�Living with hatred is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.� This saying, which is found in �Religion and the Death Penalty,� is addressed to the many who support the death penalty simply because they wish harm on murderers.
The only commonality of all twenty-two essayists included is that this messy situation cannot be addressed without assessing its religious dimensions. One Muslim and one Jewish perspective are included. The other 16 discuss within Christianity or else practical grounds.
By Joel Brown,
Contributor
�Living with hatred is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.� This saying, which is found in �Religion and the Death Penalty,� is addressed to the many who support the death penalty simply because they wish harm on murderers.
The only commonality of all twenty-two essayists included is that this messy situation cannot be addressed without assessing its religious dimensions. One Muslim and one Jewish perspective are included. The other 16 discuss within Christianity or else practical grounds.
The overwhelming discrepancy with Christianity is that revenge opposes forgiveness.
Not only did Christ say we must forgive in order to be forgiven by God in the book of Matthew, and to be merciful in the book of Luke, but, if God means for society to execute criminals so they may atone for their crimes, then why did Christ die upon the cross?
Nevertheless, several contributors argued for a Christian acceptance of the death penalty rooted in the Torah – the Jewish Bible that comprises the first five books of the Old Testament. Instead of arguing for hate, they argue that God orders humans to punish by death for certain crimes.
The Torah does say this, but also contradicts these Bible-quoters about what warrants execution. The most rigorous biblical contributors to this text reveal twenty-five offenses that merit death in the Torah, including adultery, contempt for a court’s decision, and cursing one’s parents.
Death penalty advocates also used Genesis 9:6, �Whosoever sheds human blood, by humans shall his blood be shed.� Yet scholars disagree on whether this is a legal penalty, prophetic admonition, or proverb.
For lack of a better understatement, this has been only a tip of the iceberg of what is inside. Regardless of the reader’s viewpoint, this book surprises with how many relevant considerations there really are and gray areas between acceptance and rejection of the death penalty.
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