Biblical History of Execution

In the first crime in the Bible, Cain murdered his brother Abel. Cain intuitively believed that everyone would think themselves justified in executing a murderer.

*"It will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me." Gen. 4:14

So God forbade capital punishment:

*"Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold." And the Lord set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him. Gen. 4:15

God allowed Cain to live a life of punishment for the murder of his younger brother. What God chooses to do is his own will and he had good reason for it. This however does not negate the other scriptures in which the death penalty is accepted as a form of righteous punishment.

Acts 5:1 to 11 describe how a couple, Ananias and Sapphira sold an piece of real estate. They gave part of the money to the apostles, claiming it was the full proceeds from the sale. Peter interpreted their act as lying to the Holy Ghost. God killed Ananias on the spot. Three hours later, Sapphira repeated the lie to Peter. He cursed her and God killed her immediately. Members of the church were understandably terrified.

The list goes on and on


Honestly I wouldn’t listen to the Catholic Church they haven’t been reading their text correctly for quite awhile there’s a big problem with organized religion. It seems to snuff out faith and put dogma in its place.

so the fulfillment was love thy neighbor as thyself.....

so the fulfillment was love thy enemy as thyself....

so the fulfillment was turn the other cheek.....

so the fulfillment was teachers of the law were called as of their father the devil.....

so the fulfillment was scribes and pharisees that used the teachings to deem themself better than others, and as knowing more truth, and were called as whitewashed houses full of dead mans bones.....

which ones did he murder or execute for ignorance?

if any is unknowing, is it not the fault of a perfect god that can speak to whomever he may at will?

he is god, with a voice that text recorded to be as feared unto death, that when any heard, all ran in fright for the sheer power of it, not for fear of condemnation, for if any know the great voice, it was said to be as sweet as a lamb........

if god comes back to execute the death penalty, then this make him violate his own commandment of "thou shalt not murder"

if you read revelations as such, then this is how your mind think, and the definition belie the heart of one, not of anything more.....

no perfect man tell another what to do, then dosen't do himself, let alone a god..........

your picture of god seems to be a reflection of how you think, as how one think, decide which scriptures picked to believe in, and their meanings.......

What God chooses to do is his own will and he had good reason for it. This however does not negate the other scriptures in which the death penalty is accepted as a form of righteous punishment.


This is actually very funny. So his example of what to do is not good enough for you? You would rather use the "warring" quotes to continue to commit murder? I hope you do not think it is in his name because from his example you will be sadly mistaken on judgement day.

Listen I'm not negating that God the creator chooses to save those who sin. This is the obvious reason for Jesus Christ. Murder is a sin but punishment by death for the action of murder is not. Murder done by an individual is through his or her own passion and sin. Death Penalty is morale law not individualistic human passion. The same way that the Hebrew word for War and murder are different. Just because Jesus says to love your enemy and forgive him of his trespasses does not stop a governmental punishment of death. There are laws and guidelines that were given by a higher power to help stabilize a moral society. Jesus is the ultimate judge and he wills casts those away who deny him. I'm comfortable with my place on judgment day because I know I’m a sinner but it’s only through Christ that I can have eternal salvation and freedom. That does not mean I shouldn’t be punished for my crimes on earth. Just means I can be forgiven if in my heart I’m truly repentant. If I was the head of government and about to put to death a murderer and god stopped me that’s one thing because his will is beyond all understanding and has a very intricate purpose. However he gave us codes and laws to help us through our earthly life, which gives the government the right to punish those who do wrong doing.

There’s plenty of scriptures in which god gave the death penalty to not only individuals but also entire civilizations. If you deny scriptures than you deny the God of the book. Jesus will judge sinners its called Hell and it’s in the bible. The creator has every right to judge its creation.

Your opinion of course. Still nothing cut and dried.

Basically it comes down to this the only examples we have of god addressing murder is Cain and Abel and the ten commandments. All other references can be attributed to war or fighting the battle for Christianity.

The two references we have show god did not kill Cain for killing and said that who ever did kill Cain would suffer sevenfold and the THOU SHALL NOT KILL in the ten commandments.

So to back the death penalty by the Christian doctrines is a crime against them.

The Old Testament law commanded the death penalty for various acts: murder (Exodus 21:12), kidnapping (Exodus 21:16), bestiality (Exodus 22:19); adultery (Leviticus 20:10); homosexuality (Leviticus 20:13), being a false prophet (Deuteronomy 13:5), prostitution (Leviticus 21:9) and rape (Deuteronomy 22:24-25), and several other crimes. However, God often showed mercy when the death penalty was due. David committed adultery and murder, yet God did not demand his life be taken (2 Samuel 11:1-5, 14-17; 2 Samuel 12:13). Ultimately, each and every sin we commit should result in the death penalty (Romans 6:23). Thankfully, God demonstrates His love for us in not condemning us (Romans 5:8).

When the Pharisees brought a woman who was caught in the act of adultery to Jesus and asked Him if she should be stoned, Jesus replied, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her" (John 8:7). This should not be used to indicate that Jesus rejected capital punishment in all instances. Jesus was simply exposing the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. The Pharisees wanted to trick Jesus into breaking the Old Testament Law...they truly did not care about the woman being stoned (where was the man who was caught in adultery?) God was the One who instituted capital punishment: “Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man” (Genesis 9:6). Jesus would support capital punishment in some instances. Jesus also demonstrated grace when capital punishment was due (John 8:1-11). The Apostle Paul definitely recognized the power of the government to institute capital punishment where appropriate (Romans 13:1-5).

So, basically, we are back to where we started. Yes, God allows capital punishment. But at the same time, God does not always demand the death penalty when it is due. What should a Christian’s view on the death penalty be, then? First, we must remember that God has instituted capital punishment in His Word; therefore, it would be presumptuous of us to think that we could institute a higher standard than He or be more kind than He. God has the highest standard of any being since He is perfect. This standard applies not only to us but to Himself. Therefore, He loves to an infinite degree, and He has mercy to an infinite degree. We also see that He has wrath to an infinite degree, and it is all maintained in a perfect balance.

Second, we must recognize that God has given the government the authority to determine when capital punishment is due (Genesis 9:6; Romans 13:1-7). It is unbiblical to claim that God opposes the death penalty in all instances. Christians should never rejoice when the death penalty is employed, but at the same time, Christians should not fight against the government’s right to execute the perpetrators of the most evil of crimes.

the commandment "THOU SHALL NOT KILL" is a typical mistranslation of Hebrew into the English King James version the real commandment is "THOU SHALL NOT MURDER"


Indeed, "kill" in English is an all-encompassing verb that covers the taking of life in all forms and for all classes of victims. That kind of generalization is expressed in Hebrew through the verb "harag." However, the verb that appears in the Torah's prohibition is a completely different one, " ratsah" which, it would seem, should be rendered "murder." This root refers only to criminal acts of killing.

Jesus said:

"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you... whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also." Mat. 5:38-39

When the Pharisees brought a woman who was caught in the act of adultery to Jesus and asked Him if she should be stoned, Jesus replied, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her" (John 8:7).

You or whoever wrote your piece are interpreting these as you want to. Not as they are cut and dried to saying.

You still have not over ridden the stark fact that the first murder committed in the bible was not avenged by the death penalty. Example.

Anything Jesus said should be considered far more knowledgeable of what god wanted wouldn't you think?

Listen the last post explain intellectually all aspects of Christian death penalty. I doubt you even read it since your arguing points that were answered anyways ive grown bored of this one way discussion. It doesn’t matter what the bible states because your going to take whatever truth you want from it. That’s your prerogative but your sadly mistaken. You’ve ignored cut and dry answers to what action should be taken to a murderer from the commandments to the other scriptures I posted earlier in which you had no real explanation instead you’ve used the compassion of god on one individual while ignoring his wrath on millions of others. This argument is no different than when Satan tempted Jesus in his fast for 40 days. He used little slivers of scripture to pervert the word of god as well. My personal advice is to actually read the bible and don’t just google an argument that you think would benefit your agenda. Next your going to be telling me that abortion in accepted by god.

This is all I could find about abortion (still looking).

Exodus 21

21:22 If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.

This is kind of hard to interpret but I think its saying that if two men fight and cause a woman to miscarry, but do not hurt her, then the one who hurt her shall pay her husband an amount determined by the judges. Only if the woman dies is the punishment to be death. Apparently, then, with respect to abortion, God is pro-choice since he considers a woman's life to be more important that that of the fetus.

No complaints out of me on that one.


:

and as the young lass sat atop the mountain high, and roared forth the proclomation for all to hear "I SPEAK AND KNOW ALL THAT GOD MEANT, HEAR ME HEAR ME"..........

the little mouse that was within grew smaller....

As a punishment for killing Abel, God says Cain will be "a fugitive and a vagabond." Yet in just a few verses, Cain will settle down, marry, have a son, and build a city. This is not the activity one would expect from a fugitive and a vagabond.

Considering I ran across all of your posts in the pro death penalty web sites, I would not say that you are being completely forthright here.

Second, you have not dispelled the facts of what god DOES about murder or killing. He defends the killer, prostitute, etc... By his EXAMPLE in the bible we can see what he WANTS done.

I am debating this just because I had a thought yesterday about this subject.

I don't believe in the bible or Christianity for that matter but I was raised on it. I have been baptized and saved. Taught both Baptist and Catholic studies.

What I find funny is that people will take from the text WHAT THEY WANT IT TO SAY not what it literally says. And then after you get through the quagmire of CONTRADICTIONS, if you can, you come up with a text written by man for man. The divinity is lost.

The bible by god's own EXAMPLE is against the death penalty.

http://www.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/Shokel/001102_ThouShaltNotMurder.html

cut and paste, but certainly not an original thought and not credited.

http://www.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/Shokel/001102_ThouShaltNotMurder.html

Also a cut and paste from earlier that is not credited.

THOU SHALT NOT KILL

Murder. But when you think about it, religion has never really had a big problem with murder. More people have been killed in the name of god than for any other reason. All you have to do is look at Northern Ireland, Cashmire, the Inquisition, the Crusades, and the World Trade Center to see how seriously the religious folks take thou shalt not kill. The more devout they are, the more they see murder as being negotiable. It depends on who's doin the killin' and who's gettin' killed.

George Carlin

It's funny how those that are most righteous, are unaware...

...of what they do...

...of what they say...

and prefer to hide behind a myth, rather than fess up and own their own sh*te.

Each to their own, but the ludicrousness of the arguments used to justify hypocrisy... is just that.... ludicrous.