There has been a lot of discussion over the last year regarding the death penalty. Several states have halted executions for various reasons, including their unwillingness to carry out what some would suggest as a barbaric practice. Others still have had difficulties with the actual implementation while using the various drugs that are used in the procedure.
On social media there is a growing firestorm around the debate of whether the death penalty should be used in an evermore increasing manner to serve as a deterrent to future horrendous crimes of murder, rape, ect.
Many have called for public executions as a way to shock the masses and thereby associate the deterrent that witnessing an execution should or would bring.
The following is my personal take on the matter:
If the death penalty could prevent murder, all murder would end.
Trust me, on the day a man is executed, hundreds of other murders will be committed.
While I am fully aware of the various calls of harsh punishment for evil doers as stated in the Old Testament, such as “eye for and eye”, I am also equally aware of the call for mercy in the New Testiment, “but I say to you to love your enemies,”. Furthermore I have read where God still has the sovereign authority of vengeance and life and death. “Vengeance is mine, says the Lord, I will repay.”
I find it interesting that man’s attempt at vengeance falls pitifully short of the desired effect that the human mind can conjure up.
Vengeance is temporary, the judgement of God is eternal.
When will humans learn that the death penalty does not prevent the next person from being killed. An execution daily or the same hour somebody somewhere will be killing someone. Furthermore, as with some of our fellow humans from Muslim countries, death is not the most feared thing in the world. And being executed is a welcomed entry to martydom instead of a dreaded deterrent.
Look at the mass shootings in this country or family murders where the gunman kills himself. Do you think the death penalty is effective in preventing those who are willing to die to carry out their crime?
The death penalty is ALWAYS applied after the fact. It does not prevent the person who was murdered from being murdered. And sadly in our country there are those who will justify executing an innocent person or persons to eventually get the guilty. We absolutely know that there have been at least two innocent executions, not to mention the people who have been totally exonerated from death row and prison.
Of course those who advocate a swift kill would just gloss right over the fact that sometimes the justice system gets it wrong by mistake or by willful neglect, such as lying witnesses, dirty cops or prosecutors, and a local political system that will not admit some foul play that would expose a corrupt official.
That is not the case for most, and most people on death row have gotten a fair trial and their guilt is not in doubt, but do we really want to live with the known death of an innocent person just to say we got the right one, maybe months or years later?
Hey, we can always turn the key and let someone out of prison if the findings justify it, but so far no one has self resurrected other than Jesus Christ. Since we cannot give the life of a person back, in my opinion we should not take it. That principle alone elevates the life of the victim as sacred, so sacred that no other human should dare repeat the act of killing in the name of the victim.
And the death penalty is not even close the type of revenge that most people advocate for. I mean think about it, the most we can do is kill a person, very much like putting a person to sleep. That is not vengeance. “Vengeance is mine, says the Lord God.” Trust me the wrath that God can unleash on a person pales in comparison to the puny death penalty we impose on people. Our little minds cannot dream up or imagine the horrors that an almight God can inflict on a person.
You are kidding yourself if you think capital punishment is going to stop me from killing someone if I decide that is what I want to do with my free will. I can choose to kill someone and know and be willing to get the death penalty.
How can you defend against a person who does not mind dying? Have you noticed that some folks are going on mass killing sprees and choose to take themselves out after the aftermath. They execute themselves, so how will the death penalty stop a situation like that?
Furthermore, aren’t we all on Death Row? Think about it. All of us who are alive today are sentenced to death. So regardless if we have killed someone or just told a white lie, we still have a death sentence waiting for us. That means we get the same penalty as the serial murderer, so I think we are all on death row and waiting our execution from God.
The baby infant being born this moment will be dead in less than 120 years so what difference does it make to kill another human being? It is stupid when all you have to do is wait it out and his death and our death is guaranteed.
“The soul that sinneth shall die.” That was spoken by God himself and he has a flawless record to date. Currently there is a 100 percent fatality rate for the human race. Nobody gets off of the planet alive.
The victim’s family wants their loved one back alive, that is their justice! Killing the perpetrator does not give them that.
And just how ironic would it be that the condemned man on death row outlives some of those who put him there, like the prosecutor, judge, or family members of the victim.
Now I could see the death penalty as being a harsher punishment if we were not also subject to death. The method of death does not really matter if we all come to the same fate. The preacher, the janitor, the CEO, the prosititute, the blacks, the whites, and others, come to the same fate of death. So while the murderer will perhaps die first, those who follow cannot claim to be so good that they are exempt from the same fate.
Hey, I would totally agree with you if the human race was not subject to death. But as it stands now. God wins, so let him execute and deal out wrath as he sees fit. If we were perfect and HOLY, then yes by all means let us decide life and death. But since we also have a death date, I think it is pointless to kill, just to prove that killing is wrong. This is my respectful opinion and I equally respect yours as well.