Today's 'Random Truth' #2...
Understanding the Judeo-Christian tradition that serves as the basis of Western Civilization.....
There is no such commandment as 'thou shalt not kill.'
It refers to 'murder,' not 'kill.'
Exodus 20:13 "Thou shalt not murder."
'Kill,' of course, means to put to death for any reason.
'Murder' the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another.
Too nuanced?
If the corrupted version, 'kill,' were correct, then war would not be permitted, nor self-defense, nor a legal penalty...the death penalty.
The death penalty is not only permitted...but is required.
- Genesis 9:6 prescribed the death penalty for murder when it said that if a man “shed the blood” of another man, by man must his blood be shed. In fact, it is the only law repeated in all five of the books of the old testament. The death penalty is a value, values are eternal, as opposed to customs or traditions, such as stoning for adultery.
2. Exodus 21:12-14
3. Leviticus 24:17 and 21
4. Numbers 35:16-18 and Numbers 35:31
5. Deuteronomy 19:11-13
To abandon the death penalty is to insult the memory of every victim of murder.
To abandon the death penalty is rational and sane.... a rational person who purports to have some level of intellectual ability would know that the death penalty is applied discriminatorily; is often directed against innocent people and doesn't serve any deterrent purpose.
vengeance is mine sayeth the lord... it doesn't belong to you. it also costs more than sentencing someone to life without parole and creates dangerous circumstances for corrections officers because people on death row have nothing to lose.
not to mention the fact that no other civilized country uses it as a punishment so perhaps it's time to move out of the dark ages.
we don't stone people to death for adultery any more either.