Should christians believe in the death penalty?

[Jermyn Davidson]

Does anyone think that the person who injects the poison into the condemned or flips the current on the condemned FOR A LIVING is in the will of God?

The Bible says there is a time to kill.

What if it's your job, your assignment, your profession to take the lives of others-- is "killing" different then?

[Jeffrey]

Originally Posted by tstew

I used to be a firm proponent of the death penalty, but have recently started to think differently. I have not changed due to a moral problem with execution itself, but due to the fact that I have seen so many cases proven to be wrongful convictions through DNA. I don't want to think about how many innocent people we may have killed already. The number of DNA acquittals was astonishing to me, but when you factor in that only a fraction of cases have DNA evidence to begin with, the implications are sobering.

Tstew, I had the same change of heart, though for different reasons.

I can't see a citizen of the New Jerusalem to be an advocate of taking another man's life and executing permanent judgement on anyone.

A human government must have laws, and violent people must be removed for the protection of society. There must be consequences, but I simply cannot support taking another man's life for a sin he commits. I'll leave that to worldly government, and be consistent with my pro-life position

[Jeffrey]

Originally Posted by Jermyn Davidson

Does anyone think that the person who injects the poison into the condemned or flips the current on the condemned FOR A LIVING is in the will of God?

The Bible says there is a time to kill.

What if it's your job, your assignment, your profession to take the lives of others-- is "killing" different then?

How do we understand "a time to kill" for the New Kingdom Jesus talks about where, in parabolic symbolism, tells us to not seek vengeance and to "turn the other cheek?" How can we tell someone we love them, even by taking their life?

When Jesus came with the expectations to lead a Messianic revolt, to punish Rome, but instead came healing, binding up, proclaiming peace and liberty, and ultimately giving his own body over to death, how do we understand killing? How does one who has been forgiven of everything turn to condemn another to death?

One writer put it this way:

People often read Ecclesiastes 3 and take away that Solomon is saying “There is an appropriate time to kill, hate, and make war” when he is actually saying “There are times of killing, hate, and war.” These verses are not granting people permission to make war or hate just as they don’t grant permission to be born or die (after all, who needs permission for birth or death). A sober reading of this text will show that Solomon is speaking of the way the world is and not what is appropriate action for believers.

If we say that this passage is an allowance for hate, killing, and war then we must also say it grants allowance for every activity under heaven (aka on earth). Hopefully we would all agree that not every activity under the sun is permissible for Christians.

Jesus tells us in his Sermon on the Mount that peacemakers are the children of God (Matthew 5:9), that if we remain angry and insult brothers we are hell-bound (Matthew 5:24) and that hate ought to be replaced with love (Matthew 5:43-44). Killing, hating, and making war are antithetical to the way of Christ Jesus. Even if Solomon were saying there is permission for such things, Jesus has rebuked such teachings with his own.

The "wisdom of Solomon" is speaking from a time and place without the light of the New Kingdom, and certainly does not trump the "wisdom of Jesus." Nor do I think such wisdom competes. In fact, I could easily argue the time for killing is over, and the time for life is now. Eternal life.