The Law was given as the ideal. In a just society, that is what the law would look like. I wish that we were good enough that we could handle law that just. We are not there yet, and may never be.
Who is in a better position to know the wickedness of a young man, his parents, or 12 strangers. Who would be most likely to condemn him to death, his parents or 12 strangers? It is clear that parents would be 1) better informed than strangers on whether their child was worthy of death and 2) less likely to call for death than strangers even in those situations where the strangers have equal knowledge.
The intent of the law was therefor not to kill more young people, but rather to strengthen the lawful authority of the parent. That would be a good thing. Right now, children can defy their parents openly, knowing that the state will intervene on the side of their foolishness if the parents even spank them in public. We now have children that grow up wild and rebellious, worthless to themselves and others. These are the kind that agents of the state will later have to kill or imprision- we have over 2 million like that right now. Isn't that enough?
When respect for parents is greater, respect for all authority and the law also becomes greater. The point of the law is to save life, even when it calls for ending it.
If we implemented all of the Old Testament Law in our current state we would be required by the Law to kill large numbers of people that God would rather spare alive that they may have more time to repent.
I support that Law as the Ideal. I believe in working for a society that is virteous enough to support such a virteous law. The closer we can get to that, the more our laws can be modeled on the ideal.
I believe the law in this case is based on the idea that the parents are upstanding citizens, and not crack-heads or something. No one would follow the lead of such a person. Still, if good people have an out of control sociopath on their hands it would be good if we could kill them before they killed a number of innocent people. I have seen some kids that you just know are going to wind up killers if they don't get killed first. Both outcomes happened in the cases I am thinking of.
THe biggest lesson of the Bible is that though the Law is stern and just, Mercy and Grace can trump it. Remember that every Christian is a person who has confessed that they are worthy of death- that they have broken the Divine Law. It is only by His substitution, bearing in His Own Body the penalty meant for me (and you, if you care to believe it) that the eternal penalty for our sins has been paid. You should not be surprised when people such as us say that the law should be hard and just, nor should you be surprised when we plead for mercy toward the lawbreakers. It is not a contradiction, rather we realize the purpose of the Law is not to perfect us, or to give us grounds to demand that God accept us as equals in righteousness. Instead its purpose is to make us aware of our failings and need for Him.
Do you agree or not that stubborn and rebellious children must be stoned to death as the bible instructs? The bible does not limit the requirement for such punishment to parents so your argument about parents being the best judges is based on a false premise. If you see your neighbours children being stubborn and rebellious you should organise a stoning party. If your neighbour sees your children being stubborn and rebellious he should do likewise, and you should support him. Why aren't you obeying a clear Biblical instruction (I assume you aren't)? Don't you believe in doing what the Bible says?
If we implemented all of the Old Testament Law in our current state we would be required by the Law to kill large numbers of people that God would rather spare alive that they may have more time to repent.
Who are you to judge who God wants to spare? God has spoken clearly on this matter through the Bible and I believe that you are not obeying its instructions. You give no good reason why not (unless perhaps you don't believe that the Bible is inerrant?)
Alternatively perhaps you might agree with me that we should not use the Bible as a Law Text.