Is the death penalty and full forgiveness simultaneously possible? Jesus demonstrated that getting the death penalty and full forgiveness were simultaneously possible.
Some confused or deceptive people claim there is some (im)moral equivalence for killing an enemy soldier in war, murdering someone in cold blood, inadvertently putting a fatal chokehold to stop someone who is seriously threatening the lives of others, executing (or even imprisoning or deporting) a murdering rapist, (while, of course, never opposing the genocidal slaughter of Christians, Jews or children in the womb.)
Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.
“But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.
“Whoever sheds human blood,
by humans shall their blood be shed;
for in the image of God
has God made mankind.Genesis 9:3-6
Jesus Demonstrates the Impossible
God’s Word enables us to properly distinguish the truth. The God who commanded “You shall not murder” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” also instituted the death penalty for those who willfully murder anyone created in the image of God (that does not include cows and chickens or condemn those who aren’t vegetarians.) (Genesis 9:3-6) God at times sent Israel to war and ordered them to take no prisoners, and strengthened individuals for battle like Gideon, Samson, David, etc. Jesus didn’t speak against soldiers (e.g. various centurions), nor did he correct the malefactor on the cross on his right who confessed to the one on his left, “We’re getting what we deserve.” Also Jesus demonstrated that getting the death penalty and full forgiveness were simultaneously possible — (the different ministries of a chaplain and an executioner may be simultaneously appropriate — earth and heaven are two different realms.)
Let The Church Be The Church
While God endorsed “the sword” in the hands of the government (Romans 13:4), God’s Kingdom is not established by force, but by love and the proclamation of the Gospel, and that is the task of the Church and the individual Christian, a la the Good Samaritan, the martyr Stephen, Jesus dealing with the adulterous woman and her accusers, etc. Let the Church be the Church and the State be the State and fulfill their God-given roles and guidelines, and not confuse the two or make them at odds or mutually exclusive. “There is a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time for love, and a time for hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)
Is the death penalty and full forgiveness simultaneously possible?
One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.[a]”
Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
