Capitol Punishment

There has always been controversy concerning the subject of capitol punishment. Should one that takes the life of another be put to death? Should he be sentence to a life of imprisonment? Some say that taking the life of a murderer is on the same level as the murderer. Is this subject just guesswork? Is it just the matter of someone’s opinion?

It isn’t possible to come to a just and loving conclusion without knowing the very purpose of our existence on this earth.

This article is written to those that believe that there is a God and that the Bible is written to those that believe God’s purpose and should be the initiative by which we come to a right judgment, or our own opinions are just that, our own opinions.

God’s Plan For His Children

It isn’t possible to make a judgment concerning capitol punishment without knowing and understanding the purpose of why we are going through this 2nd earth age. Let the Apostle Peter explain. 2nd Peter 3:5, “For this they are willingly ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water”: verse 6, “Whereby the earth that then was being overflowed with water, perished”. You can read of that destruction in the fourth chapter of Jeremiah verses 22 to the end of the chapter. Many think that these verses are talking about Noah’s flood but they are not. This is Peter’s statement concerning the world that then was. God did not create the earth without form and void as we are told in Gen. 1:2, it became that way. We can read of the peace that was part of the first earth age in Job 38: 7, “when the morning stars sang together and the son’s of God shouted for joy (at the creation of the earth)”.God’s children were at peace until some of them sinned. Rather than destroy His children, God gave every one of them the opportunity of being born into this 2nd earth age in a flesh body for the purpose of knowing if they would love Him or the god of this world Satan. To continue with 2nd Peter verse 7, “ but the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and the perdition of ungodly men”. All of God’s children will pass through this earth age in a flesh body. Hebrews 2: 14, “ Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is , the devil”. God would not ask His children to do anything He wouldn’t do Himself. Father want’s all His children to repent and be obedient to Him and keep as our goal what Peter tells us in 2nd Peter 3:13, “ Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for a new heaven and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness”. God doesn’t want any of His children to perish but to repent, have a change of heart and purpose. Listen to what we are told in 2nd Peter 3: 9, “the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is long suffering to us–word, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. The Apostle Paul tells us in Rom. 9:13, “ As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated”. How could God be a respecter of persons of His children before they are born, and both didn’t do anything good or bad? God wouldn’t be a God of love and judgment to have made such a statement. The only explanation would be of Esau and others behavior during the 1st earth age.

Innocently or Deliberately

In the 19th chapter of the book of Deut. We have 2 examples of the killing of a human being. During the days of the wanderings of the nation of Israel, 3 cities of refuge were set aside for anyone who accidentally killed another as a place of protection from the avenger of blood . God had instated the cities because He knew that any blood relative would try to avenge the killing without knowing all of the facts. Many times emotion drives the action rather than common sense.

First case, verse 4, “ And this is the case of the slayer, which shall flee thither, and that he may live: Whosoever killeth his neighbor ignorantly, whom he hated not in the past”; verse 6, “ as when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbor to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree and the head slipped from the healve, and lighted upon the neighbor, that he die; he shall flee to one of these cities and live”:

Second case: verse 11, “ But if any man hate his neighbor and lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him mortally that he die and flee to one of these cities”: verse 12, “ Then the elders of the city shall send and fetch him thence, and deliver him to the avenger of blood, that he may die”. These judgments are based on the law of two or more witnesses. ( see Deut. 19; 15 and Matt. 18 ; 16 ) Verse 13, “ Thine eye shall not pity him, but thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee”. These are laws that the nation of Israel was to follow and be obedient to the very God that freed them from bondage, laws executed not for vengeful purposes, but when understood in all of it’s content would make sense.

1st John 3;15, “ Whosoever hated his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him”. Does that mean that a murderer is lost forever or looses out on eternal life altogether? On the subject of eternal life, only our Father, not man, determines that.

Matt. 5:21, “ Ye have heard it said by them of old time. Thou shalt not kill and whoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. The word kill is number 5407 in Strong’s Concordance and it is the word phoneuo from the root word 5406, a murderer, a criminal homicide. Why would Christ use the word judgment? Heb. 9: 27, “and as it is appointed for men to die, after this the judgment”. Father can’t judge anyone except after death. What happens when a person dies? A question is asked in Ecc. 12: 7, “Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth”? The question is answered in Ecc. 12:7, “then shall the dust (flesh body) return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return to God who gave it”. Notice the first part of verse 6, “ or the silver cord be loosed”. We all came into this world fed by our mother through an umbilical cord. Silver being much more precious than organic matter that eventually perishes is used symbolically of the lifeline that the Holy Spirit uses to connect our Heavenly Father to every individual to what the Bible calls the inner man. Eph. 3:16, “ That he would grant you the riches of his glory, to be strengthen with the might by His Spirit in the inner man”. Father is telling us that when the silver cord departs, we are through with our flesh bodies and the Spirit (intellect of the soul ) returns to the Father. All of Gods souls were created before there was ever flesh and blood. That’s the reason God says, all souls are mine in Ezekiel 18:4. A person can’t give himself to God because He already owns him.

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