Wednesday, May 3, 2017

What do you think about the death penalty?

I am only posting the link here but it is an important one.  James Rogers, professor at Texas A&M and a member of an LCMS congregation has written a piece in response to an informed plea to end the death penalty by Christian's championing this position.  The first section of Rogers' well-considered and Biblical response is here.

Death Penalties and the Divine Executing Grace, Part 1 by James R. Rogers 3.28.17. . .



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This seems rather long and drawn out, but he is going in the correct direction. Capital punishment is definitely authorized by Holy Scripture, and we deny Scripture when we fail to apply it.

Fr.D+

John Joseph Flanagan said...

Capital punishment for egregious violent crimes, premeditated, cruel and barbaric, is scriptural and necessary. It is especially needed as a deterrent to others who wrongly believe they can get away with murder, never receiving a penalty beyond life in prison, and it should be mandatory in lieu of justice for a victim who was killed painfully and with great cruelty by a psychotic and evil perpetrator. The death penalty is often depicted by those against capital punishment as just vengeance. But it is not so. It is justice for the victim and society. And it does not mean that Christians are being against the idea of forgiveness. A killer sentenced to death can still be saved through Christ and repent of the sin, and not lose eternal salvation, but God's discipline and justice can mean that the earthly penalty must be paid. That is my opinion, and others may differ.