As I was walking home from Occupy Moncton, I passed a building surrounded by a very medieval looking iron fence - and I wondered...

If this were the home of a cruel baron who tied women to the fence, and whipped one every day, leaving her overnight tied to the iron railing, would sneaking up at night and applying some appointment be considered an adequate Christian response?

we live in a world very much like that "baron's" railing, only worse with mass murder, plundering, greed, imposed starvation...

I know we send aid.

The trouble with the ten commandments is that they don't really cover much. And that leaves some terrible gaps for selected readings from The Bible, or an sermons.

For example, The commandments say thou shalt not kill. But we all know there are times when its okay to kill (and when a Canadian chaplain can say, "Our troops are doing a great job."  So we wouldn't ever expect a sermon on that topic.

Are ethics absolute? Is there definite black and white?

I suspect it's a sliding scale. For example, take two men. One gets in a fight, and stabs a man. The other, in a war, stabs a man, in hand to hand combat. Both are killings. But, one man goes to jail, and the other may get a medal.

Does circumstance play a role?

There have been armed conflict forever where countries and people fight each other for noble reasons - to protect country and families or because of political or religious reasons. I'm not saying this is right but this is what happens.

But there are always the factions who do not want killing to end. They are sadistic and haven't even got a justifiable cause to  attribute the killing to..

What does God have to say about this?

We yearn for peace in the world but how?

Is God showing  us a way?