This is a pretty weighty subject...
My wife and I have been watching Prison Break on Netflix, the first time I've seen the show. It's very well done, very entertaining, but I'm having personal difficulty watching it because it touches on a subject I have strong feels on...the death penalty.
What do you think of it? I have always been against it, and still am. I understand why it exists and why some feel that it's the proper course of action for justice, especially when it is a particularly heinous crime. I also understand that putting someone in prison for life is a drain on taxpayer dollars.
However, in my opinion, who are we to decide when a human life should end? A human life is a human life, and no matter what a person has done with that life, none of us has the right to make that decision - even if it's in the name of 'justice'.
It also seems like a rather large contradiction that we condemn the killing of one person by killing another. Some would call that justice, but I'm not so sure I see it that way. Yes, the bible says an eye for an eye, but what about grace in the new testament?
On the spiritual aspect of it, does not Christ forgive us over and over and over...and over? We all deserve the death penalty if we put our lives at God's standards. And yet, here we are still alive - and with life forevermore for those who believe. We deserve the death penalty, and yet we're not getting it.
Another issue is wrongful convictions. It does happen, despite our justice system's best efforts and intentions. How many cases have we seen of people being wrongfully imprisoned for decades? How terrible would it be to put an innocent man to death?
Finally, there comes the issue of remorse, of second chances. I can't understand putting someone to death in general, but especially not when that person is remorseful and has turned their life around. Think of the good that newly changed person could do, and how they could stop so many others from making bad decisions.
I realize that I have never been (and hope I never will be) a victim to the point that the perpetrator deserves the death penalty. Perhaps it's easy for me to say all this when I've never been wronged like that. That being said, I'd like to think that my stance wouldn't change. I'd like to think that I would have God's strength to love and forgive. The stories that stand out to us are not those of a a death row inmate being put to death. They're the ones when the families who are wronged plead for the life of the person who harmed them, instead calling for their head. That's grace. That's forgiveness. That's what Christ has shown us.
My wife and I have been watching Prison Break on Netflix, the first time I've seen the show. It's very well done, very entertaining, but I'm having personal difficulty watching it because it touches on a subject I have strong feels on...the death penalty.
What do you think of it? I have always been against it, and still am. I understand why it exists and why some feel that it's the proper course of action for justice, especially when it is a particularly heinous crime. I also understand that putting someone in prison for life is a drain on taxpayer dollars.
However, in my opinion, who are we to decide when a human life should end? A human life is a human life, and no matter what a person has done with that life, none of us has the right to make that decision - even if it's in the name of 'justice'.
It also seems like a rather large contradiction that we condemn the killing of one person by killing another. Some would call that justice, but I'm not so sure I see it that way. Yes, the bible says an eye for an eye, but what about grace in the new testament?
On the spiritual aspect of it, does not Christ forgive us over and over and over...and over? We all deserve the death penalty if we put our lives at God's standards. And yet, here we are still alive - and with life forevermore for those who believe. We deserve the death penalty, and yet we're not getting it.
Another issue is wrongful convictions. It does happen, despite our justice system's best efforts and intentions. How many cases have we seen of people being wrongfully imprisoned for decades? How terrible would it be to put an innocent man to death?
Finally, there comes the issue of remorse, of second chances. I can't understand putting someone to death in general, but especially not when that person is remorseful and has turned their life around. Think of the good that newly changed person could do, and how they could stop so many others from making bad decisions.
I realize that I have never been (and hope I never will be) a victim to the point that the perpetrator deserves the death penalty. Perhaps it's easy for me to say all this when I've never been wronged like that. That being said, I'd like to think that my stance wouldn't change. I'd like to think that I would have God's strength to love and forgive. The stories that stand out to us are not those of a a death row inmate being put to death. They're the ones when the families who are wronged plead for the life of the person who harmed them, instead calling for their head. That's grace. That's forgiveness. That's what Christ has shown us.
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