What if i see a man pointing a gun to a random good individual, about to shoot him, and its apparent that a dialogue wont do any good nor delay the execution and i got a gun. does shooting the potential killer means i fail to respect his right to life and therefor i am a sinner? does not shooting him means i fail to respect the potential victim right to life and therefor i am as just a sinner?
What if i see a boulder rolling in the direction of some good random guy and by jumping to its path, i can save that poor lad life on the expense of my own. am i a sinner by not jumping to its path? (Failing to respect their right to life) am i a sinner by jumping to its path? (Failing to respect my right to life)
What if some pedophile serial killer just got killed by one of its victim's dad and upon hearing about it i was extremely happy because from my perspective, he had no right to continue living. is the Dad just as a sinner as the pedophile? am i just as sinner as the dad because i wished that pedophile to be dead?
What if my boss extremely annoyed me and i wished with all my heart that he'd get run by a truck. am i a sinner?
Killing another human being is
always sinful, even in self-defense or defense of another.
HOWEVER, there are three parts to any choice: action, intention, and circumstance. In this case, the
action is sinful, but the
intention is noble, and the
circumstance (in this case, the lack of non-violent resolution) acts to justify the action. What you have in sum total is something which is neither moral nor immoral, but is ethical (my terminology). In short, you won't go to hell for it, but it's still not "good."
The second part of that and the second case are a bit more fuzzy. Because you don't directly and purposefully cause the death of either person, you aren't taking away their right to life. That said, in order to be totally moral (not necessarily totally ethical) you would have to do whatever was in your power to help them: that's fundamental to Christianity, the selfless helping of others.
Wishing death on others is also sinful, as it degrades their human dignity: the right to life is inviolable and can
never be revoked, no matter what someone does (this is why Catholicism is against the death penalty). However, feeling happy that justice has been done (in this case, that a criminal received his due) is natural; and while even the death of a horrible person should never be celebrated, feeling good that he's gone isn't something anyone would blame you for.
As for the dad being "just as much" a sinner as the pedophile, bear in mind that there are no varying degrees of sin: you're either for God or agin' Him, essentially. But the circumstances and the gravity of the offense can mitigate it. Depending on the circumstances, I'd have to say the dad would have committed a mortal sin, though still somewhat mitigated because it was in reaction to a previous offense. Still, Christ tells us to forgive those who hurt us, and revenge killing is just about the polar opposite of forgiveness. It's a hard pill to swallow, I grant, but it's what we're called to do.
I believe that you should be a good person. That's what matters most. Other things are not as important.
Essentially. As long as you follow your conscience - provided your conscience is not intentionally malformed - then even if you do something *technically* sinful, you won't be held fully accountable. Maybe some time in purgatory, who knows; but everyone can expect some time in purgatory.
That is a funny joke. Although, I take it more in the sense of "Stop worrying so much about proscriptive morals; God is concerned with so much more than that."
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