The Death Penalty: Is It The Loving Thing To Do? Part 1

It’s ironic that people are almost willing to kill over the death penalty issue. When it is discussed emotions tend to flare, and logic flies out the window.

I find it interesting that few people think about the fact that God started it (Genesis 9:6). He gave man the authority to apply the death penalty when appropriate. By appropriate I mean by God’s standards not man’s. He had reasons; among those are justice (not revenge) and love. We’ll discuss more about the love aspect in a moment.

I’ve debated this issue many times over the years on radio, television, and in churches. It is amazing to me that there is such a lack of consensus among Christians because the Bible thoroughly addresses the issue. Usually, when I ask a group of Christians whether they believe in the death penalty today, some do and some don’t. How can that be since we all believe the same Bible?

I think Numbers 35:30-32 is clear. It reads: ‘If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death at the evidence of witnesses, but no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness. 31 Moreover, you shall not take ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death…’”

God actually forbids the taking of a ransom in place of the death penalty. In today’s terms that means we are forbidden to allow anyone deserving death to escape death and then serve a life sentence or some other punishment instead. Biblically, we have no choice.

In a society, one of two groups of people is going to live in fear. Either, the citizens will live in fear of criminals or the criminals will live in fear of swift and sure punishment by the government. Where do you think the balance is today?

The death penalty is the loving thing to do for society. How many times has a murderer escaped from custody and killed other people? If the death penalty had been applied, those victims would still be alive. They paid the death penalty themselves because we failed to apply it.

Now, I know what you are thinking. You are thinking that my case is weak because I’ve only quoted the Old Testament. Have no fear, I am going to follow up and present the New Testament support next week. But, I would also submit to you that unless you can discover in Scripture when God changed His mind about the death penalty, the Old Testament is quite sufficient. God was not kidding.