Comments on: It’s perfectly natural, not perfectly biblical, to desire the death penalty

By: Greg Colby

Greg Colby — Fri, 28 Apr 2017 02:13:37 +0000

I writing an essay at the moment on Romans 13:1-7, one of the ‘go-to’ texts for modern day Christian supporters of the death penalty, in particular verse 4 regarding the state being a sword carrier against those who do wrong. In my research I’ve been reading through The Biblical Truth About America’s Death Penalty by Dale S. Recinella who writes:

For Bible-believing Christians who accept other models of the atonement, the fact that biblically based capital punishment ceased to function at the same time that Jesus Christ died on the cross on Calvary speaks a loud confi rmation to their conclusions that the state-sponsored killing of a human being adds nothing to God ’ s honor, yields no increase to God ’ s victory over evil, and fails to magnify in any way the compelling moral force of God ’ s love for us. Our conclusion is not ambiguous. Biblical truth reveals that the American death penalty cannot be conducted under the judicial authority behind the biblical death penalty.

I tend to agree with him.

By: Eva Winter

Eva Winter — Thu, 27 Apr 2017 19:23:21 +0000

Hi, Mike, great article. The kind of things Charisma Magazine – and others – publish, are one of the reasons why I’m “post-charismatic”, if there is such a thing. I can no longer agree with a lot of the required thinking on topics like the death penalty, or guns, for that matter. In Germany, where I grew up, both are outlawed, and although the country doesn’t consider itself as “Christian” as the US, it is a lot more peaceful and advanced as a result.
I am in the process of setting up my own blog on some of those topics, under the pen name “Eva Winter.” You can find my page on Facebook.

By: Leo Sandy

Leo Sandy — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 12:03:06 +0000

Hi Mike. A couple of thoughts here. I am currently reading Danny Silk’s “Culture of Honor”. His views on our attitude to sin and failing and our desire to see justice meted out are very similar to what you are expressing here. You are absolutely right in your view. Love, as Jesus said, is the greatest commandment of all. So all commandments are therefore subservient to this overarching requirement to love. Secondly, I think the book you referenced is still pertinent (I haven’t read it). Especially if it speaks to this desire of ours to see retributive justice brought down upon the guilty. There is growing number of people calling for the re-introduction of death penalties in Australia. Especially in the case of the Melbourne car killer. The fact of a death penalty does not need to exist in law in order to be addressed. The desire for it is in the hearts of people, that is what needs to be addressed. So it matters not that executions may be falling, if the call for them still exists in society, then that is a society with a problem.

By: Mike Frost

Mike Frost — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 04:11:09 +0000

In reply to Josh Vick. Furthermore, to your criticism of Shane Claiborne's book, it's true that execution numbers have been falling, but that hardly makes Executing Grace a "salacious" title. Arkansas is currently ramping up their state-based execution program, meaning Shane's book is all the more pertinent and needed.

By: Mike Frost

Mike Frost — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 03:49:34 +0000

In reply to Josh Vick. I'm not sure I follow you. The place of government in biblical teaching? Of course Jesus and Paul weren't campaigning against Roman laws. That would have been unimaginable. Rome was a brutal dictatorship. We live in a modern democracy, where all citizens, including Christians, have both the access and the means to shape the law of the land. Christians routinely advocate against laws on abortion or same-sex marriage. They should also have the right to campaign against war, pollution, capital punishment and a host of other things.

By: Josh Vick

Josh Vick — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 02:51:04 +0000

Hey Mike, I agree w/ you on a personal level on what we should desire and follow you to the degree that as a people, we the church, should desire mercy and life. But I don’t feel you lay out here a case for the place of government within Biblical teaching. Jesus certainly wasn’t coming to remove Caesar nor was He intent on or content w Constantine’s murderous visions of gov (for example).
I see some more work needed to develop your conversation here. I agree the political platform we should be advocating surely isn’t capital punishment and I’m sure you’re partially trying to point the readers to the book.

NB: Claiborne’s title is pretty inducing of an appetite for salaciousness. I mean the death penalty has declined so much in the US that it took 20 lives. All 20 important, image bearing lives, but it’s hardly the issue that demands our attention and a book when in Chicago alone there were nearly 1000 gun deaths in 2016. The death penalty has also been in sharp decline (executions) since ’99. Respectfully Josh (an engaged reader)