By Ben House
Capital punishment is a controversial issue of today for it is literally a matter of life or death. This is admittedly an unpleasant issue; it arouses emotions and it troubles the conscience for it deals with life, which we value, and death, which we fear. Capital punishment must be discussed and conclusions must be drawn even through they may be unpleasant.
Several questions arise in the argument against capital punishment. First, is capital punishment murder? NO. American law, as well as much of the law of western nations, is based on the Judeo-Christian system as found in the Old New Testament. The Old Testament commands “Thou shalt not kill.” The usage of the biblical word for kill in this verse is ratsach which indicates murder, and the biblical definition for murder is the willful execution of one by another unless the execution is sanctioned by the state. Gary North, Ph. D., has said, “The biblical view of the state affirms the right of the state to execute men because of God’s original delegation of authority to the state. To deny the legitimate sovereignty of the state is to deny the original authority of God.” The fact that the state has a duty to execute people who have committed certain crimes is explicit in the Old Testament.
The next question concerns environment. For example, the shout has been heard “Change the environment and you will change the individual.” Those who believe this obviously believe that all criminals grew up in the worst of conditions and these conditions were brought about by society; furthermore, if terrible environmental conditions were erased there would be no criminals. If environment determines whether or not we are criminals, how is Patricia Hearst’s life to be explained? She had environmental advantages most of us do not have. And what about the people convicted for crimes in the Watergate scandal? These were not men who grew up on the wrong side of town without the necessities of life or the opportunities for advancement; instead, these were lawyers, successful businessmen, and prominent politicians. Environment is a factor in determining the extent of a person’s wrongdoing, but it is not the cause; furthermore, changing the environment is not the solution to the wrongfulness that is inherited.
Next, it should be noticed that those nations that have followed the biblical view of capital punishment have been stable and civilized. Hitler did not use biblical capital punishment; he used mass genocide. The Hitlers of the world do not follow the laws.
Since we are all capable of error, there is always a chance of a guilty person being punished. Again, biblical law has an answer to this: “On the evidence of two or three witnesses shall he that is to be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness” (Deuteronomy 17:6). This law, though not immune to man’s fallibility, lessens the chance of the innocent being punished.