US Death Penalty as Delineated by the Old Testament

The Death Penalty As Delineated by the Old Testament

THESIS

The Death Penalty should not be abolished . This is the whole point of the article . The author is arguing in the article that the Death Penalty should be imposed on those who deserve it and this rule finds Biblical support

SUMMARY of the ARTICLE

The last paragraph of the article more or less summarizes what message the author wants to convey , to wit

Not all killings are alike the victims voice cries out to us killing is , at times , deterrable

and some killers should be put to death . Because human life is uniquely valuable , it cannot be compensated by money . We must presume a defendants innocence , tolerate very little error , engage in diligent inquiry , and adopt a very high standard of proof . The killers attitude counts--premeditated and wantonly reckless killing is especially evil--but while the past cries out , only the worst of the worst deserve to die

The Old Testament of the Bible , especially the Pentateuch where the law of Moses is written , is replete with lessons teaching humanity that the Death Penalty is a just punishment for murder . In fact , the first sin as recorded in the Bible , where Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil , merited no less than the capital punishment Because of their disobedience , God sentenced them to die and the Bible describes this sentence as sin and death entered the world

When it comes to the Bible account of Cain and Abel , where Cain killed his own brother , the anti-death penalty proponents adopt this account to support their cause by claiming that in this story , God is opposed to the death penalty . However the article argues that this is not what the story actually says . The article says that this story only tells us that not all killers deserve the death punishment . It also tells us that it tries to show that the threat of death can deter the commission of murder . And thus , Cain served as an example to all men . Moreover , the author adds that the first pronouncement of the death penalty was made on Cain , and not as a punishment for his crime , but for protection from the consequences of his own act

And eventually , in the story of Noah , the first law imposing the death penalty for murder was given by God . There it was commanded that he who sheds the blood of man , by man shall his blood be shed ' It is a command to man to impose the death penalty if one should be guilty of shedding his another man 's blood . This command is still so broad but this will be refined in the later books of the Old Testament

The law of the Old Testament about the death penalty basically says that anyone who intentionally kills another must be imposed the death penalty . The killer should not be pitied . Money , or blood price , should not be allowed as an...