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Nov
17
I realize that many good people with faith fully support the death penalty. There is little I can say to change their minds. Some of the families of the victims of the DC sniper actually celebrated his execution! I of course will not judge them as I am certain that their pain is impossible for me to feel. Instead I am presenting this chilling tale by Dante, that I believe he was inspired to write, to show that even for the most dastardly of crimes, we should TRUST GOD to dole out perfect justice. All man is capable of ..........is revenge.
This is not intended for children!!!
Attachments:
The Death Penalty.pdf (78 KB)
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Daniel 2:21, "he removeth kings, and setteth up kings,"
Romans 13:1-6: "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing."
God empowers and grants the authority to governments to enact Gods vengeance against earthly evil doers.
In my opinion there is still much confusion and perhaps misunderstanding on the "Law" as given to Moses and how we are to see and respond to it. Briefly, as it is written in Matthews 5:17-20 and according to Jesus "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them....". God realized before the creation of man that we would fall and therefore through the Old Testament with foreshadowing of the Messiah, the coming of Jesus Christ was revealed (Isaiah 9:6-7) and as in Isaiah 53:1-12 (also1st Peter 2:24-25) jealously and hatred by the government and religious leaders would lead to Jesus being crucified. But this was part of God's plan to give us salvation and ever lasting life through our acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
During Jesus' walk on earth, realizing that it was an extremely difficult challenge for mankind to uphold the Law, the Law as I understand it, was made easier to understand. When Jesus was questioned by the Pharisees on the Law and which is the greatest commandment, Jesus responded with "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments" (Matthew 22:34-40). So as I understand it, the Law and all its commandments were wrapped together and bundled, as it was, under the two greatest commandments. Ergo, follow the two greatest commandments and you will follow all that was expressed in the Law.
On encountering the adulterous women, Jesus' wisdom from God allowed Him to ask the obvious (paraphrasing) "So you mean none of you have committed a sin?" As scripture points out, Jesus was being set up because the Pharisees were confounded by the brilliance of Jesus' teachings. After Jesus spoke to the crowd, suffice to say the crowd disbanded. Contrary to the statement by the South-African, I don't know that Jesus forgave the women in the sense of wiping away her sin (our sins died with Jesus' crucifixion), but rather invoked the second greatest commandment "Love thy neighbor....", which embodies forgiveness. Jesus, in closing His encounter with the women said He would not condemn her but told her, "Go now and leave your life of sin" (John 8:11).
On the second encounter referenced, Jesus' death by crucifixion, this was divinely destined. The world was so wicked and cruel that God knew that we needed help in a great way to keep us from falling and to provide a way for redemption when we do fall. (God and Jesus knew that Judas, for the "love of money" would betray Jesus.) Jesus on the cross asked "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34). Through the blood of Jesus, we now have a gateway through Jesus to God. Jesus accepted the Will of his Father - in the Garden of Gethsemane, twice Jesus prayed to His Father concerning His impending death (Matthew 26:39 & 42) and in each Jesus referred to the "will" of God.
As for the death penalty, Leviticus 19:18-19 "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. Keep my decrees". And in Romans 12:19 "Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay', says the Lord".
So all that is in the Law (murder, stealing, adultery, etc) is still known as sin, and are now under the two greatest commandments but with the exception that death is not ours to institute but rather left to God.
God Bless you for your blog and how you are inspiring Christians, and I pray, unbelievers across the globe.
Why not? Should I not believe the words of Paul? I think the Roman government at the time, which is surely the one he is talking about, was more corrupt then America is now.
Romans 13:1 - "...there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God."
It is for God, in God's time to deal with any government that violates His will.
The laws laid down in Leviticus, and the reiteration of the anti-murder theme in Romans 12:19 are clearly for the individual. The obligations, and authority, and actions, of the individual and the state as established by God are different. Individuals are not allowed to pursue their own vengeful justice. Justice dispensed by the State is following the chain of command. They are following the Law, as set down by God. For the individual, the Law is Love.
The law of love is the first level of governance, and if only all would obey it, their would be no need for many facets of government.
1 Pet 2:13-14 command the Christian to submit himself to government. "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well."
In Gen 9:6 it is God who sets the punishment for some crimes as death before any government decided such, and precedes Mosaic Law.
It is our Christian duty to obey the government, unless obedience to civil authorities requires disobedience to the clear revelation of God in His Word (Acts 5:29).
We regret deeply whenever the death penalty must be enacted. But it is unbiblical to say the government does not have the right, granted by God, to take someone's life for the most egregious crimes.
Remember, Our Master Himself submitted Himself to the authorities, meekly, like a lamb being led to the slaughter. In this case, without the governments lawful action, there would be no resurrection. No salvation.
The problem I have with scripture interpretation from 'intelligent' people like you, is that we seem to conveniently forget that our incredibly FALLIBLE minds are the FIRST step in the interpretive process thus rendering any conclusions wholly suspect at best. Do not for one SPLIT second read this as meaning that the WORD of GOD is not true; HEAVEN FORBID SUCH THINKING!! From my small mind, the WORD is meant for the ultimate in one on one communication with GOD. It's intent in my humble opinion, is to empower the HEART with kindness toward ALL of GOD'S children first and then to humble the reader to realzing that his own intellect is WEAK and puny.The bottom line in all this is that we are not qualified to be the judges of life or death. Perhaps you feel YOU are qualified, or our incompetent, unscrupulous, impious, greedy, unethical leaders who you claim GOD gave the right.
Let us be friends and agree to disagree! Blessings to you and yours!