Why are we talking about the death penalty in the church? That’s the question some of you are asking as we complete our series on Tough Issues. Sometimes people tell me that they wish we would not discuss topics like this one in church or that they wish I would not preach on them. "We just need to talk about the Bible and God," they say. But is it really that simple? Many of my sermons are on overtly spiritual topics-sermons about the life of Jesus or prayer or the habits of highly effective Christians. But shouldn’t our faith have something to say to the really serious moral and ethical issues that concern our nation? What we believe about God and our understanding of the Bible should influence the way we face difficult challenges as individuals and as a society.
In our country the death penalty is an increasingly urgent topic. The United States is executing more people at the present time than any other time in our past. We cannot possibly think as Christian that God has nothing to say to us about this issue. Does God care whether we put to death those who have committed horrible crimes? Surely God does have a view . As Christian, our aim must be to seek to discern God’s will and to align our views and opinions with God’s perspective." (Adam Hamilton, Confronting the Controversies)
Furthermore, it is imperative, as we discussed during The Separation of Church and State, that Christians should be involved in the issues of morality facing our society. Our goal should be to shape the society and culture in which we live according to Christ. It is our responsibility is to look to the Bible, our Christian tradition, our experience of the Holy Spirit and our God given ability to reason to discern God’s will. But, as we saw last week, it isn’t always easy. The Bible can be used on both sides of the debate on the death penalty and I will admit that I have struggled with both sides and have found myself wavering on either of the debate at various times. My hope today is to wade through the controversies surrounding the debate to find God’s desire
regarding the death penalty.
We begin our study by looking to first murder recorded in the Bible, the story of Cain and Abel. Cain and Abel were the first off springs of Adam and Eve. While both boys gave offerings and homage to God, Cain’s gifts were not for God’s glory. Therefore, Cain fell into disfavor with God. Cain became furious with God and jealous of his brother and in his anger he killed his brother. The Lord confronts and condemns Cain to be a restless wanderer. Cain is fearful for he knows the others as soon as the other realize that he killed Abel they will come seeking vengeance and will kill him. But the LORD tells him, "Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over." Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. This is God’s first judgment on the topic of death for a murderer. Cain, the murderer, is punished but not killed.
But then in Genesis 9 following the Great Flood, it seems as if God reverses his position. He gives permission for the very first time to Noah and all of mankind to kill and eat animals, but he clearly states that humans should not kill other humans because each are made in the image of God. And he prescribes a punishment for those who might take another’s life “…whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed.” Numbers 35:16-21 becomes even more explicit in support of the death penalty specifying that if death results from someone striking another with an iron, wood or stone object or if death occurs as the result of two people fighting and hitting with their fists, the perpetrator should be put to death with some provisions of forgiveness for accidental deaths. Throughout the Old Testament we find the death penalty supported and used as a form of justice and deterrent to keep people from killing one another. However, it is important to understand the reason behind this, for the Hebrew people it was because their faith taught them that all human life is valued by God and God alone has the right to end that life. They saw their actions as the direct and explicit hand of the wrath God.
But before we begin to feel that the Bible unequivocally supports the death penalty, it important that we understand the context of the Old Testament and the reasons behind their use of the death penalty. According to Adam Hamilton in Confronting the Controversies “there are five things to note about the death penalty in the Old Testament: The first is the key role it played in maintaining social order. The legal code found in Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy had its origins in the Mosaic period when Israel wandered in the wilderness as a nomadic people. The use of the death penalty was a means of maintaining order in a society with no criminal justice system, no police force and no prisons. Judges heard cases and made judgment based on testimony of two witnesses but beyond that there was no adequate formal structure for maintaining order.
In such an environment the death penalty provided a serious deterrent and it served it purpose of eliminating both lawlessness and unfaithfulness to God and others...Remember Moses and the Israelites spent forty years wandering in the wilderness, living in tents. There was no provision for “life in prison without parole.” Without the possibility of life imprisonment, there was no way to assure that a murderer, an adulterer or an idolater living among them would not hurt others or further erode the social order. …. Eleven crimes in all were punishable by death. These included [as we discussed] disobedience of or disrespect toward one’s parents, violating the Sabbath, working on Saturday, and sexual activity outside of marriage. It is hard to be certain, but I have a hunch that few of us here today would still be alive if we applied the death penalty to those who disobeyed parents or who failed to attend worship or who worked on a Sunday.”
The death penalty in the Old Testament was meant to teach the seriousness of these crimes, to make the point that life is sacred and that murder is a sin against God. Today though God is left out of the death penalty instead it is used as a form of revenge. We tell our children two wrongs don’t make a right and yet we support the death penalty a murder for a murder stating in this case two wrongs will make it right. There are only two arguments left in support the death penalty today, one that it still is a deterrent against crime and secondly, that it saves the tax payer dollars, that it is cheaper to execute than to maintain a person for life in prison.
However, it is interesting to note that studies have uniformly showed that in countries were the death penalty has been abolished, crime has actually dropped. In 1998 in the United States the south accounted for nearly 80 percent of all executions and yet it was the only region that year to experience a rise in serious crime” (ABCNews.com December, 1999-US Dept of Justice statistics) In the twenty years following Canada abolishing the death penalty the homicide rate dropped 43 percent.
And, to the excuse of cost, the truth of the matter is we pay more out more money to enact the death penalty then we do to keep criminals in prisons. It cost the American public $1.8 million to carry out one death sentence compared to the $602,000 necessary to keep a person in prison for forty years. Not only that but our legal system, though the best in the world, is still quite flawed. That’s why there are so many appeals in the death penalty process. Over 140 people on death row between 1900 and 1985 were proven to be innocent. Twenty four people were executed who were later proven to be innocent. Can you image what it must have felt like to be one of those 24 on death row, going to your death, to have been the family of those individuals? To know you are innocent yet you are incarcerated and killed by the government, by we the people?
In Matt 5:21 Jesus said "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ’Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment….You have heard that it was said, ’An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also…You have heard that it was said, ’You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” This world leads people to self centeredness to seek retaliation when a wrong has been done to them but the gospel of our Lord and Savior teach us give kindness, to give love when it seems uncalled for. That is the good news and that it can melt even the hardest heart.
Jesus showed mercy to those who according to the law deserved the death penalty. The woman caught in the act of adultery –in accordance with the law she was deserving of death and the people were ready to carry out the sentence and stone her. Yet Jesus stopped it by saying “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Under God’s law it isn’t just the murderers and adulterers who deserve death. All have fallen short of the glory of God, all have sinned and “the wages of sin is death.” But we have also all been given the free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The Old and New Testament are not in conflict with one another, they both seek to make sacred what God has deemed sacred.
The Bible teaches love, forgiveness and the opportunity for restoration even in the case of the worst sinners. Mercy and grace is the good news. It isn’t in conflict with God’s law it allows the wicked to become righteous by turning from their wickedness. Romans 12: 21, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Do not give into the temptation to meet evil with the evil of retaliation and revenge. The death penalty betrays the high standard of the gospel. Trust God, he will punish those who deserve punishment. He will not be too lenient; it maybe not be immediately but will be ultimate.
Not that I purporting that there shouldn’t be consequences for malicious behavior but that the death penalty denies the power of Christ to redeem, restore and transform. God does not punish out of anger or vengeance but rather out of a desire to correct and restore humanity to him. If we truly believe God can change us, then we must also believe that he can change even the murder—like King David, Moses, and Paul. “Now if in the justice of God, there ever was a man who deserved an instant and painful death, it was Paul. Justice demanded it. This man inflicted pain on the early church, persecuted the church, imprisoned the faithful, ordered the death of the righteous. But thank God Paul did not get what he deserved. God brought Paul to his knees and to a place where Paul accepted Christ as his Lord and pledged to serve and follow him all of his days. Paul received the mercy and grace of God. Hear Paul’s own words 1 Timothy 1:12-16 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. 13 Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. 14 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. “Reconciliation is a gift from Christ offered to all individual without exception and gives all life the dignity and sacredness” that God intended. (UM Social Principals). It brings glory and honor to God.
Karla Faye Tucker in 1998 was the first woman to be executed in over one hundred years in Texas. Her case brought together those who traditionally support the death penalty---among them many evangelical Christians, including Pat Robertson and James Dodson—who all pleaded for mercy for her because she had come to Christ while in prison and had experienced what seemed to be a very real conversion. She was not the same woman who had entered the prison years before. And while no one argued for her release, many argued that the death penalty should be commuted to a life term because this person had experienced, in prison, the ultimate goal not only of the justice system but of the gospel: redemption, reformation, and transformation.
The death penalty does not take these things into account. It cannot. Through the death penalty we the people, the society and state, usurp God’s authority, power, and time line, and as Christians we contradict the very gospel we proclaim—that Christ died for all of us.
Amen and Amen
