The death penalty... Is it superior to "Thou Shall Not Kill"?

Question

Can a Christian be for the death penalty?

The Bible says, Thou shalt not kill.

Should God have added something to that commandment like, "except for death penalty cases"?

Or should God have rather said, "Thou shalt not murder."
In 1611 when they wrote the KJV, didn't they know that "murder" would be a little more accurate than "kill"?
God commanded his people to kill all kinds of people (witches, gays, false prophets, unclean people, etc.) Today, those things would definitely be considered murder.

It seems that human morality has simply changed with the NT being a "moral update." Like the Mormon racist updates.

But I know you cannot change the Bible, because the Bible says that anyone who changes the Bible should be killed...

So can we kill insane murderers or not?

How about witches and homosexuals, like the Bible says. Are we supposed to read the Ten Commandments and then later read the things that contradict the earlier things and just go with the "latest" information?

Answer 1

i look at killing as taking life for no reason ... murderers that hack up families need to fry ...

Answer 2

"Thou shalt not kill."

A moral precept expressed in the Bible and in many other "codes of law/ethics/etc.

In actual fact what people most believe in is:

"Thou shalt not commit any UNJUST killing."
(Even IF GAELICSP... is correct and the Hebrew word is "murder" we STILL need to define "murder" or "unjust" killing). When is killing" unjust"?

Many religions have nuanced almost ALL "moral" prohibitions. Thus we are allowed to kill if it is the only way to protect ourselves or our loved ones. Or in a defensive war. Etc.

Simiiarly other moral precepts are also nuanced. For example most theologians will not falt anyone who is stealing as a last resort to feed their family.
Or a captured soldier to "lie"when interrogated to save his fellow soldiers from harm.

To get back to the death penalty. Until recently, most theologians would have said that the "state" has the right to inflict capital punishment.

However,EVEN IF this this is considered moral, the state has NO right to execute an INNOCENT person.

Because of the obvious chance that someone can be wrongly convicted, some theologians now state that by this factor alone, capital punishment is NOT moral.


To get to the question of "changing" codes of morality. Any thoughtful informed person, when virwing all the changes in our "Perceived Code of Morality" will understand that EVEN IF there is and has been one unchangable code of moral truth, people's UNDERSTANDING of this code definitely evolves as our knowledge increases, and our understanding of human nature and what makes us what we are increases.

Thus at the time of the writing of the Old Testament we can see writren in Jewish law that "thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." ]liv19: 18] HOWEVER ONLY their fellow Jews were their neighbors! They could make slaves, etc of non-Jews. Even women were considered "property" of the men.

Christ even stated "I give you a NEW law, to love your enemies."

Until the middle ages loaning money at interest was considered immoral.

Until the mid-1800s, slavery by most Christian religions was condoned and even considered moral. In 1866, the reigning pope stated that "slavery was neither against the divine nor the natural law."

Until the end of the 1800s, most Christian religions still considered woman to be subject to their husbands.

What will happen in the future? We are not sure except more changes will take place in our UNDERSTANDING of morality.

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And SUPERFOOT23,

if you are using the Torah to justify Capital Punishment then you MUST also believe the following: "For everyone who curses hos father or his mother shall surely be put to death. . . .And a manvwho commits adultery with another man's wife . . . shall surelybe put to death." Lev 20: 9-10]
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And ALLABOUTMOMONS:

Start maybe by reading up on your own history!

Not too long ago Mormon stated that not only could blacks NOT be admitted to thier church, but that they HAD NO SOUL! (So obviously they never could go to heaven).

And they taught that polygamy was moral.

And they NOW openly discriminate against MANY minorities and other non-Mormons! I know. I lived in a near totally Mormon community for a while.

Answer 3

Not the same thing... Murder is murder, capital punishment is society/the judicial system punishing those who commit such atrocities as murder and removing them from society... Sometimes it is necessary. The ten commandments are addressed to the individual, telling people not to personally go out and commit murder. Do you think that if we caught Hitler alive we should have let him live after all of the atrocities he committed? What happens when the prisons overcrowd? Then the liberals want to let dangerous, violent criminals run free only so they can harm the innocent. Genesis 9:5 5 “And I will require the blood of anyone who takes another person’s life. If a wild animal kills a person, it must die. And anyone who murders a fellow human must die. 6 If anyone takes a human life, that person’s life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beings[a] in his own image. 7 Now be fruitful and multiply, and repopulate the earth.” Genesis 9:6 "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man. What I want to know is why liberals are ok with killing unborn babies guilty of no sin or crime.

Answer 4

The bible does not say, "Thou shall not kill".
Read it again. It says, "Thou shall not murder".

"Murder" is a different word with an entirely different meaning from the word "kill".
Murder is killing without a just cause.

The bible allows for Capital Punishment.
See Genesis 9:6; Exodus 21:12; Leviticus 24:17; Numbers 35:33

Answer 5

Christians can be for or against the death penalty depending on their denomination. Many fundamentalists are for it, and use old testament verses to support their view. Catholics are pretty much against the death penalty. One verse that fundamentalists use to support their position is Leviticus 24:17 which reads
"If anyone takes the life of a human being, he must be put to death."
This would at first seem to support the death penalty. But this is purely Old Testament Law, and wouldn't necessarily apply to today's world. Old Testament Law also had disobedient children stoned, but we don't do that today. A few verses that could be applied to today's situation would be Matthew 5:38-40, which seems to be against the 'eye for an eye' situation and wouldn't support the death penalty for murderers and such. Death is something for God to control, and it should be out of our power to have people killed by law for their actions.

Answer 6

No. The Bible specifically said Thou Salt Not Murder. By saying this, it means that you are not permitted to go kill someone just for a personal case or revenge or something like that. However, it says that people of the government and people who are in charge and people who inforce the law are permitted to punish those who break the law.

Answer 7

The death penalty is decided by society. The society has collectively agreed that is justifiable to end another persons life.

Murder is a ending a person's life for your own selfish reasons, hatred, or just evil. A society will never say that is okay to murder someone. It will say that it is okay to kill someone. So it doesn't matter who says "Thou shall not murder". No one should murder another person.

Answer 8

You seem to be getting carried away. For example; Can the police kill? Can soldiers kill? Can you kill in self defense? It says thou shall not kill, kill what? A tiger that is about to eat you? A chicken for food? The Ten Commandments assumes that you have been given a brain, and you will carry out your duty to use it.

Answer 9

Jesus once said, "Give to Caesar what is Caesars, give to God what is God's". God has law just like we have laws today..if you do not abide by them then the law is the law and you will get your just reward according to the law. Christians can be for the death penalty because there is nothing wrong with it that is against God's Word. The mosiac laws originates from a living God who put his stamp of authority right in the center of his law. The effects of disregarding his law we witness today.

Answer 10

The Hebrew word raw-tsakh' in the KJV does mean murder . It means to dash into pieces . So God did say thou shalt not murder. Also in Genesis Chapter 9 :5-6 God said this:

And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man.
Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

So capital punishmment is not only acceptable to God but REQUIRED by God. All those judges and congresses that do not mete out God's justice will answer to God for it.

Yes we should execute not only insane but all murderers.

As far as Homosexuals and Witches go , God will take care of their punishment. He did it at Sodomand Gommorah and he will do it again... Soon!

Answer 11

The Bible says not to murder. If it meant "thou shall not kill" then it would be a sin to kill bacteria.

To answer your original question, yes, state constitutions are superior to the Bible.