The death penalty. I have an opinion and some conviction, but I dont have a theological argument. I am sort of an open book on this one, so Im going to try and spend more time learning than arguing for a stance. I will give my opinion here, and then encourage those with the biblical arguments to come forth and convince me otherwise. The majority of people that negatively effect my perception are the ones who have their claws out and their teeth showing, running towards justice with gun in one hand and a syringe of lethal injection in the other, and too many of them are professing Christians. That bothers me. Too many deaths result from this overcharged generation of people demanding revenge and shouting, Kill him! There is this off-balance of demanding justice against murderers while at the same time wanting endless grace for their own sins. That causes me to step back and second-guess the whole operation. We are supposed to obey the laws of the land, and these 19 states abolished the death penalty, including our nations capital, Washington D.C. Alaska (1957), Connecticut (2012), Hawaii (1957), Illinois (2011), Iowa (1965), Maine (1887), Maryland (2013), Massachusetts (1984) , Michigan (1846), Minnesota (1911), New Jersey (2007), New Mexico (2009), New York (2007), North Dakota (1973), Rhode Island (1984), Vermont (1964), West Virginia (1965), Wisconsin (1853), Dist. of Columbia (1981). Do we enforce the death penalty or obey the law? Then weve got men like the the son of sam a serial killer who lives in prison for years and later becomes a Christian in jail, and now calls himself the son of hope. If he would have been given the death penalty, then he would have been killed before he got saved. That makes me lean towards life imprisonment rather than the death penalty, so that people have more time to be evangelized and repent. Luke 15:7,10 says, I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance...I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. If God wanted people to die and go to Hell for murder, then why does He save murderers? I just think that these people could be saved, and to kill them is an instant sentence to Hell, and I cannot fathom not giving a person as much grace as possible to repent. If they spend a lifetime in jail, then they could possibly be saved at some point. I do not think we are supposed to respond to violence with violence. Is temporal life the highest virtue? I just think that comes from the fear we naturally have of I dont want to die or from thinking that temporal life is more important spiritual life. We think of death as this horrific thing, but God doesnt paint death that way for believers. Ideologically, if it came down to two people and one of us had to die, me or an unbeliever, then Id rather die in order that the unbeliever have more time to believe the Gospel of eternal life. Perhaps an act of self-sacrifice is the most powerful message. Isnt that what Christ did for us? Not sure if I could actually do that, but I think thats basically how I feel about it. Now I know many think Im insane here, so go ahead and hit me with the Bible. As many chapters and verses as possible please. :)
Posted on: Mon, 09 Jun 2014 09:57:23 +0000
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