Today, as we are snow and ice bound, I have been watching the funeral service for a fallen police officer. He was shot twice in the face during a traffic stop and was declared dead on Wednesday. The 60 year old habitual criminal who shot the Officer has a lengthy rap sheet, with convictions for crimes such as theft, receiving stolen property, burglary and drug possession from the 1980s through last month. He served more than six years in prison after a 1984 conviction on a burglary charge and had been arrested at least nine times in Marion County since 2003. The habitual criminal was paroled in October 2009 after a 1,000-day sentence for theft and receiving stolen property and was arrested again on Nov. 1, 2010, on charges of theft, receiving stolen property and vehicle theft. The habitual criminal was released from the Marion County Jail on Dec. 21 after posting bond. The end result was the death of a 29 year old police office. The County Prosecutor is looking into the death penalty.
I am often asked what my feelings on the death penalty are and as a Quaker how can I justify capital punishment?
Let me see if I can try and explain my position. First, I am in agreement the early historical scholars of Scripture who understand the difference between Justice and Love.
Here are some examples of comparisons which show the importance of keeping everything in proper perspective. Execution and murder are not the same nor is the ending or results the same. Those who feel the two acts are morally equivalent are wrong. Take for example the repossession of a car which results in the loss of the vehicle, it could then be classed as auto theft. Both result in loss of property. Is kidnaping and legal incarceration the same? Both involve imprisonment against one's will. Is killing in self-defense the same as capital murder? Both end in taking human life. If you are going to discuss the issue of capital punishment you must have a realistic view of the issue. We cannot base our laws on emotions.
During the discussion about capital punishment religion is most often brought up even though it is not relevant to the legal application of the death penalty. So what is the religious argument? That will depend on which side of the argument you choose to address. I happen to agree with many religious scholars that the correctly translated commandment “Thou shalt not kill” is "Thou shalt not murder" which is a prohibition against individual cases of murder. There is no biblical prohibition against the government imposition of the death penalty in deserving cases. In fact, the government imposition of capital punishment is required for deliberate murder.
Then there is the other side of the argument from the social progressive Quakers. They feel we are to take the ‘higher Christian road’ that enthrones the ethics of Jesus. Jesus would never permit capital punishment. Those who use this argument disregard the Scriptures and the intent of God’s will. They fail to acknowledge that nowhere does the Bible repudiate capital punishment for premeditated murder; not only is the death penalty for deliberate killing of a fellow human being permitted, but it is approved and encouraged, and for any government that attaches at least as much value to the life of an innocent victim as to a deliberate murderer, it is ethically imperative. There is no question that capital punishment was not only allowed but mandated in the Old Testament. Paul recognizes the legitimacy of capital punishment . . .’It is not without purpose that the ruler carries the sword. He is God’s servant, to inflict his avenging wrath upon the wrongdoer Romans 13:4.
Because we are created in the image of God capital punishment for premeditated murder is an obligation. This is the one crime in the Bible for which no restitution was possible (Numbers 35:31,33). Long before the Law of Moses there was a law against murder. In Genesis 9:6 "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed. The Christian faith is often called upon to articulate standards of biblical justice with the hope that capital punishment will be circumvented by love and forgiveness but capital punishment is a non-negotiable standard of justice. Society should execute capital offenders to balance the scales of moral judgment.
How can I disagree with capital punishment when God, Himself, instituted the death penalty (Genesis 9:6) and Christ regarded capital punishment as a just penalty for murder (Matthew 26:52). Scripture shows the government as the legitimate authority to use capital punishment to restrain murder and to punish murderers. Governments are not to inflict the death penalty in a flagrant disregard for God’s divine Law which recognizes the dignity of human life as a product of God’s creation. Life is sacred, and that is why God instituted the death penalty. Consequently, whoever takes innocent human life forfeits his right to live.
As a Christian we are to forgive those who carry out evil against mankind. So how can we not forgive the perpetrator of their evil actions against mankind? We can forgive and must forgive. Yet, just because the evil doer might repent and reform, does not over rule the fact that they may be justly executed. They have the opportunity to be converted to God through repentance and forgiveness. We should acknowledge the individuals repentance and conversion. But justice demand the consequence for their sin is paid. In a real life example of a changed heart is the case of Dennis Gentry, executed April 16, 1997, for the highly premeditated murder of Jimmy Don Ham. In his final statement, Gentry said, "I’d like to thank the Lord for the past 14 years (on death row) to grow as a man and mature enough to accept what’s happening here tonight. To my family, I’m happy. I’m going home to Jesus." As the lethal drugs began to flow, Gentry cried out, "Sweet Jesus, here I come. Take me home. I’m going that way to see the Lord." (Michael Gracyk, Associated Press, Houston Chronicle, 4/17/97).
I cannot know if Gentry did repent and receive salvation. That is between him and Jesus Christ. But he should not have been released based on his testimony of repentance. It would be a violation of God’s mandate not to execute premeditated murderers and nowhere does the scripture contradict this action. We cannot forget that murderers murder again, often time and time again - in prison, after escape, after release, and, of course, after we fail to capture or incarcerate them. Executions save lives because they will not repeat their evil actions. Capital punishment does prevent future crimes.
Quakers who speak out against capital punishment confuse the justice of God with the love of God. "If you do what is evil, be afraid; for [ the civil government ] does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is the minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath upon those who practice evil." Romans 13:4. "God has given the state the power of life and death over its subjects in order to maintain order. It is not uncommon for Quakers, to give to God their emotional values; instead of accepting those values which are inherent to a just God. The social justice Quaker has based their argument on human reason and emotions and not on the Justice of God.
One Quaker biblical scholar with whom I am in agreement is Dr. Gervas A. Carey. A Professor of Bible and past President of George Fox College, Dr. Carey wrote an essay on the death penalty entitled "A Bible Study". Here is a synopsis of his analysis:
1. . . . the decree of Genesis 9:5-6 is equally enduring and cannot be separated from the other pledges and instructions of its immediate context, Genesis 8:20-9:17;
2. . . . that is true unless specific Biblical authority can be cited for the deletion, of which there appears to be none. It seems strange that any opponents of capital punishment who professes to recognize the authority of the Bible either overlook or disregard the divine decree in this covenant with Noah;
3. . . . capital punishment should be recognized . . . as the divinely instituted penalty for murder;
4. The basis of this decree . . . is as enduring as God; . . . murder not only deprives a man of a portion of his earthly life . . . it is a further sin against him as a creature made in the image of God and against God Himself whose image the murderer does not respect
5. . . . capital punishment provides the murderer with incentive to repentance which the ordinary man does not have, that is a definite date on which he is to meet his God. It is as if God thus providentially granted him a special inducement to repentance out of consideration of the enormity of his crime
6. . . . the law grants to the condemned an opportunity which he did not grant to his victim, the opportunity to prepare to meet his God. Even divine justice here may be said to be tempered with mercy
It is abundantly clear that the Bible depicts murder as a capital crime for which death is considered the appropriate punishment, and one is hard pressed to find a biblical ‘proof text’ in either the Hebrew Testament or the New Testament which unequivocally refutes this. Even Jesus’ admonition ‘Let him without sin cast the first stone,’ when He was asked the appropriate punishment for an adulteress (John 8:7) - the Mosaic Law prescribed death - should be read in its proper context. This passage is an ‘entrapment’ story, which sought to show Jesus’ wisdom in besting His adversaries. It is not an ethical pronouncement about capital punishment. It is common for individuals to take biblical text out of context and to, thereby, pervert its meaning.
The opposition to capital punishment is not based on Scripture but on an emotional philosophical idea that the taking of a life is wrong, under every circumstance, and fails to distinguish adequately between killing and murder, between punishment and crime. The argument that capital punishment rules out the possibility of repentance for crime is unrealistic. If a murder does not repent when the sentence of death is upon him, he certainly will not repent if he has 20-50 years of life imprisonment. The Church and individual Christians should be active in their witness to the Gospel of love and forgiveness; but meanwhile wherever and whenever God’s love and mercy are rejected, as in crime, natural law and order must prevail, not as extraneous to redemption but as part of the whole scope of God’s dealings with man. No matter how often a jury recommends mercy, the law of capital punishment must stand as the silent but powerful witness to the sacredness of God-given life. Active justice must be administered when the sacredness of life is violated. Life is sacred, and he who violates the sacredness of life through murder must pay the supreme penalty.
Neither God the Father nor God the Son nor the Holy Spirit nor the prophets nor the apostles ever spoke out against the civil authority’s use of executions in deserving cases - not even at the very time of Jesus’ own execution when He pardoned the sins of the thief, who was being crucified alongside Him. Indeed, quite the opposite. The biblical support for capital punishment is consistent and overwhelming. Furthermore, Jesus never confuses the requirements of civil justice with those of either eternal justice or personal relations.
I hope I have stated why I agree with capital punishment and trust the Marion County Prosecutor will seek the death penalty for the murderous habitual criminal who took the life of a young dedicated police office.
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