STATEMENT ON THE DEATH PENALTY

We oppose the death penalty in all cases, out of reverence for human life and for God, the creator of life.  Death is the ultimate enemy of life; we yield to God alone the power over death and life.   We ourselves must not presume to shorten the life of any human being.  That would be not less than a crime against God.  Even Cain, the first murderer, was not given the death sentence, and no man was allowed to kill him.

The statute in Leviticus 24:19-21 states, "When a man causes a disfigurement in his neighbor, as he has done it shall be done to him, fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he has disfigured a man, he shall be disfigured.  He who kills a beast shall make it good; and he who kills a man shall be put to death."  This was meant to limit revenge; no more harm should be done to the offender than he had done to his neighbor.  Jesus went further; revenge is to be left to God.

Christians who cite the Old Testament to support capital punishment should ask themselves again why Christ was sent to suffer death for all men, and to rise again.  Webelieve it was to bring a new dimension to human life; the possibility of reconciliation with God through repentance.  This gift is offered to all men without exception, and human life was given new dignity and sacredness through it.  The death penalty, however, denies Christ’s power to transform and restore even the most depraved human being.

We follow our Lord Jesus Christ, who never punished, or imprisoned, or hurt, or executed anyone while he lived on earth, but fought evil by taking suffering on himself.  When the death penalty law was quoted to him Jesus said, "Let him who is without sincast the first stone."

We are all fallible; our law courts and government no less so than the people who established them or those who function in them.  Innocent persons have been executed in the name of the law.  That alone should be reason to eliminate the death penalty.  And while human justice implies that similar crimes should receive similar punishment, where is the justice in executing about a hundred murderers in a year when there are tens of thousands of murders committed per year in the USA?  Further, while there is no proof that the death penalty deters crime (contrary to the claims of some proponents) it does brutalize our society and creates an atmosphere in which crime flourishes.

For all these reasons, we firmly oppose the death penalty, and call for its abolition in the entire world.