Retribution is revenge or justice. In a passage in the Old Testament, ‘An Eye For An Eye’ it is said that if somebody murders somebody then they should be given the death penalty. Revenge overlooks the different circumstances of crime. The bible requires the death penalty for a variety of crimes such as sex before marriage, adultery, working on the Sabbath and murder. The death penalty is obviously supported by the Old Testament.
Protection of society is considered important by Christians to keep society safe as criminals can either be set free or break out of prison, so society would be kept safe if criminals were given the death penalty. In the bible the passage titled ‘Love Thy Neighbour’, Jesus taught that we need to love our neighbour so we need to protect them from evil by using capital punishment on the principle of love for each other to keep each other safe.
Another reason why some Christians agree with the death penalty, is the victim’s family of whoever was killed deserves some justice and compassion to ease their suffering slightly by helping them to come to terms with the way the person died. Christians need to show compassion for the person who was killed and they know this as many times in the bible Jesus shows compassion for people. An example of this is in the passage, ‘the woman with the haemorrhage’ in Mark’s gospel. The woman touched Jesus’ cloak without him seeing and at once she was healed. Jesus showed compassion for this woman by being happy that she had faith wanting to heal her as he cared about her pain.
However, many other Christians are opposed to capital punishment because they feel it is murder. Recently the Roman Catholic Church condemned the death penalty. Many other Christian denominations are against capital punishment, including Baptists, Quakers, Salvationists and members of the United Reformed church, which is because of the bible teachings against capital punishment. 1 of the 10 commandments in the bible states that,
‘Thou shalt not kill’
In Genesis it says that life is a precious gift, in which God created humans in his own image, therefore it shows that life is sacred and important where every individual has a God given right to live. The death penalty denies the sacredness of human life given by God even if a person has murdered another. It is a vicious circle murdering the murders.
Another reason why many Christians are opposed to Capital Punishment is that there is always a chance of wrongfully executing somebody. Many convicted murderers are later found innocent. In America, in 1987 a study was carried out where some evidence had been found to suggest that at least 350 people between 1900 and 1985 were innocent of the crime they had been accused of and there are probably many more cases where the person has been innocent that we will never know about. The wrongful execution of an innocent person is an injustice that can never be rectified. Since the reinstatement of the death penalty, 96 men and women have been found to be factually innocent. Some were minutes away from execution. Some people would also be reluctant to convict in murder trials because of the possibility of executing an innocent person so many killers would go free unpunished.
I think that the most important reason that Christians would be against it, is the fact that they largely believe in reformation. If somebody is given the death penalty then they are not given a chance to reform. In John’s gospel in a passage called, ‘The woman in adultery’ a woman commits adultery, which is punishable by death by stoning but Jesus speaks out for this woman telling them that they can’t judge this woman for her sin because they have must have sinned in their life and it is for God to judge. He tells her,
‘Go now and leave your life of sin’
He is giving her a chance to reform by leaving behind sin, now following the example of Jesus, the Christian concept for people can not be followed with the death penalty, not giving the chance for criminals to reform. Another example of reformation in the bible is in Luke’s gospel called, ‘the penitent thief’. A thief is being crucified along with Jesus and the thief recognises Jesus for who he really is and he reforms tat the very last minute. This shows that it is never to late to change and there is always the possibility of that and that the death penalty makes a complete mockery of the idea of reformation.
A reason given in favour of capital punishment are as deterrence but it does not work as murders are still happening in the countries that use capital punishment. There are some indications that executions actually increase the murder rate.
This is closely linked with reformation. Christians believe that god is a generous forgiver when people given the chance to repent. There are many parables on forgiveness in the bible and many incidents where it is clear Jesus is very forgiving. An example of Jesus being forgiving is in Luke’s gospel chapter 23 when Jesus is on his cross being crucified he says,
‘Father, forgive them as they do not know what they are doing’
To forgive somebody who is making you suffer awfully before they kill you is very forgiving and compassionate. If somebody is given the death penalty they can never be forgiven and lose the chance for salvation, which is very important form a Christian’s perspective, as they would feel as if they were effectively sending people to hell.
Jesus looked against revenge and taught us to turn the other cheek where revenge is not acceptable, which goes against capital punishment, as that is a form of revenge. In the gospel of Matthew in the passage, ‘An Eye for an Eye’ he says,
‘if someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other one also’
Teaching that the revenge theme in the Old Testament is wrong and that people should forgive.
Jesus also taught people to have compassion and forgiveness in the passage ‘Love for Enemies’. He says,
‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you’
Here Jesus says not to hate your enemies but to love them and that forgiveness is better than revenge.
In conclusion it is obvious that there are contradicting attitudes shared by Christians, however most Christians are opposed to capital punishment as Jesus seems to portray in the New Testament that forgiveness and reform are very important when dealing with criminals. Many studies have been carried out and depending on which data you select you can find statistics to support each argument.
