Early in the morning he came again
to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach
them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in
adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, ‘Teacher,
this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law
Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’ They said this to
test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent
down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning
him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let anyone among you who is without
sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ And once again he bent down and
wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning
with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.
Jesus straightened up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one
condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, sir.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn
you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.’ – John 8:1-11
We tie
ourselves in knots debating issues about which Jesus was silent, yet some of us
Christians have no problem defying Jesus when he spoke quite clearly and
specifically on an issue.
Followers of
Christ do not execute criminals, even when they are guilty of that which one
thousand years of law says is a capital offense. Or is the teaching of Jesus no
longer valid?
Well said, ( and written). May I ad that you need not be a follower of Christ to reach the same conclusion. However, I do agree that you build a very good case by quoting John 8:1-11. I take great joy in reading your posts.
ReplyDelete// Håkan
Now that I am living in one of the majority of countries that does not have the death penalty, I am made even more uncomfortable by it. Paying back murder with murder does not create a society that respects the value of life. I saw an interview with MacPhail's mother, and she was saying that she would not be satisfied until Davis was dead. While her pain is understandable, it saddened me to see that after 20 years, this woman was still convinced that the only way she could have peace was if another mother was deprived of her son. The death penalty punishes innocent family members and friends even more than it punishes the convicted; when an inmate is executed, his earthly pain disappears, but that of his loved ones multiplies. And that is not justice by any measure.
ReplyDeleteDaegan
How can one claim to be a Christian and go against the basic principles that Jesus taught? Love one another as you love yourself. Love your enemies. Love God. In my opinion there is entirely too much emphasis placed on worshiping the person/divinity of Jesus and too little on his teachings.
ReplyDelete"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." (Ghandi)
ReplyDeleteA question for my friends whose literal reading of Scripture leads them to favor capital punishment: In the Genesis story of Cain and Abel, when there is no question that Cain is clearly guilty of a horrendous murder, and God alone serves as judge and jury--how does God sentence Cain?
I will share the following, translated from Swedish, bare with me.
ReplyDeleteIt is an open debate between the editor of "Dagen" ( The Day), a religous newspaper, and the Swedish archbishop, KG Hammar. The editor is Elisabeth Sandlund and she is a woman. The topic is same sex marriage.
Closing arguments:
Elisabeth: I can not find a single word in the bible that supports marriage of two people of the same sex.
KG Hammar: You are right, but I can find several passages that support the silence of women, so be very careful when referring to the scripture.
This goes along the same thoughts as Steve Gretz outlines.
I just had to post this, I hope nobody took offense, not my intention.
// Håkan