Capital Punishment - I agree...Romans 13 lays out the need for the State/King to bear the sword for the punishment of evil. That would include killing those guilty of capital crimes.
What would Jesus do? As a citizen he would render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's - Allowing him to fulfill his created purpose kingly purpose which is to bear the sword against evil doers.
This includes executing those guilty of capital crimes.
Nate, this is the Lord's way to love and care for the poor, the humble, the orphaned, the strangers, the disenfranchised...Since they are the primary victims of a violent society.
God's ways are mercy to all at all times.
Blessings, Chuck
How about this Chuck: What Would Jesus Do?
I am skeptical, of course, that this is a serious question at all, but I'm going to answer it anyway, after a manner.
Let's not ask some irrelevant question, WWJD, but an historical one: What DID the Lord Jesus Christ do? Well, he took upon Himself the form of a man, and, as man took upon the form of a servant.
John 10:17-18
17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.From this, we know that the Lord Jesus was not "put to death" despite the machinations of men, and despite the sentence of Pilate. He "laid his life down" and He did it under the sentence of execution. He also did it among four others who carried in them the same sentence, only they for their own sins, while He did it for all of us, in our place.
So what would/did Jesus do? He would die for the sins of those executed, but He would in no way interfere with their execution.
The death penalty is God's inention, after the flood. Prior to that time He forbad the death penalty, marking Cain for preservation instead of executing him. The result of that "experiment" (dispensation), where he let men's conscience be their guide - like Jiminy Cricket advises - was that the earth was filled with violence, and the gene pool of man was nearly destroyed.
It was after that - and the ensuing deluge - that He instituted the death penalty: "Whosoevre dheds man's blood,
by man shall his blood be shed." That is God's contractual basis for human government. The only other two tenets God has laid down for man is meat-eating, and multiplying children.
The rest of human government and morality flow from these. Naturally enough, men being what they are, they will be hostile to all of these things. So we look for man to abolish the death penalty, forbid the eating of meat, and even, at some point for sake of population control, forbid marriage.
Things will certainly go in this direction, as you should be able to see even especially from your vantage point.
