Resolving Conflict - Christianity.

To pay the criminals back for what they have done could be quite hard to do. We sometimes know this as the principle of retribution. This means that if a person does something wrong he or she must pay the penalty that should fit the crime.

The principle of retribution is one of the main arguments used by those who want to bring back capital punishment. Christians believe that if you take someone's life you should forfeit your own. In the Old Testament there is a sentence that totally agrees that point of view. "Whoever sheds the blood of man by man shall his blood be shed," This is in the book of Genesis (9:6).

Some Christians disagree with this principle of "paying back" because killing someone for murder isn't going to solve the problem in the first place. Some Christians say that two wrongs don't make a right. This means that if someone has murdered someone else then punishing him or her won't make everything perfect because it doesn't solve the problem.

I agree with this because if I hit someone then they hit me back it wouldn't solve the problem that I had hit them first.

There is another principle of punishment, which is the principle of reform. Christians believe that we should look at the offenders rather than what they have done e.g. if there were two cars that had gone over the speed limit, one that had had too much to drink and another taking someone to the emergency hospital, they shouldn't both get the same

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punishment. Christians believe that we should aim to help and heal them, not to pay them back.

The other principle of punishment is the principle to deter them. This principle is trying to get the people that cause trouble on the streets away from everybody else. E.g. football hooligans should be locked in jail away from harming other people. If there is a big football match on either here or in a different country then the police do checks on the people wanting to go and watch the football matches. So if someone has already been arrested or has had a warning about their behaviour then they can't watch the match because they could do it again. This helps the safety of the other football supports that can go and watch the match without being in any danger. This is a punishment for the people put other people in danger with their behaviour.

Some Christians believe that Capital Punishment is right but others believe that if they are punished rather than killed they could easily go out and do the same thing again, but this time they may not be caught which puts people in danger instead of them being safe when they were punished at the start.

I think that if someone has broken the law then they should be punished good and true because why should other people that wouldn't even think about breaking the law have to watch where they go or staying out late because of the sorts of people that have already done something once, done the punishment and are now back out on the streets ready for its next victim.

I think that they should be punished in a much worse way. I think that there can be some occasions where there can be exceptions. This is if someone is speeding to get an injured person to the hospital. I believe that this could be solved in a different way because punishing them for trying to help an injured person is showing them that helping people is the wrong thing to do.

I think that if someone has killed somebody else they should have to suffer in the same sort of way. I think this because if we let some people off what is stopping them to go out and do the same thing knowing that they may not get punished for what they have done.

If I knew that there was a murderer near us that had already killed someone and had been let off or they had had a little punishment then I wouldn't feel safe going out alone knowing the sort of people living near by.

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I think that if you break the law or you break rules you should be punished for what you have done and you should never be allowed to do the thing again.

If someone has been killed why should they get away with it by just having a few years in prison. They should suffer the same way as their victim did because they shouldn't get away with it.

In another point of view Jesus told us that you should always forgive someone once because they can change. I don't think this because if you have killed someone once you have got the power and the courage to do it again. Other Christians believe what Jesus said because someone may break the law do their punishment and they may of learnt their lesson so it's not easy to decide if someone has learnt their lesson or not.

Some people break the law and get away with it and others have to face the punishment so why should one be punished and not the other because no-one will do something once and then never have the courage to do it again.