From: conditt@tsd.arlut.utexas.edu (Paul Conditt)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Death Penalty
Date: 11 Jan 93 08:36:46 GMT
Organization: Applied Research Laboratories, University of Texas at Austin

In article <Jan.8.01.01.16.1993.2840@farside.rutgers.edu> seanna@bnr.ca (Seanna (S.M.) Watson) writes:
>In article <Jan.7.01.13.41.1993.6018@geneva.rutgers.edu> jwmorris@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Jeff Morris) writes:
>>With all the discussion concerning the recent execution of a convicted
>>murderer, I feel compelled to comment on some remarks posted on the
>>appropriateness of Man's use of the death penalty.
>
>>God says that anyone who murders shall lose his own life.
>
>The bible (old testament) says that a woman found committing adultery
>is to be stoned to death.  When such a woman was brought before Jesus,
>he challenged those who had "taken responsibility" for her punishment
>by telling them to examine themselves.  He forgave her, and told her
>to turn from her ways. Was Jesus avoiding his responsibility to follow 
>God's commands?  Are we not to follow his example?
>

I'm hesitant to jump into this discussion because I'm not sure how
I feel about the death penalty.  However, I think that many of the
posts using the woman caught in adultery as an example to apply to this
situation are taking the passage somewhat out of context.  

The woman who was caught in adultery was brought before Jesus by a group
of people who were trying to trap him into committing a heresy or being
inconsistent in his theology.  Jesus seized this opportunity to teach
the crowd a lesson and to show his authority on earth, not to 
contradict the law.  One of the reasons Jesus came to earth was to fulfill
the law, not to abolish it.  The law had become a stumbling block because
the people were following the letter of the law and not the intent.
Jesus showed us that both are possible.

Back to the original issue.  Yes, this story is about forgiveness, but
I think applying it  to the Dodd situation is stretching it just a little.

As Christians, we do have the responsibility to examine situations like
this very carefully, and prayerfully.  However, I've seen several posts
that imply that if you don't agree with the poster (the poster is usually
against capital punishment), then you're not a *real* Christian, or at
least you haven't properly applied the Bible to this situation.  I think
we need to be *real* careful when we do this, or we, too, may end up like
the Pharisees, and we all know how near and dear to Jesus's heart they 
were :).  This is an important and relevant issue (capital punishment),
but let's try to discuss it without implying that other members of God's
family are in error just because they don't see things the same way
we do.
>-- 
>Seanna Watson   Bell-Northern Research, 
>(seanna@bnr.ca) Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
>
>Opinions, what opinions?  Oh *these* opinions. | It's hard to seize the
>No, they're not BNR's, they're mine.           | day when you must first
>I knew I'd left them somewhere.                | grapple with the morning.


===============================================================================
Paul Conditt		Internet: conditt@titan.tsd.arlut.utexas.edu
Applied Research	Phone:	  (512) 835-3086   FAX: (512) 835-3416/3259
  Laboratories		Fedex:	  10000 Burnet Road, Austin, Texas 78758-4423
University of Texas	Postal:	  P.O. Box 8029, Austin, Texas 78713-8029
Austin, Texas <----- the most wonderful place in Texas to live
no witty sayings or quotes here