Far too few Christians spoke up in the recent public debate over capital punishment, and many of the few that did were from the misguided group that believes Christianity condemns the death penalty.
However, in today's Rapid City Journal, there comes a letter to the editor from a pastor in Sturgis:
Death penalty is morally right according to Bible
I am weary of the one-sided "religious voice" in the death penalty debate.
There is a lot of sentimental twaddle from the Roman Catholic segment about revenge and the moral equality between abortion and the death penalty. I frankly find these lines of argument offensive.
The Bible clearly teaches that the death penalty is not only a permissible punishment for capital murder, it is actually the mandated punishment. Due to the limitations of space I cannot go into detail, but I invite you to examine Genesis 9:6, Exodus 20:13, Numbers 35:16, and Romans 13:1-5.
To claim that Jesus was against the death penalty is to either claim that your Bibles are unreliable conduits of God’s revelation, or it is to set the purposes of God the Father against those of God the Son, and the Old Testament against the New. This represents a weak and muddle-headed Christianity. Do orthodox Christians not believe that the pre-incarnate Son was involved in the giving of the Law to Moses? Capital punishment is not revenge, it is divinely mandated justice. Abortion and capital punishment are not equivalent because the unborn baby has committed no capital crime, but the murderer has.
Rev. Brian Carpenter
Sturgis
2 comments:
Misguided? Just because some of us believe that being pro-life extends to the death penalty as well, doesn't mean we're misguided. You disagree with us? That's fine. But we're not misguided in our Christian beliefs.
I understand where you're coming from, Anonymous. But consider this:
If Genesis 9:6 says "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man." And this edict was issued from God to Noah at the rebirth of the human race after the flood, which was before the Mosaic Law, and has not been rescinded, then that's a strong statement in favor of the death penalty by God himself.
If Jesus Himself says in Matthew 26:52 that people who live by the sword will die by the sword, that seems like a solid statement that if you murder someone, you can expect to have your life ended.
If Jesus' apostle Paul says in Romans 13:2-4 "Consequently, he who rebels against the authority [i.e. breaks the law] is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong...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." Then that is a strong statement in support of the death penalty, and God's delegation of His authority over life and death to human government.
Finally, a key difference often missed by some who consider themselves pro-life is that in defending the lives of the unborn, we defend the innocent. However, if you defend the life of someone guilty of murder, then you're defending someone who has shown the utmost disregard for the sanctity of human life; you're defending someone that God has said should be executed. Unlike the unborn, they are not innocent.
It doesn't matter whether I disagree with you or not; my personal opinion doesn't count for a whole lot. What matters is what God, the author of all human life, says. What He says is in favor of the death penalty. So if someone calls themselves a Christian, yet holds an opinion contrary to God's, I think "misguided" is about as polite an assessment as I can make.
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