Subject: Death penalty Biblical? |
Bible Note: Hi, Julie... Oh my! Assumptions nailed together by specious logic, stacked on the foundations of unsound presuppositions produces a pretty shaky structure! So that's the kind of intellectual shacks that get built when we start with a belief and work backwards to bolster it. You've got so much of this going on, it would be too formidable of a task to correct in 50,000 character posts. I will, therefore, summarize. If you are interested in learning, you will ferret out your own misunderstandings in the search for truth. If you are only interested in bolstering your death penalty view, then you'll just continue to argue and contradict. Truth #1: God is creator, and therefore He owns all things (Psalm 100:3). Truth #2: God is omnipotent (Job 42:2) and omniscient (1 John 3:20), He is the rightful sovereign over all things (Psalm 135:6). Truth #3: God is holy (Leviticus 11:45), righteous (Daniel 9:7-11), and perfect (Psalm 18:30). All of His actions flow out of and are consistent with His nature (Numbers 23:19). Nothing can thwart His will (Isaiah 46:11; Daniel 4:35). Truth #4: God is triune in nature: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The three persons of the Godhead are in a complete, perfect, happy, loving, and harmonious relationship (John 17:5). When one speaks, the other speak (John 8:28). Truth #5: God has a plan, an eternal purpose (Ephesians 3:11); i.e., He has an end state towards which He is working. The Bible relates the story of this activity in what is called redemptive history. Truth #6: God invented, introduced, and implemented everything about death during creation (Genesis 2:17). Truth #7: God gave man a number of mandates. One in particular that has to do with our discussion is the social mandate (Genesis 1:27-28). Therefore, we read, "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For THERE IS NO AUTHORITY EXCEPT FROM GOD, and those that exist have been INSTITUED BY GOD. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for HE DOES NOT BEAR THE SWORD IN VAIN. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer." (Romans 13:1-4 ESV, my emphasis added) Insofar as they are in the commission of the social mandate, it is right and permissible for the administration of violence in ways appropriate to each situation. Even the individual, in order to prevent the commission of greater sin, may rightfully and morally administer violence sufficient to that end. Consequently, the state may exact punishment for a crime. They lack the power to exact the full punishment, only God can do that -- and will do that. In Him, Doc |