Can you be Christian and Favor Death Penalty?

[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.

[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?

[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.

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

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

Most importantly, by claiming these "agents of God" who execute wrongdoers can not be Christians because the death penalty is sinful, you're basically saying that God has authorized and commissioned non-Christians to commit sin.

Obviously, such logic is flawed and contrary to the rest of scripture.

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

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

Most importantly, by claiming these "agents of God" who execute wrongdoers can not be Christians because the death penalty is sinful, you're basically saying that God has authorized and commissioned non-Christians to commit sin.

Obviously, such logic is flawed and contrary to the rest of scripture.

I was viewing this more from a historical, rather than logical, perspective. Christians, at the time these letters were written, were living in midst of a nonchristian society. Obeying its laws, which included the Deaht Penalty, strikes me as merely a sane course.

The New Testament records Christians in high ranking offices of society, and those offices had the authority (and duty) to carry out executions.

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When Jesus had the power to prevent an execution, to be committed by his own people, he did so, at great personal risk to himself (that woman who was supposed to be stoned).

That execution was based on the moral condemnation of an individual who had been caught committing fornication.  It was a condemnation based on immoral activity, not criminal activity.

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

It was based on Jewish common law of the time.

Actually, the "Jewish common law" had the scepter ALREADY passing to Jesus - the Jews no longer had the authority to put anyone to death.

Gen 49:10 "The scepter will not depart from Judah, until he comes to whom it belongs."

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

Actually, the "Jewish common law" had the scepter ALREADY passing to Jesus - the Jews no longer had the authority to put anyone to death.

Gen 49:10 "The scepter will not depart from Judah, until he comes to whom it belongs."

Er...you'll have to explain this a bit further...but it doesn't look very convincing to me till now...

The scepter (authority) had already been passed to Jesus.

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

So, that would explain why he had the tight to stop the execution based on someone else's verdict, but not why he didn't then hand it out himself.

The OT laws governing stoning people were simply a warning of eternal judgment for breaking God's laws.  They really had nothing to do with capital punishment as we know it today, rather the OT laws governed execution for not following a religion, regardless if the one being executed had actually harmed another individual.

Unlike the OT laws, Jesus didn't seek the execution of someone simply because they had failed a religious code.

You're comparing apples to oranges.