In 'Respect For Life' Statement, No Mention Of Death Penalty

[Orogeny]

1 Peter 3:9 “Do not return evil with evil or insult with insult.”

Ah, scripture quoting. Ok.

"1 “Stop judging, that you may not be judged. 2 For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you. 3 Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’ while the wooden beam is in your eye? 5 You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye. " Matthew 7:1-5

Let me be real clear. I oppose capital punishment, not because of “racism” but because my Church opposes it (at least in the US). I reject the notion that it is worse because of the race of those who are executed. Whites, hispanics, asians, native americans all have the same value to God as do blacks. We are PEOPLE, not races.

Peace

Tim

 

[Dranu]

Have you even read that passage? Jesus never condemns the woman.

He does not condemn her to death but the fact that he tell’s her to " sin no more " means she was guilty of the charge against her.

Nope. That is your position and is a novel interpretation that is relatively new. It certainly wasn’t the interpretation to people like Thomas Aquinas who argued FOR capital punishment.
Quote:

Thomas Aquinas in all his works quotes Aristotle more frequently than Christ. Go figure? He also espoused mortification of the body!

Given the following passage from Leviticus…
“If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death.” (Leviticus 20:10 RSV)…God has either changed the law Or changed his mind.Which is it ?

Christ’s action with the woman is not so clearly a categorical rejection of the death penalty. Christ could have also saved the thieves on the cross, but he did not do that. We might also contemplate if the cross helped bring the ‘good thief’ into paradise (as there is some goods that are greater than life).

I can think of three instances in Acts (the NEW Testament) where it seems God Himself delivers people to death sentences for their actions, and one in a horrific manner. Additionally, two of those seem to be the apostles issuing the penalty in a way. Furthermore, there is other text in the New Testament that seems to support the use of the death penalty by the state.