Posted on 03/30/2002 7:53:37 PM PST by malakhi
| Statesmen may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue. - John Adams |
Now I'm drooling. Unfortunately, there's not CB near us, but we stop at the one in Waco on the way south to see the in-laws. It's somewhat of a halfway point, the food is good, and the kiddos have something to do while we're there. Hannah especially loves the rocking chairs. :o)
Yep. And on Taxi Alex was the only one in the garage who was a cabdriver.
SD
Ginny said it's called "Eggs in a Basket" and now she's asking when were heading north again. hehehe
JH
Have we really done our best? I just meant Michael Austin (one of the men listed on the webpage listed above). I would recommend that you read some of the personal stories at the bottom of the page listed above (which you either did not do because you posted your post so quickly or you are a speed reader). They tell the personal stories of those who were on death row and have been released. Or those who have been imprisoned for around 20 years (as was the case with Michael) and now released. Without a ministry like Centurion ministries , the multiple rings of various jurisdictions and watchdogs that you mentioned would have proven pointless at revealing the truth.
(Prepare yourself for a good ole' fashion pentecostal altar call) Close your eyes right now and remeber what you've done for the last twenty years. Had a family? Watched your children grow up? Build a career for yourself? Imagine all of this taken away wrongfully. Now ponder whether some of these people would have been executed if there had been no ministry to work on their behalf. I cannot imagine being held guilty for wrongful murder of an innocent man at the hands of the state. Does this sound like any other figure of sacred history? Have you really done all you can to improve the judicial system? (Altar call is now finished :) )
But there is no inconsistency between the Pro-life & pro-death-penalty positions.
The death penalty is a punishment for personal crimes. Babies have committed no crimes. The opposing position ("death to the innocent but mercy for the guilty") is the one that is inconsistent.
You spend too much time watching "The Shawshank Redemption"
I thought "sin is sin"???
I disagree. There is no reason Isaiah can't be studied using the same methods one would use to study the Iliad. But we need to understand that the conclusions of any such analysis are speculative, and that they don't change the meaning or significance of the scripture.
***
If one could look at the chronology and any corresponds between Biblical times of that day! We might see some of the same situation being repeating today!
How the world related to those of the religious community.
Sometimes when reading scriptures one focus on the immediate region and not on the climate of the whole nation that effects each other on some level.
I like to think so. Obviously there are venal people and honest mistakes made. Don't take me wrong, I think agitating for the truth is good.
It's just gotten such a bad name cause of the Mumia-ites who won't accept reality and the idiots who think we should have racial quotas on jurisrudence.
I would be suspicious, is all I am saying.
(Prepare yourself for a good ole' fashion pentecostal altar call)
Yes, I recognize that errors and deliberate miscarriages of justice are bad for the person who is the victim.
Now ponder whether some of these people would have been executed if there had been no ministry to work on their behalf. I cannot imagine being held guilty for wrongful murder of an innocent man at the hands of the state. Does this sound like any other figure of sacred history?
#1, I didn't say the ministry was a bad idea, just that the death penalty is a just punishment. And that wringing our hands overs errors can only lead to paralysis. Which is, of course, the goal.
#2, I am not "guilty" for the actions of anyone else. If mistakes were made, there is no guilt for anyone. If corruption is evident, it is the corrupt who are responsible, not me.
#3, using Jesus is a poor example, and in poor taste. Perhaps some would rather that Jesus were rescued from His unjust sentence, but I am not among them.
SD
I'm only modestly brilliant. "Amazingly brilliant" is ten points up the IQ scale. lol
"Mercy" does not mean "let everyone do whatever they want with no consequences".
If you steal my car and then beg for forgiveness... I may show mercy and forgive you. That does not mean that, as a society, we allow people to keep the car.
How exactly does "what" work? And what do you mean, exactly be "reprobate?"
And why are you so quick to bring up the topic of pedophie priests? Your question really has nothing to do, in general, with "pedophile" priests any more than it has to do with a priest who drinks too much or gambles too much or skims some money, or loses his temper, or swears, or gets impatient with the demands of his office.
All is sin, right? All makes us unworthy?
So, without being combatitive and attempting to denegrate others, you could have just asked how a sinful man can be used as a vessel for Christ.
But you didn't.
SD
Once again you have solved the world's dilemmas in one single post! I am truly humbled!
Yeah right.
Here's a longer post on the subject of mercy that I found a few months after 9/11. It is not related straight to the death penalty, nor is it specifically Christian (I think they are Unitarians), but is a good work nevertheless.
“What Does God Require of You?
http://www.firstparish.org/sermons/2001-12-16.html
Did you take a Dale Carnegie course this semester?
How do we simultaneously both do justice and love mercy with respect to the death penalty?
We remember the victims of the killer as well. And their kin. They need mercy as well.
But to "love mercy" for a convicted killer (truly guilty, I shouldn't need to add), we need only share with him the Gospel before he dies. Let him know that he can still be loved and find a place in God's Kingdom, if he only places himself on God's mercy.
As for the "strange tension" there are two schools of thought here. First, and the most obvious, is that God's demand for "justice" was satisfied by Christ on the Cross. That is why Christ has to be God, to satisfy the infinite requirement of justice.
Secondly, and more specifically Catholic, we believe, like Paul that we "make up what is lacking" in Christ's suffering. Our own sufferings are God's way of using punishment in a merciful way. This grows us into the people we need to be to see God as He is.
And of course, the demand for justice can be accomplished for a killer about to be executed with his stay in Purgatory. In this way justice is always served.
SD
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