Can you be a Christian and Support the Death Penalty?

In St. Luke chapter 23 a convicted man with the death penalty asked Jesus for help right at the point of execution. Jesus ignored him. There were two men hanging on crosses on each side of Jesus. One believed he deserved to die and asked Jesus to remember him.

39And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. 40But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?
41And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. 42And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. 43And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.

Jesus made many comments about a death penalty here is one (death by drowning)-
Matthew 18: 5And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. 6But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

More- Luke 12:4And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. 5But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

Jesus on the death of his disciples- Matthew 24:4And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. 6And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.

Jesus on mercy- Matthew 5:38Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: 39But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. 41And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. 42Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. 43Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
45That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
48Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

The confusion over the death penalty is a result of confusion over justice and mercy. The two go hand in hand. God is just and merciful.

A Christian should have a merciful response because of justice, not inspite of justice.

A better question would be - Can you be a Christian and believe that God will condemn people to eternal punishment in a Lake of Fire? That is what the Bible calls the Second Death- the ultimate death penalty. Rev. 20:15

One old preacher said if Christians really believed in Hell they would crawl over broken glass if that's what it took to warn people not to go there.

Do I believe I deserve to enter Heaven- No way! I am most undeserving, that is justice.
Do I believe I will enter Heaven- yes, through Christ's sacrifice in my place- that is mercy.

The basis of my forgiveness is that Jesus Christ upheld God's justice so that I could be shown mercy without damaging God's perfect justice.

This is not hard to understand our whole society lives just this way.
Without the foundation of justice there would be no crimes, laws, courts, lawyers, prisons etc etc.

There is no need for forgiveness or mercy if there is no justice.

It really doesn't matter if men have a death penalty or not. What matters is receiving a pardon after you die through Jesus Christ.

I don't want anyone to die, without being forgiven by Jesus Christ. No One! Period!

But if I was on death row solely for being a Christian, do not feel sorry for me. It would be a humble honor. I think all Christians should agree that we should give our lives gladly for Christ's sake.

All men die, then the judgment.

There will be no death penalty in Heaven.

That man who was executed in California was loved by God. I regret he died. I regret that he was executed, I hope he was a Christian.

 

BTW- I think the root issue over penalties is the issue of -

Injustice.

God put inside of us a repulsion for injustice.


It is the injustice of man that is so horrible.

No one likes to be cheated or abused or wrongly treated.


That is the more deep and basic question.

I hate the fact that men are executed unjustly. No, that it putting it too mildly- injustice should be banned forever.

How many innocent men are executed? That is a terrible tragedy.

Jesus was killed that way- unjustly.

 

BTW-(while I am waking up this morning)

Justice is what is right and just.

A vicous serial killer breaks into your house and butchers your two babies with a knife and then raises the knife to kill your wife and you grab a gun and kill him.

That is just.

You did what was right and deserving.

He deserved it and your wife deserved it.

What is right and just (deserving) is the basis of justice.

That situation did not merit mercy, it merited swift justice.

 

Thanks Ottomaton;

I know that post wasn't directed at me but it helped explain something that I had been wondering about, the relationship between the Old and New Testament and whether the New overrules the Old.

 

Very interesting and thought provoking. In Buddhism we would call that Instant Karma.

 

I have learned that and grateful for your posts.

 

I brought this up in the Tookie Williams thread that even if people thought that he deserved to be executed it strikes me as very disturbing hearing people revelling in it by saying things like "Stick the prick" or "he's gonna get the juice."

 

This is well said. I too am a hypocritical Christian but not in the area of the death penalty. I'm against that.

 

Those are terrible things to say.

that is hatred, pride, and vengence.

justice and vengence are two different things.

only the Lord is allowed vengence- Romans 12:13 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

Vengence involves wrath- Justice involves equity and truth. Treating everyone the same without partiality according to what is right and true. That is where the term 'Justice is blind' comes from.

Man is not allowed by God to execute wrath.

 

"If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice."

 

Of course you can support the death penalty as a Christian. There's numerous rules in the Bible that if broken, are punishable by death. God loves AND punishes.

As for the original poster about using Jesus' crucification as an example; Jesus was a perfect person without sin, therefore he did not deserve to be crucified. All humans are with sin, and anyone who so much as even thinks about sinning is by definition not clean, and thereforse deserving to die.

 

So I deserve to die because I'm thinking about having a big ass lunch today?

 

Just to add to some of the other Christians posts...

When someone is killed by the death penalty, I am still saddened by the loss of life. I don't revel in it.

 

LOL and I thought about kicking this idiot on the train who kept crowding my seat. we're all in the same boat, I'm just glad that God knows we can't stop ourselves from sinning.

 

I'm sure someone has already brought this up, but it costs a lot more to keep someone in prison than it does to execute them

 

Actually balla that's not correct.


North Carolina spends $2.16 million per execution more than the costs of a non-death penalty murder case.

Florida has spent around $57 million on the death penalty for just 18 executions. This averages to about $3.2 million per execution.

In Texas, the death penalty costs an average of $2.3 million per execution, three times more expensive than imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years.

The State of Ohio spent $1.5 million to execute a mentally r****ded man who wanted to be executed.

California spends $90 million annually on the death penalty over the costs of their regular system. $78 million of that money is spent at the trial level, proving that the death penalty costs come almost completely from the trial level. Not the appeals process, like everyone thinks it does.

http://www.msu.edu/~millettf/DeathPenalty/6.html

Costs of the Death Penalty

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=108&scid=7

Millions Misspent: What Politicians Dont Say About the High Costs of the Death Penalty

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=45&did=385

 

wow thats pretty interesting. I've watched all these newshows that talk about how much it costs to house a prisoner. I'll have to get back to you on that, and make sure I aint talking outta my ass before I respond. If it is true though, I'll be the first to admit I've got caught in the spin zone

 

This is just off-hand for now, but Death Row inmates cost much more money to maintain before excecution than regular max security inmates. With the lengthy appeals process, that tab runs around 10-20 years before excecution.

 

This is one of the coolest posts in the history of the boards. Someone looked at evidence and acknowledged that they would take another look at a previously held belief. It is the sign of a truly open mind.