It's About the WILL of God

I have been saying that capital punishment makes a murderer out of the executioner.  Here in the US, there are a LOT of steps the government has to take to put a person to death.  Often it will take more than 15 or 20 years for a prisoner to use up his or her appeals.  Some say that it’s cheaper to put a person to death than to put him or her in prison for life.  Actually, this argument isn’t true.  The process and expense to the State to put a prisoner to death is far more expensive than keeping a prisoner on death row.  Then there is the family of the victim that will want justice and the only justice a lot of them see is death.  I can understand this from a victim’s survivors’ point of view.  But still, it seems to me that death row is still cruel and unusual punishment.  How many times does a death row inmate face death until he or she is finally put to death?  But this is only one question.  It seems to me there is an inhumanity when a person has to live on death row for 15 to 20 years not knowing when he or she will die, but that eventually, he or she WILL die. 

I use this as an example about the topic of discussion this morning, because the will of God dictates that no one other than God Himself can take a Human Life.  There will be those who don’t see it this way and I can understand this.  But the will of God just about demands that we live lives of Peace.  And Peaceful living means we choose to live and we choose to allow EVERY person to live.  We can give comfort to the dying, but we aren’t allowed to hasten death.  This would be compatible with the Hippocratic Oath.  We don’t cause death.  And living in such a manner as this is doing the Divine Will of God.  This Divine Will means that there are no executioners carrying out the death penalty.  The Divine Will of God means we don’t retaliate for wrongs against us.  BUT, and I would agree with this, that this is NOT the thinking of the world.  The thinking of the world is that death is losing.  The Apostle Paul says that whether he lives or dies, he wins.  And really, this is true of those who have lived lives of Peace.  We win whether we live or die.  And it is as simple as this. 

Jesus says He will go and prepare a place for us.  And this means that the worthy of heaven have NEVER intentionally taken a Human Life.  There will be those who will insist the Bible doesn’t say this.  Some will ask, “What about a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye?”  I say that Jesus is saying no such thing.  Jesus says to turn the other cheek.  And even the prophet says that vengeance belongs to God and to God only.  Some might point to Ecclesiastes which says, “There is a time to kill.”  I would suggest that killing in this case is NOT killing human beings.  But there are those who argue that the Old Testament makes a distinction between killing and murder, because King David killed his tens of thousands.  I am saying that it’s Jesus that doesn’t make this distinction.  You can follow the teachings of the Old Testament or follow Jesus, who He Himself never took a Human Life, intentionally or otherwise.  In this regard He lived the Divine Will of God.  Peace.  I am Brother Ralphie writing for my Angels from The Angels of Life Institute. Brother Ralphie works from his study for the promotion of Peaceful living and inner Peace with God. He calls this the “Sanctity of Human Life Movement.”