Death Penalty Insanity

"...Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap," - Galatians 6:7

"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," Exodus 21:23-25

Let me begin by saying, some of you are probably going to hate this column, but I have a few things I truly have to say. Also, I am not trying to play holy man, but I am using the Truth (Bible) as my text to drive some points home. The world has gone mad, particularly surrounding the issue of life and death.

The Bible tells us that God ordered Noah and his descendants to execute murderers. He said, "For your lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning; of every beast I will require it and of man; of every man’s brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for God made man in his own image." (Gen. 9)

Without the law of retribution, and without a system of laws and justice, then we truly are living in an evil jungle where "the strongest, most committed and most aggressive" would always prevail. I prefer to defend our "nation of laws" where no one, including the violent, murdering, thieving, raping brute is above the law.

The voters of this state have decided that they want their justice system to operate with a firm law of retribution when it comes to violent crimes. The Supreme Court of the United States has repeatedly, thousands of times in fact, upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty.

Justice Antonin Scalia, now deceased, told students at Rhodes College in Memphis once, "If the death penalty did not violate the 8th Amendment when the 8th Amendment was adopted, it doesn’t violate it today.”

Justice Samuel Alito wrote, “It is settled that capital punishment is constitutional” so there “must be a [constitutional] means of carrying it out.”

There must be justice! America must remain a nation of laws. There must be swift and overwhelming punishment for crimes committed, especially the heinous crimes committed by those Arkansas seeks to put to death this week.

Anyone that has read the accounts of the victims that these animals tortured, beat, murdered, raped, and stole from; and also evaluated the decades (in most cases) of court cases that rose to the burden of "beyond a reasonable doubt" and included jury corroborating new DNA technology that wasn't even available when the crimes were committed...and feels more distraught that those animals might be aware they are being killed or might feel discomfort or pain while doing so...is just confused and is an enemy of justice.

Jesus tells us to personally forgive anyone, each and every time they repent and seek our forgiveness (note they must ask for it first). But he never tells a government to condone evil. Our problem today is that liberals have things upside down backward and inside out. What is evil, they call mainstream, acceptable and to be protected. What is good, they call evil, intolerant and to be ridiculed.

Everyone is subject to some government authority. That's just the way the world operates. The Apostle Paul said, "Rulers hold no terror for those who do right" but that government is God's servant for good. "If you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God's servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer."

I can not understand why people are afraid that a murderer or a rapist's "so called right" to not feel discomfort (defined as being aware they are being executed in the "death chamber" or that they feel any of the process) is to be more protected than the life, comfort, treasure, of those men, women and children that were terrorized, murdered, raped, tortured, robbed, beat, etcetera. What kind of foolishness is that?

I am a firm believer that if a person has been convicted "beyond a reasonable doubt" by a jury of their peers and if all their "conviction appeals" have been exhausted; then I don't care one bit if they are scared, pained, aware or not aware of what is happening or comfortable. In fact, maybe we shouldn’t do these out of the public eye, "humane" forms of execution via sedative and injection at all.

I believe that they should have done to them, what they did to their victims...but publicly when at all practical. If they shot someone in the head, blow their brains out. If they used an axe, then use a dull axe on them.

This craziness has to stop. The entire problem is that those same liberal judges that want to stop "humane" execution are the same one that are wrecking our constitutional system in the first place. Isn't it ironic that you can't kill a murdering, thieving, rapist using humane injection, but those same so called Justices are okay with ripping a human fetus to shreds?

The whole world has simply gone mad!

thenry@blythevillecourier.com