[Tax-chick]

I remember that case, too. I don't know what the right thing to do is. In some ways, execution has advantages for a person who has repented of grave crimes, because then he or she has no further opportunity to sin. Prison is a tough environment, full of temptations; would it be better for the person to be free from physical and spiritual suffering?

Then we also have to consider the ramifications for social order. Do we not punish people for their crimes, if they're sorry? How much of a break is being sorry worth, versus the damage caused by the crime? Forgiveness is from God, and from the people harmed, but it is a spiritual freedom, not the elimination of legal judgment.

Very hard decisions, I find, and your phrasing, which is why my support for the death penalty is only half as strong as my opposition to abortion, is very apropos.

[Forest Keeper]

Forgiveness is from God, and from the people harmed, but it is a spiritual freedom, not the elimination of legal judgment.

I couldn't agree more. And, your true statement is perfectly consistent with what I consider to be the most misappropriated verse in the whole Bible: "Judge not lest ye be judged."