Interesting topic. The question comes down to does God sanction capital punishment. One argument is He does because were instructed to obey government. That brings up another question. Are we to obey government laws? What if the government outlawed Christianity? Would you deny being a follower of Christ to save yourself or would you just voluntarily let them execute you? Remember, you're human.
Is the government courts always right when someone is convicted of murder? Here are some examples I found where those executed for murder were later to be found innocent.
- Cameron Todd Willingham (Executed 2004, Texas): Convicted of murdering his three children by intentionally setting a fire to his home. Modern fire science and independent investigations proved the fire was accidental and not arson.
- Carlos DeLuna (Executed 1989, Texas): Put to death for the murder of a convenience store clerk. A later, comprehensive investigation by Columbia Law School revealed he was a victim of mistaken identity and that another man with a matching appearance and name, Carlos Hernandez, had repeatedly bragged about committing the crime.
- George Stinney Jr. (Executed 1944, South Carolina): A 14-year-old Black boy convicted by an all-white jury in a one-day trial with no written confession or physical evidence. A judge vacated his conviction 70 years later, ruling that he was denied fundamental constitutional due process.
- Ruben Cantu (Executed 1993, Texas): Executed for a murder committed during a robbery when he was 17. The sole surviving eyewitness later recanted his testimony, and Cantu's co-defendant signed a sworn confession stating Cantu was not present.
- Larry Griffin (Executed 1995, Missouri): Sentenced to death for a 1980 drive-by shooting. Later investigations revealed that the state's key eyewitness testimony was unreliable and that physical and corroborating evidence heavily cast doubt on his guilt.
- Claude Jones (Executed 2000, Texas): Executed largely based on a single strand of hair. Subsequent DNA testing performed years later proved the hair did not belong to Jones.
Hopefully they were Christians and are now in Heaven. But what if they weren't? They'd be in Hell. They were murdered because they were actually innocent of the crime. Should our attitude be, "Ooops, oh well?" Because these men were falsely convicted, their executions were not justice. Does anyone really believe that God sanctioned their executions? I don't. Because these men were actually innocent, the government murdered them. Some are going to say what happened to them was an accident.
Some people, even many who are Christians complain about how much tax dollars are "wasted" on keeping someone in prison for life. They also complain about the years a person is on death row before they are executed. They actually blame the government for the length of time a person is on death row before their execution.
I used to be one of them. I no longer believe in capital punishment because so many have been convicted of murder to later be proven innocent while in prison and sadly after they were executed. An innocent person wrongfully convicted and executed who may not have been saved was denied the opportunity by cutting his life short and literally condemning him to Hell. Was God happy about that?
