RE: [DL] "Killing in self-defense"

["Matthew M. DeForrest" <mmdeforrest@worldnet.att.net>]

-----Original Message-----
What exactly qualifies as "self-defense" (in reference to Christian blessed
being able to kill in self-defense)? I basically took it to mean if they are
shooting at you or trying to stab you, etc. you cant get away will killing
them.

OK, I've got one for you from the Catholic Catechism.  It's a quotation from
St. Thomas Aquinas' _Summa Theologica_:

"If a man in self-defense uses more than necessary violence, it will be
unlawful: whereas if he repels force with moderation, his defense will be
lawful.  Nor is it necessary for salvation that a man omit the act of
moderate self defense to avoid killing the other man, since one is bound to
take more care of one's own life than of another's"

To summarize the rest of the section, you can kill in self-defense if there
is no other option.  If you can do something less violent, "rendering the
aggressor unable to inflict harm," you should do that instead.  It also
specifies that this is not an exception to the prohibition against
intentional killing.

In terms of the specific questions -- were you too hard on the blessed who
shot the Cultist in the leg after he had summoned a demon, causing him to
bleed to death -- I would say you were a little harsh.  I think that a shot
in the leg would help prevent the summoning of more demons or other magical
mischief (Unless the blessed knew he was incapable of such action on his
own).  That he died from the wound (which the Cultist could have either
staunched or reduced the bleeding with a tourniquet) is a secondary issue.
If the blessed was GLAD he died or not sorry to have seen the opportunity to
have saved a soul lost....  I would argue that would be at least a minor
sin.

That being said, it's your game and you're the Marshal and it is a big gray
area.  If the player is unhappy and thought that he was working within the
realm of the blessed, have the act of repentance demanded be a minor one.
God is supposed to be merciful as well as stern, after all and I suspect he
would want the blessed to learn and return to "the ways of goodness and
righteousness" (as my Baptist fiancée puts it.)

Hope this helps.

Matt