Brother Bob said:
Life has enough heavy weights without carrying something like that on your shoulders for the rest of your life. Would you want anyone to know you had done it, like your children and wife?
Down here, I would probably be viewed by most as a celebrity if I was the executioner.
Personally, I don't think I would have a problem carrying out a death sentence on a convicted murderer. All I would have to do is think of the victims of the crime and know that, had the murderer been dealt with prior to that event, those victims would still be alive.
This comes from someone who has seen an elderly family member murdered in his own home by someone he knew. This is from someone who watched his parents and his aunt and uncle "clean up" the crime scene after the police left.
I may have vengeance on my mind, but I am human, after all. Still, that does not change the fact that those who would willfully end the life of a person for no reason whatsoever do not deserve to continue their own lives.
If you execute one murderer, you are guaranteed that this murderer will never murder again. Put him in jail, and there always remains the possibility, however remote, that he might murder another prisoner, a guard, a prison doctor or minister, or he even may escape to murder a civilian.
If I had the ability to stop a murderer from ever having the possibility to murder again, achievable only through the death penalty, and he somehow, no matter who or how, he managed to murder someone else,
that would be the ultimate weight that I would never be able to endure.
The man's spiritual condition is none of my business whatsoever. That is solely between him and God. If he murders a fellowcitizen, it then becomes my business and your business to see that it never happens again. The death penalty is the only way to make certain, with 100% certainty, that the murderer does not murder again.
Brother Bob, I'm sure you are heartfelt in your position on the death penalty, as is Jim. Those of us on this side are also just as heartfelt and we see it, not as killing someone just for the sake of killing, but for the sake of perhaps saving someone else from facing the same heartache that was faced by the family of the first victim. I know what that heartache is like, and it's not a great feeling. To prevent someone else from feeling the same, that is the ultimate goal of us who advocate the death penalty.
I must also point out that you never know for certain why someone breaks into your home. You do not know if they intend to harm you or your family. They may just be hungry and trying to steal some food or a t.v., yet you would not hesitate to use deadly force against them, as would I do the same. When this occurs, you are operating under the premise that they are in your home, committing at least one crime (breaking and entering), and possibly, demonstrable by their initial crime, pose a risk to your family or yourself. That is the same premise for our advocacy of the death penalty. A murderer has demonstrated that they have no qualms in committing a crime, and a truly heinous one at that, and quite frankly pose a risk to commit similar or equal crimes in the future. Therefore, we do not hesitate to seek their execution to prevent harm to innocent people, including other inmates.
Yes, we have high crime rates and such, but I believe that has more to do with our society as a whole than it has to do with our use of the death penalty. It would not seem to make much sense that our use of it actually increases the occurences of violent crimes. Why would someone commit such crimes with the forthought that they very well may be put in prison and executed?
Perhaps we are a society that has too many freedoms. I suppose when you get to either extreme, too many freedoms or not enough, it can lead to a breakdown in society.
Perhaps the reason we have so many minorities on death row and in prison is because our society has long told them that they are not to blame for their actions and now they actually believe it to be true. Why is it that most of us do not commit violent crimes and a few people, who are usually quite similar in appearance, or demeanor, or lifestyle, or background do?
Perhaps it is because we have for too long listened to national figures who tell us that we are the true murderers and we are the true villians, and those people in prison are the real victims and should take no blame.
Perhaps we should start educating all people at a young age that commission of crimes, especially violent ones, is never right. Perhaps if they saw the affects of violence, rather than the movie star image portrayed by certain "artists", who shall remain nameless, they would realize that being dead is not glamourous.
Frankly, I believe it would not be bad for young juvenile delinquents to be forced to view executions of murderers so they would know the road they are headed towards.
If the problem could be nipped in the bud, then murders and executions would drop, and we would all be a lot happier.
Until then, we stop future murders the best way we know how. If that makes us wrong and unChristian, as some like to claim, then may God have mercy on us for trying to save innocent lives.
As a side issue, one should never, ever say they would throw out scripture if it didn't fit their interpretation. I am not smart enough to claim that I know, without a doubt, that executions are still biblical and mandated by God, but I would never say that, if they were not, that I would throw away scripture. Some folks take a very cavalier stance when it comes to scripture. What we should do is take
every scripture as truth, based on the faith that we supposedly have been given, and mold our own personal beliefs to fit scripture.
Jim, I sincerely hope that, in your current frame of mind, you never do find any scripture which advocates the death penalty. I would hate to see someone throw out all of their faith-based beliefs because their humanistic personal beliefs interfered. Do you judge every scripture based on how you "feel" about that issue? I surely hope not. Had you been a jew before Christ came, would you have thrown away scripture because it did indeed advocate the death penalty?
I am deeply concerned that any true believer could say that they would throw away God's word if it didn't conform to what they believe their ideal to be.
