An Eternal Glory

January 29, 2003 @ 3:59 pm by Pressed

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

God’s plan and purpose is far greater than we can imagine. It is good to know that the daily struggles that I face as I strive to become more like Christ are achieving for me an eternal glory that will far outweigh them all. We often lose site of the treasure of God. He is eternal and so is the glory that he has bestowed upon us as we become His adopted children. We are co-heirs with Christ, not later but right now as we carry on his purpose. Eternity for me started the day I was saved setting my life on an alternate path that has already blown miles past anything I would have imagined for myself. God has done far greater than I could ever do. There is now no condemnation for me, and yet for those who do not know Christ they stand condemned already. Their condemnation began the day they were born. Oh how urgent it is that we proclaim the name of Christ, focusing on those things unseen, in order that some would be saved.

I pray that your focus today is not on those things seen, but those things that are unseen. The magnificent plan and purpose of God, one in which we cannot grasp until he completes it in us. Seek God and his kingdom today and above all else bring glory to the savior.

Pressed

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Capitol Punishment. Is it right or is it wrong?

January 21, 2003 @ 3:42 pm by Pressed

Is Capitol Punishment a sinful, evil thing to do to people, or are we commanded to punish those who have chosen to break the law? What does the Bible say about it?

It is a fact that Capitol Punishment is carried out in the Old Testament. Some of the things that people were put to death for in the Old Testament are:

Murder, Homosexuality, Contempt for parents, Blaspheming the Holy Name, Trespass upon sacred areas or things, Contempt for judicial decisions, Kidnapping for ransom, False witness in court, Sorcery, Harlotry under specific conditions. Bestiality, Negligence that results in death, Sacrifice to foreign god, False Prophecy, Profaning the Sabbath, Adultery, Incest

Methods of execution in the Old Testament
Methods used for execution in the Old Testament: stoning, burning, and the use of weapons such as swords or arrows. But the most popular of these was stoning. If there were very large groups of people to be put to death then the sword was used.

The Executioner
Who had the right to execute people in the Old Testament?

The Patriarchs. The Judges, The Elders, Professional Soldiers, Communities, Priests.

Limitations and Safeguards
Ancient Israel’s laws allowed capital punishment only for crimes against God and against persons. The ultimate concerns were for the sanctity of life.

There are also certain guidelines for the capital crimes worthy of death. For example it must be a premeditated murder, and not accidental or out of necessity. Sometimes two witnesses may be necessary for conviction since witnesses may be self-serving.

The Rationale of the Old Testament
For the society of its time, the punishments that they used were effective deterrents. These are things that set an example for others who may be considering the same crime. In this period of time society-wide accountability for individual acts was necessary. The Israelites were not simply to avoid these crimes but also to take appropriate action when anyone performs them.

So what about the Sixth Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Kill?

Some people would say that since this commandment does not distinguish between accidents, malice, self defense, legal executions, or death in battle then this is an absolute prohibition against the ending of any life, animal or human.

If this is the case then this commandment forbids capital punishment, war, and anything that would take a life, human or animal. This creates a problem when Moses says thou shalt not kill and then says if anyone strikes his father shall be put to death. It also creates a problems for animal sacrifices. Does the bible contradict itself?

The problem is the same word in Hebrew Kill can mean murder, put to death, slay and so on. It doesn’t narrow it down enough for us so we have to look to the context of the rest of the Pentateuch. Since capital punishment and war are common practices in these periods and these are laws given in the bible then under that context these are permitted. Thou shalt not kill refers to premeditated, malicious violence that is not sanctioned by divine decree as mediated by the stipulations of Israel’s covenant.

Capitol Punishment was also carried out in the New Testament There are several instances that we see where executions are taking place. Jesus’ execution for example, and the two thieves with him. Stephen was stoned to death, Paul was stoned as well, though he didn’t die.

Methods of execution
Stoning remained the main way of execution, but it also mentions burning and beheading. The sword is also mentioned as being used for execution in the New Testament.

The Executioner
The Jewish Religious Courts
The Roman Government

The Rationale of the Old Testament
Jesus tells us to keep the law, and these are things defiantly included in the law. Jesus tells us to obey the earthly authorities and kings and governments, and this implies that capitol punishment is very much part of the law and government in which we are to obey. “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore he who 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….He is the servant of God to execute his wrath on the wrongdoer” (Romans 13:1-4)

In Genesis 9 God establishes a covenant with all humanity in which, among other things, he gives mankind permission to exercise judicial authority among themselves to exercise his wrath against the crime of murder. The established penalty for this act is death. Throughout all of the covenants of God capital punishment has always remained.

Biblical Conclusion of Capital Punishment

1. Capital punishment was practiced in both the Old and New testaments.

2. Execution was given theological justification, explicitly in the Hebrew Bible and implicitly in the New Testament.

3. The motive for the penalty was not a human desire for vengeance, and thus it cannot justly be criticized by modern theological abolitionists on that basis.

4. Murder is singled out as among the most serious of capital crimes. Indeed, it is uniquely regarded as an attack upon God.

5. There are no texts in either Testament which overtly depart fromt eh Bible’s consensus on this topic.

6. The Bible distinguishes killing in battle or in self defense or in an accident or as execution from murder and negligent homicide.

The evidence uniformly authorizes the penalty of death for murder in Israel throughout the period of the Bible but it is within the context of the certainty of guilt and of equality before the law.

The problem is that Israel was a society under the rule of God and their law was the word of God. We live under a secular society, therefore do these rules still apply?

If when Jesus died and was resurrected he changed the law of capitol punishment as he did with sacrifices then the issue is settled. But that is not believed to be the case.

Throughout the New Testament Jesus accepted the Mosaic Code and never did anything by word or deed to abrogate the death penalty. The things that did change in the new covenant are obvious and easy to see and know, but capitol punishment is not one of these things.

The Moral Arguments for Capital Punishment

Capital Punishment Respects Gods Image
We are made in God’s image, and any penalty that degrades humans by treating them as if they had no worth is immoral. Does Capital Punishment do this?

Those who seek to “cure” and “heal” people without their consent treat these people as less than human. But to punish criminals because they “deserve” it is to respect them as morally responsible persons created in God’s image who knew better and therefore have earned this punishment.

The death penalty, at least for premeditated murder, does not operate in opposition to human dignity. Rather, it was established in respect of human dignity derived from the image of God within each human being. Capital punishment, then, is the ultimate compliment to the human dignity of both victim and murderer; it implies the most pro-human stance possible.

Capital Punishment and Inequitable Application
It is right to defend the death penalty as a valid form of punishment, and yet reject the way it is being done today. There are problems in the application of the death penalty, but that doesn’t mean we need to abolish it altogether. Instead we should fix the problems. People will argue that because of disadvantages of people and race we should abolish the death penalty. I agree that these are problems but they do not warrant getting rid of capital punishment all together. Lawyers “fix” parking tickets so does that mean we should abolish the law? Because something is unfair or has problems should we completely get rid of it or should we try to fix it?

My Conclusion
Capital punishment is not contradictory to God’s moral standards as revealed in either the Old or New Testaments. Humans bear the image of the eternal God and are to be accorded all the dignity and respect that the image requires. Applying the death penalty as retributive punishment, especially for premeditated murder respects the dignity of both victim and murderer. The criminal has deliberately eliminated a personal expression of God’s image and therefore is required to pay a suitable penalty: the elimination of the embodiment of God’s image in and through him.

Neither does the death penalty violate God’s moral standards as expressed in the Decalogue. Personal vengeance is prohibited and capital punishment is given to governments to apply after proper investigations. Inequities in the application of the death penalty exist, but they are reasons for revamping our criminal justice system, not eliminating capital punishment. If the death penalty is eliminated because of such inequities, then all punishments should have to be eliminated because few, if any, are fairly applied. We find nothing in the commonly advanced moral arguments that requires the elimination of the death penalty as a proper, morally acceptable retribution for capital crimes.

What are your thoughts? Comment below.

Pressed

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A hopeless pursuit of nothingness.

January 10, 2003 @ 3:40 pm by Pressed

“Men are in a restless pursuit after satisfaction in earthly things. They will exhaust themselves in the deceitful delights of sin, and, finding them all to be vanity and emptiness, they will become very perplexed and disappointed. But they will continue their fruitless search. Though wearied, they still stagger forward under the influence of spiritual madness, and though there is no result to be reached except that of everlasting disappointment, yet they press forward. They have no forethought for their eternal state; the present hour absorbs them. They turn to another and another of earth’s broken cisterns, hoping to find water where not a drop was ever discovered yet.”
- Charles Spurgeon

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