The Death Penalty

[James Griffin]

And yes I have noticed in some of the threads here Guilt by Association seems to be a mantra.

Just glad Jesus never felt that way.

[BrotherEastman]

Originally Posted by James Griffin

And yes I have noticed in some of the threads here Guilt by Association seems to be a mantra.

Just glad Jesus never felt that way.

So, based upon what you know concerning the mistakes that have been made, does this make you leary about supporting the death penalty?

[James Griffin]

Originally Posted by BrotherEastman

So, based upon what you know concerning the mistakes that have been made, does this make you leary about supporting the death penalty?

To be fair to both sides and in keeping with the original premise of the thread. There are two issues. Is it moral? Is it correctly applied?

Addressing the second one first. It should definitely be abolished! Harris County Texas is the death penalty capital of the world. And yet the only major metropolitan area without a dedicated public defenders office. There is even a case of record of Texas courts upholding a conviction when one of the grounds was the defense counsel sleeping during voir dire. The court had the actually held it could be "a tactic". In another famous case it held that on appeal innocence is not a defense. The crime lab in Houston has thousands of cases under review because of faulty DNA tests, in some cases there has even been evidence that results were published for tests not even performed. If even the most ardent death penalty advocate were to look at the facts there would be no death penalty in US. As far as deterrance the states with highest number of executions also have the highest murder rates. So if anything there is a negative corelation.

The original question Is it moral? I have trouble reconciling it with the NT gospel. Although God ordered the physical death of sinners in the OT, I have yet to find a similar example in the NT.

[RevDWW]

Originally Posted by James Griffin

Actually I was somewhat afraid that since I had placed Dan as a referral that Admin was starting me out in the semi-banned catergory.

Now that is F U N N Y!!!!!


Seriously, Welcome Aboard!

[RevDWW]

Originally Posted by James Griffin

To be fair to both sides and in keeping with the original premise of the thread. There are two issues. Is it moral? Is it correctly applied?

Addressing the second one first. It should definitely be abolished! Harris County Texas is the death penalty capital of the world. And yet the only major metropolitan area without a dedicated public defenders office. There is even a case of record of Texas courts upholding a conviction when one of the grounds was the defense counsel sleeping during voir dire. The court had the actually held it could be "a tactic". In another famous case it held that on appeal innocence is not a defense. The crime lab in Houston has thousands of cases under review because of faulty DNA tests, in some cases there has even been evidence that results were published for tests not even performed. If even the most ardent death penalty advocate were to look at the facts there would be no death penalty in US. As far as deterrance the states with highest number of executions also have the highest murder rates. So if anything there is a negative corelation.

The original question Is it moral? I have trouble reconciling it with the NT gospel. Although God ordered the physical death of sinners in the OT, I have yet to find a similar example in the NT.

That may well be, but what about the recidivism rate of those executed?

[ReformedDave]

Originally Posted by James Griffin

The original question Is it moral? I have trouble reconciling it with the NT gospel. Although God ordered the physical death of sinners in the OT, I have yet to find a similar example in the NT.

There are many places where the law is referred to in the NT as normative. BTW, the NT doesn't refer to bestiality either.

[Digging4Truth]

Originally Posted by ReformedDave

There are many places where the law is referred to in the NT as normative. BTW, the NT doesn't refer to bestiality either.

Jesus did circumvent the punished required by the law with the woman caught in the very act of adultery.

[RevDWW]

Originally Posted by Digging4Truth

Jesus did circumvent the punished required by the law with the woman caught in the very act of adultery.

Yes He did, but He always gave power to Pilate to hand out a death sentence.

[ReformedDave]

Originally Posted by Digging4Truth

Jesus did circumvent the punished required by the law with the woman caught in the very act of adultery.

There were exceptions made in the OT too. Even if He did, He was not in the place of authority to carry out the punishment.

[Revelationist]

The death sentence should be done away with, if for no other reason, it cost the tax payers more to put someone to death than it does to just keep them in prison for life. It's because they can appeal it with lawyers.