Posted on 03/14/2014 9:18:55 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
So out of context and not pertinent.
I also believe society has the right to use deadly force in self defense.
When a person has committed a crime so bad that society is in danger from their mere presence in it... then I believe that society has the right to defend itself with deadly force to remove that danger.
Why should the victims (society) have to pay for a lifetime of food, shelter, education, entertainment, and medical care to the perpetrator? Heck I don't even want to pay for the food, shelter, education, entertainment, and medical care of other honest citizens!
That is the exact context - obeying the law. The theme of the entire chapter is the Christian duty to obey the law and consequences for not doing so. Paul is saying God establishes governments and they do not wield the sword for nothing. We know what punishment a sword is used for.
Get rid of the death penalty, fine.
But in exchange, build a huge camp in Alaska in the middle of nowhere, where all hardened criminals are sent to live out their days, on rations of bread and water.
Interjecting their owns feelings in the argument. Rendering to Caesar.
This has nothing to do with religion or theocracy, but the legal and judicial issue of double jeopardy from a factual event that took place 2000 years ago.
Perhaps you should not take Internet posts so personally.
That said - yeah, the Pentagon is very screwed up. Not the individual soldiers, mind you.
Heck, the Pentagon is so screwed up it can't even be audited
1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
Romans 13:1-7
Not the first time that the founders of Catholicism were at odds with what the Apostles taught.
Isolation if necessary. And they still must be productive to pay for whatever cost increase is involved. Our antiquated and medieval penal system badly needs an overhaul, top to bottom.
Perhaps I misunderstood your intent in the first post. We’re you suggesting that if the government’s laws specifiy death as a penalty then that is legit?
Isolation is the most medieval of all punishments. It drives people insane. Apparently the effects and dysfunction of Pelican Bay are lost on you.
So glad to see you want prison reform. Please do not talk to me about being a conservative
I read the article. You can pretend anything you want. This is not a theocracy. It does not matter if our capital punishment standard is not measuring up to biblical standards
I don't, but your statement was absurd.
That said - yeah, the Pentagon is very screwed up. Not the individual soldiers, mind you.
The Pentagon is populated with individual soldiers. Not to mention, sailors, airmen, and Marines. I know quite a few Marines there, from Sergeants to Generals. Good people, all.
And the reason the Pentagon cannot be audited, is due to the classification of on-going operations. Each branch undergos audits every fiscal year. This includes aspects within those concrete walls. But the Pentagon budget itself is classified.
Paul was saying one of the reasons God establishes governments was to punish evildoers and that the death penalty is one of the ways God metes this punishment out.
I oppose capital punishment. I don’t think it’s cruel and unusual punishment, but the state has shown it is incapable of handling this power property. There are too many Mike Nifongs and Angela Coreys out there who are glory hounds trying to make a name for themselves at someone’s expense, despite the defendants not being guilty. That doesn’t include corrupt police (not all but too many) and honest mistakes.
What part of “sword” in Paul’s statements did you not understand...did you think it meant Governments tickling murderers with chicken feathers at the same time trying to shame them like a neurotic overbearing mother?
Truth works. Falsity doesn't, whether it's the death penalty or Socialism. How to “humanely kill” under the death penalty is another attempt, like Obamacare but for different reasons, to do the wrong thing the right way. The reason they can't find the right way to execute prisoners is there really is no right way to do the wrong thing.
Are you referring to Jesus?
Yes.
Ok. Thanks. That confused me a bit.
Yeah, clearly I misunderstood you. Sorry my brain went in an entirely different direction than you intended. You and I agree
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