Murder Is Not The Worst Sin

There are things far more malevolent, unjust, and degrading that a person could inflict on another person than simple murder.  I have not met a person who has said that there is not some line, however subjective it may be, past which they would rather die than be subjected to abuse of some kind.  Whether they conceive of the lines as subjective, pertaining to how much agony would make them want to cease living, or objective, pertaining to an act being morally worse than murder, the lines are there.  However, I suspect that many people I know would still consider a quick but murderous killing via gunshot to be a greater moral offense.

Anytime someone says that a real or fictional atrocity is worse than death, they are admitting, however ignorantly or inconsistently the admission may be, that some things can equal and surpass murder in their cruelty.  Only a handful of offenses have the capacity to be more evil than murder, but the exact depravity depends on the specific nature of the individual behavior.  The wickedness of one murder might exceed that of another, just like the wickedness of a certain rape or act of illicit torture might easily far exceed that of a murder.

Murder is far from the most vicious, depraved, or sadistic thing
one human could inflict on another.

For instance, there are methods of torturing a person that show far less regard for their personhood than killing them would.  If one person inflicts prolonged, daily beatings on another for several consecutive months or years, the victim's humanity is disrespected far more than it would be if the abuser simply kills him or her.  This torture involves more cruelty than mere murder, whether or not the victim dies from the abuse.  Whether a murder, rape, or torture is more evil than another member of the same list depends on a variety of factors.

A murder might be swift and painless, since murder is only illicit killing, its moral classification having nothing to do with the severity of the method.  A rape might be relatively gentle, since rape is only nonconsensual sex and does not have to involve any degree of physical force.  An act of illicit torture (any torture not prescribed by the Bible for a specific crime) might involve minimal pain, since torture is only the process of intentionally inflicting pain on a living being.  As such, a particular murder might be more vicious and prolonged than a particular rape, since it might be drawn out and conducted in a highly painful and degrading manner; a particular rape might be far more cruel than a particular murder, since it might be more sadistic; a particular act of illicit torture might be far more violating and abusive than a particular murder, since it might involve far more suffering on the part of the victim and might involve both physical and mental suffering.

As already stated, some murders can have a greater depravity than some rapes or some tortures, and vice versa.  But murder is never worse than sexual or physical abuse just because it is murder, and there are atrocities far more egregious than any murder.  Murder ends suffering, while the other things do not, and a person must live with them.  The myth that regards murder as the ultimate sin needs to die.  It stands outside of Scriptural ethics, is refuted by reason, and can lead to very erroneous perceptions of justice.  It only takes basic moral comprehension and a basic grasp of reason to realize these things.