Can you be Christian and Favor Death Penalty?

[Wakie]

You know, today I had an argument with a guy who tried to tell me that I can't be a Christian and be Pro-Choice.  I told him that I just have a fundamental belief that a fertilized egg does not have a soul.

I then asked him if he believes in the Death Penalty (he did).  I asked him how he can be Christian and favor the Death Penalty.  His response ... that's different.  So I ask, how so?  Isn't it a life?

Now personally, I do believe in the death penalty, but only in extreme cases.  Can I still be Christian if I believe in the death penalty?

[A18]

The difference is that one commited a crime, lol! What do you mean what's the difference?!

No offense intended, but come on. That's just basic.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

I voted "Yes", of course.

Both OT and NT support a state death penalty:

Rom 13:1-4 Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. 4For he is God's servant to do you good. 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.

[Gabu]

But the Bible also says,

"Judge not, that ye be not judged." - Matthew 7:1

Isn't taking someone's life away the ultimate of judgments?

[A18]

If you honestly want to know what that means, I'll tell you. If you're being an ass, no one cares.

[Gabu]

Okay, what does it mean, then?

[A18]

To focus on the superiority of good over evil and not you over other people.

That's not incompatible with justice.

[Gabu]

Well, after that part reads the following:

"For as you judge others, so will yourselves be judged, and whatever measure you deal out to others will be dealt back to you.  Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye, with never a thought for the great plank in your own? ... You hypocrite!  First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's." - Matthew 7:2-5

I don't see how this is saying, "Don't proclaim to be better than others."  How would you be "deal[ing]" a "measure" by proclaiming to be better than someone else?

[A18]

Exactly. If you go through life thinking your natural state is superior to other people, you're a hypocrite and a fool. If you're actually looking to do good, that's another thing.

[Gabu]

Okay, if you want to look at it that way, then how is taking someone else's life not telling that person that those making the decision to do so are better?

[A18]

Those making the decision to do so are correct. As for better, depends what you mean.

[??????????]

That quote in the bible simply means not to make rash judgements. It does not condemn a criminal justice system or the death penalty. If you want to go down that route, then should we get rid of the judicial system as well?

[J-Mann]

I've noticed that Christians will interpret different passages of the Bible differently.  Some choose to espouse "you live by the sword, you die by the sword" and some think "turn the other cheek".

I'm a Catholic and have a hard time supporting the death penalty.  However, I think there's no other option that adequately punishes a murderer (or equivalent criminal).  I would rather that those who would ordinarily face the death penalty be instead consigned to hard labor with no pay for the rest of their lives.  Let them break rocks; let them suffer the elements; let them think long and hard about their crime while they toil away for the rest of their days.  But that whole "cruel and unusual" thing comes into play here.  Usually, the alternative to the death penalty is life in prison, which isn't probably a walk in the park, but it just seems to light of a sentence to me.

These are issues that Christians must wrestle with, and they're difficult to answer.  My response is difficult and somewhat John Kerry-ish: no, I don't support the death penalty, but in lieu of chain gangs, hang 'em.

[Donovan]

No.

It is ironic that the same people that don't trust the government with taxes, roads, business, social security, and schools, trust it with the lives of people.

This shows such anti-Christian behavior because they are fine with a system that is imperfect when it comes to killing someone else, and has proven to kill innnocent people, but they don't trust the same govenment when educating their children.

That is the furthest thing from Christianity that I can think of.

Can you picture Christ pulling the level, tying the noose, or injecting a person? I cannot.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

Can you picture Christ pulling the level, tying the noose, or injecting a person? I cannot.

Then maybe you can tell me the name of the one who is spoken about in the following verse:

Rev 19:15 He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.

And doesn’t the flow of blood from this winepress run 5 feet deep over a distance of 180 miles? (Rev 14:20)

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Also, please reconcile your opinion with the following NT verse:

Rom 13:14 For he is God's servant to do you good. 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.

Isn't the executioner pictured as "God's servant" in the above verse?

[Donovan]

Rom 13:14 For he is God's servant to do you good. 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.

Isn't the executioner pictured as "God's servant" in the above verse?

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No, not if he is killing a man wrongly accused and sentenced. We kill the wrong person all the time. By supporting this flawed system that takes innocent lives as God's works, you are saying that God is flawed.

[nomorelies]

Yep, WHEN YOU ARE REPUBLICAN YOU CAN SAY ANYTHING AND DO ANYTHING TO CONFLICT YOUR ARGUMENT.

[weallbleed]

Yes. By definition one is a Christian only if they believe in the Triune God and that Jesus was the son of God.

I am not Christian, but I generally oppose the death penalty. While I don't oppose it in theory, it doesn't work in practice. The current system is a joke, if you look at racial stats on death row, as well as the fact that less than 1% of murders receive the death penalty and we know how long it takes to carry it out. On the other hand, increasing use of the death penalty increases the chances of executing innocents to way too high.

The only way I can see the death penalty being fairly used is it's used on only the most heinous of criminals, and I'm talking about war criminals and super terrorists (Timothy McVeigh would fall into this category). Then its sparingly use is logical due to the fact it is now the ultimate penalty. But the current system is a joke.

[minionofmidas]

But, jmf, the authorities referred to in all your quotes are non Christian!

[ThSneak]

You can be a christian and favor the death penalty.  You cannot be a christian and be a vigilante.  Personally, I am a Christian who favors the death penalty in principle, but opposes it in practice.  I just don't have a high degree of confidence in the accuracy of our legal system. (as the recent DNA aquittals show).

[Nation]

You can be a christian and favor the death penalty.  You cannot be a christian and be a vigilante.  Personally, I am a Christian who favors the death penalty in principle, but opposes it in practice.  I just don't have a high degree of confidence in the accuracy of our legal system. (as the recent DNA aquittals show).

Pretty much my thoughts, except I loved "Boondock Sainits"

[ThSneak]

I should clarify my earlier statement.  You *can* be a Christian and do a lot of things.  We are all sinners, and therefore none of us are perfect.  The question I was answering was whether you can be a christian who believes in the death penalty and have an internally consistent worldview.

[Wakie]

"He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." Yeshua of Nazareth (Jesus Christ) interrupting a public execution of a woman for adultery. John 8:7, (NKJ)

"I like it the way it is." Comment by Governor George W. Bush of Texas at the time that a law prohibiting execution of the mentally disadvantaged was defeated.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Yes... but... er... um... maybe...

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

But, jmf, the authorities referred to in all your quotes are non Christian!

Where does it say they are not Christians?  NT Scripture records Christians holding positions of authority, including the authority to execute death sentences, yet none of these people of authority changed their occupation upon their conversion.

Nowhere in the bible does God exclude a state government from enforcing the law, even laws concerning the death penalty.