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NASB | Exodus 20:13 ¶ "You shall not murder. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Exodus 20:13 ¶ "You shall not commit murder (unjustified, deliberate homicide). [Gen 9:6; Ex 21:12, 14, 18] |
Bible Question:
Dear saints of the Forum, This is the promised new thread. Webster's - 'the crime of unlawfully killing a person especially with malice aforethought.' Does the Bible speak of 'conscientious objection' toward capital punishment? Fellows, please be consistent! Capital punishment is NOT murder by any interpretation of Scripure, while abortion and euthenasia are! You are speaking of your own 'conscientious objection' toward taking another life. As has been made so glaringly evident thes past few days, crime is war against humanity. Your argument is that once we have caught and disarmed a proven, admitted murderer, he is helpless, and no longer culpable of his crime. A moment before, when he had a weapon in his hand, we can shoot him, but now... I find this very inconsistent. The human rights of the victim are equal to those of the criminal. Blessings and peace. In Jesus, charis |
Bible Answer: It seems that most of my distinguished forum colleagues are in support of the death penalty. Let me begin by saying that I respect your opinions, and believe that it is possible for Christians to be on both sides of this issue. That being said, I will attempt to give a reasonable explanation why my interpretation of scripture leads me to believe that the death penalty is wrong in today's world. Before, I do that, I will try to respond to several of the posts that have already been shared. Charis, you mentioned that it is inconsistent to support killing a murderer when they have a gun in their hand, and then oppose killing them after they have been caught and disarmed. I completely agree with you. I consider it wrong to kill that person in both cases. Tim Moran, you mentioned that if the death penalty is going to be used, that it should be applied fairly across racial and economic groups. I would like to say that I completely agree with that. You also shared a very logical rationale of the death penalty. (1. it was not morally wrong in the OT, 2. it was not forbidden in the NT, 3. it not morally wrong or forbidden today). I agree that it was not morally wrong in the OT. However, although it is not expressly forbidden in the NT (in which case, this would not be an issue for Christians today), I believe that through several passages, it can be seen that it is no longer appropriate for believers to commit. CDBJ, I found your comment sarcastic, but it did bring up an important verse about a person who "lives by the sword will die by the sword". The problem with using this verse to support capital punishment, is that it seems to me that Jesus was telling his disciples to NOT USE THEIR SWORDS. Retxar, you brought up a very good passage (Romans 13) where it talks about God using authorities to punish wrongdoing with the sword. I agree with RElderCascade that an important distinction is that the sword is given to the authority not to the believer. Another point is that throughout scripture God often uses people who do not have a good relationship with him to accomplish things by using means that He would not approve of believers using. For instance, He used nations like Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and Egypt in the Old Testament as part of His plan at different times. However, I think that we would all agree that some of their actions (while tools of God) would be completely wrong for Christians to do today. Also in the New Testament, the God ordained authorities crucified Christ. Yet we would definately not want Christians today to do such a thing if given the opportunity. Brian G, I was encouraged when reading your post that I am not alone in opposing the death penalty. I completely agree with you that when we kill another person we are cutting short their time to repent and come to relationship with God. I must also disagree with Charis response that "Our system of justice provides a convicted murderer with plenty of time (too much) to repent of their sin before God." It seems to be incredibly arrogant for us as humans to decide how much time a person should be allowed to ask forgiveness. What would you have done if you were with Joshua preparing to cross the Jordan River into the promised land, and the front of your lines (the priests) are already in the river (their feet were wet), and nothing was happening? Do you decide that you had given God plenty of time, and start building boats? My point is that God's time is not our time, and because we cannot know it, it is wrong to decide that a person?s time is up. Steve Butler, I agree with you that God commanded wars and executions in the Old Testament. I was a bit confused by your second statement. Are you trying to say that all people who oppose war and execution do so out of fear instead of conviction? Kalos, I am saddened by your inflamatory post. It is not helpful to the discussion, nor accurate that all the Christians, who believe that capital punishment is wrong, are completely disregarding (ripping out the pages) the Old Testament passages on the subject. |