Would Jesus Support Execution???

2014-05-08_10-23-56The governor still spoke to the group, and was asked publicly how he reconciles the death penalty with his faith, especially given the fact that less than 5% of Americans think Jesus would support execution. It was refreshing that he didn’t have a good answer. It made you think he might not sign the warrants, that he might come to the conclusion of other governors have — that no human being should have that much power over life and death. SOURCE:  Shane Claiborne: TN Death Row Invites Governor to Pray with Them | Red Letter Christians.

I have always been uncomfortable with the phrase “What would Jesus do”. Jesus is God and therefore has a totally different look on things than we do. I can’t hope to do even a small percentage of the things that “Jesus would do”. But I can ask the question “What did Jesus say about this?” When it comes to ending a human life he was pretty darn clear to leave that up to God.

Instead I cling to “Do what Jesus would have us do”. What did Jesus teach us about living on this earth? I have been asking that question many times when it comes to our public attitudes and concerns. Things like global warming, putting a safety net under our neighbors, and yes capital punishment.

I have my own personal opinions of what Jesus taught us. I will leave it up to you to do the work to find your own answers to this question…

2 thoughts on “Would Jesus Support Execution???

  1. I do not believe in capital punishment. Saw too many hanging bodies in Saudi.
    “We” need to do something about our system of keeping people in prison who are not capable of staying within society.
    The whole “prison system” needs to be reformed. That is definitely where some of our 1% money tax should go. No clues on where to start.
    My dad studied Colorado’s system in the 1970-‘s and said it was the best at the time.
    At this point and time the capacity to think about one more place of need is difficult to stretch my mind around.

    Like

    1. The U.S. prison system is a completely different post but you are right. We imprison about 10 times more people now than we did in the 1970s. Part of the problem is when we made prisons “for profit”. The other major thing is once you get caught in the system it is nearly impossible to get out so many spend their almost entire life there. They do no rehabilitation now and once you have a felony on your card it is almost impossible to get any job. Yeah, much needs to be changed… Unfortunately there are too many around that stifle any change suggested in this and all other areas.

      Like

Leave a reply to Janette Cancel reply