Resolved: The US Federal Government should abolish Capital Punishment

Rebuttal time! R1: God’s law A. Crimes? My opponent has made a religious argument. However he has yet to explain what crimes deserve the capital punishment in the bible. He simply responds saying that it is God’s law. However, allow me to make a religious rebuttal of my own. B. My rebuttal to biblical challenge According to Genesis 9:8- 10, all life is sacred and protecting it is important to God. He then goes on to say that to murder is to affront Him. This clearly shows that simply killing others, whether he/she be a murderer or an innocent victim is against the Bible. So, God’s law has shown the importance of life. Secondly, let us turn toward John 8:7 where Jesus responds to a group of people stoning someone to death with, “He who is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her. ” This shows that it is hypocritical to kill someone simply due to someone sinning. After all, we are all sinners. Third, we need to look toward the New Testament: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth. ’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. ” Matthew 5:38-42 – See more at: . https://sojo.net... Clearly, we need to turn the other cheek. This can also be applied to the issue at hand. Jesus was always conversing and allowing people to learn by example whether or not they were outcasts to society because they were sinners. Also, considering the fact that the Old Testament is continually contradicted by the New Testament in theology as demonstrated, we can’t take it into account since the most recent of God’s law rests in the New Testament. R2: Biblical context This is simple. The bible can be figuratively interpreted and literally interpreted which leads to very different impacts. While my opponent may say the “word of God” makes him think this way, let us look toward a different interpretation. The Bible was written by people trying to interpret a godly figure, which is then interpreted among the ages by many different people. Then, it is translated which may lead to the Bible having a different meaning than the original Bible made so long ago. Thus, we are interpreting for ourselves an interpretation of a godly figure, which is then translated so more meaning is lost. If we were to assume that meaning was lost among the eras of when it was passed down, it would be logical to then assume that a literal interpretation of a document that has lost literal meaning is very likely to have different ideas and laws than the form we have now. However, there is great spiritual understanding in the bible that can also be properly addressed if we take a figurative translation, where maybe the law against homosexuality was to address a problem with a tiny population with stagnant growth as opposed to nowadays where we have a tremendous population. We need to see the bible from the context of when it was written if we are to apply it today, as well as see it as a figurative document that has lost meaning due to multiple translations. R3: State of debate My opponent has yet to explain why my reasoning is wrong in my constructive speech. R4: Not executing people that god wants in status quo According to your argument, there are 19 crimes that god says should be executed. However, since our country is not a Christian Theocracy, we do not execute the people God wants us too. I am assuming you want homosexuals to be executed as per Old Testament law, but we only execute people who have committed heinous crimes from a secular perspective. Also, since separation from church and state exists through Supreme Court decisions (look at notable examples here: . http://archive.adl.org...) and one of the founding father’s intention (specifically Thomas Jefferson), why should we execute the people that a certain religion wants us too? We clearly see otherwise. Questions to Consider Is it not against God’s will to execute innocent people? Why do we look at today’s debate through a biblical standpoint? Where are your points showing that Christian morality has to be weighed in today’s debate? Why haven’t you addressed my political points?