Not For Revenge

Yesterday Florida carried out an execution for the first time in 18 months. The man was convicted of the rape, torture, and murder of an 11 year old boy in 1991. He had just been released from custody for the rape of a teenage boy, when he saw his next victim in the newspaper for winning a kite flying contest. At first he tried to befriend the family so that he could get close to the boy, but when that did not work, he just kidnapped him and took him to a motel where he carried out his evil plans.

Now, for those who know me, and have read here before, know that I do believe in the Death Penalty, for a multitude of reasons. And I think that it was used appropriately yesterday. But to be clear on the reasons, it's not for revenge. To kill someone, even if they really deserve it, out of revenge, would, in itself be wrong. From a strictly human perspective, it is understandable, but that doesn't make it right. What this is about is consequences, it is about a punishment that fits the crime. In order to survive, a society must implement penalties that reflect the severity of the crime that has been committed. There are other reasons as well, such as the deterrent factor, which, I know, a lot of people tend to say isn't actually true, but some studies, and I don't fully understand how this works, but they say that they are conclusive, have shown that for every murderer that is executed, 18 lives are saved. Not being flippant at all, since we are talking about human lives, but that is a pretty good return on investment.

I want to be clear though, it is my sincere hope that at some point while this man was in prison, that someone was able to reach him with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. No matter how horrendous his crime, there is nothing that places a human beyond God's ability or capacity to forgive. I think that it is important to point this out because it reminds us that anyone can have that hope. If even someone like this man can be forgiven, then all of us can. I don't know in this case if this is something that happened or not, but it is my prayer that it did.

I think that it is important to remember that all of these terrible things happen in the world because of sin. That is not to say that it had anything to do with any sin on the part of the boy or his family, nothing of the sort. These horrible things happen in the world because sin is in the world. Romans 5:12 says; "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:" but there is no need for us to be dismayed, because there is hope to be found in Christ also. Romans 6:23 says; "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

So, while I support the death penalty, and I don't think that society, if we want to survive, have any choice but to implement it from time to time, and probably more often than we do now, this does not have anything to do with people needing Jesus, and certainly doesn't condemn these people to hell. They can still be saved. I read in a news report that there was a man standing outside of the facility with a sign instructing the condemned man to "Rot In Hell." This is not my attitude, nor a position that I can support. I hope that this man is not in Hell, but I don't know. And I hope that others will come to see the truth of the fact that people, whether criminals or victims, whether free or in prison, or even on death row, need Jesus.