First, I would admonish all who have been attacking one another rather than caring for the genuine opinion of your brother or sister in Christ. In this case, you have all been anti-Christ, so please stop. I will be the first to admit that I understand the temptation, and fall into on occasion. But the fact remains that is it not what a Christian should do. That is why they call us hypocrites.
Now, let us stop our bickering and consider why we would support the death penalty.
Is it because we want to get this criminal off the streets? We can do that through the prison system, which has an incredible success rate at keeping (long-term) bad people off the streets. This particular case in upper state New York is an exception to the rule, yes, but it proves the rule that we are so focused on this one instance. So, it probably isn't an issue of safety.
Is it because it's cheaper? Well, no. It's actually several hundred thousand dollars more to execute someone after all of the necessary trials and whatnot than it would be to lock him up for life in the most expensive penitentiaries in the world--California. We would save a lot of money if we locked them up for life rather than killed them. So, it can't really be about the money.
Is it out of a sense of justice? Perhaps. But consider the story of John 8, where Jesus drew a line in the sand and declared to the hypocritical Pharisees, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." Clearly, our sense of justice in this case is not God's sense of justice. Where we want destruction, God seeks redemption. Consider further the case of Jonah, who was forced against his will to preach to a people who had scattered his own among the nations, not to mention exacting heavy taxes on them which crippled their internal economy. He would be justifiably angry. Yet, while he cries out for their destruction, God gives them extra time to be redeemed. So, God's justice doesn't seem to justify it.
Is it because the Old Testament tells us to? Well, I suppose I should be the first to go. I ate two slices of bacon this morning, and then thought about how much I hate the driver in front of me, effectively murdering him. Then, I saw your posts, and thought about how the two of you were stabbing each other with long, pointy lives. So I suppose you two would be next. And don't forget all of the other people on the world, lining up to be executed. If we were all killed according to the laws of the Old Testament, we would all be dead. We don't get to pick willy-nilly the laws that we follow and the laws we do not. Furthermore, some of the earliest Talmudic writing is over the fact that these executions never actually happened. Instead, they say these sins are a cultural and spiritual death; cutting one's self off from God's commandments meant the destruction of a connection between both your community and your God. So, we can't look to the Old Testament for guidance on the death penalty.
Is it out of anger? Here I would say yes. When I heard about the death of these nine godly men and women, my heart was torn apart. I felt a rage building up inside after this initial sadness, and yes, I questioned my conviction when it comes to the death penalty. But I then asked myself, "Am I controlling this anger to used to find God's justice and mercy, or am I using this anger to build up my own self-righteousness?" When I heard the words of forgiveness from the families of the victims, I knew my answer. My desire to kill their murderer was out of a sense of justice, but not out of one of mercy.
Consider the life of this young man. He was reportedly a very lonely teenager, who turned to white supremacy to fill a deep longing in his soul for companionship and love. I imagine that his father, who taught him to hate and who gave him a gun, was not a responsible nor loving man. He was probably hurt and bullied.
He is terribly broken.
I am terribly broken.
And the only reason I am in this world today is because God has pulled together some of my broken pieces and surrounded me with a group of wonderful and also broken people. Sure, this young man is more broken than most of us, but is brokenness something to kill someone for?
I don't think so.
And thus, my resolve to treat the criminal with love stands. I believe that when Christ calls us to love our neighbors, He doesn't just mean those who haven't hurt us. God still loves this man, and longs for his redemption. For those of you who believe he can only be saved in this life, why would you not want to give him as long a time as possible to respond to God's call?
