The Fifth Commandment

1 Q. What does the Fifth Commandment: Thou shalt not kill, forbid?

A. The Fifth Commandment, Thou shalt not kill, forbids us to kill, strike, wound or do any other bodily harm to our neighbour, either of ourselves or by the agency of others; as also to wish him evil, or to offend him by injurious language. In this Commandment God also forbids the taking of one's own life, or suicide.

2 Q. Why is it a grave sin to kill one's neighbour?

A. Because the slayer unjustly invades the right which God alone has over the life of man; because he destroys the security of civil society; and because he deprives his neighbour of life, which is the greatest natural good on earth.

3 Q. Are there cases in which it is lawful to kill?

A. It is lawful to kill when fighting in a just war; when carrying out by order of the Supreme Authority a sentence of death in punishment of a crime; and, finally, in cases of necessary and lawful defence of one's own life against an unjust aggressor.

4 Q. Does God also forbid us in the Fifth Commandment to do harm to the spiritual life of another?

A. Yes, in the Fifth Commandment God also forbids us to do harm to another's spiritual life by scandal.

5 Q. What is scandal?

A. Scandal is any word, act, or omission which is the occasion of another's committing sin.

6 Q. Is scandal a grave sin?

A. Scandal is a grave sin because, by causing the loss of souls, it tends to destroy the greatest work of God, namely, the redemption; it effects the death of another's soul by depriving it of the life of grace, which is more precious than the life of the body; and is the source of a multitude of sins. Hence God threatens the severest chastisement to those who give scandal.

7 Q. Why does God, in the Fifth Commandment, forbid the taking of one's own life or suicide?

A. In the Fifth Commandment God forbids suicide, because man is not the master of his own life no more than of the life of another. Hence the Church punishes suicide by deprivation of Christian burial.

8 Q. Is duelling also forbidden by the Fifth Commandment?

A. Yes, duelling is also forbidden by the Fifth Commandment, because duelling has in it the guilt both of suicide and of homicide; and whoever voluntarily takes part in it, even as a simple onlooker, is excommunicated.

9 Q. Is duelling also forbidden when there is no danger of being killed?

A. This sort of duelling is also forbidden, because not only are we forbidden to kill, but even voluntarily to wound ourselves or others.

10 Q. Is the defence of one's honour an excuse for duelling?

A. No, because it is not true that the offence is repaired by duelling; and because honour cannot be repaired by an unjust, irrational and barbarous act such as duelling.

11 Q. What does the Fifth Commandment command?

A. The Fifth Commandment commands us to forgive our enemies and to wish well to all.

12 Q. What should he do who has injured another in the life of either body or soul?

A. He who has injured another must not only confess his sin, but must also repair the harm by compensating his neighbour for the loss he has sustained, by retracting the errors taught, and by giving good example.

The Sixth and Ninth Commandment

1 Q. What does the Sixth Commandment, Thou shalt not commit adultery, forbid?

A. The Sixth Commandment, Thou shalt not commit adultery, forbids every act, every look and every word contrary to chastity; it also forbids infidelity in marriage.

2 Q. What does the Ninth Commandment forbid?

A. The Ninth Commandment expressly forbids every desire contrary to that fidelity which husband and wife vowed to observe when contracting marriage; and it also forbids every guilty thought or desire of anything that is prohibited by the Sixth Commandment.

3 Q. Is impurity a great sin?

A. It is a most grave and abominable sin in the sight of God and man; it lowers man to the condition of the brute; it drags him into many other sins and vices; and it provokes the most terrible chastisements both in this world and in the next.

4 Q. Is every thought that comes into the mind against purity a sin?

A. The thoughts that come into the mind against purity are not of themselves sins, but rather temptations and incentives to sin.

5 Q. When is a bad thought a sin?

A. Bad thoughts, even though resulting in no bad deed, are sins when we culpably entertain them, or consent to them, or expose ourselves to the proximate danger of consenting to them.

6 Q. What do the Sixth and Ninth Commandments command?

A. The Sixth Commandment commands us to be chaste and modest in act, in look, in behaviour, and in speech. The Ninth Commandment commands us in addition to this to be chaste and pure interiorly, that is, in mind and in heart.

7 Q. What must we do to observe the Sixth and Ninth Commandments?

A. To be able to observe the Sixth and Ninth Commandments, we ought to pray often and from our hearts to God; be devout to the Blessed Virgin, the Mother of purity; remember that God watches us; think on death, on the Divine chastisements, and on the Passion of Jesus Christ; guard the senses; practice Christian mortification; and frequent the Sacraments with the proper dispositions.

8 Q. What must we avoid in order to preserve ourselves chaste?

A. To preserve ourselves chaste we must shun idleness, bad companions, the reading of bad books and papers, intemperance, the sight of indecent statues or pictures, licentious theatres, dangerous conversations, and all other occasions of sin.