Supreme Court upholds Kentucky's use of lethal injections

Do you believe Jesus is a greater revelation then the Old Testament?

 

You've just showed us why "love your enemies" does not apply to human government. You've tried to paint the picture of rotting in a cell for the rest of your life as being loved. It's not; it's pure punishment. As individual believers, we are called to love that prisoner - to share the gospel with him, etc. But the gov't is not called to that - it is called to maintain and administer justice. And sometimes the crime is so heinous, justice (and Scripture) demands the criminal's life be taken.

 

Jesus is the fullfillment of the O.T. Matthew 5:17-18. The way you word the question by using the word "greater" pits the Word of God against the Word of God. I do not handle the Word of God that way.

 

==You are still not dealing with the Biblical text/facts. All I see you doing is dancing around the hard points to maintain your position.

 

When placed next to each other, being in jail is better then being dead. The opportunity to be loved doesn't exist if you're dead. We are dealing with the options based on some assumptions. Someone committed a crime and is to be punished. Now knowing this which option offers the opportunity to be more loving and compassionate, putting them in jail or killing them? It isn't a perfect world, we hold up the ideal but deal with the reality.

I can't argue the difference you make concerning the individual the government. But based on my individual conscience, I will seek to change the policies of the government.

 

I use the terminology because Hebrews 3 talks of Jesus being greater then Moses

 

I'm not sure how offering an interpretation of a portion of scripture is dancing around the hard points. The sword is authority. Nothing too hard about that.

An actual hard point is how do you punish someone like Hitler? Responsible for millions of deaths and injustices and all you want to do is put them in jail?! Now that's a hard point! How do you look in the face of someone who has seen a loved one killed and try to tell them that you believe their killer shouldn't die by execution? I freely admit that I grapple with these types of scenarios concerning this issue, but after much prayer, I still think a government killing it's citizens, even in the name of justice is wrong.

Pro-life must be all life or it is simply pro-choice in the other direction.

 

The point of Hebrews 3:1-6 is to show that Jesus is the Son of God and builder of our faith, so of course he is greater than Moses, who was just a man. These verses do nothing to circumvent God's charge to human government to administer capital punishment, which, by the way, precedes the Law of Moses.

 

How can you be pro-life without the death penalty? Being pro-life means we honor it all the time, not just at certain times. And honoring life means that the government exacts a penalty for stamping out life. You cannot honor life in God's image without the death penalty.

 

==The sword is just authority? Nothing more? Do you know anything about ancient history? The sword meant more than just authority.

==Then what do you do with the passages of Scripture that promote/support the death penalty? Both Old and New Testament? It seems to me we are right back where we started.

==I think that is a false choice. I am pro-life when it comes to the innocent. However when it comes to murderers they should recieve justice. Be that the death penalty or life in prison.

 

So life in prison without possibility of parole is getting away with it? Your logic doesn't follow. Honor life by institutionalized killing. Like I have said before that is like having sex to promote abstinence.

 

It's not my logic. It's God's logic as revealed in Genesis 9:6. If you don't like it, your problem is not with me. Life in prison without possibility of parole is not equal to taking a life. In order to honor life, there must be a just penalty, and that penalty (according to God) is death.

I can understand if your argument is that the death penalty may be applied to an innocent person. But to argue that capital punishment is wrong as a matter of principle is simply unbiblical.

If you said that before, I certainly wouldn't repeat it because it is absurd. Your argument here has absolutely nothing in common with the issue of capital punishment. Only the most naive would be persuaded by such a weak analogy.

 

Dodge the question then. You can do that. I just happen to believe that if I'm concerned about the sanctity of human life I should be concerned about what happens to all human life not just those it's politically correct to be concerned about. No reply required.

 

So if you have an unruly son, you take him to the gates of the city and stone him to death? That is the penalty "according to God".

 

Predictable. Someone always trots this out and reveals a gross misunderstanding of the OT and the Bible in general.

This law that you cite is a part of the Mosaic Law for life in the nation of Israel. It was instituted around 1445 B.C. We are no longer under the Law as the NT makes clear, since we are not living in the nation of Israel.

Genesis 9:6 however predated the law by several thousand years. Furthermore, Genesis 9:6 is based on an eternal truth - that man is made in the image of God and murder is stamping out God's image. Capital punishment is the only appropriate response when someone treats the image of God with such disdain.

As with your analogy, I would not keep repeating stuff like this. It just doesn't hold up to anyone who actually thinks about the issues involved.

 

So just admit it...you take a cafeteria approach to scripture.

 

I oppose this ruling. Justice is that the murderer be put to death in the same way he did it to his victim, which is very rarely by injection.

 

There is nothing cafeteria about my approach. The distinctions I made above are clear biblical distinctions. Are you seriously unaware of them?

You seem to reject the Law as well, since you don't take your son out and stone him, I assume. So why are you bothered that I too reject the Law?

 

==No, actually he is using the historical-grammatical approach to Scripture. That is, he is paying attention to the context of the statements both historical and grammatical. The death penalty is not just a part of the Law however. It was in place before the Law (Gen 9:6) and it is in place after the Law today (Rom 13:1-5). Therefore trying to dismiss the death penalty as just part of the Law will not work. God has given human government the right to execute murderers.

 

My view is the politically correct one ?

Are you crazy ?

Look, I allready backed it up. I used the example in scripture. Why do you insist on keeping this going ?