The Ethics of Capital Punishment

[FreeInChrist]

I agree. In biblical times

Genesis 9:6​

“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.

Leviticus 24:17​

“Whoever takes a human life shall surely be put to death.

Exodus 21:12​

“Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death.

There are more examples but if it is good enough for God, it is good enough for me.

Numbers 35:30-31​

“If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the evidence of witnesses. But no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness. Moreover, you shall accept no ransom for the life of a murderer, who is guilty of death, but he shall be put to death.

So we have juries now to decided the guilt.

My only worry is that the wrong person can be found guilty. DNA ideantities have made it surer so I would
be able to vote for the death penalty if I was on a jury and believe there was no doubt about the persons guilt.

 

[Begotten]

To me a life sentence without parole would be worse than death.

 

[FreeInChrist]

To me a life sentence without parole would be worse than death.

We could go back to stoning, as God directed in the OT

 

[Begotten]

We could go back to stoning, as God directed in the OT

No, plus Jesus said "let the one among you who is without sin cast the first stone."

Today it would be cruel and unusual punishment.

 

[FreeInChrist]

No, plus Jesus said "let the one among you who is without sin cast the first stone."

Today it would be cruel and unusual punishment.

In April of the year 2000 a man by the name of Richard Scott Baumhammer went on a killing spree in the suburbs of Pittsburgh PA.

The first person he killed was a good friend who lived next door to him by the name of Nikki Gordon. He proceeded to kill 4 more and crippled another who has to lived out his life in a wheel chair, before the police got to him.
At my friends house he shot her as soon as she answered the door and tried to set fire on the living room carpet her Sheltie dog
went after him and he licked the dog so badly that it ran out the front door with a side full of broken ribs.

He is now 60 years old, and has been on PAs death row for 25 years. (Pa never kills anyone.)

Will he be locked away for the rest of his life? That is in God's hand for he still still trying to appeal every coupled of years....
but then... it could be that he gets sick with something terminal and will be let out.

Would it be cruel and unusual punishment? Yes. Might it be deserved? Yes. Lethal Injection is not cruel. But keep him in there as the prison system is needing to let some out for over crowding.

 

[Begotten]

Moral of the story is obey the law and it's all good. Unless of course you are wrongly convicted.

The "moral of the story" is the lesson or message that a story conveys about life, often related to what is right or wrong, or how to handle a situation. It can be an explicit teaching, like in Aesop's fables, or a more subtle theme that readers can infer, and it helps teach principles that can be applied to one's own life.