Cruel and Unusual Postponement

 By Jason Jackson at https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/1246-cruel-and-unusual-postponement

Digest:

It is sad when murderers receive more pity than those who are slaughtered at their whims. No wonder Solomon declared, “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set on them to do evil” (Ecclesiastes 8:11).

Murder did not become illegal at Sinai (cf. Genesis 9:6), nor did it cease from being a crime when the law of Moses was nailed to the cross. Murder is wrong because of the nature of the offense. While the nation of Israel was obligated to pursue criminal matters, today God authorizes civil authorities in the administration of justice (cf. Romans 13:1-7; 1 Timothy 1:8-10).

It is erroneous to argue against capital punishment on the basis that God said, “Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13). The “theologians” who gather at the gates of San Quentin to display their protest signs till midnight ought to consider the distinction made in scripture between murder and manslaughter. Innocent life is not truly valued when people call for the life of a murderer to be spared. Tragically, the blood of Abel cries from the ground daily.

Life is precious. Innocent blood demands justice because human beings are made in the image of God. This timeless principle is unabashedly ignored by those who argue for a woman’s “right to choose” to kill her unborn, unwanted, and unloved baby; by those who work for the right to doctor-prescribed murder (i.e., euthanasia); and by many who mistakenly protest against the implementation of “the sword” (cf. Romans 13:4) in punishing murderers.

Human life is precious, and any society that fails to value life, made in the image of God, is filling the cup of providential wrath ever closer to the brim.

God is the author of life. He alone has the right to say when a life should be terminated. At times, he struck people down whose rebellion required it — in both miraculous and providential ways. God alone possessed the right to authorize Israel to drive out the heathen from Canaan, whose iniquity had become full. God solely has the right to give to civil powers the authority for capital punishment.

The moral authority regarding life and death issues belongs to God. When he is excused from the debate, life’s practical value experiences an immediate downturn.

An entire society is blessed wherein life is valued as sacred. When life is esteemed so are the principles of justice, mercy, fair deliberation for the accused, protection of the defenseless, and equal treatment under the law — just as Israel’s refuge policy was available to Israelite, foreigner, and sojourner alike (Numbers 35:15).