The death penalty. Greater thinkers than I have tackled this issue. I wonder, does this require great thinking, or is this just a case of right and wrong. Genesis 9:6 says; Whoever sheds man’s blood,By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man. This is a straight forward principle, that life is precious because God created it. So precious, in fact, that God requires life for life.
I had always wondered why those opposed to the death penalty, also happened to be in favor of abortion. Until I looked at it from a spiritual point of view, it baffled me. Individual lives are important. Regardless of class or financial status, every individual is important to God. Death and life are closely linked. We could not have life without our death penalty being paid in full by God.
That brings us to the latest discussion. Michael Astorga was found guilty of first degree murder of Bernalillo County Deputy James McGrane, guilty on two counts of tampering with evidence and guilty of possession of a firearm by a felon.The candidates for governor have taken their positions on this issue, but Diane Denish states that she will enforce the law if the jury decides to give Astorga the death penalty.
When November comes and goes and should the Lt. Governor become the Governor, will this position change? I can not write to the heart and mind of someone else. Let me just observe that life should be sacred for us. Christians should always understand that the Lord hears the cries of those whose lives are taken. The murder of Able makes this plain. He has given us a principle to live by, namely, if you take a life, your life will be required of you.
We can argue about the deterrent, we can argue about God's love and mercy, and we can argue about the humanity of the death penalty. If a people decide that life is so very precious that it's value is held in high esteem, I believe we would rarely use such punishment because we would have fewer murders. We should not allow our standards to be so eroded, that human life is worthless. The question remains, is the life of James McGrane worth the death of Michael Astorga?
Give a listen, Saturday's 8:30am on KKIM 1000 AM or on the internet.
I used to oppose the death penalty, and tried to write a paper stated how the Bible opposed the death penalty....and I couldn't write the paper (for obvious reasons); people should ALWAYS be willing to follow what the Bible says to its obvious conclusions.
ReplyDeleteIt was painful for me to do in college, right after I became a Christian.
One thing I noticed, at the same time that abortion was legalized here, we had a moratorium on the death penalty in the US (during the 1970's). The US later reinstituted the death penalty (several states did NOT), but in Europe AT THE SAME TIME that abortion laws were loosened, the death penalty was done away with.
The same spirits that want the shedding of innocent blood, do NOT want murderers (found guilty with due process rights, in a court of law, with a peer-jury, with civil rights protections in place) executed, as per natural law and the Bible.
But as in the time of Cain and Abel, innocent blood is crying out from the ground...
I'm glad to have found you here on facebook....
ReplyDeletekeep being a witness!