And suddenly, I was against the death penalty.

As I was driving to work today, I had this sudden realization that I was against the death penalty. I don't know why. It didn't seem to be based on some argument that suddenly made sense to me. It was just as if my mind was changed. And of course, "changed" is a perhaps misleading word. I believe that my most previous stance was that If I was forced to choose, I would be against the death penalty. (Before that I suppose I was just for it.) If I had to pin it to something, I would have to say that it is directly related to a personal sense of what grace from God is like. Of being forgiven in proportion to how I forgive. Also, we live in a time where a person can be effectively locked up for the rest of his life (which is effectively a death sentence isn't it?) What I mean to say is that prison breaks are rare as far as I know. We have means to keep people who are dangerous to the law abiding public away from the law abiding public.

I can imagine an argument supporting the death penalty that stems from Jesus redemptive work on the cross. I mean, after all, as a Christian, my salvation depends of Jesus death in place of mine. The death penalty that matters most (i.e. the wages of sin..) comes from God's law does it not? Jesus stance is not to change the death penalty, or to get rid of it, but to serve it for me. How can I make that my stance? Is it possible? Would I really have to die for a murderer?

The closest I can come to as stance that I perceive to be Christ-like, is to say to a murderer: "You deserve death, and indeed you will die, but not from my doing. Now repent and receive Jesus!" And then see that the good news of Jesus is available to him. Of course, I can (and should) do this regardless of whether or not there is a death penalty. (perhaps I should do it more urgently knowing that there is a death penalty!)

Anyway, those are my thoughts for the day.