A CHRISTIAN VIEW OF THE DEATH PENALTY

While state sponsored executions are in the bible, our studies of Jesus cause us to conclude that, if you can’t give life, you have no business taking life. All human beings are made in God’s image and it is the image of God in every person that should be respected, even the image of God in a murderer. God didn’t execute Cain after he killed his brother Abel. The federal government and state governments should follow God’s example in the story of Cain and Abel and refrain from executing those found guilty of crimes we think deserve the death penalty. What’s wrong with life in prison without parole? Mature christians believe that regardless of the sins of which we are guilty, every sinner is redeemable by salvation in Christ Jesus. We believe persons can be forgiven of their sins up to the day they die. Therefore, those guilty of crimes that we think deserve the death penalty should be kept alive, in case, at some point in the future, they decide to accept Jesus as their Savior and Lord and have their sins forgiven. Also, from a financial perspective, it is less expensive to give a person life in prison than it is to have them on death row for twenty years or longer.