Threatening death is not a tool to spread the gospel - at least not the gospel as I see it.I'm not an executioner, who knew.
The way I see it, it's a win-win situation, executing criminals whether they've converted or not. If you execute him and he hasn't converted, he gets what he deserves. If you execute him and he has converted, you send him home to the Savior. If you free him and he really did convert and change, you get someone with a great testimony. If you free him and he was faking it, you've let a monster out to rape and kill again.
Furthermore, I really believe that a well-timed execution can be helpful in bringing the condemned to Christ. If you're going to die in 30-40 years, yeah, whatever. If you know you will die in a year, there's a sense of urgency all of a sudden to make peace with whoever is on the other side of death.
A person saved by Christ will be judged by God to be NOT guilty and not deserving of punishment. To execute that person for their crimes is to go against the judgement of God ignoring the power of Christ.
A person saved by Christ has a powerful testimony, a message to share, the spirit living inside him and spiritual gifts to use. Do you really want to be the one to say that God should not be given the opportunity to use this person in the world?
What about Paul? We'd have found him guilty of being responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Christians. Would it be win - win to execute him?
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