Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: gray@neon.stanford.edu (Cary G. Gray) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Is There Biblical Justification For Capital Punishment? Message-ID: Date: 7 Feb 90 08:00:11 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University Lines: 47 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu On capital punishment, crturner@udenva.cair.du.edu (CYNTHIA TURNER ) writes: >Strangely, the Bible is directly silent on this issue. That is, if one seeks >biblical support, they are going to have to interpret a passage as having >something relevant to apply to capital punishment. The Bible is far from silent on the issue, if you bother to flip back to the Old Testament. In the Law, capital pusnishment is mandated for assorted "abominations" (idolatry and other "crimes against God", certain sexual behaviors), contempt of court, and murder. The commandment regarding murder is most emphatic: a murderer *must* be executed. (See Num 35.) Case law, though, is a less clear: consider the case put by Joab's accomplice in the matter of Absalom's murder of Adonijah--the case is set in 2 Sam 14. Whether David's judgement in the matter is correct is unclear, but it is one to consider. We aren't limited to the Law of Moses, though. The primary passage on the subject is from the Code of Noah, in Genesis 9. Before looking there, note that it is the Code of Noah which forms the basis of the decision of the Council at Jerusalem on what instruction the Gentile Christians should receive regarding the Law (Acts 15); the decision concurs with what the Jews taught as God's covenant for all mankind, made with Noah, the father of all (surviving) nations. In Genesis 9:5-6 (RSV), God says to Noah: For your lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning; of every beast I will require it and of man; of every man's brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for God made man in his own image. This was taken by the rabbis not as merely permitting capital punishment, but *requiring* it in all murder cases--an idea echoed in the Law's treatment of the subject (Num 35). It further obligates the next-of-kin to seek such justice for the victim. The Old Testament makes an exceptionally strong case for capital punishment for murder. It also makes strong evidentiary requirements: two witnesses who testify under the penalty of death for perjury. This is far from the complete treatise on the subject. (For example, the rabbis later made it essentially impossible to impose a death penalty.) But any scripturally-based discussion of capital punishment needs to start in Genesis 9. Cary Gray gray@cs.stanford.edu