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
It would be interesting to apply the same arguement for slavery. I think it can be done.
(This is in no way an endorsement for slavery or a poo pooing on the death penalty. Just a thought I had.)
In the third paragraph, I would like to know why you chose to give added emphasis (bold) homosexuality? Is there a reason you picked it out of the list to give extra attention to?
Yes.
Persecuting homosexuals for fun and pleasure? Not trying to start a war. I am curious why you would single out one group.
Firstly, I have and will always believe in the death penalty. Honestly, I think that it would help clear out our already overcrowded prisons if more prisoners were sentenced to immediate death instead of getting a prolonged lifetime on death row. Secondly, thank you for pointing out that HOMOSEXUALITY is not only a sin in the Bible, but I feel it’s despicable and grotesque. It is not a lifestyle and it’s not something a person is born with. It is an aspect of sin that is in direct deviation from God’s will for mankind. It makes me sick to my stomach and honestly, maybe we should use the death penalty for homosexuals as well!?!? I mean, after all, they did only a few hundred years ago….what has changed? There are only more of them plaguing our earth.
The reason I chose to “persecute homosexuals for fun and pleasure” is because I find it interesting that the very thing many people want to protect and defend is something that they put people to death for in the Bible. I didn’t put “murder” in bold because that is a no brainer. People know that murder is wrong even those who commit it. But not everyone believes homosexuality is wrong, so I decided to emphasize the fact that it was something so grotesque that they put people to death for it. Homosexuality ranks right up there with murder, adultery, beastiality, and incest. All of these things defile our bodies the very thing God made in his image. These sins defile the image of God and were so serious that the Israelites were told to kill anyone who committed the sins so that the whole nation would not be defiled. God wanted Israel to be set apart and to be pure and holy. In order to accomplish this they had to remove the evil from among them which included killing murderers and sexual perverts.
Right on. Guess I’ll go get in line for the gas chamber, then. I’m not homosexual. But, if I remember what Jesus had to say about sexual sin, the small stuff is just as bad as the big stuff & I know I’ve committed plenty of the small stuff.
The small stuff is just as bad as the big stuff. Okay, so does that make it right? Just because I broke the speed limit on the interstate yesterday, do I now have no right to say anything against homosexuality? After all, I’m a sinner just like the offending homosexual.
Your argument holds no water. Do people sin in both the “small stuff” and the “big stuff”? Yes, but here is the difference. “The small stuff” can be attributed to our sinful condition and our inability to be perfect and Christ was perfect. We may use our anger in the wrong way. Speed. Whatever. “The big stuff” (i.e. homosexuality) is a conscious and unrepentant sin that continually puts us in a direct and conscious opposition to God.
Why is it that the Bible refers to sexual sin more than any other? Because it is one of the only sins that involves our mind, body and spirit. In the case of homosexuality, a perversion of what God created for one man and one woman, the ramifications of the sin are potentially greater.
I don’t think that Pressed was encouraging open season on gays and lesbians or witch hunts or anything. As he said, it was only to point out the seriousness with which God treated homosexuality in opposition to how our present culture accepts it.
Le Renard Subtil
“…all Christians should stand up and tell it like they see it. Let the chips fall where they will. Don’t worry if the public doesn’t even agree with your most basic assumptions. Your job is not to win. Your job is not to control this society. Your job is to say what God wants said.” - John Piper
This is what I have done and will continue to do. This postmodern, humanistic world wants us to believe that we have no right or buisness standing up and declaring abortion and homosexuality as wrong, but they are. They are wrong and my job is to stand up and say why they are wrong. I don’t go bashing them, nor do I do it in a biligerant way (although some do), I simply state the reasons why they are wrong and state the fact that the bible specifically addresses these issues. God is far more disgusted with a Christian who sits back and says nothing than with one who stands up against the moral depravity that is corrupting His people.
Jesus addressed sexual sin and every other kind of sin when he said, “go and sin no more” meaning yes you have sinned and it was wrong so from this point on go and never do it again. I can handle what Jesus said. I believe that homosexuals can repent, be forgiven, and follow Christ when they “go and sin no more.” I also believe that it is right for us to stand up and point to homosexuality as being a sin in order that more homosexuals would come to repentance. By speaking out against sin and revealing the biblical stance on such issues I am loving my brother by trying to show them what is right in the eyes of God. By saying nothing or supporting sin I show no love for my brother because I am in no way helping them to come to repentance and to a deeper relationship with the savior.
The list in Pressed’s original post also cites “contempt for judicial decisions” as a basis for capital punishment. Should all the demonstrators who came to Washington DC to protest Roe v. Wade then be put to death?
I am only 17 years old and have yet to learn the true nature of the world, but all I see from this site is hate for others. I want to cry it is so sad and it truley makes my heart brake. I do not believe in the death penalty because (in states with the death penalty) if it is the right way to teach people that killing is wrong, then why do people still commit these crimes? How can we teach people not to kill, if we give permission to the state to kill? How are we to reach a higher state of understanding and commpassion for others if we give ourselves the right to kill people who do not hold our values?
How do you suggest you go about teaching people that killing is wrong? Smack them on the hand and say no that is bad? How would you like it if it was YOUR mother, father, or wife that had their throat slit open and the killer simply gets a pat on the butt and a couple years in jail for their crime? To say that the state has been given the right to kill people who do not hold our values is simply irrational and ridiculous. If a serial killer who has personally raped and slaughtered four or five women believes what he was doing was right in his own heart and does not hold to the states values on the issue then what you are saying is the state has no right to punish him for the crime because he doesn’t hold to our values. How ludicrous. The law is in place for the protection of the people and without it there would be nothing but chaos.
What is sad is that you think that a person who is morally corrupt and desides to go on a rampage and slaughter people had the same rights to life and freedom as any other person. If that was the case then there is no need for prison, jail, or the death penatly, lets let all the murderous, rapists out on the street and see what happens. How do you teach people not to kill? You show them the consequences of what happens to people who do.
I believe that the Death Penalty is wrong and very unjust. Only God can decided who should leave this world. Families shouldn’t commit murder and become the criminal to get comfort. That won’t bring the loved one back. This world is going to Hell!
The fact is God did decided. He put it into the hands of His people in the Old Testament. He told them if one person commits this crime then they are to be exectued. God didn’t do the executing, the people did.
yeah but that was god’s people wasn’t it, not everyone,strictly the israelites. Don’t even start telling me that we are god’s people because of jesus, he cancelled alot of the crap in the old testament because even god’s pure people were *(%*&ing things up.
Well you have lost your mind if you think that the Israelites were pure. They were just as much a big group of sinners as the rest of the world. You do make a point though, it was certainly for God’s people because he hates sin and wanted to remove anyone who created it among His people. Why? Because it created even more evil. God is what I would call the most intelligent being alive… since he did create everything, and if part of his plan to remove evil from among his people was to enforce this death penalty for these evil sins then that is something we can learn from. You don’t get rid of evil and crime in the world by patting the people on the butt and shoving them in prison for a few years… But hey, whatever floats your boat I guess.
you don’t get rid of evil and crime in the world by killing people who kill other people either.
You also forgot to mention the crime of causing one to miss carriage. (Ex.21.22-25) Protecting the life of the unborn baby. This falls under the line of abortion. The child is a life in the mother, a seperate life from the mother, and God values this life!
My correction, not causing one to miss carry but causing the death of the child in the mother.
I agree in all aspects so far with Pressed. Homosexuality is wrong, capitol punishment was put into place by the Lord, and is more necessary than ever to try to get this country out of the hole we gotten into. The main problem is, there are so many other religions and atheists now, that people won’t hold the Bible credible and look to it for answers in a very secular country. We are in serious trouble here.
did you get that answer from “Trite Christianese Emotional Overtures”?
when did we get into this hole?
how do you think capital punishment will fix things? i’d love to hear an explanation on this one.
the problem is that a lot of these “Christian” politicans like George W. Bush don’t look to the Bible for answers–they do what they want and warp the Bible into justifying it.
I agree with Jules. Who are we to judge who will live and who will die? If we do that, then we are no better than those who committed the murders.
Also, the old testament was written in a completely different era. The word should not be taken literally. We have grown in our knowledge of science, morality, etc. Therefore not every single word in the Bible can relate to the present. For example, the Bible says that homosexuality should be comdemned. It is now realized, even by the church, that homosexuals are born the way they are, just like everyone else. If there is true love, how can that be a crime.
So, all I have to say is, God is the only one who can truly judge. Who are we to decide who lives and dies?
Chantz,
Well I think the people who committed the crime are the ones that determine whether or not they die. The people who exercise the death penalty are not judging/condemning the person to death, they are simply carrying out the consequence to the choice that the person made. If a police officer gives you a ticket for going 110 MPH is he judging you or is he carrying out the consequence of the choice that you made in driving 110 MPH? It’s obvious that most of you would rather there be no consequences to crime, or a simply swat on the hand as if these murderers and thief’s have been corrected and will never do it again. We should have just bent Jeffrey Dahmer over our knees and gave him a butt whipping for killing, cutting up, and eating all of those people. Then send him back out on the street because he certainly won’t do it again. In fact, why don’t we simply let out all of the criminals in all of the state penitentiaries with a few swats on the rear and see what happens, because we are so wrong for putting them in prison in the first place because we don’t have the RIGHT TO JUDGE! If we don’t have the right to judge then we certainly don’t have the right to lock these people up in jail nor do we have the right to enforce law, so lets abolish the law enforcement and court systems as well. The only thing they are good for is judging people anyway.
Now, I would like to address something that you are completely wrong and miss-guided about. The Bible does say that homosexuality should be condemned. Yes this is true, but then you say that “even the church realizes and accepts it…” That is the biggest load of malarkey I have ever come across in my life. Don’t take what a couple rouge, misguided churches are doing and imply that “the whole church in general accepts this” because you are just simply wrong. In fact, most church staunchly condemn homosexuality as wrong and immoral, which it is. It isn’t something they are born with, and even if it was something that they were born with they would still be wrong! If Jeffrey Dohmer was born with the natural tendency to cut people up and eat them is it then wrong that we should condemn him and throw him in jail? It’s hard to believe that the disgusting, horrible, filthy, acts that homosexuals do to one another is true love and not simply evil desires and lust. Millions of people and churches across the world condemn homosexuality, so you can’t really use that as leverage…
Preach on.
“For example, the Bible says that homosexuality should be comdemned. It is now realized, even by the church, that homosexuals are born the way they are, just like everyone else. If there is true love, how can that be a crime.”
I laughed out loud when I read this. Who writes this stuff?
I am a firm believer of the death penalty. I am only 14 years of age and I understand that it is important to society to punish the evil. In Genesis 9:6 God states: “If anyone sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, For in the image of God has man been made.” And in these types of debates in America I believe the Bible should be Word. I believe this not because I am some devout Catholic, on the contrary. I say this because our country was built on a foundation of God and the Lord. On the money, in the Pledge of Alligance, and in the Constitution. Our four fathers have made God and His Word king and law. Our laws are built upon the Ten Commandments. I just hope all of you understand this.
And by the way the dealth penalty no longer has anything to do with homosexuality and the person who wrote this article never said his oponion on it. The person just stated a fact I know is true. So please stay on the subject.
im doing a project on capitol punishment for a class and i just think %75.8 od you are insane! pressed started out on capitol punishment and homosexuality became the “hot topic”… Lord! my report is gonna be skruued if i keep reading this..
huked one fonix wurkd four mee! live and let live