Just War theorists have cited this passage for centuries to give biblical justification for the use of government-authorized lethal force in warfare. [The death penalty can be pro-life On Faith- Can you be pro-life and pro-death penalty? How does one reconcile these positions? September 15, 2011]
We will post three
articles from Richard Land and Dean Rutherford defending capital punishment in a biblical way.
INTERNET
SOURCE: http://www.onenewsnow.com/church/2015/10/30/land-defends-capital-punishment-with-stipulations
Land defends capital punishment - with stipulations
Friday, October 30, 2015
The nation's largest evangelical
association has adjusted its stance in support of the death penalty,
acknowledging that Christians differ over their beliefs about capital
punishment.
After backing the death penalty for
more than 40 years, The National Association of Evangelicals recently passed a
resolution recognizing the growing opposition to capital punishment among
Christians concluding that "we affirm the conscientious commitment of both
streams of Christian ethical thought."
OneNewsNow sought reaction from Dr.
Richard Land, president of Southern Evangelical Seminary in North
Carolina. He cites Romans 13 for his support of the death penalty and
argues that Christians can be both pro-life and pro-capital punishment.
"You're echoing what
God says in Genesis 9,"
says Land, "that anyone who takes another human
being's life premeditatedly and wantonly is assuming the prerogatives of God.
And they have no right to do so and that the penalty for doing that is the
forfeiture of your own life."
The longtime theologian adds a caveat
to his support, which is that the legal system must provide adequate legal
defense. That includes competent defense attorneys and an adequate appeals
process, and DNA testing in every capital case.
"If we're going to
support capital punishment – and I do – then we have to be as committed to its
equitable and just application as we are to it being used," Land says.
The death penalty can be pro-life
On Faith- Can you be pro-life and pro-death penalty? How
does one reconcile these positions?
It
is often pointed out, contrary to what most people expect, that there is a
positive correlation between being pro-life and supporting the death penalty.
Conversely, there is also a positive correlation between being pro-choice and
being against the death penalty.
Many
people who are pro-choice point this out and talk about the Roman Catholic
church’s attempt to have what they call a “seamless garment” approach, which
means that if you are pro-life you must also be opposed to the death penalty. I
support both the pro-life position and the death penalty and see consistency
rather than contradiction in holding these positions. Yet that does not mean
that I support, without reservation, the death penalty as it has been and is
still often applied in the United States.
I
am pro-life because the Bible clearly teaches us that life begins at conception
(Psalm 51:5) This truth is supported with ever increasing detail as the science
of embryology reveals more and more about the intricacies of human fetal
development. The Bible also tells us God is involved when conception takes
place (Jeremiah 1:4-5), and that God is involved intimately in the process of
maturation and development of a child even prior to birth (Psalm 139:13-16).
In
the most sustained passage in the New Testament concerning God’s plan and role
for government (Romans 13), we learn that God ordained the civil magistrate to
punish those who do evil and reward those who do right.
We
also are told, in Romans 13:4, that the civil magistrate bears not the sword in
vain. In the original Greek language the word used there for “sword” is the
same word used for the type of sword used to execute Roman citizens who were
found guilty of capital crimes. Clearly, the Apostle Paul, inspired by God’s
Holy Spirit, is granting to the civil magistrate the use of lethal force as one
of the options available to punish those who do evil--in the case of domestic
criminals, the police force, and in war, the military.
Just
War theorists have cited this passage for centuries to give biblical
justification for the use of government-authorized lethal force in warfare.
If
one is going to support the death penalty, one also has to support its just and
equitable application. Historically, in the United States we have not justly
and fairly applied the death penalty. You have been much more likely to be
executed if you were poor rather than wealthy, if you were a man rather than a
woman, and if you were a person of color rather than white.
Those
who support the continued option of the death penalty as a biblically
authorized option in heinous crimes must also work for its just and equitable
application. While the imbalance concerning race, ethnicity and sex have been
significantly reduced, it still remains true that a wealthy person is much less
likely to be executed than a poor person.
O.J.
Simpson is perhaps the classic example--a man who most people would accept as
being guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of having murdered his wife and another
person but was let off because he could hire the best lawyers available. We
need to find a way to address that unjust imbalance if we want to continue to
support the death penalty.
However,
on the other side of the coin, it must be said that people who are pro-life
believe that life is sacred, and that when a person, wantonly and
premeditatedly takes the life of another person, they have forfeited their
right to continued life. And when they are found guilty beyond a reasonable
doubt by a jury of their peers, they should be executed.
I
don’t believe that people have a right to support something that they’re not
willing to participate in themselves. If I’m going to support the death
penalty, I have to be willing to perform the execution myself. I think of the
case of Jessica Lunsford, the 9-year-old Florida girl who was abducted from her
home, raped and brutalized in every imaginable way for three days by John Couey,
and then was buried alive with her doll. If the state had the chance to give
John Couey his lethal injection, I would be comforted by the fact that justice
was executed .
The
man had forfeited his right to live. And if he had not died from the ravages of
his drug abuse before he could have been executed, he should have been
executed. The only just sentence for a man committing such a crime was
execution.
I
believe we should keep the death penalty to be used in heinous cases like this,
and in cases of treason and other reprehensible crimes against humanity. I
believe this is consistent with my pro-life position.
I
believe that people who are pro-life are horrified by a person taking upon
themselves the prerogatives of God and wantonly and premeditatedly taking
another person’s life. They believe that when a person is found guilty of doing
this with premeditation, they have forfeited their right to life in a civilized
society.
Richard Land | Sep 15, 2011 10:54
AM
Monday,
09 July 2012 00:48
Clergy corner: God's take on capital punishment
Written
by The
Valley Chronicle
"In my opinion, in the past 25 years, people quit talking to God. People stopped reading the Bible. The death penalty was removed and human life was no longer considered sacred."
Dean Rutherford
Mike
Barber of Perris recently strangled his wife and bludgeoned his six-year-old
daughter to death after a paternity test showed his daughter was not his. If
Mike Berber is found guilty of these charges, the District Attorney will likely
push for the death penalty.
Crimes in
America today have become more horrific and gruesome. It is as if the criminals
have absolutely no morals and values.
When, and
how, did America take a turn for the worst? In 1962, the Supreme Court ruled
prayer out of public schools. In 1963, the Supreme Court threw the Bible out of
our schools. That started the drug culture, sexual revolution, and rebellion
against authority. In 1980, the Supreme Court also threw the 10 Commandments
out of public schools in America.
In
my opinion, in the past 25 years, people quit talking to God. People stopped
reading the Bible. The death penalty was removed and human life was no longer
considered sacred. We became comfortable murdering babies and scoffing
authority. It is critical to understand the death penalty was God's idea, not
man's. Genesis 9:6 "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood shall
be shed; for in the image of God had God made man."
The
preservation of the death penalty is to preserve the quality and sanctity of
human life. Capital punishment places a high value on human life. It says:
"If you take a life that is so important, your life will be
forfeited." It's interesting that in one year after the Supreme Court
struck down the death penalty, they legalized abortion in America. If human
life is no longer sacred, we can murder babies and save ourselves the
embarrassment brought about by our own immoral actions.
God
instituted the death penalty to ensure the protection of human life (Genesis
9:6) Exodus 20:13 "Thou shall not murder." Understand God does not
forbid killing. He forbids murder.
The major
problem with our justice system isn't the death penalty. The problem is the
failure of the system to carry out any penalty within a reasonable period of
time. The United States is extremely slow to carry out executions. A criminal
can easily wave up to 20 appeals. If the death penalty was carried out
effectively and swiftly, it would get the attention of other criminals. Justice
Oliver Wendell Holmes said: "Justice postponed is justice defeated."
Dean Rutherford is the senior pastor at Hemet
Valley Christian Church.
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