My thoughts on the Death Penalty-
No, putting someone to death does not bring their victims back to life or undo the evil they have committed. But I don’t think that is relevant at all to the subject. No one who supports the Death Penalty believes the person’s death will make everything alright. It is about Justice, not Vengeance. “Vengeance is Mine,” sayeth the Lord. Only God can exact vengeance upon a person’s soul. We can not.
But there is something we can do. We can say “With these actions you have forfeited your right to live amongst us and no length of incarceration will satisfy your debt. It is either too dangerous to allow you to live or your actions are so heinous that you no longer deserve to live out the remainder of your life.
And so, we cast you out of this world and send you on to the next. This will satisfy your debt to society but only God can decide upon your debt to Him. When you stand before Him, He will pass judgment upon you. May God have mercy on your everlasting soul.”
As to the Sixth Commandment, “Thou shalt not kill,” I believe the KJV is a slight mistranslation. The correct translation would have been, “Thou shalt not murder,” where murder is the taking of innocent life. It is not murder to kill in legitimate self-defense, to kill in battle, or to kill the wicked.
This is correct, though not n entirelya bad mistranslation as one definition of 'kill' was [and still is] indeed 'murder' -- and probably shifted connotative meanings in the multiple centuries since the KJV.
But there is something we can do. We can say “With these actions you have forfeited your right to live amongst us and no length of incarceration will satisfy your debt. It is either too dangerous to allow you to live or your actions are so heinous that you no longer deserve to live out the remainder of your life.
And so, we cast you out of this world and send you on to the next. This will satisfy your debt to society but only God can decide upon your debt to Him. When you stand before Him, He will pass judgment upon you. May God have mercy on your everlasting soul.”
I like how you put this, it sums up my own thoughts well.