If Jesus said "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone", how can a Christian support capital punishment

Question

lookinn2cjc-You are wrong to assume I am an atheist; but I guess since you assume to be all-knowing (by proxy to your all-knowing god) you can say whatever you like and think you are right. Since you offered nothing, and didn't remotely answer the question, I guess you can blow it out of your all-loving, tolerant Christian ***.

Mav- thats true..so how do you resolve that? Do you give up Christianity, or do you give up our system of punishment? Or is that a false choice?

Mav- Christ was referring to a system of capital punishment, not judgment. Often Christ encourages His followers to judge others, but he also encourages His followers to forgive. No where does He encourage capital punishment, in fact, His statement to the Muslims would suggest he is against it.

Lookin2cjc- I don't think you have anything to "Amen" over..you strike me as an arrogant, thoughtless person, who probably knows just enough about her religion to think she is right to foist it upon people, but not enough to defend her positions logically. Read your Bible, before answering faith-based questions.

Hanna= Since all humans are sinners, and Jesus said "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" it would seem to me He is against all but divinely administered capital punishment.

lookn2cjc- Are you seriously so inane and self-righteous that you divide the world into atheists and Christians?

Answer 1

i dont,everyone should be given another chance,now i am not saying that they should not be punished,they should,but it is not our job to kill someone

Answer 2

First, you're taking the verse about casting stones out of context. Jesus acknowledged the woman's guilt, and told the religious leaders to cast the first stone if they had no sin. The people who brought the woman to Jesus had broken some of their own commandments. In the Old Testament, BOTH parties were to be stoned to death--so where was the male? And best of all, Jesus forgave the woman of her sins. Why else would He say to "go, and sin no more"--meaning, leave your life of sin. I fully expect to see this woman, and many more people, in Heaven because they trusted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Now, as to judging, you took the verse and are trying to force the meaning onto something altogether different. The Old Testament had many condemnations of the homosexual lifestyle. Did man or woman write this in the Bible? No, God declared it to be what it is. Neither we nor any other Christian are "special", as you stated. We are simply telling others what the Bible says--in context, as some seem not to be able to do. Does this make us different? No, because the only difference is Jesus and the salvation He made possible. Do we hate gay people? No, only the sins they commit, and some of the legislation where, incredibly, if someone were to say "I believe this is wrong because the Bible says it is wrong", then that would be considered hate speech. Check it out--it's Senate Bill 909. And we aren't singling out anyone for warning them of the punishment awaiting them or anyone else for that matter, in Hell. Jesus is the one who warned people of Hell, many times more than He talked about Heaven. Bottom line, salvation is a choice. One can choose to live his or her own way, and God will let that person do so, up to a point that God alone determines. The end of that life, without Jesus, is hell, That's what the Bible says--period, end of discussion. The other choice is to repent of sins, accept the gift of salvation, and enjoy a home in Heaven, with Jesus and others, when life is over. Proof? Just take a look at 1 Corinthians 3 and 6. Some of those people were probably on the "Most Wanted List" or public enemies before they were saved. After they trusted Jesus as Lord and Savior, everything changed--and they went to Heaven, too! Praise God!

Answer 3

This scripture is often used by many to support the belief that capital punishment is inherently wrong. A closer consideration of this account will show that Jesus was not taking a position regarding capital punishment. Jesus was Jewish, subject to the Mosaic Law Covenant as was every other Jewish person. The law covenant specified death as the punishment for the sin of adultery if the required witnesses gave testimony. Period. Death for both adulterers. Now this account specifically says that the woman was caught in the act of adultery. Now note verse 6: It plainly states that they asked Jesus this question to put him to the test, in order to have something with which to accuse him. It also says that they persisted in asking the question. So how would this test work?

If Jesus said “No, don’t put her to death,” he would be teaching against the law of Moses before all the people and that would jeopardize his Messianic standing with the Jews, as well as his credibility as a teacher. If he said “Yes, by all means, put her to death,” he would be in harmony with the Law but he would seem heartless to the people. “My goodness”, they might say, “he is stoning this poor female to death! How cruel!” For I call your attention to the fact that the religious leaders brought the WOMAN before the crowd – not the man. Fairly sneaky, that was. Really, where was the man with whom she was committing adultery?

At any rate, Jesus was caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place. So what did he do? Using his God-given wisdom, he told them the famous words: “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” He did NOT say, don’t put her to death. He did NOT say, she is innocent. And he did NOT say ignore the Mosaic law. He put the burden on the shoulders of the religious leaders. And when it was all said and done, what did Jesus tell the woman? Go and sin no more. He acknowledged her serious sin: adultery – which was punishable by death.

There is nothing here to suggest that Jesus was against capital punishment.

Hannah

Answer 4

Jesus was addressing a crowd of Muslims who were stoning a woman to death merely for being suspected of prostitution, without the consideration of a trial or anything like that. (For what it's worth, they haven't changed at all. Vigilante "justice" still holds sway in much of the Muslim world).

We have a judicial system that judges a person based on their crime plus any & all mitigating factors that may have influenced their actions, and punish them accordingly. This can take years, as clearly evidenced by the hundreds of death-row prisoners who's sentence has been delayed for decades while every single possible avenue of justice has been explored prior to their actual execution. We don't allow vigilantes to string a person up just because they're suspected or accused of a crime, but if a person is guilty of a capitol crime they deserve capitol punishment.

This is the most fair of all systems, and I support it fully.

Answer 5

You have to understand the context of what Jesus was saying. Jesus' purpose was to save, not condemn. God wants to show us mercy and compassion, but He will bring justice to those who don't repent. Those who murder or rape or kidnap or abuse ppl, I think, all deserve the death penalty. To allow them to live is cruelty to those around them. God gave the death penalty for murder and rape bc He knew that those crimes didn't just affect the victim, they affect the perpetrator. They twist and corrupt them in a real, significant way. Bc of this, God knew they had to cut that corruption out or it would spread. It has spread, bc ppl haven't obeyed God and executed those criminals for their crimes as they deserve, and so our prisons get worse and worse. It isn't the government's place to forgive, only the victim can do that. Sadly, however, the government has been giving mercy to ppl who don't deserve it, and the effects in our prisons and society in general are evident as morals decline and crime increases.

The case with the adulteress was interesting, too, bc the partner wasn't present. It's hard for somone to be caught in the act of adultery and there only be one person there. What happened to the man? Jesus would've noticed his absence and so decided since they couldn't produce the partner, there may not have been any crime at all, bc how would they know if they didn't see her with someone else?

Answer 6

Very good question, and a very accurate assessment. A true Christian would not pass judgement on another. Especially in an instiance like capital punishment. Thou shalt not murder. So basically you would be breaking 2 laws of God.

Answer 7

I believe that anyone who desires to follow the Sacred Teachings of Yeshua/Jesus the Christ [PBUH] and wants to be Christ-like, or be commonly called as a real, honest-to-goodness, TRUE "Christ-ian" today, HAS TO BE BOUND BY and follow THE LAW, which clearly states among others:

"Thou shalt not kill."

Peace be with you...

Answer 8

This is so tiresome.....I'm always amazed at how atheists, (not unlike cultists) GLORY in twisting the Scriptures to suit their own means, but tell them; "Except ye repent ye shall ALL likewise perish", or "Ye MUST be born again", and they have NOTHING to say!
Edit:
AMEN MAV!

EDIT:
Well if you're a Christian, you sure don't speak like one or defend the Bible like a Christian should...

Answer 9

With that same logic, no one should be go to trail, and be convicted of a crime - lest we cast the first stone.

Answer 10

Because child molesters and murders are not harlots. They are truly evil people deserving of death. God bless kisses Betty.

Answer 11

I don't. The one pulling the switch is just as guilty as the one who done the crime.