That is, to the extent that the state, for example, imprisoned people for murders, to such an extent the Church supported him, naturally. To the extent that the state protected its citizens, for example, during the Great Patriotic War, to that extent the Church supported it. But the Church never supports any evil. - And what is the Church's attitude to the death penalty? — In fact, it was the will of God.

After the global Flood, it was said: whoever shed the blood of man, let his blood be shed by the hand of man, says God, because man is created in the image of God. That is, a person thereby committed an act of iconoclasm, his blood must be shed. - In this case, does the Church have a positive attitude towards the death penalty? — Again, we did not install it, it is not for us to treat it in any way.

There is a biblical norm – a premeditated murderer should be punished only through the death penalty. A premeditated killer, of course. "But this means that the one who commits a murder, the executioner, for example, he also takes a sin upon himself. — No, I don't. The fact is that the person who does this, he is simply fulfilling the direct command of God. He administers God's justice.

He is the representative of God, that is, the judge who pronounces the death sentence, in the Bible he is even called God with a small letter. But, again, if he pronounces it fairly. A judge who judges unjustly or contrary to the law of God is an extreme criminal, and God promises to punish him terribly. And there are such examples. Therefore, by the way, God is not indifferent to social life.

If a deputy issues a law that contradicts the will of God – for example, Chernomyrdin, who in the law on abortion increased the period up to which an abortion can be performed from twelve to twenty weeks – he, of course, is a terrible criminal in the eyes of God. — Isn't there a situation where abortion can be justified in any way? - When can you justify the murder of an innocent defenseless person?

— Well, now I can't give an example. "The Church allows tolerance only in cases of ectopic pregnancy, precisely because there is no chance of survival for either the child or the mother. — And what about serious vices? "So you have to kill a person?" This is a very interesting logic, I am always amazed: if a person has a serious defect, then he must be killed.

And let's better kill adults with severe vices. A person was left disabled after a car accident and will not recover - let's kill him. Well, logical. Basically, so. "And what about cloning?" What is the Church's attitude to cloning? - He has a bad attitude towards cloning, of course, negatively. Now let's talk about the commandments. Those who do not worship God, who worship gods other than the Lord, that is, false gods – perun, buddha or someone else, those who are atheists, heretics, that is, those who distort the word of God, as well as those who split the Church, that is, the Body of Christ, for the sake of some of their own ambitions sin against the first commandment. Do you see what is going on here?

Man rebels against God Himself. And usually these people end badly. Those people who bow to themselves instead of God also sin against this commandment. Who are these people? The proud. Pride is a sin against the first commandment. "A person can pray to God and respect himself. "You can't serve two masters. The Lord said this directly, and practice shows it.

Either you will take care of one thing, you will neglect the other, or you will forget about one and serve the other. Must not. Against this commandment sin vain people, boasters, who live for the sake of false glory. Is it good to seek fame? Ok. But what is this glory that has puffed up and burst? It's a shame, it's unpleasant, it's annoying. What kind of glory should there be? Which never ends. What kind of glory is this? Eternal. And who can give eternal glory? Only the eternal God.

That is why God said: "I will glorify those who glorify Me, but those who dishonor Me will be put to shame" (1 Samuel 2:30). Therefore, for example, saints are people who won real glory, they were truly glorious. And people who seek glory on earth are fools, because their glory is in vain, and these people, of course, commit sin. Against this commandment sin the man-pleasers, that is, those people who act against the will of God, against their conscience, in order to please people.

Therefore, Christians have the following principle: if a person wants to demand that we violate the will of God, we must listen to God, not to man. Whether it concerns the state, whether it concerns the family, whether it concerns parents, whether it concerns children, the husband – it does not matter. You see, for us, the will of God always comes first. Everything else is on the second. "And honor your parents?"

— The reverence of parents continues exactly to the limit until the parent demands the violation of God's will. The will of God always comes first, because God is above all. Parents will not save us from death, they will not give us resurrection. And it was not they who gave us life, but God through them. Therefore, we, in fact, revere our parents as instruments through which God gave us life.

The next commandment reads: "You shall not make for yourself an idol or any image of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the waters under the earth; Thou shalt not worship them, nor serve them: for I am the Lord thy God, a jealous God, punishing the children for the trespass of their fathers, even to the third and fourth generations, who hate Me, and showing mercy unto a thousand generations to them that love Me and keep My commandments" (Exodus 20:4-6).

This commandment prohibits bowing to idols, so you cannot wear any amulets, you cannot have idols in the house, for example, Apollo, any pagan gods, especially to make any sacrifices before them. Idols cannot be kept at home. Practice shows that those who hold idols, they have horrors, fears begin, and the apartment becomes bad.