Posted on 04/20/2015 1:46:14 PM PDT by Kaslin
Countless souls have made the spectral walk to the gallows, have heard the dusty rasp of death’s mournful eulogy whispered odiously from his pale throat, “dead man walking.” The condemned have been hung by the neck until dead, shot, poisoned, decapitated, stoned, or clapped in an iron skull cap while 10 thousand volts of electricity boil the life from flesh and bone. But, this is justice, when delivered by legitimate authority. This is the only atonement that can be made to expunge a crime so black and abhorrent that its presence distorts and tortures nature and its order. Capital punishment is the final expression of retributive justice and it is the natural and inevitable conclusion of the grand aphorism, “eye for eye, tooth for tooth.” (Exodus 21:24; Deuteronomy 19:21)
Recently, well known actor Kelsey Grammer recently gave an interview to Mr. John Hilpern of Vanity Fair Magazine. Mr Grammer has suffered several profound tragedies during his lifetime, including the brutal rape and murder of his beloved sister Karen. Karen Grammer was abducted in 1975 by Freddie Glenn and Michael Corbett. These two soulless beasts began a killing spree by accosting Daniel Van Lone, a twenty nine year old cook. Glenn and Corbett originally planned to rob Van Lone but Glenn, moved by inhuman brutality, decided to shoot Van Lone in the head. Glenn then robbed the corpse of the sum total in his pocket—.50 cents. The next victim of this demented partnership was Winfred Proffitt, a young man of nineteen. Corbett had been training with bayonets in the Army and wanted to see what it would be like to bayonet a real person. So, with no regard for the laws of nature or of nature’s God, Corbett stabbed Proffitt with a bayonet.
On July 1, 1975, the loathsome Glenn and Corbett abducted Karen Grammer, who was then only eighteen years old, from the parking lot of a Red Lobster where she worked. They took her back to their apartment and repeatedly raped her. Glenn then promised Grammer that they would take her home. The pair drove Grammer to a nearby mobile home park and a placed a cloth cover over her head. As the petite Grammer exited the car, she was attacked by Glenn, who stabbed her in the throat, back, and hand. In a desperate effort to save her own life, Grammer ran toward a well lit porch but collapsed in front of the door, leaving a bloody hand print just below the door bell. Karen’s body remained unidentified for a week, until her shattered brother arrived to identify her pallid and brutalized remains.
Freddie Glenn was sentenced to death by gas chamber. However, the Colorado Supreme Court, in their infinite wisdom, overturned the state’s death penalty; therefore, Glenn’s death sentence was commuted to life with the possibility of parole. Freddie Glenn should have died in 1975, poisoned to death in the gas chamber. Instead, Kelsey Grammer has been denied the justice demanded by nature and by nature’s God, “but life shall go for life.” (Deuteronomy 19:21) He must confront the monster that threw away his sister’s life, like trash, each time Glenn is up for parole. Where is justice in that?
During Kelsey Grammer’s interview with Vanity Fair, he said that his sister’s death nearly destroyed him. He cites the murder and his feelings of helplessness as directly related to his former struggles with substance abuse. However, Mr. Grammer has come to terms with this horrendous event and found it possible to find forgiveness. But, even in forgiveness, Grammer instinctively gropes after the promise of natural law’s justice:
“But I believe the gift of life and freedom he took from my sister precludes him from ever being allowed to enjoy that gift for himself. He took her future from her with no regard for her whatsoever. He assumed he had a right to do so. He assumed she was his property, and that the precious gift God gave her was his to take.”
These few sentences, pregnant with anguish and hope, turn on the crux of death penalty jurisprudence. The argument for state sanctioned killing cannot be based on notions of deterrence, economics, or any other artifice. We are only intrinsically valuable if we are the creations of God, made in His image. If not, then we are merely bags of meat, and any death penalty discussion becomes moot. However, if we are made in the image of God, then we are of inestimable value, and murder becomes horrendous beyond all compensatory satisfaction. As is true of every fundamental tenet of American government and of jurisprudence, our foundations are built on principles drawn directly from the Bible. Without Biblical truth, we cease to be the land of the free and the home of the brave and this is why liberalism, progressivism, and marxists the world over seek to destroy Christianity and the Bible—the fount of liberty.
Mr. Grammer feels the influence of natural law as we all do; it is written in our DNA. You can hear it in how he describes his sister’s life, “that precious gift God gave her.” Whenever natural law is violated, a dissonance is created and we naturally seek to resolve it into a harmony. This is the science of common law. Historically, jurisprudes sought to discover God’s order in the chaos created by human sin and dysfunction. Cases involving real people, and their very real problems, were considered and compared. In the chaos of human dysfunction, barristers sought to discover God’s truth and equity where it was not revealed directly. We all seek to do the same thing when we observe circumstances that we just “know” aren’t right, and set about to make things right in the light that God has given us. The law that is written in our hearts teaches us that the only way to rebalance the scales of justice, in the matter of murder, is to demand that the murder’s life be forfeit.
Kelsey Grammer feels the invisible scales of justice distorted and, in his own way, attempts to rebalance them. In this poignant statement, “But I believe the gift of life and freedom he took from my sister precludes him from ever being allowed to enjoy that gift for himself,” he comes very near to agreeing with God.
The Bible speaks directly to the issue of murder, an unlawful killing, and provides the civil authority with only one remedy. The book of Genesis records the events leading up to a global, catastrophic flood that nearly extinguishes all life on the earth. Noah, as instructed by God, built an ark and, sealed inside by God himself, survived the great flood. When the waters ebbed and Noah and his family were finally able to leave the ark, God covenanted with Noah and issued a command which has been applied to civil government through the aeons: “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.” (Genesis 9:6) The Bible also records a long litany of ceremonial, dietary, ecclesiastic, and civil ordinances given specifically to the Israelites owing to their special relationship to God as His people and His representatives. Among those are commands dealing with familial affairs which demand that death be imposed on disobedient children. Some suppose that these passages preclude anyone from making a death penalty argument based on the Bible. However, this assertion is based on a lack of understanding of covenant in the Bible and of how God interacts with people and nations differently, but consistently, through the ages to bring to completion HIs plan of redemption. Simply, those things given specifically to Israel as a nation do not apply to us today as individuals or to the civil authority. And, these specific commands in no way abrogate the clearly defined principles that are found throughout the Bible, specifically with reference to the death penalty.
So, the Bible speaks in the Old Testament about civil authority possessing the power of imposing death, and the Bible speaks in the New Testament about legitimate civil authority possessing the same authority. Romans 13:4 states, “For he [the civil authority] is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” The power of the sword is the power of life and death, and the Bible clearly gives lawful civil authority the right to act as a “revenger” and to “execute wrath.” The only argument that can be made for the death penalty is a Biblical argument. Either the civil authority has the right to impose death by specific command of God or there is no basis for the death penalty at all.
Kelsey Grammer has felt the brutal reality of murder close at hand. He has experienced the near madness caused by justice denied, as nature itself echoes the voice of God, “What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.” (Genesis 4:10) Though Mr. Grammer has found a measure of personal peace in finding forgiveness, there is still a ponderous weight tipping the scales of justice and blighting the ground with unrequited blood. It is true that God is supremely merciful, but He is also supremely holy. There is always a consequence to be paid for sin. Consider this, Christ’s death on the cross was a death penalty execution. He sacrificed Himself as a lamb without blemish, and as a sheep dumb before the shearers. Through all the indignities, beatings, and tortuous scourging, He never denied the right of the civil authority to execute a sentence of death; He never denied that the power of the sword belonged to Pontius Pilate. Though the Roman governor was about to execute an innocent man, Christ never excoriated him for having usurped a power not his to command. Without His submission to the death penalty, the salvation of mankind would have never been possible. It’s hard to argue against the death penalty when The Savior Himself submitted to it, transforming it into the only propitiation for the sin of mankind.
Remind me quick which religion teaches that God lets happen and is at fault for letting happen.
It might surprise you, not all in Hollyweird are liberals. There are quite a few conservatives
The problem with the death penalty is that it has been used far too many times on people who were wrongfully convicted and who ended up being found factually innocent.
I support the death penalty but it should NEVER be used in cases where a conviction was obtained (even in part) based on circumstantial evidence, a police report, or the eyewitness testimony of a criminal informant.
Unless there is rock solid and incontrovertible evidence then no one should get the death penalty as the misuse of the ultimate penalty is every bit a form of premeditated murder.
And in cases where innocent people are found to have been put to death based on false evidence or etc. then the arresting officers and prosecuting attorneys should likewise be put to death. No more of this “sovereign immunity” to hide behind when murdering people from behind the safety of a badge.
Lois Lerner must get the needle...... asap
Genesis chapter nine has never been amended or repealed.
And its executive command was given to all mankind, via the sons of Noah, not just to Christians or Israelites.
The Mosaic system, which sometimes called for execution in the case of offenses that to us sound ridiculously trivial (e.g. sabbath breaking) as well as out and out murder, required two witnesses, in principle allowing a lot of killers to just skate.
Glenn was eligible for parole in 2014, but on July 30th, he was denied parole with his request deferred for three more years.
Jun 2010:
A man serving three life sentences for a string of murders in 1975 was denied parole today and will remain in prison at least five more years.
A parole board at Four Mile Correctional Center in Canon City denied parole to Michael Corbett in his first parole hearing in eight and a half years. This is his fourth denial
Somehow King David skated... the problem happens when we try to mix a divine remedy with worldly logic.
“And in cases where innocent people are found to have been put to death based on false evidence or etc. then the arresting officers and prosecuting attorneys should likewise be put to death. No more of this “sovereign immunity” to hide behind when murdering people from behind the safety of a badge.”
I’m sorry but, regardless of how you feel about capital punishment, that’s insane.
When it becomes “catch as catch can” vengeance powered that’s what happens...
Sorry, but what misery are you talking about? These two inhuman monsters haven suffered 100th of what Kelsey Grammer's sister did or what a baby does that is being aborted, especially late term. What these two deserve is hard labor. Not the kind where they only work maybe 8-10 hours a day. No the kind where they are forced to work 16 hours a day and in very inhuman condition. That is what they deserve
Very well said. It was Satan who did that, not God
The death penalty — if justly used — is actually pro-life. Its deterrent effect works to keep an uncountable number of innocent people alive.
Why should corrupt cops and prosecutors be allowed to conspire to murder people by using the state as a proxy? And then just walk away from their murderous criminal conspiracy like it was all just a big joke?
If they’re willing to murder someone in cold blood and with premeditation then they should not mind if they justly face the same penalty they knowingly and wrongfully imposed on someone else.
if there is no law, then there is no law
The original sin is forgiven through baptism
God’s not in charge on Earth. Not yet.
The most terrifying prayer in Christendom is the Lord’s Prayer:
‘Thy will be done,
On Earth as it is in Heaven.’
Let Your will prevail on Earth, is it always does in Heaven.
If God were ‘in charge’, and everyone were FORCED to play by the rules, you wouldn’t need that petition.
Free will, baby. You get to choose to love God, to live by His rules. God’s not a rapist.
Corrupt is one thing. I thought you meant anytime the legal system goes wrong with everyone working in good faith.
No worries! Like I said, I support it but under stringent conditions.
And there should be ramifications for those who would try to use their authority to murder someone else.
In case you missed it, there were no Christians in the old testament. They came after our Lord Jesus Christ
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