Much has been said about the issue of capital punishment, and I have myself written, though not in this forum, about my own thoughts on the subject. In summary of my own premise, I endorse the practice for its ability to prevent recidivism of crimes perpetrated against men. I don’t know that I could pull the switch or trigger, but I have never believed it prudent to burden my posterity with debts occasioned by my own choices. Let criminals pay their own debts.
Some argue against aggressive prosecution and punishment of offenders for the prospect of hurting an innocent. Having myself been wrongly accused and harassed by law enforcement, but notwithstanding their mismanagement of the issue, I prefer to chance punishing an innocent man than to allow too many to go free. I have often thought about what I would do at the sentencing hearing if someone I dearly loved faced the death penalty. Prior to now, I was inclined to believe the supplicatory propaganda of those who profess faith yet do not act on those precepts who would advise me to extend mercy and vilify me if I refused. That is the issue I take up today.
Patrick Henry said, “It is natural to men to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes to a painful truth and listen to the song of that siren ‘til she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men…?” Yes, we hope men will change, but most of our capital crimes for which execution is even a possible punishment are not things men decide to do one day. Rape and murder are not gateway sins. They come after one has already skated down the hill of sin where there were no signposts and they do not realize how far they’ve come. People do not come into the world rapists and murderers. They begin with lesser crimes- larceny, pornography, and deceit, stealing pens from work, spreading vicious rumors, and casting sidelong glances at trampishly dressed harlots. Eventually, they go further, where previously they would not dare, and their actions crescendo into the types of crimes that constitute capital punishment.
So, a man convicted of murder or rape is guilty. Whatever inconsistencies and hesitations, more often than not, the prosecution finds itself able to demonstrate a history of abuses and usurpations pursuing invariably the same object- establishment of a tyranny over the hearts and minds of men. Capital crimes are crimes of control. The perpetrators want to put other people under their boot. They have done plenty up to the point that demonstrates a history of violence and vileness.
In Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov[1], we read how it is indeed the Christian way for men to endorse capital punishment: “I don’t want the mother to embrace the oppressor who threw her son to the dogs! She dare not forgive him! Let her forgive him for herself if she will, let her forgive the torturer for the immeasurable suffering of her mother’s heart. But the sufferings of her tortured child she has no right to forgive.” It is not Christian to forgive by proxy that which is not ours to forgive. For crimes like rape and murder, the criminals cannot make full restitution and restore that which was lost. No man has power to give life or to render anew the virtue of a woman. It is not Christian to deny justice.
As part of his own parable of the Debtor and Creditor, Jesus himself taught that the Debtor could not escape the consequence except by the intercession of a Mediator. While the Creditor escaped repayment of the debt, the Debtor’s demands for justice were met by the Mediator’s offer to pay the Creditor’s debt and take over as Debtor to his friend. Thus, his mercy satisfied the demands of justice. It did not cancel them. God does not intend us to escape consequence, and the atonement of Christ, while accommodating for the mistakes men make, only makes their effects go away. We cannot change what we did, but if we apply the Atonement it is with God as if we never had. Agency is not free; it comes with an opportunity cost.
Capital punishment is Christian. It reflects these same principles that balance justice and mercy. I cannot extend mercy that is not mine to give, and murderers cannot appeal for mercy to men they kill if they are separated by a mortal coil from an equivalent spiritual disposition. If I then at a sentencing hearing make a motion for mercy, not only do I do my loved one so robbed a disservice but also all others against the criminal perpetrated crimes for which he has not yet been called to account. All of these depend on us for the exaction of justice.
If there were no punishments there would be no law. But there is a law given and a punishment affixed and a repentance granted. If not so, God would cease to be God. So, I forgive you for what you have done to me, but what you have done to the yet unborn and the dearly departed lies beyond my purview to forgive, and to assume among the powers of the earth a station that allows me power to steal the agency of your victims when you steal their life or virtue makes me as equally wicked and fitting scorn for all those others who are themselves good and brave and true. May God judge betwixt me and thee and reward thee according to thy deeds.
[1] “Rebellion” Page 12
Some argue against aggressive prosecution and punishment of offenders for the prospect of hurting an innocent. Having myself been wrongly accused and harassed by law enforcement, but notwithstanding their mismanagement of the issue, I prefer to chance punishing an innocent man than to allow too many to go free. I have often thought about what I would do at the sentencing hearing if someone I dearly loved faced the death penalty. Prior to now, I was inclined to believe the supplicatory propaganda of those who profess faith yet do not act on those precepts who would advise me to extend mercy and vilify me if I refused. That is the issue I take up today.
Patrick Henry said, “It is natural to men to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes to a painful truth and listen to the song of that siren ‘til she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men…?” Yes, we hope men will change, but most of our capital crimes for which execution is even a possible punishment are not things men decide to do one day. Rape and murder are not gateway sins. They come after one has already skated down the hill of sin where there were no signposts and they do not realize how far they’ve come. People do not come into the world rapists and murderers. They begin with lesser crimes- larceny, pornography, and deceit, stealing pens from work, spreading vicious rumors, and casting sidelong glances at trampishly dressed harlots. Eventually, they go further, where previously they would not dare, and their actions crescendo into the types of crimes that constitute capital punishment.
So, a man convicted of murder or rape is guilty. Whatever inconsistencies and hesitations, more often than not, the prosecution finds itself able to demonstrate a history of abuses and usurpations pursuing invariably the same object- establishment of a tyranny over the hearts and minds of men. Capital crimes are crimes of control. The perpetrators want to put other people under their boot. They have done plenty up to the point that demonstrates a history of violence and vileness.
In Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov[1], we read how it is indeed the Christian way for men to endorse capital punishment: “I don’t want the mother to embrace the oppressor who threw her son to the dogs! She dare not forgive him! Let her forgive him for herself if she will, let her forgive the torturer for the immeasurable suffering of her mother’s heart. But the sufferings of her tortured child she has no right to forgive.” It is not Christian to forgive by proxy that which is not ours to forgive. For crimes like rape and murder, the criminals cannot make full restitution and restore that which was lost. No man has power to give life or to render anew the virtue of a woman. It is not Christian to deny justice.
As part of his own parable of the Debtor and Creditor, Jesus himself taught that the Debtor could not escape the consequence except by the intercession of a Mediator. While the Creditor escaped repayment of the debt, the Debtor’s demands for justice were met by the Mediator’s offer to pay the Creditor’s debt and take over as Debtor to his friend. Thus, his mercy satisfied the demands of justice. It did not cancel them. God does not intend us to escape consequence, and the atonement of Christ, while accommodating for the mistakes men make, only makes their effects go away. We cannot change what we did, but if we apply the Atonement it is with God as if we never had. Agency is not free; it comes with an opportunity cost.
Capital punishment is Christian. It reflects these same principles that balance justice and mercy. I cannot extend mercy that is not mine to give, and murderers cannot appeal for mercy to men they kill if they are separated by a mortal coil from an equivalent spiritual disposition. If I then at a sentencing hearing make a motion for mercy, not only do I do my loved one so robbed a disservice but also all others against the criminal perpetrated crimes for which he has not yet been called to account. All of these depend on us for the exaction of justice.
If there were no punishments there would be no law. But there is a law given and a punishment affixed and a repentance granted. If not so, God would cease to be God. So, I forgive you for what you have done to me, but what you have done to the yet unborn and the dearly departed lies beyond my purview to forgive, and to assume among the powers of the earth a station that allows me power to steal the agency of your victims when you steal their life or virtue makes me as equally wicked and fitting scorn for all those others who are themselves good and brave and true. May God judge betwixt me and thee and reward thee according to thy deeds.
[1] “Rebellion” Page 12
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