-Jeremy

Our founding fathers (conservative Protestants)found it difficult to separate church from state (politics). We in the church today find it hard to separate state from church.

American historical themes make me think it will be hard to keep them separate for a long time to come. It’s in our philosophical / historical blood: The Declaration of Independence, Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” (one of the worst pieces of exegesis in support of war / rebellion ever written), the religious philosophy in the Federalist Papers and other writings of the founding fathers, Manifest Destiny, American Exceptionalism, Pre-Civil War Postmillenialism, Battle Hymn of the Republic, etc.

Our challenge in the church is to be above our culture (or sub-culture as the case may be here), to be shaped by it only intentionally, purposefully, and where consistent with scripture. We can’t do that when we can’t acknowledge that we have a problem.

guns = fun, useful. it’s my right to own one (or a few).

abortion = wrong, no wiggle room there. yes i think it should be illegal. i’ll vote on what i think is right and wrong.

capital punishment. i just don’t know. matt presents a good argument. but i just don’t know. and i think it’s ok to not know!

Your initial response seems to indicate that you have a problem with the possible injustices in the way capital punishment is applied (points that I will gladly concede). By your same logic it could be argued that the state should never incarcerate anyone because there are injustices in the way that the sentence of incarceration is applied. It can be reasonably inferred that capital punishment may not be unjust, but (unfortunately) can be applied unjustly.

I have never heard anyone, as you stated, make an argument from Matthew 5 concerning this matter. But a reasonable argument can be made from Genesis 9:6, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.” This passage gives the ageless rational for capitol punishment. Man bears the image of God; therefore the willful, malicious destruction of man is an outrage against God, to be punished by execution.

“Yes, but that is the Old Testament,” cries the modern day Christian. So what does the New Testament have to say about state sponsored executions? Romans 13:4 states, “For he [the governing authority] 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.” Swords have only one purpose – to end lives. According to the Bible, the state is acting on behalf of God when capital punishment is justly applied.

Paul is not talking in the theoretical abstract here. It hit close to home for him. In Acts 25:11 Paul said, “If, however, I am guilty of doing anything deserving death, I do not refuse to die. But if the charges brought against me by these Jews are not true, no one has the right to hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!” That is an odd statement for an apostle to make if capital punishment is inherently wrong.

Forgive me, but I can’t resist quoting the character Ulysses Everett McGill, “That’s not the issue Delmar. Even if that [baptism] did put you square with the Lord, the State of Mississippi’s a little more hard-nosed.”

I believe a very important distinction needs to be made between the role of the Christian and the role of the state. They are not the same and should not be confused. Christians are called by our Lord to forgive. The state has the God-ordained responsibility to bring about justice for its people and for God. The individual is not called upon to incarcerate or execute a criminal any more than the state is called upon to forgive one. Therefore, in the example you ended with, it is possible for the individual family members of a murder victim to bring closure by forgiving the murderer while the state enacts justice through capitol punishment.

Thanks for the opportunity to dialogue on this matter.

Matt

I’m trying to put links to the Christian Standard’s adoption stories on my blog. However, when I click on 4 of the 5 articles, I am re-routed to the Standard’s homepage. It looks like I have the correct address, but it doesn’t seem to be working. Do you know if anything is wrong with the Web site, or am I doing something wrong?

For instance, many more convicts are killed by the state for murders of white people than for murders of black people (not coincidentally, 1/3 of all US executions take place in the southern states of FL, GA, LA, and TX). Also, an overwhelming number of death row inmates come from a poor socioeconomic background. Is that because more people from lower income brackets commit these crimes? Probably. But is it also because most of them can’t afford adequate legal counsel? Also very likely; they certainly can’t afford expert witnesses and skilled lawyers.

Therefore, the next sad statistics are not surprising: over 120 people have been convicted to Death Row and then later released because of evidence of innocence (Death Penalty Information Center), and at least 20 cases that resulted in execution had overwhelming evidence of the defendant’s innocence (National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty).

Until we come up with a system that allows disadvantaged, potentially-innocent people to truly have their day in court, I can’t say capital punishment is just.

I have no problem reconciling this hesitance with my faith. Of course, I’m not equating an innocent baby with a convicted murderer. But I do think we ought to remember that when Jesus talks about “an eye for an eye” in Matthew 5, it’s not to repeat the verse we like to pull out to justify capital punishment, it’s to expand it into a radical, only-possible-with-God kind of forgiveness. I’m not sure I’d be capable of that forgiveness if my loved one was murdered–but I’m not sure watching the murderer die would bring the true closure and healing my heart would need, either.