The Death Penalty
Within weeks of leaving office, our outgoing president commuted the sentences of 37 convicted murderers on federal death row to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Needless to say, some are outraged at this action, such as the family of Donna Major. Her daughter, Heather said, "I was angry. I'm still angry. I am upset that this is even happening—that one man can make this decision without even talking to the victims, without any regard for what we've been through, what we're going through—and completely hurt, frustrated and angry.” The man convicted of the crime walked into the bank where Donna worked, and without speaking a word shot her three times. As far as the killer was concerned, she had no rights and deserved no mercy. Yet he, her murderer, has been accorded his rights under the constitution—and now mercy, also.
This action has reinvigorated a discussion on capital punishment. Many seem to be squeamish about executing those who, without due process of law, take the lives of their fellow human beings. Some churches oppose capital punishment. The Roman Catholic Church, for example, has been opposing it for a number of years. According to Wikipedia, “During his papacy, John Paul II appealed for a consensus to end the death penalty on the ground that it was ‘both cruel and unnecessary.’ Although Catholicism has varied in its view through the years, the 2018 Catechism of the Catholic Church was revised to read that ‘in the light of the Gospel’ the death penalty is ‘inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person.’” Not only do these sentiments constitute spiritual hogwash; they openly contradict the Scriptures.
First of all, God gave the civil government authority to practice the death penalty: “For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain, for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil” (Romans 13:4). When the government lawfully executes an evildoer, it is doing the will of God. How can any religious group miss this verse? The gospel was in effect when these words were written; they remain valid.
Second, it is exactly because of the dignity of a human being that the murderer ought to be put to death. After the Flood, God required capital punishment for murder. “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God He made man” (Gen. 9:6). John Paul II said capital punishment was “cruel and unnecessary,” but God required it, which makes it necessary. Furthermore, it is not cruel. It is what his actions merit and deserve. “But what about mercy?” There may be some factors worth considering in certain situations, but the one described above is not one of them. If a murderer repents, his future is in God’s hands. So far as man is concerned, however, the murderer deserves to die because he has taken the life of a fellow human being made in the image of God. When he does so, he forfeits his own right to live.