Christianity on the Death Penalty

mont974x4

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It is hotly contested, even among Christians. I believe the Bible clearly says that God instituted the death penalty. I suuport it fully, but I think our current system robs people of justice. The condemned spend much too long on death row.
 
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IreneAdler

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I agree that there will be disagreement (weirdly).

I personally see the death penalty as Caesar's... people can under social law deserve whatever the highest form of punishment under the law is... hence why Christ tells you to obey the law... if you do you sort of don't have to personally worry about this one.

I think it's misapplied (but that's more a political belief than religious)
 
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Van

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Is there such a thing as justifiable homicide? If a loon is shooting unarmed folks, one after the other, does a policewoman have the right to use lethal force? It seems soldiers and police, acting under the cover of legitimate governmental power are authorized to take lives. So the issue is not the taking of life, but rather is the death penalty a "legitimate governmental power."

Lets consider abortion, very briefly because the topic is controversial and is not to be "discussed" on this forum. The government has given the right to the mother of an unborn person to kill the unborn. This is considered a justifiable homicide because continuing represents a threat to the health (either mental or physical) of the mother.

Now a convicted person who has been found guilty of a crime for which the death penalty has been imposed is not a threat provided the alternative is imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Otherwise you could make the argument that the homicide is justifiable do to the risk the person would present if turned loose on the public.

Another point that has been raised is the validity of the conviction. Once DNA was demonstrated to tie a person to evidence collected at the scene, several convictions were overturned because DNA demonstrated they did not do it, they were wrongly convicted. Hence a substantial period must be allowed for appeal in-light of new evidence because even 12 folks can be mistaken.
And as the case of the Lacrosse boys showed, a person can give false testimony and if the prosecutor likes it for whatever reason, wrongful prosecutions can occur based on bias.

The Bible says the government does not carry the sword for nothing, so legitimate use of deadly force is consistent with Christianity. But on the other hand we are supposed to protect the weak, and so the disproportionate number of poor blacks on death row speaks against Christianity to the core.

May God Bless
 
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drich0150

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But what is your Christian view on the Government sentencing people to death?

God has given our governments the right to decide what it is best for it's people. As Christian's we are expected to respect our governments decisions so long as they donot interfere with our direct relationships with God.

If we can not abide by our governments decisions on a matter like the death penalty then it is up to us to move.
 
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GreenMunchkin

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I am going to assume that many Christians have a very different point of view on this. But what is your opinion of the death penalty?

I have never lived in a country where that was allowed. But what is your Christian view on the Government sentencing people to death?

Thank you.
Am born and bred in England, and we don't have the death penalty, either. Am deeply, deeply, deeply against it. I really think it's a political issue - much like abortion has become. If life is sacred, all life is scared. Did you ever notice how it's often the people that are the loudest "pro-lifers" (and, I'm a pro-lifer) that are the most pro-death penalty? It's always OT laws that are cited, and yet mention shellfish (I hate bringing up a bog-standard atheistic argument, but it really does apply) and they'll acknowledge that we are under a new covenant. I don't mean that to sound scornful, if it does. I respect that many Christians see it differently but have always been baffled by this one.

Plus, in the UK, we've recently had massive scandals with our MPS fiddling their expenses to the tune of millions of pounds. (One chap did something with a moat... a moat! Another had a love-nest built for some ducks in his garden. Britain rules.) Maybe back in the day, people got into politics (and we need to remember that judges and DAs and QCs are largely political positions) because they wanted to do some good but nowadays it's just more corrupt badgers trying to earn a sneaky buck or million. Can they definitely be trusted to decide who gets to live and who doesn't? I'm not sire, either, that we can trust a jury who is simply made up of 12 people who know as little as the rest of us. Throw in that we can never really be sure whether the person is truly uilty or not...

And that's not even the important aspect. As a Christian, I truly want to see all people come to know Jesus. If we prematurely end their lives, we also end their chance to come to know Him. That's not a responsibility am willing to bear. Finally, I realised, I'd never ever be able to flick the actual switch that could end someone's life and if I couldn't do that, I have no business supporting someone else doing it.

/rant :sorry:
 
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Coralie

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I do think it's a "render unto Caesar" issue.

Although I must say, I'm pro-life, so I personally oppose the death penalty and would vote against it in, for example, a referendum. Possibly not in a normal election, since there are typically so many other issues involved--for example, when a politican pushes uber-liberal abortion laws, but wants to rescind the death penalty, how would I choose?, etc.

I wince as I say this, but fetuses and criminals are equally precious in the sight of God. I find it as difficult to love murderers/rapists/etc. as the next person, but I do feel I'm called to as a Christian.
 
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MyHeroIsJesus

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Those who love Jesus will receive His blessings. A criminal with a repentant heart will be with Christ. I fail to see the dilemma. Christ knows who does and who does not, those who do not will never. When the Bible says every knee shall bow, that just says that we all will confess He is Lord but not all will love Him for it. God's attributes do not change over time. He is a just God.
 
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Sketcher

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"Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man." - Genesis 9:6*

We must remember, this came on the heels of the Great Flood, where God wiped out everyone who wasn't in Noah's ark because the earth was filled to the brim with violence. You killed my brother, I'll kill you. And so on, and it never ends. You need to have a court of law to do final justice and cut these vendettas short.

I can see how Christians would be against it in New Testament times. After all, Saul of Tarsus tortured and murdered Christians, converted, and is now known as St. Paul. But his words on the death penalty is the nail in the coffin for me:

"For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. " - Romans 13:3-4

If this apostle could be in favor of the death penalty as an institution, so can I.

Now, my state does not have the death penalty. I'm not chomping at the bit for us to get it, since the main reason we don't have it is a very respectable one - they're afraid of executing the wrong person. But I think that wouldn't be much of a problem if we had some reasonably strict requirements for applying the death penalty. Besides, if you're wrongfully imprisoned and they release you after 10 or so years, do you really think you're going to get your life back anyway?

* It has been asked why some Christians defend the death penalty, yet eat shellfish. This particular command was repeated in the law of Moses, but it was first given to Noah. The ban on shellfish was first given to Moses. One of the things Christianity teaches is that Gentiles do not have to come under the law of Moses in order to become Christians. Ergo, Gentile Christians may eat shellfish, but we (obviously) may not murder.
 
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zaksmummy

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It's always OT laws that are cited,

On the matter of OT Torah being cited when discussing the death penalty.

I would just like to add that when a person was sentenced to death under the Torah, there had to be too credable witnesses to the crime. The had to be carefully cross examined by the court and they had to show under this cross exaination their credability. How were they credable? By being righteous in all things. Then they could be the first people to cast a stone at the accused.

The talmud tells us that very few people were ever stoned to death as very few people were deemed as credable witnesses.
 
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Wirraway

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RCC on the death penalty

2267 Assuming that the guilty party's identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.

If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people's safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity to the dignity of the human person.

Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm - without definitely taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself - the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity "are very rare, if not practically nonexistent."68
 
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IreneAdler

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lol. Thou shalt not kill doesn't work that simply when God told them to kill as well. God is not a contradiction unto himself. You're welcome to support the death penalty or decry it or to think it is supported or not in the bible, but please use appropriate scripture to support it. :p
 
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lol. Thou shalt not kill doesn't work that simply when God told them to kill as well. God is not a contradiction unto himself. You're welcome to support the death penalty or decry it or to think it is supported or not in the bible, but please use appropriate scripture to support it. :p

Thou shall not kill is appropriate scritpure.There is no more appropriate or unambiguous scripture than the Ten Commandments because it is the only scripture written personally by God.It supercedes all else on this basis.God is clearly a contradiction to himself.This is just one of many examples of it.If you want to emphasise and enact the malicious God rather than melevolent God then I guess that is your call.But it is not mine.So take your stones and go find an adulterer to stone to death and see where that gets you.
 
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