2

Click here to load reader

Why Im Against the Death Penalty

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: Why Im Against the Death Penalty

As a Christian I'm against the death penalty for the same reason I'm against abortion: who are we to decide who lives and dies? Obviously those two lives are different, one deserves life, the other doesn't, but that doesn't mean we as humans should be the final arbiter of life and death (with a few rare exceptions) because that's God's role. God gave even the worst criminals life, therefore it's only right to leave their death to Him as well. This isn't some emotional plea to protect criminals like the liberals make, this is rooted in scripture. "Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, "vengeance is mine, I will repay," says the Lord." Also, if we want these criminals to really suffer, who actually thinks instant death is the worst punishment they can receive? They don't have a reason to go on living anyway so this just puts them out of their misery and lets them escape the punishment they deserve. They would suffer a lot more rotting away in a jail cell the rest of their life, being forced to reflect on the horrible crimes they've committed. A small percentage of them might even be able to be converted to the faith, and indeed some have, that's what prison ministry is all about.

Liberals wanna turn it around on conservatives and say it's not consistent to be against abortion but support the death penalty, and there's some degree of truth to that because in both cases man is playing God and taking the life of his fellow man, which is only the job of God to do.But clearly it's not an equal comparison when liberals compare an innocent unborn baby to a violent and evil criminal on death row. The unborn baby deserves protection and the chance to live, the criminal deserves punishment for his horrible crime. But that doesn't mean his punishment should include death. If we believe the scriptures then we'll leave the final judgement up to God because God says "vengeance is mine", which means no murderer or rapist will ever get away with their crimes because when they die God and His perfect justice will be waiting for them, and the suffering they will go through in Hell is infinitely greater than the worst punishment we can provide.

Although an unborn baby deserves more protection than a violent criminal, in the eyes of God all life has value and every single human being was made in His image and therefore must be treated with dignity no matter what they've done. The exceptions to this rule would be during times of war when we capture enemies who are still dangerous, or for the most violent criminals who have influence while in prison or have a chance of escaping.

So I turn the argument around on liberals and say they should be against abortion for the same reason they're against the death penalty. Their position is inconsistent and completely hypocritical. They wanna have it both ways cause on the one hand they say it's inhumane for us to execute the most violent criminals, but on the other hand it's not inhumane to execute the most innocent lives imagineable (which, make no mistake, is what abortion is, murder), a defenseless unborn baby in its mother's womb.I believe in both cases it's inhumane, obviously abortion being much higher in degree than killing a violent criminal, so my position is consistent. They say we must protect the lives of these criminals because two wrongs don't make a right, and killing them does nothing to undo the wrong they did or deter other criminals from doing the same thing. Yet when I say the same thing about abortion, especially in cases of rape or incest, they say that's different because it's the choice of the mother since it's her body.That's ridiculous of course because it's not her body, it's her baby's body, it just happens to be inside her body. Just because one human is inside another's body, doesn't give that person the right to destroy the life inside her. A life is a life, regardless of where it is or how small it is. The science is unequivocally clear, a distinct human life is created at the moment of conception, and even for the liberals who refuse to believe that, by the time 100% of abortions take place in the pregnancy, it clearly involves destroying a being who is alive, and in many cases, capable of feeling pain.

Page 2: Why Im Against the Death Penalty

So liberals should be pro-life if they really believe all life has inherent dignity and worth since it came from God, because abortion involves the taking of an innocent life, much the way executing an innocent man by accident does, which has happened from time to time and is a reason liberals give for getting rid of the death penalty.If they wanna make sure that no innocent adult life is taken by accident, how much more should they wanna make sure that no innocent baby's life be taken unnecessarily? Abortion does that every time, because even in cases of rape, the mother can give the child up for adoption if she doesn't want the baby or isn't able to raise it. So it's disingenuous for liberals to say they really care about protectnig innocent life in one case but not in the other, using "women's rights" as an excuse. I think most of them simply aren't comfortable or have enough of a religious background to say abortion is evil because they aren't comfortable saying anything is evil, they have a warped sense of morality. Also, they want a culture that promotes convenience and doing whatever makes you feel good over doing what's right, because for many of them that's how they live their lives, so they would feel guilty telling women it's wrong to have an abortion out of convenience, and they know it would be somewhat hypocritical considering how they don't use that same standard of morality in their own life or when it comes to valuing the lives of others in their everyday interactions.

But to test their beliefs and sincerity, one can ask a simple question: since you believe abortion is ok because the gov't doesn't have the right to tell a woman what to do with her body, then shouldn't that apply to all stages of pregnancy? The baby's still in her body right up til the moment of birth, therefore shouldn't abortion be legal up to that point? Strangely it's not and even most liberals agree that it shouldn't be, but when you ask them why they have no clear explanation, which makes it clear they haven't done their research on this issue and have taken a position on it as an emotional response rather than from a scientific and spiritual perspective. Who sets the cut off point for when it's a woman's right to choose and when it's murder and made illegal? What's the criteria for this arbitrary point in a woman's pregnancy? These are questions liberals simply don't have answers to.

I suggest they go back and do some research on this before they attempt to lecture conservatives about the morality of the death penalty and torture. Likewise, I think it's time for conservative Christians to go back and study the Bible and the theology of the death penalty before telling liberals they can't play God and determine whether or not a baby should live or die.