“Today the death penalty is inadmissible, no matter how grave the crime committed. It is an affront to the inviolability of life and the dignity of the human person, which contradicts God’s plan for man, society and merciful justice... [the death penalty] does not render justice for the victims, but encourages vengeance. The commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ has an absolute value and applies both to the innocent and to the guilty.”
You may or may not agree with Mr. Pope on the death penalty itself, but first of all, the bible does not say "Thou shall not kill, it says "Thou shall not רָצַח (ratsach)" which means to commit premeditated murder, a much different thing all together. And besides it is not unusual for God to use death as a form of justice. Ever hear of the Amalekites? They attacked the Israelites without provocation during the Exodus (Exodus 17:8, Deuteronomy 25:17-18), They later attacked Israel during the time of the Judges (Judges 3:13) and raided the Israelites' land leaving them with nothing (Judges 6:2-5). Eventually God dispensed justice through King Saul
'Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'" (1 Samuel 15:3)Secondly, you may notice that Mr. Pope did not quote this from the bible:
1 Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. (Romans 13:1-2)
Being the King of the Vatican, Mr. Pope is a governing authority, so he can do away with his death penalty all he wants inside the Kingdom of the Vatican (and yes, until recently the Vatican did have a death penalty) but by Romans 13, those living in a country that has a death penalty are now in opposition to the ordinance of God if they listen to Mr. Pope.
Thirdly, what does the bible say about Mr. Pope?
"It is an affront to the inviolability of life and the dignity of the human person, which contradicts God’s plan for man, society and merciful justice."
ReplyDeleteI am fascinated by this approach. You see, in MY Bible the "inviolability of life" was instituted by God (Man made in God's image) AND the death penalty was instituted by God for the reason of the inviolability of life (Gen 9:6) Fortunately the pope has figured out that the death penalty instituted by God and applied to a host of sins in the Old Testament is no longer applicable. I hope he informed God about His mistakes.
I'm sure a talk with God about mistakes is in Mr. Pope's future
DeleteWhat about when Noah stepped off the ark and God gave him the law of death penalty for murder. And Noah was representative of the human race, meaning the law was for the human race for all time.
ReplyDeleteOf course previous popes decided that the death penalty was proper punishment for possessing a Bible, especially in their native language. And if you disagreed with the Pope, you were also executed.
Since the papacy claims infallibility, how can one pope use the death penalty for whatever he wants while another pope says no one should suffer the death penalty?
Just another example of the Pope being a false teacher and heretic.
Genesis 9:6 - good point! I'm sure Mr. Pope studied that long and hard and found flaw in God's command. They'll have a chance to discuss this eventually.
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