| Product: |
Capital punishment |
| Date: |
05/01/01 (39 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Used to work in Bible times
Disadvantages: Human justice systems today are not capable of executing only the guilty.
As a firm believer in the Bible, my feelings on the subject of capital punishment are obviously influenced by its teachings. I try to conform to God's thoughts about capital punishment, while remaining neutral regarding the political stands that many take on this issue.
To put it pointedly, in the Bible, God does not indicate that capital punishment is wrong. Early in human history, God shared his thoughts on the matter, as we read in Genesis chapter 9: "Anyone shedding man's blood, by man will his own blood be shed, for in God's image he made man." So God authorized capital punishment in the case of murderers, people who willingly take the life of another.
What about today? Well, we know that God allows human governments to exist, and he called them the superior authorities. In fact, after advising Christians to be obedient to such governmental authorities, the Bible says that such serve as "God's minister to you for your good. But if you are doing what is bad, be in fear: for it is not without purpose that it bears the sword; for it is God's minister, an avenger to express wrath upon the one practicing what is bad." (Romans 13:1-4.)
Does that mean that governments are authorized even to take the lives of those who commit serious crimes? From the words at 1 Peter 4:15, I would have to conclude, yes. In that passage Peter exhorted his brothers: "Let none of you suffer as a murderer". Peter did not suggest that governments had no right to make a murderer suffer for his crime. On the contrary, he indicated that a murderer might rightly receive due punishment, which could include punishment by death.
But now focus on the apostle Paul's remarks about punishment, even capital punishment. We read at Acts 25:10, 11: "Paul said: 'I am standing before the judgment seat of Caesar, where I ought to be judged. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you also are finding out quit
e well. If, on the one hand, I am really a wrongdoer and have committed anything deserving of death, I do not beg off from dying; if, on the other hand, none of those things exists of which these men accuse me, no man can hand me over to them as a favor. I appeal to Caesar!'" Paul, admitted that Caesar had the right to punish wrongdoers, even to execute them. He did not object to punishment in his case if he were guilty. Furthermore, he did not say that Caesar could use capital punishment only for murderers.
Of course, the Roman judicial system was by no means perfect; nor are human court systems today. Innocent people back then and today have been convicted and punished. Even Pontius Pilate said about Jesus: "I found nothing deserving of death in him; I will therefore chastise and release him." Even though the Roman authority admitted that Jesus was innocent, this innocent man was still executed.
Such injustices did not move the Christian men Paul and Peter to argue that capital punishment is fundamentally immoral.
Rather, God's thought on the matter is that as long as superior authorities, they 'bear the sword to express wrath upon the ones practicing what is bad.' That includes applying the sword in the sense of using capital punishment.
But when it comes to the controversial question of whether any government of this world should exercise its right to execute murderers, genuine Christians should remain carefully neutral.
We know that the judicial systems around today are incapable of applying the law of capital punishment justly. There are many contradictions of law. I read recently of an American doctor, Leroy Howell, who said, "I am appalled at the schizophrenic [double-standard] thinking of American physicians." In a letter to "American Medical News," Howell explained that, in one recent issue, the magazine had reported on the American Medical Associatio
n Judicial Council's position "that it is unethical for physicians to give or order lethal injections for murderers" as a means of capital punishment. Yet he noted that the very next issue of "American Medical News" reported that "a director of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists was upset because the federal government would no longer pay for [aborting] babies who had never done anything wrong to anyone."
So, medical men who have no qualms over accepting government payments to destroy millions of unborn babies often oppose, on so-called moral grounds, the execution of a few murderers. An onlooker might even be led to believe that the amount of financial return has become a factor in deciding whether destroying life is moral or not.
As I have said in other opinions of mine, there are so many complex problems facing us today, not least the question of capital punishment. I feel secure in my faith in the Bible, in that, although capital punishment is not wrong in principle, human governments today are just not capable of administering such a law justly.
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- 13/06/01 A really interesting op. I think the comments below have made some valid points though. Someone said the bible has to be understood with the heart more than the mind. There was a case where an adultress was to be stoned to death by the pharisees and Jesus said let the first one of you without sin cast the stone or something like that. Of course nobody could. So she was forgiven and went free. So He in effect broke the law there or did He? I say no. Jesus came to free people from the law yet in doing so he made it possible via the Holy Spirit, according to Romans, that people obtain righteousness through their faith in him. They still obey the law because they have the Holy Spirit guiding them . How can life inflict death? Before Jesus the Jews were with sin. no one it says was pure except Jesus. So in effect all of them had failed the law. We too have but we have the Holy Spirit they didn't. So for me capital punishment isn't backed by God. It was clearly used in Moses time but that was for a different time and had it's place. We are freed from that laws consequences which are death. I think Capital punishment is wrong. Hate and unforgiveness are wrong and often people use that as an excuse to kill. Have you seen Dead man walking? Even the most evil of people can change. If NT is true (i believe it is)where demon possessed people were healed then i'm sure murders can be freed from sin too. I admit i'd be horrified if someone killed someone I knew but I believe i'd have to forgive if I myself expect Christ to forgive me. I don't mean to sound arrogant or critical here I liked your op - really thought provoking but i think you've taken the Peter issue out of context. The apostles had to live in a sytem that was corrupt and I think Peter was talking in that context. It also mentions slaves in the bible and urges them to obey their masters. Again I don't believe Jesus condones slavery, it was just the sign of the times. It is thought that Luke himself may have been a freed slave because doctors tended to be slaves of Romans. Christianity is about love so it doesnt in itself condemn people especially sinners as Jesus said he came not for the righteous but for the sinners. I agree that Justice sytems today cannot be trusted. great op. |
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- 27/04/01 Hmmm - while the views of Peter and Paul are all very interesting, you seem to miss out the view of someone quite important to some Christians - Jesus Christ. |
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- 05/04/01 Using the bible, and especially the exact wording in the bible is quite difficult, and even dangerous. Indeed, the bible contradicts itself in many places (in the end, it is written by humans).
There is also the application of general statements like 'an eye for an eye' vs 'turning the other cheek'.
Should we rob the robbers, rape the rapers? (we could put them in jail for that, prison life will have its course :->) or should we give them another go, by offering a murderer the chance to do the act again (eg turning the cheek)?
Even in this minefield, I must say you handled things pretty well, and managed to steer clear of the often used 'fundamental' approach.
Good op. |
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