01 July 1999, 769 words
I am really quite astonished at the number of Christians in this country who support hanging. It's not just that they're in favour of it - it's that they're so gung-ho for it. Both before and after the three-day nine-man hangfest, the faithful have continued to call for more executions. I estimate that a little over half of all letters to the editor arguing for capital punishment come from people quoting the Bible. Even devout Catholics, apparently deluding themselves that their Church is a democratic organization, have been writing in to say that they support the death penalty.
None of these Christians see any contradiction between claiming that their religion is one of love and forgiveness and their fervent desire to hang criminals. Nor do they seem to notice that Jesus said he came to save sinners, not the virtuous. Indeed, Jesus got quite miffed when the Pharisees asked him why he was liming only with persons of ill-repute. "They that be whole need not physician, but they that be sick," he said. "But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." (Matthew 9:12-13).
These Christians, however, ignore this unequivocal message, preferring to argue that God Himself has prescribed capital punishment for murderers. Yet, while they gleefully quote Genesis 9:6 ("Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed") to prove their point, they always avoid following their argument to its logical conclusion, which is that God in Leviticus 24:15, 20:10, 20:14, and in Deuteronomy 22:21 says that blasphemy, adultery, homosexuality and fornication must also be punished by death. I guess they avoid mentioning these Biblical laws because they don't want to seem barbaric.
Instead, to prove how urbane they are, these Christians continually quote Romans13:1-4, which says, "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God...For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil." But by that logic, God appointed Hitler, Stalin and Idi Amin; and any government that oppresses, tortures and murders is doing good works. I bet, though, that if this Government decided to remove the law against blasphemy, these same Christians would suddenly start quoting Acts 5:29 ("We ought to obey God rather than men.")
In fact, faithful pack leader Pastor Cuffie
even argues that Jesus never condemned the State for crucifying the
thief next to him and that therefore Jesus respected the law of the
land. Me, I would have thought it more useful for Pastor Cuffie to
attend to what Jesus did say rather than telling people what
Jesus meant from what he didn't say. Like, in Matthew 15:6-9, when
Jesus takes the scribes and Pharisees to task for adhering to the
letter of the law, saying, "Ye made the commandment of God none
effect by your tradition. Ye hypocrites...This people draweth nigh
unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips; but their
heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching for
doctrines the commandments of men."
In any case, Romans 13:1-4 does not justify executions in the State
of Trinidad and Tobago. Our law says that murderers must be
sentenced to death, not put to death - that decision is
made by the Government. But I suppose since Pastor Cuffie is so
ignorant about his own Bible, I cannot expect him to be familiar with
the Constitution. There are, you see, certain Biblical texts that
Cuffie and his fellow born-agains have apparently never read, like
Matthew 7:1-2 ("Judge not that ye be judged, for with what judgment
ye judge, ye shall be judged") or Luke 6:37 ("Condemn not and ye
shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.") And they
would probably expunge Jesus's words in John12:47 if they could: "If
any man hear my words and believe not, I judge him not", since they
obviously consider themselves far wiser than the putative Son of God.
But, then, Jesus did also say, "Beware of false prophets, which come
to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves."
(Matthew 7:15).
Given all the above, I feel confident in concluding that any Christian who supports capital punishment is disobeying the teachings of Christ. And I dare anyone to prove me wrong. But whoever tries will just be proving the truth of Proverbs12:1 - "Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge, but he that hateth reproof is brutish."
Copyright © 1999 Kevin Baldeosingh