as he seemed so weighted down. 

Saying that Chris and I once saw a rickshaw with a motorcycle in the back.

Well about Chris illness, where do I start? I will try to give an overview of events but forgive me if I miss something out. I reckon it started when we went out for a ride with India Bull Riders we were visiting a place called Chittogarh which is about 100Kms away then we were to go to visit a farmhouse which belonged to one of the riders. 

We did the first part but Chris was absolutely tired and his joints were aching so we decided to come home early and give the farmhouse a miss. Chris continued with aches and joint pain then started with a high temperature then chills this was the pattern for a couple of days before Chris would agree to see a doctor.

By this time he was alternating between spikes in temperature, shaking, and rigors and started to get a little confused and got really bad diarrhoea. A friend took us to a local clinic/small hospital in a local area where he knew the doctor as Chris did not feel he could make it to the GBH American Hospital which was in the city. The doctor was nice but he insisted it was food poisoning/ gastroenteritis which both Chris and I disagreed with as Chris was not eating and these symptoms were recent. I insisted they do blood tests for Dengue and Malaria and thought these had been taken. Chris commenced Intravenous fluids and antibiotics but remained in the clinic until 8pm that day with instructions to return early next morning for further treatment. It was when I got home that I asked Chris about the blood tests as we had not had the results, he was so ill and a little confused on occasion that neither of us were sure they had been taken. I had thought they had been taken when I was out of the room paying for the medication. I telephoned the doctor that night who again said he did not think they were needed and was a waste of money, I told him it was my money and I wanted them done as I thought Chris was displaying some of the symptoms of these diseases. Next morning again I insisted they do the blood tests and reluctantly the doctor agreed.

Chris continued with Intravenous antibiotics and Intravenous fluids and after lunch the doctor had to admit he had been wrong and that Chris did have Malaria as the blood test was positive but he would have the report at tea time, Dengue was negative.

It is rare to get a positive Malaria test result it is normally diagnosed on signs and symptoms, whereas Dengue does often show up in blood tests, Chris was so infected with Malaria that his test showed no doubts about it. Chris in fact had the 2 most virulent and dangerous forms of Malaria. I remained very concerned about Chris as he did not appear to be improving and was sleeping a lot of the time which is not like Chris. They commenced IV malarial drugs and kept Chris in the clinic till late that day. Next day we returned and when the doctor was sure I could give the IV Malarial drugs via the venflon (he knew I was a nurse but wanted to be sure which I can’t really blame him for) he agreed I could continue to do so at home to save Chris the journey. I talked to Chris and we both felt he should be showing some signs of improvement and after a lot of persuasion he agreed I could get him to the GBH American Hospital the next day. 

As Chris was so exhausted and weak and it was Diwali he felt it would be better to wait. Chris still had diarrhoea and his condition to my mind was deteriorating, I was particularly concerned that his abdomen was swelling visibly and I started doing Girth measurements which confirmed my fears in this respect. 

Our friend Eric took us to the GBH American Hospital and we got Chris seen immediately in the emergency room. I explained my concerns gave all the medical papers and drugs to the doctor and was relieved that they appeared to know what they were doing. Chris conditions started to deteriorate further once we got him into the emergency room and they immediately started to treat him, it turned out that Chris had not only one form of malaria but the 2 most virulent and serious strains, so needed 2 types of Malarial drugs IV. They were considering sending him to ICU but his condition had deteriorated and meant they had to treat him in the emergency room to stabilise him. 

While the doctors and nurses were looking after Chris, Eric took me through the admission procedure which is time consuming and lots of paperwork and consents to sign. During this time the emergency team were saving Chris life and stabilising him as he had gone into multi organ failure shortly after his admission. When I got back they reassured me they had stabilised him enough that he could go direct to the ward which was good as it meant I could stay with him.

Chris remained oblivious to most of this going on as he was so ill and out of it for the most part. He was confused still but considering that he had gone into liver and renal failure big time that was no surprise. At one point he told me not to put myself in debt to get him treatment, as if I had even considered that. I reassured him that he came first and we could pay the credit card later, he was the most important thing. In his confusion he even ordered me to go home and said he would get the hospital staff to kick me out. 

Needless to say I ignored him and remained with him. 

Several times Chris talked about dying and we both knew this was a real possibility, Chris had even written something for me prior to coming to hospital just in case he did not recover. Chris explained that although it was password protected I would be able to crack the code and not to read it unless the worst happened, obviously this upset me and I reassured Chris I would respect his wishes.

I assume he has now deleted it, I don’t know I have not looked on his PC for it and he knows I won’t. 

Over the next few days the doctors continued to get his condition under control and his blood tests started to improve slowly, he continued with oxygen, nebulisers, Intravenous fluids and drugs and became a pin cushion for the many blood tests he had to have. Poor thing his arms and hands were badly bruised as it was difficult to get blood samples as his body was shutting down. His platelet count was very low and he had 4 units of Platelets transfused the first day he was in hospital. To be quite honest he nearly died at least twice during his stay but due to the skill and expertise of the nursing and medical staff they pulled him round and for that I am eternally grateful. Whilst recovering Chris had great difficulty and pain whilst trying to pass urine and in the early hours of one morning went into retention of urine. I was able to explain to Chris what was happening and that they would have to do an emergency catheterisation to resolve the problem. We did not know why this had occurred and Chris was referred to a urologist, who thought he had Prostate Cancer, he arranged for a sonogram and blood tests which Chris had that day.

Boy was that a difficult day for us both thinking the worst but at the same time putting our complete trust in God. We got the results later that night and whilst the blood test was triple what it should have been the sonogram did not show any tumour just enlarged organs and a very large prostate 60gms instead of 12gms. The consultant felt it was 99.9% sure it was not cancer and that the high blood test was due to Chris’s multi organ failure and catheterisation, but to be sure we will have repeat tests in a month. 

Chris was eventually let home after 8 days in hospital as his blood tests were starting to come into normal range and he had to keep the catheter in for a further week.

Chris repeat blood tests continue to show improvement and his renal function is now in the normal range which is good, he is however anaemic and has low protein so has commenced a high protein diet. This is ironic as he was put on a low fat, low protein diet in hospital. 

He also has a really bad urine infection for which he is taking high dose of antibiotics for 10 days orally and has had to have 3 days of Intramuscular Injections of antibiotics twice daily so I have had the pleasure of stabbing him twice daily. Chris tells people he must not upset me as I am stabbing him hee hee. Chris now has the catheter out (I removed it as Chris was too ill to attend the hospital the day it was to be removed, I did have permission from the urologist to do so) which is great for him but he remains tired and does not have a lot of stamina and energy.

But praise God he is on the mend and he wakes up daily thanking God for the day. We both feel as if we have been given a second chance at life and for this we are still overwhelmed by God’s love and grace.

We were both blown away by the love and support of our friends from our home church in Durham, UK, America and Germany and our neighbours, who were all praying for us. We have had Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Sikhs praying for us, which is amazing. I know some Christians would say we should not accept prayer from people of other faiths but I cannot agree with that. Firstly I believe it would be arrogant of me to do so and I believe if someone’s faith is strong and they believe in one God as I do I will accept their genuine prayers for Chris and I. People who we have not even met have sent their best wishes via facebook! Our neighbours all came to visit Chris, we even had several of the guys from the resort come to the hospital to see Chris and our maid came to the hospital with her husband to see Chris. We cannot tell you how much this has meant to us.

I still find it very difficult to put into words how I feel that I nearly lost Chris; I still get quite emotional when I think about it. Chris has been told he cannot ride his bike till after Christmas and  must not go to work before then so we are currently taking each day as it comes and remain thankful that we have this time together. 

During his illness Chris had several episodes of confusion and started to have visual and auditory hallucinations, which was a side effect of the medication he was on in hospital he is on less now and one he is now taking is to reduce the size of his Prostate. He once thought it was raining heavily on the tin roof, it was not and we did not have a tin roof, and I had to explain that the 3 beautiful young ladies who came to visit were in fact real; they were the medical students from Church. Chris was seeing things on the ceiling which is a side effect of the medication; luckily these symptoms have more or less subsided now. It will be a slow road to full health but if we are sensible Chris will be raring to go in the near future. Chris has lost at least 2 stone in weight, and I have lost weight too, we both wanted to lose weight but would have preferred not to do it this way.

Well work on our garden is partly on hold and reliant on our handyman we sometimes use to do the heavy work, we are in the middle of a project to plant a rose hedge where we had privet. It had to go as privet attracts mosquitoes and Chris has to be careful as there is no anti malarial drug available.

 We have our bees back in the garden which is nice. There is a hive at the bottom of the garden which seems to be thriving. I have tried to save our sweet peas from being overtaken with weeds, I am afraid they had been badly neglected of late but I have now weeded them so hopefully they will start thriving.

The idea is that as they grow they will shade the windows and smell wonderful as a bonus.

Hoppity (aka Tripod) really missed Chris when he was in hospital and still mopes around him; he remains the best fed street dog I have ever seen.

Chris is frustrated he can’t work, but realises he is not fit enough to do so, as Chris uses lots of energy when he is teaching and the classroom is on the top floor which is a hike even when your well. 

As a compromise he has agreed to do one to one teaching with a boy who works at the resort who wishes to learn English. He comes to the house where Chris can sit and talk to him for 30 mins, this is the most Chris can manage at present. It helps keep Chris motivated and gives him something to aim for; 

I will start work again in the next couple of weeks when I feel I can leave Chris at home alone without worrying too much. I am to start conversational English classes which should be interesting, I am definitely not an English teacher but hope I can find some topics to encourage the students to speak in English. (Wish me luck) I am thinking of using Art or something similar to take the pressure off.

I have just looked at our sweet peas again today and they are starting to recover, Praise God. Our weeds need attention but they are a low priority at the moment, I will get around to them soon.

Chris’s illness meant we missed a friend’s wedding the full 3 days which we had been invited to in Delhi. Amazingly the groom (our friend) got Malaria and was hospitalised the week before Chris. He understood we could not make it and Chris promised from his hospital bed that we would attend the reception which was in Udaipur on the Monday evening. 

Well the day of the reception came and although Chris was still really poorly, we went as he had given his word and would not break it (which I admire tremendously). 

We arranged a car to take us and bring us back and attended (30 mins of the reception), they knew Chris had made an enormous effort to keep his word and I know the groom and his bride were very touched as were all his family. 

They have become great friends and it looked like it was going to be a fantastic event. Chris took a couple of days to get over that but it was worth it to see the smile on the family’s face that we attended, and yes I wore a sari, and Chris looked very smart too, shirt, tie, a really nice jacket he has and smart trousers and shoes! The bride and groom both looked so happy and stunning I can’t wait to see the photos of the whole event.

Air Con unit now gives us heat, as Chris has converted it to do both jobs; this is great as it means I will not get cold in the evenings this winter. 

Well this last month has been emotionally draining for me, what with Chris’s illness, I also had an aunt die and as she was in England we will miss the funeral. To top it off I also heard that a close relative had been diagnosed with Breast Cancer so Chris and I are praying for her and her family, to respect her privacy I will not name her but your prayers will be much appreciated.

Our new door bell was collaboration between Chris and I, he did the metalwork and putting it all together, I painted the snake, it is a wolf snake by the way. See our photo of it to decide for yourself. I think it is brilliant much better than having the 2 bells hanging on a piece of string which we had before. 

Well thats all for now till next month. God bless everyone and once again Thank you for all your prayers and messages of concern regarding Chris's Health, I can't tell you how much Chris and I have appreciated it.
Kris and Chris