“God doesn’t merely allow the execution of murderers; he commands it.”
PAGE TITLE: http://www.ligonier.org/
ARTICLE
TITLE:
What should be the Christian stand on the death penalty?
DATE: 1996
AUTHOR: R.C. Sproul
AUTHOR
INFORMATION: Robert Charles Sproul (born February 13,
1939) is an American Calvinist theologian, author, and pastor. He is the
founder and chairman of Ligonier Ministries (named after the Ligonier
Valley just outside of Pittsburgh, where the ministry started as a study center
for college and seminary students) and can be heard daily on the Renewing
Your Mind radio broadcast in the United States and internationally.
"Renewing Your Mind with Dr. R.C. Sproul" is also broadcast on Sirius
and XM satellite radio. In late July 2012, a new Christian internet radio
station called RefNet (Reformation Network) was also
announced by Ligonier Ministries in an effort to reach "as many people as
possible" where Internet access is available.
Ligonier Ministries hosts several theological
conferences each year, including the main conference held each year in Orlando,
FL, at which Sproul is one of the primary speakers.[6]
Sproul was a passenger on the Amtrak train that
derailed in the 1993 Big Bayou Canot train wreck and often gives firsthand
accounts of the story.
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"Contemplate
that if Hitler falls into our hands we shall certainly put him to death. Not a
Sovereign who could be said to be in hands of Ministers, like Kaiser. This man
is the mainspring of evil. Instrument - electric chair, for gangsters no doubt
available on lend-lease."
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What should be the
Christian stand on the death penalty?
I’m
convinced that our whole criminal justice system is in serious need of
reformation and restructuring because it is not working and many inequities
exist within it. Christians are divided about the issue of capital punishment.
First, there is the basic question of whether or not capital punishment in and
of itself is a good or bad thing. I think the majority opinion of the Christian
church throughout its history has been that capital punishment is a good thing.
This position has been taken, not because Christians are particularly
bloodthirsty, but because Christians read the Scriptures. The Word of God
institutes, ordains, and commands capital punishment in Genesis 9:6.
When
the state legislature of Pennsylvania voted to reintroduce capital punishment,
the then governor of the state vetoed it on the grounds that the Bible said,
“Thou shalt not kill.” He was aware that the Bible said, “Thou shalt not kill,”
and he was quoting from the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20. Yet if you go to
Exodus 21, 22, and 23 (the holiness code), God sets forth the provisions for
those who break that commandment. For those who murder, God commands that they
be executed.
Fine
distinctions are made between voluntary and involuntary manslaughter, malice of
forethought, and the various kinds of situations that fall within the
complexity of our jurisprudence. So I’m answering this question in its broad
principle.
Usually,
the great objection to capital punishment is that human life is so precious and
so valuable that we ought never to lift our hands to snuff it out. Also, every
human being is redeemable. Another argument is that capital punishment is not a
deterrent. But the institution of capital punishment was not given as a
deterrent but as an act of justice. What is the biblical rationale? Capital
punishment is instituted very early in the Old Testament—before Moses, before
Sinai, before the Ten Commandments, back in the days of Noah, where God says,
“If by man, man’s blood is shed, by man shall his blood be shed.” That’s not a
prediction. The structure of the language there is an imperative; it is a
command. The reason is given: “Because man is made in the image of God.” In
other words, the Bible says that human life is so sacred, so precious, so
holy—human life has so much dignity—that if with malice of forethought you
wantonly destroy another human being, you thereby forfeit your own right to
life. God doesn’t merely allow the execution of murderers; he commands it.
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