Capital Punishment - Tom Elseroad

Reference/ Topic	Passage	Comments
Stoning
De.21:18-21	21Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death; so you shall remove the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear of it and fear. [?? What is the punishment here? (Read: Mt.11:19)]	A stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey parents is stoned to death. ??[Mt.11:19] What did they accuse Jesus of?
Le.20:2	2You shall also say to the sons of Israel, 'Any man from the sons of Israel or from the aliens sojourning in Israel, who gives any of his offspring to Molech, shall surely be put to death; the people of the land shall stone him with stones.	God says to stone those who sacrifice their offspring to the false god Molech.
Le.20:27	27As for a man or a woman, if there is a medium or a spiritist among them, they shall surely be put to death; they shall be stoned with stones, their bloodguiltiness is upon them.	A medium or a spiritist should be stoned to death.
Le.24:14-16,23	16Moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him. The alien as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death. … ²³Then Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, and they brought the one who had cursed outside the camp and stoned him with stones. Thus the sons of Israel did, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.	Israel, the alien, and the native shall be stoned to death for blaspheming God's name.
Nu.15:32-36	35Then the LORD said to Moses, "The man shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp." ³⁶So all the congregation brought him outside the camp, and stoned him to death with stones, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.	A man gathered wood on the Sabbath and was stoned to death.
Jos.7:25-26	25And Joshua said, "Why have you troubled us? The LORD will trouble you this day." And all Israel stoned them with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones. ²⁶And they raised over him a great heap of stones that stands to this day, and the LORD turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Achor to this day.	In taking a city, a man took some of the goods from the city. The man was stoned to death. The rocks remain, and is called "the Valley of Achor." The “them” is the goods he took.
2Ch.24:21	21So they conspired against him and at the command of the king they stoned him to death in the court of the house of the LORD.	Zechariah rebukes Israel's apostasy, but they conspire and stone God's prophet to death.
Destroy Utterly
De.2:32-34	34So we captured all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed the men, women and children of every city. We left no survivor.	Israel takes Sihon and completely destroyed all the men, women, and children. V.34 "We left no survivor."
De.7:2,16	2and when the LORD your God shall deliver them before you, and you shall defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them. … ¹⁶And you shall consume all the peoples whom the LORD your God will deliver to you; your eye shall not pity them, neither shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you.	God tells Israel to utterly destroy, and not to make a covenant with them.
De.13:15	You shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it and all that is in it and its cattle with the sword.	Israel is to destroy the inhabitants of a city gone after idolatry.
Jos.6:17-21,24	21And they utterly destroyed everything in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword. … ²⁴And they burned the city with fire, and all that was in it. Only the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD.	EXCEPTION: Israel takes Jericho, but Rahab and those in her house are spared. Does this exception apply to others areas?
Ex.22:20	20He who sacrifices to any god, other than to the LORD alone, shall be utterly destroyed.	Any one, who sacrifices to any god, shall be utterly destroyed.
Ac.5:1-11	5And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came upon all who heard of it…¹⁰And she fell immediately at his feet, and breathed her last; and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. ¹¹An great fear came upon the whole church, and upon all who heard these things.	?Is this the Christians way of capital punishment today, i.e., letting God do it? ?Do you see a deterrence here?

		Tom Elseroad 09-05-1999		©1999 Tom Elseroad, http://www.elseroad.com. Anyone is free to reproduce this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without the author's consent.
				Visual Bible Study Chart

Capital Punishment
Reasons FOR Capital Punishment		Reasons AGAINST Capital Punishment
Biblical	Required for variety of crimes including: sex before marriage, working on the Sabbath, and murder. Also idolatry is grounds for death (De.13).	Biblical	Christians are no longer bound to the O.T. Law. Ex.20:13 "You shall not murder" Jesus' treatment of the adulteress women (Jn.8:1-11).
Deterrence	Deter criminals from doing the crime. If the consequences are tough enough, they may not do the crime.	Deterrence	The death penalty has not been shown as effective in reducing the homicide rate.
Cost	Once the convicted is executed and buried, there is no more maintenance costs. The cost to the state for funding endless appeals by the convicted is higher than incarceration, which is higher than death.	Cost	Incarceration (as opposed to death) costs less than endless appeals.
Vengeance	Some crimes are so heinous that death is the only reasonable response. Justice is on an eye for an eye basis. The punishment needs to equal or "pay-back" for the crime.	Vengeance	The “pay-back” should be incarceration (or something else), not death.
Affect on Society	It shows the value of human. If someone takes a life, a life is required. It shows that society needs to be responsible to each other. The horror of the crime should place the penalty on those responsible.	Affect on Society	Permitting premeditated murder (even by the state) lowers the value of human life. Capital punishment lowers the value of human life to the general population and sees it as creating a brutal society. Capital punishment is cruel and unusual punishment.
Value of Human Life	It shows the value of human. If someone takes a life, a life is required.	Value of Human Life	Human life has intrinsic value, even if a person has murdered another. Nobody should ever be killed (even by the state).
Unfairness	It is "unfair" to any victim to not punish a murderer with death.	Unfairness	Some studies have shown that nearly all convicted criminals were abused as children. Therefore, it is NOT their fault. Women are almost never executed. This is a penalty mostly reserved for men.
Chance of Error	The phrase "a reasonable doubt" is part of the trail as it relates to the evidence. There is the chance of a mistake, but this should not stop us from trying to make those responsible pay for their crime. De.13:14 "inquire thoroughly," and "if it is true and the matter established"	Chance of Error	There are cases where convicted murderers were later found to be innocent, and have been pardoned. You cannot pardon a corpse.
Sending a Person to Hell		Sending a Person to Hell	A person who dies without believing on Christ is destined for eternal punishment in Hell. When we kill a person we eliminate the individual's chance for salvation.
In Deuteronomy 13 we are not talking about civil “crimes,” but of religious idolatry. Christ Himself underwent capital punishment. Senator James Donovan, speaking in support of capital punishment said, “Where would Christianity be if Jesus got eight to fifteen years with time off for good behavior?” Support for capital punishment goes up when people perceive the crime rate is increasing. Does any of this "human reasoning" matter?

	CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
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