True Christians should support the death penalty.

It is in fact an interesting topic, and I have not yet debated it. This should be fun, no matter what the turn out. Now to the real issue. .. The death Penalty. It was supported in the Old Testament, thats for sure. Gen. 9:6--- "Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man. " This was said by God Himself after the flood, while Noah was making his offering. Some would say, however, that this verse is now outdated since the death of Christ, but I do not think this is so. I believe that this is just one of the many verses that COMMAND capital punishment. Look at what Ecclesiastes has to say on the matter. Ecclesiastes 3:1-3--- "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;A TIME TO KILL, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;" A time to kill. People quote this verse all the time, and yet some would disregard this line. Why would the Bible say there is a time to kill, if there really was not time to kill? The answer is, it wouldn't. God says what He means. If there is a time to kill, then there must be a good reason to kill. Exodus 20:13--- "You shall not murder. " Murder--- "unlawful premeditated killing of a human being by a human being" Well, obviously thats not the right time to kill. This leaves us only two logical options then: war, and capital punishment. In the Old Testament, od commands wars. In fact, He even commands Saul to completely destroy a certain people, and when Saul spares king Agag, He get the throne taken from him. 1 Sam. 15:3--- "Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys. " When Sual does not. .. 1 Sam. 15:26--- "But Samuel said to him, 'I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you as king over Israel! '" God commanded Saul to kill, and God was mad when Sual did not. That was a right time to kill: when God commands it. What does the New Testament have to say on the matter though? Well, lets look at Romans. Rom. 13:3-4--- "For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for HE DOES NOT BEAR THE SWORD FOR NOTHING. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. " Swords are instruments for killing. Killing people actually. The Bible commands us to be afraid if we do wrong, because He has given our authorities the power to put us to death if we do that which deserves death. Even Paul in the Bible knows that. Acts 25:11--- "If, however, I am guilty of doing anything deserving death, I DO NOT REFUSE TO DIE. But if the charges brought against me by these Jews are not true, no one has the right to hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar! " Paul knows that if he has done anything deserving of death, he can and will die. Why? because the government "does not bear the sword in vain". This is not all the Bible has to say though. 1 Peter 2:13-14--- "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. " During the time that this was writen, the main form of ounishment was flogging and/or death. In hebrews, it says that there can be no forgiveness without the shedding of blood. Heb. 9:22--- "In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. " There are people in society that deserve to die, and God has given our aythorities the power to kill those who deserve it. If you think about it, it really makes sense. when a person dies in rebelion of god, God damns that person to hell. When a person on earth is in rebelion of his government, God gave the govenrnment the power to kill the physical body of the person, so as to keep order in His creation. There is even an instance in the Bible where Jesus shows grace when the death penalty is due. John 8:1-10--- "But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, 'Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say? ' They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, 'If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her. ' Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. " Jesus shows mercy even though the law commands that she be put to death. You might say that Jesus was stopping them because the law no longer applied, and she did not deserve the death penalty. Look at what the Bible has to say about that. Matt. 5:17--- "'Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. '" He did not come to abolish the law. .. in which case He was showing the girl grace; not saving her from undue punishment. I think that should do for my opening arguments, and I look forward to yours. Thanks, Renzzy