T
TPJCatholic
Guest
TNT,
My message was not speaking about governing bodies; rather, my message was directed to you as an individual child of God. As Christians, it is certainly within our scope to insure that innocent people are not in danger; however, it is not within our scope to seek to face evil with evil.
IMO, there is no “Christian” justification for the death penalty in the United States (the passages you posted were mainly OT verses and they are not part of the commandments).
1 Thessalonians 5:15 (RSV-CE)
See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all.
Luke 9:54-55 (RSV-CE)
And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to bid fire come down from heaven and consume them?” But he turned and rebuked them.
Matthew 5:38-42 (RSV-CE)
"You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; and if any one would sue you and take your coat, let him have your cloak as well; and if any one forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to him who begs from you, and do not refuse him who would borrow from you.
Pope John Paul II
In his encyclical “Evangelium Vitae” issued March 25, 1995 after four years of consultations with the world’s Roman Catholic bishops, John Paul II wrote that execution is only appropriate
"in cases of absolute necessity, in other words, when it would not be possible otherwise to defend society. Today, however, as a result of steady immprovement in the organization of the penal system, such cases are very rare, if not practically nonexistent."
The Catechism of the Catholic Church
2267
Assuming that the guilty party’s identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.
If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people’s safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity with the
dignity of the human person.
Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm - without definitively taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself - the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity “are very rare, if not practically non-existent.”
My message was not speaking about governing bodies; rather, my message was directed to you as an individual child of God. As Christians, it is certainly within our scope to insure that innocent people are not in danger; however, it is not within our scope to seek to face evil with evil.
IMO, there is no “Christian” justification for the death penalty in the United States (the passages you posted were mainly OT verses and they are not part of the commandments).
1 Thessalonians 5:15 (RSV-CE)
See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all.
Luke 9:54-55 (RSV-CE)
And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to bid fire come down from heaven and consume them?” But he turned and rebuked them.
Matthew 5:38-42 (RSV-CE)
"You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; and if any one would sue you and take your coat, let him have your cloak as well; and if any one forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to him who begs from you, and do not refuse him who would borrow from you.
Pope John Paul II
In his encyclical “Evangelium Vitae” issued March 25, 1995 after four years of consultations with the world’s Roman Catholic bishops, John Paul II wrote that execution is only appropriate
"in cases of absolute necessity, in other words, when it would not be possible otherwise to defend society. Today, however, as a result of steady immprovement in the organization of the penal system, such cases are very rare, if not practically nonexistent."
The Catechism of the Catholic Church
2267
Assuming that the guilty party’s identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.
If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people’s safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity with the
dignity of the human person.
Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm - without definitively taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself - the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity “are very rare, if not practically non-existent.”
