Quote:
Originally Posted by Esaias
"(I) just don't think capital punishment for everything is a great idea. "
God's Law does not prescribe capital punishment for "everything". The following crimes, however, ARE capital crimes:
Murder
Rape
Adultery
Fornication (whether straight, gay, bestial, etc)
Kidnapping
Blasphemy
Idolatry
Inciting to idolatry
Physically assaulting one's parents
Habitual and incorrigible delinquincy
Cursing one's parents
Willful criminal anarchy (including willful Sabbath-breaking)
Not restraining your animal, if known to be dangerous, and you were warned, and it kills someone.
Witchcraft.
Witness perjury in a capital trial.
There may be one or two more, not sure.
God's Law also requires a minimum of two witnesses to the alleged crime. Further, if a witness is found commit perjury (lies) in a capital case, that witness will face the death penalty. In some cases, like a parental complaint of incorrigible delinquincy, the complainant who brings suit is required to take part in the execution of the sentence (which undoubtedly would cut down on the likelihood of bringing the complaint to begin with).
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I thought I'd share my opinion on the crimes that could invoke the death penalty.
First, I'd like to ask a question. Do you see this system issuing a lesser sentence in some cases wherein the death penalty could be an option? Let's say a parent doesn't want the judge to stone their child, only to incarcerate them, could the court choose not to have their child stoned, or are they bound to it? Or, let's say that the court feels that the child was out of line, but not to the degree warranting death? What are your thoughts?
Out of the crimes listed, I do believe the death penalty might be warranted in the following:
Murder
Rape
Physically assaulting one's parents*
Habitual and incorrigible delinquency*
Not restraining your animal, if known to be dangerous, and you were warned, and it kills someone.
Witness perjury in a capital trial.
(*While I think that the death penalty might be warranted in some instances, I'm not sure what parent could live with themselves after having their child executed for assault or delinquency. In many cases neglect and abuse from the parents is a factor. However, I do think that knowing that the death penalty is possible in such cases, more children would respect and obey their parents authority for fear of their lives. My mother once said, "Son, I brought you into this world, I can take you out of it." I know she wasn't being literal, but I do favor parental authority over the fruit of the womb. If it is my child, I should have full authority over that child's life and death if I deem it necessary to use such authority.)
But the following I don't agree with:
Adultery
Fornication (whether straight, gay, bestial*, etc)
Kidnapping
Blasphemy
Idolatry
Inciting to idolatry
Cursing one's parents
Willful criminal anarchy (including willful Sabbath-breaking)
Witchcraft.
I don't agree with the death penalty for adultery because things often get complicated. Let's say a husband is verbally and physically abusive (which the Law of Moses doesn't address by the way). Let's say that this husband neglects his wife's emotional and physical needs. After years of living like this, let's say the woman befriends a man who genuinely cares about her and things progress and she commits adultery. While yes, she is responsible for allowing herself to lose control, her weakness here is due to her husband's failure to be a true husband to her. I just couldn't see executing a woman or a man who committed adultery in a moment of weakness after years of abuse and neglect.
Not to mention, even if a spouse is unfaithful, I can't see what kind of heart would demand their life over it. First, such would only traumatize the kids. Second, it's not worth killing over in my opinion. My first wife as unfaithful to me. She even approached me wanting me to agree to an open marriage. I tried to talk with her, find what I could do to help us, and even pushed for marital counseling before I finally had enough to accept divorcing her. And even today, I'd never want to see her put to death.
But in the case of adultery, it was far more serious in ancient times. First, there was a covenant between the man and woman (or their families) and inheritance was at stake. If another man impregnated a man's wife, his seed could essentially hijack the inheritance from legitimate seed. The wealth of generations in an entire family was at stake.
I don't believe the Scriptures would require the death penalty for heterosexual fornication. In the Law we read:
Deuteronomy 22:28-29 King James Version (KJV)
28 If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found;
29 Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days.
I don't interpret the phrase "lay hold of her" as indicating rape, I see it more akin to seduction. He grabs her, embraces her, and she allows him to have his way with her. Here, they are not facing a death penalty. Instead, the man pays the father damages (in leu of a bride's price), and is required to marry her. In addition, he is not permitted to divorce her. So, I don't see a death penalty for what might be called "fornication" among heterosexual overs.
When it comes to homosexuality, I look for examples of how it was dealt with in Scripture as one might look at case law. It appears that the Scriptures only show homosexuals facing a death penalty by decree or divine judgment when it involves homosexual rape (Sodom and Gomorrah) and the Sodomites in the temple of Jehovah (homosexual temple prostitution). Paul does indicate that such are "worthy of death", but what Paul describes is a licentious homosexuality based on lust, wherein men abandoned the use of their wives, violating marriage covenant. The context also appears to include idolatry, causing some theologians to consider that perhaps this licentious homosexual lust was being fulfilled in the idolatrous temples found throughout Rome. We do not see a single instance wherein homosexual overs or companions are tried and executed. In fact, the Scriptures do not even draw our attention to how to apply the capital punishment statutes against homosexuality in the context of a private, caring, and consensual coupling between two people of the same gender. And certainly there were gays then just as there are now. So, if it were a court case, I'd say that the case law doesn't support the death penalty for merely being homosexual, or even for having homosexual sex, unless the court wished to push the letter of the law to set a precedent not found in Scripture.
*When it comes to bestiality, I'm an animal lover. We have dogs, cats, reptiles, and one bird. lol I believe animals are emotional and soulish creatures. They deserve proper care, treatment, and nurturing. No animal can give "consent" to sex. Nor can an animal speak and plea for justice should coitus be forced upon them. And so, bestiality is the rape of perhaps one of the weakest and most helpless in a society. Such heinous abuse of an animal is a harbinger of the abuse that will eventually be perpetrated upon a human being. Most rapists and serial killers have raped or killed animals before choosing to graduate to humans. So, I can see the death penalty as being warranted in such cases. Laws that protect animals from exploitation and abuse are a must in any just society.
When it comes to cursing one's parents... what child doesn't at some point? It's actually a stage of development. Children grow and begin to rebel and resent parental authority because they are growing into their own adulthood. I can't see a parent in their right mind wanting to see their child executed over merely cursing them.
The rest of the crimes listed are related to idolatry, sabbath observance, and witchcraft. I believe in religious freedom. If one doesn't come to Christ without coercion or threat of death or earthly punishment, their conversion can hardly be said to be genuine. So, squelching religious liberty isn't going to save a single soul in my opinion. If one wishes to be Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, or Wiccan, that is their choice. Of course, such shouldn't be tolerated in the church. And I've been on both sides of the Sabbath issue. LOL (Just being honest here.) I don't believe the Scripture is clear enough in light of the NT to say that the Sabbath observances of the OT is mandatory. I couldn't support executing a person over something that isn't definitive and has challenged the minds of greater theologians than you or me, leaving good men on both sides of the issue.
So, I voiced what crimes I'd support being capital offenses. I voiced my reservations on some of these crimes being capital offenses, and why I have such reservations. I'd also like to note that I believe I corrected you as it relates to fornication. To my knowledge, fornication in its most common meaning isn't a capital offence in Scripture. When it comes to fornication, if you seduce her and humble her before the community, your required to pay the price and marry her, and since your "love" was so great that you couldn't wait, you're expected to never to divorce her. (Shotgun weddin'? lol)
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