Sunday, January 15, 2012

Does God support capital punishment?

After the great flood where God destroys the human race in judgment, God makes a covenant with Noah and in this covenant, he says "....I will demand the life of any person who kills another person. Whoever sheds human blood, by humans his blood will be shed, because in the image of God, God made humans." And then, God seals the covenant with a rainbow and says that this covenant is an everlasting covenant for all future generations (Genesis 9:4-6).

                                       Human Life is Sacred

Today, hundreds of years later, we are now an enlightened people; we have thrown off the restraints of God's laws and in our wisdom and sophistication as an educated people, we claim to value all life. But in reality, we are covenant-breakers and today we devalue life more than any other time in U.S. history:

The revered spotted owl
  • Between 39-52 million unborn babies have been aborted here in the U.S. since 1973 (Roe v. Wade).
  • We devalue life by our failure to enforce capital punishment. We live in a day when murderers and rapists spend less time in prison than a drug dealer.
  • We care more about saving the life of a baby eagle, whale, dolphin, or spotted owl than with saving the life of an unborn child. As much as I love dogs and cats and have three rescued pets in my house, I'm afraid that we care more about abused and abandoned pets than we do about abused and abandoned children. It doesn't have to be and either-or proposition. We can care for both, but I fear we place greater concern on the well-being of endangered species when the most endangered species of all is the unborn child.

I used to be a strong proponent of capital punishment

For most of my life, I was an strong proponent of capital punishment. You often hear the phony argument that capital punishment is no deterrent to crime, but we'll never know because we seldom see capital punishment enacted. However, after reading the book, "The Innocent Man" by John Grisham, my faith and trust in the U.S. judicial system was turned on its head.

The accuser, Crystal Mangum and her accomplice,
Durham District Attorney, Mike Nifong
Around this same time, the 3 lacrosse players from Duke Univ. were accused of rape and judged by over 40 Duke professors as well as the administration to be guilty, even before the evidence was presented. We later learned that the District Attorney, Michael Nifong, had withheld evidence and testimony which would have exonerated  these young men. But sadly, we live in a day here in America where you are NO LONGER innocent until proven guilty, but now you are presumed to be GUILTY until you can prove your innocence. BTW, the North Carolina D.A., Michael  Nifong has been disbarred from ever practicing law. He got off easy. He should be behind bars.

Just an aside: I am personally amazed that parents would send their sons to Duke Univ. or any North Carolina school because there have been other instances of young men being railroaded into prison sentences on phony, trumped up charges. In all likelihood, a white college-age male  has a greater chance  of being incarcerated in North Carolina on phony charges than in Idaho, Montana, Wisconsin, Ohio, Utah, Nevada, etc.

I personally know of one young man who spent almost 10 yrs. in a North Carolina prison based on false testimony and lies and collusion between the so-called witnesses,  the prosecutor, the police and the alleged victim. Finally after spending all their money on lawyers, his parents eventually convinced a judge to re-open the case and upon further examination, the state "discovered" that there was NO hard evidence to convict this young man of rape, and that his accuser had a record of lying under oath.

It's a oxymoron to call oneself "pro-choice" because most who are "pro-choice" NEVER choose life for the unborn child. They usually endorse abortion, and yet at the same time, they don't support capital punshment, even in cases where there is undisputed DNA evidence.

God established the high value of human life when he made covenant with Noah, and that covenant is still in effect today. It hasn't gone "out of style." God says "Whoever sheds human blood, his blood shall also be shed." I can't see God giving a "pass" to Nazis who were complicit in the deaths of over 6 million Jews during the Holocaust. By that same token, I can't see God giving a "pass" to abortionists who are responsible for killing unborn children every single day. Here in America, we have conducted our own holocaust for the past 40 yrs. 
Isaiah 5:20-21 (GW)
20 How horrible it will be for those who call evil good and good evil, who turn darkness into light and light into darkness, who turn what is bitter into something sweet and what is sweet into something bitter.
21 How horrible it will be for those who think they are wise and consider themselves to be clever. 

2 comments:

  1. Thanks Dale for these posts. I'd seperate the out from eachother.

    Capital Punishment: God is for it (biblically), but not for how our system does it. Many of our prosecutors belong in Jail and you cant trust them, AT ALL. Here in NH I know of men, personally, that spent more than a YEAR in Jail (one man 18months) with just an accusation, no evidence, with actual witnesses on the scene who said he didn't do anything, and he was never even charged.I'll say it again. He was never charged for 7 months of incarceration, before they realized their mistake. Why didn't the police charge him? The "Victims" said... "We've never seen this man in our life". Valley Street Jail, Manchester, NH. Then the DA trumped up charges against him and told hm if he didn't "confess" he would stay be charged and jailed for life. On something that never happened, with witnesses saying it didn't. I'm encouraging him to sue for huge money, as nobody is safe anymore from our Legal System. The Prosecutor? She got promoted. Turns out that they get advanced according to number of pending cases in certain categories. I'm not kidding.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I fully agree, and you're right...this was a mixed-up post where I combined two different issues: capital punishment and failed justice. My next post will be MORE focused as I talk about the book, "The Innocent Man" and how it changed my thoughts on capital punishment.

      Delete