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What Would Jesus Do On the Death Penalty?
http://the-american-catholic.com ^ | May 4, 2014 | Donald R. McClarey

Posted on 05/05/2014 6:09:42 AM PDT by NKP_Vet

I always find questions that begin “What Would Jesus Do?” rather obnoxious for two reasons. First, because they are usually posed by people absolutely certain that Jesus follows their views in lockstep, and second, because Christ of course is God and the mind of the All-Mighty is unknowable to us. As Lincoln put it so well in his Second Inaugural:

Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes.

So questions that begin “What Would Jesus Do”?, strike me as presumptuous at best and blasphemous at worst.

(Excerpt) Read more at the-american-catholic.com ...


TOPICS: General Discusssion; Moral Issues; Religion & Politics
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To: NKP_Vet

What would Jesus do?

He would use it to his advantage to bring the opportunity for salvation to all mankind . . . .


21 posted on 05/05/2014 6:46:26 AM PDT by RatRipper (The political left are utterly evil and corrupt)
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To: NKP_Vet

Probably the same thing he did about the laws that governed Rome. Nothing, or teach his disciples to obey them to the extent that obedience to God permitted.


22 posted on 05/05/2014 6:54:11 AM PDT by demshateGod (The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.)
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To: what's up
God is in the business of protecting the innocent, not the wicked.

So are liberals, but their view of reality is upside down, and the wicked are protected, while the innocent are throw to the wolves to fit that view.

23 posted on 05/05/2014 6:58:09 AM PDT by Calvin Locke
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To: NKP_Vet
Christ stated without equivocation in Mark 13:23 But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.

When Christ made this declaration the only Written WORD from the Heavenly Father on this planet was what is commonly called the Old Testament.

Christ made God's law, (and penalties for the transgression of said laws) given directly to Moses, one and the same as the Gospel. Some will wrongly claim the law is no longer in effect. This is impossible. The first commandment is ......Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.

These that claim the law has been fulfilled, because as it is also Written the law does not save. Salvation will not be offered to those who have other gods before Him. Or any that habitually break the other nine, because they are not believers in Jesus. By the way which law(s) did Jesus break?

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, (that means die) but have everlasting life.

There is no honesty in claiming a ‘belief’ in Jesus and then doing the exact opposite of what God instructed, claiming a visit from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not going to send an opposite message than that God gave Himself.

God required the return of the soul of premeditated murders to Him. But then religion decided they could do things better and treat murderers just like the religious folk did when they wanted to murder Christ. They demanded Barabbas be freed in exchange for the life of Christ.

As it is Written there is nothing new under the ‘sun’.

24 posted on 05/05/2014 7:09:11 AM PDT by Just mythoughts (Jesus said Luke 17:32 Remember Lot's wife.)
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To: NKP_Vet

A man who finds the question “What Would Jesus Do?”to be “presumptuous”, “blasphemous”, and “obnoxious”, needs to quit trying to write Christian articles and go get a job that involves rolling up his sleeves to do physical work because, obviously, his gifts do not lie in his tongue or brain.

Why? Because the apostles gave us instructions from God to follow Christ’s example:

1 John 2:6
He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

1 Peter 2:21
For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps.

And Christ Himself told us to be like Him:

Matthew 10:25 a
It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master.

In order to obey these commandments, we must learn what Jesus is like, remember what we have learned, and do things as He would do them.


25 posted on 05/05/2014 7:17:28 AM PDT by unlearner (You will never come to know that which you do not know until you first know that you do not know it.)
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To: NKP_Vet
He already died on a cross isn't that enough
26 posted on 05/05/2014 7:19:07 AM PDT by mware
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To: NKP_Vet
"What would Jesus do" is the wrong question. He was God and I'm not. The right question is, "What would Jesus have me do?"
27 posted on 05/05/2014 7:28:29 AM PDT by JoeFromSidney (Book: Resistance to Tyranny. Buy from Amazon.)
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To: NKP_Vet
The Bible gives explicit laws for death. Jesus said He didn't come to change the Law, but to fulfill it. That means to "pay the price". There is nothing wrong with us changing whatever penalty we want to from the Biblical price to an agreed upon price. Ergo, it isn't necessary to stone an adulteress, but adultery should always be forbidden in society.

What we see today is sodomy being celebrated rather than forbidden written into law. Sodomy is, and always has been a sin, but as long as the "sin" was kept in the dark, we haven't executed the perps for 200 years. Leviticus 18:22 tells us what God thinks of sodomy and the penalty for accepting it in the country is loss of your country. Murder has always had a death penalty except for the short period recently overturned by the SCOTUS. God recommended the penalties in the OT to solve societal ills, but we are not bound to kill a child that back talks his father. The problem lies when you don't agree with God that a sin is a sin. When you decide murdering your child is legal if it's in the womb, but a child is not executed for attacking his parents, it shows the prejudice against God's reasoning. If a homosexual was shunned and kept in the closet, I don't think God would punish the country that decided to change the law, but accepting sodomy into the society is grounds for God's intervention, ergo the Sodom and Gomorrah account. Most of the rest of the admonishments against homosexuals had to do with their own sinfulness and repentance, such as found in 1st Cor where Paul said "such WERE some of you". The sin could be forgiven if they repented and remained chaste or switched to heterosexual relationships. The problem remains the judgement that is carried out on the LAND that accepts sodomy. We can repent, but the land won't and must be judged. No one would suggest that we accept thieves into our midst, yet many of the death penalties in the Bible listed by Moses from God have been overturned in the modern age. If we wrote a law that said "blacks" should get the death penalty for a crime but whites should get prison time for the same crime, there would be an uproar. How is a defenseless child worth less legally than a child out of the womb? The injustice found in our laws for individuals I believe anger God as we move away from His civil structure as to what is a crime and what isn't.

Jesus came to fulfill GOD'S Law, not man's. He made little comment on man's law and appeared to refuse to challenge whatever the Romans had on the books at the time. He didn't refuse to pay Roman taxes, but had the advantage of getting money from a fish. This is why slavery is written about in the NT. God didn't take a position on it's legality, but gave a Christian's response to the treatment of slaves or the response a slave should have to his owner. This is how a Christian should treat a slave should they ever find themselves owning one. Obviously Jesus came to set the captive free, so I don't see Adam and Eve owning slaves. The reality was and had been for thousands of years that slaves were taken after battle from both sides and rules were written.

The old ruse that God wrote the 6th Commandment to stop the death penalty for murder is just a non believer's construct. A better translation of the law should have said "Thou shalt not murder", or "Thou shalt not shed innocent blood". As it is translated now, we have weirdo's that won't step on a cockroach, but will abort their child.

God measures the heart, so giving mercy to a criminal is not unlawful, but accepting the sin is an abomination to Him. A recent example was Karla Faye Tucker. She murdered people with pick ax and admitted it and received the death penalty. After several years in prison, she received Jesus and became a lay preacher in prison and brought many to repentance. The law said she was to die, but many believed she was no longer a threat to anyone and asked for mercy. The state had the right to execute her, but it could also show mercy. She was eventually executed due to politics. At the same time, murderers are grated clemency all the time without any repentance. In the end, we all meet God and are judged for our lives. The irony about Ms. Tucker was she was a repented killer, but the woman and man she killed were in the middle of committing adultery when she killed them. It would be ironic if God judged the victim and welcomed the murderer. If we received the "justice" that we should get, we are all doomed. Mercy is always desired, but Grace is unspeakable joy. That's why we sing about it as Christians.

28 posted on 05/05/2014 7:51:03 AM PDT by chuckles
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To: glennaro

(I’ll do my best here) the only crime mentioned in all five books of the Torah is murder that is a crime punishable by death.


There are many crimes in the old testament punishable by death, including homosexuality.

Lev 20
13 If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death;


29 posted on 05/05/2014 10:02:36 AM PDT by ravenwolf
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To: glennaro

In the case of adultery, we always hear about the woman, but the man could be punished also.


30 posted on 05/05/2014 10:26:13 AM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: MrB

There was plenty of chattel slavery.


31 posted on 05/05/2014 10:48:07 AM PDT by Natufian (t)
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To: NKP_Vet

If I recall correctly, Jesus said to “render unto Caesar”.


32 posted on 05/05/2014 10:53:12 AM PDT by JimRed (Excise the cancer before it kills us; feed & water the Tree of Liberty! TERM LIMITS NOW & FOREVER!)
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To: 1010RD

God the father rendered the punishment of death upon his sinless son, for the sins of us all. Christ was the fulfillment of the law...including those laws that prescribed death for the transgressions of those laws. His death did not negate the laws that mandated death for those who shed innocent blood, whether by the Noah covenant or the Mosaiv covenant. Governments are given the sword by God so that his vengeance is wreaked amongst the nations. So the death penalty still stands for those who do gruesome crimes!


33 posted on 05/05/2014 10:54:14 AM PDT by mdmathis6
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To: chuckles

“She was eventually executed due to politics”

She was a powerful witness for Christ in a prison full of lost hopeless people and was successful in gaining many converts? No wonder Satan had to have her eliminated, it was “bad for business”. Politics, indeed!


34 posted on 05/05/2014 11:08:20 AM PDT by mdmathis6
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To: NKP_Vet
"What would Jesus do?"

The last refuge of the brainless...

35 posted on 05/05/2014 11:42:45 AM PDT by publius911 ( At least Nixon had the good g race to resign!)
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To: xzins

Essentially, the government, and authorities over a man are appointed by God; so in essence, God has spoken, and has allowed the death penalty to be adjudicated, rendered, and carried out.

Now, that’s just the earthly version; the spiritual version is one in which Jesus has paid the price, and we can live with both Him and God for eternity. Or not - depending on your point of view.


36 posted on 05/05/2014 11:50:55 AM PDT by ro_dreaming (Chesterton, 'Christianity has not been tried and found wanting. ItÂ’s been found hard and not tried')
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To: chuckles

If any condemned killer ever deserved clemency it was Karla Faye Tucker. She had the misfortune of being on death row in Texas, where if you are condemned to die you die. She actually met with George W. Bush and asked him to spare her. About a year after she was executed he was on Larry King Live talking about meeting her. When asked what she said to him, he said “she made a little prayer with her hands and said “please”. He smirked while telling the story.

http://www.itbn.org/index/detail/lib/Networks/sublib/TBN/ec/54NG8wMzpQ_yOtxgkr33OSPLYKkOLzn0


37 posted on 05/05/2014 12:25:13 PM PDT by NKP_Vet ("It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died;we should thank God that such men lived" ~ Patton)
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To: NKP_Vet
Deu 19:11-13 "But if anyone hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and attacks him and strikes him fatally so that he dies, and he flees into one of these cities, then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die. Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, so that it may be well with you.

The rules haven't changed. We simply want to pity the people who commit hideous crimes. It has always been that way and we are warned against it.

38 posted on 05/05/2014 5:53:19 PM PDT by HarleyD ("... letters are weighty, but his .. presence is weak, and his speech of no account.")
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To: HarleyD

If God forgave the apostle Paul he can forgive anyone! David was also a murderer.


39 posted on 05/05/2014 6:10:46 PM PDT by NKP_Vet ("It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died;we should thank God that such men lived" ~ Patton)
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To: NKP_Vet
There were several problems with the Tucker death sentence that were out of the norm. Bush was known to be a "tough on crime" kinda guy, so she had to overcome that which was a tall hurdle, and yes, Texas is a tough on crime state. If a woman bats her eyes and asks for clemency Bush would have looked weak to many and many Texans that knew the case were not very interested in mercy for her. If you heard or read about the case, she wasn't a very sympathetic figure.

The problems started with real Christians. They bonded with her spirit. If you have the Holy Spirit, you can tell if this was just another "jail house Jesus" convert. I have been around many and believe me, it's tougher than you might think. While in jail, they have little more to do than read the Bible. Many are more knowledgeable than the average local pastors. If you meet her, there was something there that you would know it was real. She had said that if the state wanted to, she was OK with taking her punishment because she would be with Jesus. She however had built up quite a ministry in prison and had many prisoners depending on her for their spiritual healing. She married a local pastor while behind bars and they really loved each other. It became quite evident that allowing her to remain alive in jail for life was not that big of a stretch for most politicians. Dubya didn't really have the power to force the parole board to grant clemency, but we were all hoping he would at least put his 2 cents in favor for her. The problem there is always 40 more heinous criminals would line up behind her and say they deserved mercy because they met Jesus or Allah or turned Wiccan or something.

The pressure was pretty great for her to be put to death. The husband of the woman that was killed was adamant he would never forgive her. The brother of the dead woman had forgiven her and was on Karla's side. It was so ironic it was almost humorous when the victims husband was saying when Karla got to heaven with his wife, she would beat the hell out of Karla. You had to dig a little to find out the victim was sleeping around on her husband and I was wondering how a murderer like Karla would end up in the same place as an adulterer. I thought then, just like Jesus to throw some irony in a situation like this. The murderer is in heaven and the victim is in hell. I guess we won't know till we get there.

Just as kind of a side note, I think,( meaning I'm not sure), I lived about mile from the father of the victim. I installed his phones when he built a house where I lived. He stated his daughter had been killed by a pick ax and wondered if I had heard about it. I assumed it was the Tucker murders. I guess someone else could have been killed by a pick ax, but I wasn't really interested in talking very long. He built a humongous ugly home that resembles a jail. He was a millionaire that invented the goose neck trailer or maybe he just built goose neck trailers by the thousands, I'm not sure, but he was filthy rich. The home he built was big and square so he could have young boys over to party with. He divorced his wife and thought boys were better. He was in his 60's. He had a 40 car parking area covered so the license plates were hidden. A couple of years after Karla died he was found murdered in the home. He had kidnapped a couple of homeless boys and held them there for sex toys. One got loose and found his shotgun and waited for him to come home. Shot him in the face and left the house.

The house cost $3 million to build but couldn't be sold for $300k. They finally bulldozed it. It was named "Murder Mansion" by local folklore.

40 posted on 05/06/2014 1:06:34 AM PDT by chuckles
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