Eye for an Eye vs. Thou Shall Not Kill

I know some of you have heard the news about the convicted murderer Ronnie Lee Gardener who was executed in Utah via a firing squad. Now without any reference to what he did, I am staunchly against the death penalty for several reasons. For people who support the death penalty, the phrase "eye for an eye" is always tossed around – so let’s start there:

Exodus 21:23-25 (KJV)
"And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe."

Many people interpret the aforementioned scripture in terms of revenge, but the intent of the law of retribution was to ensure that the punishment corresponded to the crime in order to control the punishment inflicted on the guilty one. It is important to note that this law, along with many other levitical laws (as recorded in the Old Testament) were in place BEFORE Jesus Christ. That is not to say that we are to completely disregard the Old Testament (i.e. we still follow the Ten Commandments because when God came to us as Jesus Christ in the New Testament we were instructed to keep all of His commandments), but the traditions/customs that were in place following the exodus out of bondage were no longer necessary. Jesus was sent to earth to save us from ourselves – and He loved us so much that He took the ridicule, He took the abuse, He got on the cross, He died for us, and He rose again. He paid the ultimate price so that we would not have to. From a spiritual standpoint, this is why I do NOT agree with the death penalty. In following the Ten Commandments – God said to us: "Thou shall not kill." Just because Joe Smith killed Jane Doe, does not mean any person, any state, or government has the "right" to extract punishment in the form of taking that person life (execution) as well. Just as Joe Smith will face God's judgment so will everyone else who had a part in his execution. I don’t care if Joe Smith raped 10 girls, sodomized 50 boys, and blew up an airplane. He will be judged by God & God's wrath is greater than anything that we could ever do to Joe Smith. Please don't confuse me with those idiotic Islamic & Right-Wing radicals who preach that God is vengeful because that is simply not true. However, when it is all said & done – each of us will have to stand before God and account for everything that we have done. Are we perfect? Of course not. But does that exclude us from accountability? No.

The second reason I do not agree with the death penalty is from a criminal justice theoretical standpoint it is incredibly faulty & useless. Many states ended the death penalty after various FBI & independent investigations found that there were people on death row who were innocent, convicted with false evidence, and other various unjust circumstances. Look at the state of Illinois: several death row inmates had been found wrongly accused, convicted, and sentenced – a situation which forced the then governor George Ryan to issue a moratorium on capital punishment in 2000. Punishment for crimes should deter would-be criminals and I don't think there is a soul who would argue against the fact that our prison system is not doing a good job in that area. But if deterrence is a goal: some one explain to me why do all the states that happily support the death penalty have high felony murder rates? Obviously your method isn't working. If deterrence is not the goal, doesn't that make you guilty of supporting the very same crime that the prisoner just stood trial for? What makes you better than them?

People have said "what if they kill your parents, friends, loved ones - then what?" Honestly you never know exactly how you are going to react to any situation until it happens to you. But I know one thing, I would have to have it in my heart to forgive them. The one thing that I respected about the Amish community after what happened to those little schoolgirls in Pennsylvania is that as hard as it was for them – they forgave Charles Carl Roberts IV for what he did. They weren’t quick to pass judgment and they didn't allow themselves to hold any animosity to him or his family. Was that easy? I'm sure it wasn't. But in their response to many reporters – they did it because that's what God commanded them to do.