Dead man walking
I recently had a chance to watch the 1995 Oscar winning movie “Dead Man Walking”. If you haven’t seen it, consider doing so. I strongly recommend it. It is quite the story. Keeping the best for last, the movie climaxes by zooming in on convicted criminal Matthew Poncelet’s last few days before his scheduled execution. It takes you on an unexpected emotional ride that keeps your heart racing, your mind captured and your eye on Mr. Poncelet’s jail cell clock.
As I switched off the TV, my mind was freed from the grips of the movie. The age old question rose back into my head: “Dead men walking” or “Men walking till they die”? “Execution” or “Life Imprisonment”? And even after this heart wrenching movie, I still have to side with capital punishment. Y’all ready for this? Here we go.
(The following arguments are purely biblical. I plan to add a small extra-biblical argument later)
The first piece of biblical evidence I’ll bring to the table comes from the post-flood account of Noah. Right after the flood, God’s first order of business was to make a covenant with creation not to flood the earth ever again. His second work was to instruct Noah on how to live a Godly life in the post-flood era. Amongst the instructions we find the following commands:
Genesis 9:4-6
"But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man. "
How will he demand an accounting for the lifeblood of man? Verse 6 seems pretty clear. It does not need any exposition.
I know some of you are thinking “This is Old Testament. We are in the new testament now.” I will get to New Testament evidence soon, but for now let me give you two reasons why this counter argument doesn’t work. The end of verse 6 says “For in the image of God has God made man.” Why should we execute a murderer? Because in the image of God has God made man. Now let me ask you a question. Is this still true under the new covenant? Are we still made in the image of our creator? The answer is yes. So if the reason for the command still applies, why shouldn’t the command? Secondly, though this is Old Testament we have to take into consideration that it is not Old Covenant. It is not part of the laws of Moses but its part of the laws of creation. When Christians look for biblical insight in the area of dating relationships, marriage, homosexuality and divorce, we often look at the account of Adam and Eve. I don’t hear anyone yelling “Old Testament” in those cases. For these two reasons I think this counter argument fails.
A second Old Testament piece of evidence is the numerous mosaic laws that God declared are punishable by death. I’m not arguing that we should apply those laws today, but at least we can safely say that God doesn’t find anything inherently wrong with capital punishment.
Still many of you might not put too much weight in what’s been discussed so far because it’s Old Testament literature. And if that’s all we had, I must admit that I might be inclined to do the same. However, if the New Testament has supporting arguments, I don’t think it leaves us much choice. Let’s take a look.
In Romans 13 Paul commands obedience towards the government and the ruling authorities. Paul writes “For he [The government] is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.”
“Bear the sword”. What can possibly be done with a sword when administering justice? Execution seems to be the only answer. Granted, Paul is most likely using the sword as a symbol. He is certainly not speaking directly to the matter of the means of punishment. But capital punishment was very prevalent in his day. To use a symbol like that most certainly doesn’t speaking against it. Therefore it doesn’t leave much question as to whether Paul approved it.
Staying with Paul we find yet more evidence in favor. Acts 25 tells of Paul’s account while in custody. During a court hearing with governor Festus, Paul says If, however, I am guilty of doing anything deserving death, I do not refuse to die. -- Acts 25:11
Apparently, Paul agrees that there is a crime that deserves death. And had he committed that crime, he would not refuse to die.
Putting it all together, I find it hard to accept any other view. The Old Testament clearly upholds captial punishment. The new testament, though not as strongly, seems to follow suite. In places where you might expect the new testament to say something against it, it doesn't.
That’s all I have for now. I know there may be many biblical objections to this view popping into your heads. If you care enough to raise them, feel free to do so. That’s what this blog is for. And I hope to be able to answer your questions or comments.
As I switched off the TV, my mind was freed from the grips of the movie. The age old question rose back into my head: “Dead men walking” or “Men walking till they die”? “Execution” or “Life Imprisonment”? And even after this heart wrenching movie, I still have to side with capital punishment. Y’all ready for this? Here we go.
(The following arguments are purely biblical. I plan to add a small extra-biblical argument later)
The first piece of biblical evidence I’ll bring to the table comes from the post-flood account of Noah. Right after the flood, God’s first order of business was to make a covenant with creation not to flood the earth ever again. His second work was to instruct Noah on how to live a Godly life in the post-flood era. Amongst the instructions we find the following commands:
Genesis 9:4-6
"But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man. "
How will he demand an accounting for the lifeblood of man? Verse 6 seems pretty clear. It does not need any exposition.
I know some of you are thinking “This is Old Testament. We are in the new testament now.” I will get to New Testament evidence soon, but for now let me give you two reasons why this counter argument doesn’t work. The end of verse 6 says “For in the image of God has God made man.” Why should we execute a murderer? Because in the image of God has God made man. Now let me ask you a question. Is this still true under the new covenant? Are we still made in the image of our creator? The answer is yes. So if the reason for the command still applies, why shouldn’t the command? Secondly, though this is Old Testament we have to take into consideration that it is not Old Covenant. It is not part of the laws of Moses but its part of the laws of creation. When Christians look for biblical insight in the area of dating relationships, marriage, homosexuality and divorce, we often look at the account of Adam and Eve. I don’t hear anyone yelling “Old Testament” in those cases. For these two reasons I think this counter argument fails.
A second Old Testament piece of evidence is the numerous mosaic laws that God declared are punishable by death. I’m not arguing that we should apply those laws today, but at least we can safely say that God doesn’t find anything inherently wrong with capital punishment.
Still many of you might not put too much weight in what’s been discussed so far because it’s Old Testament literature. And if that’s all we had, I must admit that I might be inclined to do the same. However, if the New Testament has supporting arguments, I don’t think it leaves us much choice. Let’s take a look.
In Romans 13 Paul commands obedience towards the government and the ruling authorities. Paul writes “For he [The government] is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.”
“Bear the sword”. What can possibly be done with a sword when administering justice? Execution seems to be the only answer. Granted, Paul is most likely using the sword as a symbol. He is certainly not speaking directly to the matter of the means of punishment. But capital punishment was very prevalent in his day. To use a symbol like that most certainly doesn’t speaking against it. Therefore it doesn’t leave much question as to whether Paul approved it.
Staying with Paul we find yet more evidence in favor. Acts 25 tells of Paul’s account while in custody. During a court hearing with governor Festus, Paul says If, however, I am guilty of doing anything deserving death, I do not refuse to die. -- Acts 25:11
Apparently, Paul agrees that there is a crime that deserves death. And had he committed that crime, he would not refuse to die.
Putting it all together, I find it hard to accept any other view. The Old Testament clearly upholds captial punishment. The new testament, though not as strongly, seems to follow suite. In places where you might expect the new testament to say something against it, it doesn't.
That’s all I have for now. I know there may be many biblical objections to this view popping into your heads. If you care enough to raise them, feel free to do so. That’s what this blog is for. And I hope to be able to answer your questions or comments.
posted by Mark at 8:06 PM
1 Comments:
Thank you Mark, a challenging topic. Although I have no intention in wishing this topic be brought back up on the political platform in Canada, I must agree with your perspective.
Note C.S. Lewis' views on the matter as recorded in Mere Christianity:
"We may kill if necessary, but we must not hate and enjoy hating. We may punish if necessary, but we must not enjoy it...Even while we kill and punish we must try to feel about the enemy as we feel about ourselves - to wish that he were not bad, to hope that he may, in this world or another, be cured: in fact, to wish his good. That is what is meant in the Bible by loving him; wishing his good, not feeling fond of him nor saying he is nice when he is not."
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