History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.
– Napoleon BonaparteHistory will be kind to me for I intend to write it.
– Winston ChurchillEvery way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts.
– Solomon (Proverbs 21:2)For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
– Solomon (Ecclesiastes 12:14)
I’ve looked at the Biblical support for capital punishment in The Death Penalty — a Biblical Command, and the question of whether or not Jesus abolished the death penalty in John 8 (the story of the woman taken in adultery).
Another question that is often raised has to do with the Sermon on the Mount, and specifically one section of Matthew 5.
Maybe everything comes out all right, if you keep on trying. Anyway, you have to keep on trying; nothing will come out right if you don’t.
– Laura Ingalls Wilder (These Happy Golden Years)And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
– Paul (Galatians 6:9)
The results from the English council elections are in. Big losses for the Tories, gains for Labour from the disaster of the last local elections, but still trailing badly. The Lib Dems, who always used to claim to be the party of local government, took a beating.
The big story is UKIP, formerly called “clowns” by other politicians, on 23% by the latest figure from the BBC, not far behind the Tories’ 25% and easily ahead of the Liberal Democrats, on 14%.
Yesterday, in Did Jesus Abolish the Death Penalty in John 8? we looked at the story of the woman taken in adultery. Jesus made the famous statement, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her,” a reference to the Jewish Law requiring witnesses to cast the first stones. Read the post if you missed it and are unfamiliar with the Old Testament Law on this.
Most believers have encountered people who say, “You can’t condemn what he did because you aren’t sinless. You can’t throw stones unless you are without sin.”
This misses the point, trying to forbid moral judgment when Jesus was forcing them to face up to the Law’s restrictions on how executions were to be done. The sinless Saviour also threw no stone, for He was not a legal witness. As Glenn noted in the comments, Jesus certainly morally condemned her actions, calling them sin and telling her not to do it any more. God tells us to speak the truth about all kinds of immoral behaviour — this verse is not some kind of moral gag order.
Probably most of my readers know that. But I’ve found an effective answer to the abuse of “He who is without sin should cast the first stone:” “That’s true, but I wasn’t planning an execution by stoning anyway.“ Most who misuse this don’t care about understanding it anyway, and quickly move on to something else. But if they are interested, you can always take them to the passage in Deuteronomy I discussed yesterday, and explain it.
Maybe God will bless you with an opportunity to talk about how seriously He views sin, how gracious He is in giving safeguards, the need to repent and “sin no more,” and the forgiveness that only He can truly give.
Yesterday, in The Death Penalty — a Biblical Command, I cited verses throughout the Bible (including New Testament passages in the Gospels and Epistles) supporting capital punishment. But to understand God’s truth, we have to deal with all passages that seem to address a topic. We can’t just pick and choose — all Scripture is God’s Word.
Some believe Jesus abolished the death penalty in the famous Pericope Adulterae (the beginning of John 8). So I thought I’d better take a post to examine it.
I’ve made brief references to the death penalty on this blog, but never put together a clear presentation of Biblical teaching on the subject. That was remiss on my part — in general, clear teaching should come before brief comments. In this post, I’ll attempt to begin to rectify that error.
Mind Renewers 