If your confused by the title of this blog then we have something in common. I have always been in favor of the death penalty. I really don't know why, I just always have been. I figured it was a just thing. You know, a life for a life. I'm also very pro life. As I get older I am seeing more and more, a contradiction between being pro-life, and supporting capital punishment.
Now when I say that I am pro-life, I mean very pro-life. I consider abortion murder, believe it should be outlawed, and put the death of these unborn children on the same level of the holocaust. I make no apologies for that. My reasoning behind this extreme conviction? Pardon my language but, because their human freaking beings!
It's sad that I have to elaborate further than that statement but I will. All humans, regardless of their stage in life, are sacred creatures created in the image of the Living God. We have been given an eternal mind and spirit just like our creator. Each and every human being, regardless of how insignificant or lowly we think they are, has been called and chosen by God for a special divine purpose. As you can see, being pro-life, goes much further than opposing abortion. It is treating all human life as sacred with sanctity and reverence.... Which brings me to the death penalty.
I understand from a financial sociological standpoint the reasoning for capital punishment. These criminals are a very real danger to society. Killing them would insure without a doubt that they will never endanger anyone again. I suppose life sentences would do that too, but that would also drain our resources and tax payer dollars. There's just one problem with that logic.... A human being is not A number. People are not cells on a spreadsheet. They are not lines on a budget sheet, gears in a machine, or logistical variables. You cannot use the, "it saves money" argument when talking about a person's life.
A person who has a family. A person who has a mother that will fall to the floor in horrific cries as her son is put to death. A person who has children. We have the right to end that life? Who are we? Some may say, what about self defense and war? Any rational person will understand the huge difference between killing some because we think we should, and killing someone because they are trying to kill us.
Still there is the question, what about the mother, children, spouse, and family of the person that was murdered? Killing the murderer will not bring the murdered back, nor will it take away the pain. You cannot expect a clean, neat, well planned execution of one life to equate as an adequate trade for the gruesome murder of another.
I must digress. The purpose of this blog was not to argue for or against capital punishment. It was to ask a question to the pro life crowd... Take a hard look at your convictions. If your really so pro-life, how do you wrestle with the apparent contradiction of treating all human life as sacred, while supporting the execution of another sacred, divinely called human being, bearing the image of God Almighty?
Abortion and capital punishment are two separate things. Abortion is killing a human being who is innocent and deserves the chance of life. Capital punishment is killing a human being who is not innocent and has had the chance of life but has abused it deliberately for evil. The law is a standard that has been set which the criminal is required to know and obey for his and others safety, so that he is without excuse. When he knows what the laws say and breaks it anyway, he must be punished. In the Old Testament, when God was first establishing Israel, He put down rules He didn’t want the Israelites to break. Of the laws He established one of them concerned people who would sin and kill others. What was God’s attitude concerning these people? (Continued)
ReplyDelete"And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death. And he that killeth a beast shall make it good; beast for beast. And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him; Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again. And he that killeth a beast, he shall restore it: and he that killeth a man, he shall be put to death. Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the LORD your God."-Leviticus 24:17-22
ReplyDeleteGod is holy and just and will not deny justice to those whose animals were slain, who were raped, who were murdered based on the excuse that the criminal “was made in the image of God”. They were warned and they blew it. Why would God tolerate such evil?
(Continued)
It is also clear that God wants man to carry out His will and administer this justice. Governments are instruments through which God works. It is not man by himself who gives the authority for killing in justice; on the contrary, they are given the authority and commanded to do so by God! Not to do so is to disobey God!
ReplyDelete"Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man."-Genesis 9:6 (emphasis mine)
The issue isn’t that the murderer and murdered weren’t made in the image of God, the issue is that because someone killed a person in the image of God they should be killed for their deeds. They earned death by what they did and so shall they be repaid. How is this unjust? (Continued)
This isn’t just some law only for Israel and isn’t applicable today, Paul in Romans explicitly states the same principle for governments today:
ReplyDelete“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgement on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, and avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.” –Romans 13:1-4
He is God’s minister to execute wrath on him who practices evil, even if that wrath is death. Not because somehow the criminal is any less made in the image of God, he’s just a number, he’s inconvenient…this has nothing to do with that. It is because of his evil deeds that must be punished, even if they earn him death. That isn’t the government’s fault, that isn’t his mother’s fault, that isn’t God’s fault, that’s his fault. He must be held accountable.
It’s the same logic concerning people and hell. They were made in the image of God but because of their sin they’ve earned themselves hell. It has nothing to do with their image in God, it has to do with their deeds and God is righteous to give them the wages they’ve earned.
You asked what the point of all this is if it can’t bring the murdered back or take way the pain. It will bring justice, it will make sure the person never gets away with his evil, and will protect others who could potentially have suffered the same fates from him if he was allowed to live. It also serves as an example for others never to follow in such a person’s footsteps thereby decreasing the likelihood of more people getting hurt. Even if you’re not convinced, justice is important because God thinks it’s important, and frankly, His opinion is all that really matters.