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¿Qué tiene que ver conmigo? por Teófila Gottfried

Lo que leemos en la Biblia tiene que ver con todos los seres humanos, sean cristianos o judíos, ateos o agnósticos, budistas, musulmanes o adherentes a alguna de las filosofías o nuevas religiones que surgen en el mundo. ¿Por qué? Ver mayor información sobre este interesante libro.

Scripture of The Day - St. John 14:6

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Escritura del día - San Juan 14,6

Jesús le dijo: Yo soy el camino, y la verdad, y la vida; nadie viene al Padre, sino por mí.

Bibelstelle des Tages - Johannes 14,6

Jesus spricht zu ihm: Ich bin der Weg und die Wahrheit und das Leben; niemand kommt zum Vater, denn durch mich!

Should Juveniles Ever Be Executed For Capital Crimes? What Does The Christian Bible Say?

The article, Does Jesus Teach Against The Death Penalty? shows through Scripture from the Bible that God's Word--including the New Testament--sanctions capital punishment for adults who commit crimes such as first degree murder, rape, and other acts of violence worthy of death in God's eyes.

NOTE: We said crimes of violence, NOT sins. While crimes of violence are sins, they are unlike the sins of immorality (adultery, fornication, idolatry, etc.), which carried the death penalty ONLY under the Old Testament. The Bible clearly lets us know, however, that a harrowing punishment in the afterlife awaits such people if they do not repent. The New Testament of grace gives them a "grace" period to get things right with God before death. This article focuses exclusively on the question of whether adolescents who commit crimes worthy of death should ever receive the death penalty.

What does the Bible say about the adolescent who commits first degree murder, sexual assault, and other heinous acts of violence? More and more perpetrators have not even entered their teens when they commit acts of extreme violence. In Wisconsin, U.S.A. a man was beaten to death by a gang of children. Among them was a four-year-old. Yes, even very young children can be willfully evil. That is not speculation. That is a truth revealed in biblical scripture shared in the article, Are Some People Born Without A Conscience?

So, what does the Christian Bible say to do with such young murderers, rapists and torturers? Biblical passages that call for capital punishment speak of executing a "man", which is a generic word used in place of the word "anyone". But that "anyone" is clearly an adult. No child in the Bible is called a "man". A male baby is sometimes referred to as a "man child", but "child" clearly lets us know he is a baby.

What complicates matters more in the case of violent juvenile criminals is the fact that the Bible does not tell us at what age adulthood begins. So, what do we do with adolescents who commit first degree murder, rape, torture? Do we execute them or not? Does the Bible leave us up in the air regarding this? Having been raised in the fear of God, perhaps there were few, or no, juvenile murderers, rapists and torturers in ancient Israel. But there are plenty in our modern societies. And true Christians believe the Bible is for all times and all cultures. But how can we call it our instruction in righteousness, if it has left us no instructions for such a serious matter? Even if Bible-believing Christians cannot change laws to bring them in line with God's Word, how are they to answer this legitimate question according to Scripture?

The first truth to keep in mind is that God's Word does NOT leave us up in the air concerning anything so serious as the question of whether a minor--as we define "minor"--should ever be sentenced to the death penalty. As we said, biblical instruction concerning the death penalty speaks to the adult offender, therefore we are left without a written set of instructions in the case of adolescents who commit capital crimes.

Before we look at the answer in Scripture, we should point out that, despite Israel's full knowledge of God's law, they also faced cases they did not know how to judge. Consequently, they did not know how to punish. The huge difference with them is that their justice system was given by God Himself. Today's earthly justice systems--though some are based on the Bible--have strayed far from the pure laws of justice God gave.

When facing cases which we do not know how to judge and punish, we should do as God's people were instructed to do when they did not know how to judge or punish.

We read, "If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood"--involving murder--"between plea and plea"--involving legal rights--"and between stroke and stroke"--involving injury--"being matters of controversy within thy gates; then shalt thou arise, and get thee up into the place which the Lord thy God shall choose. And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire. And they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment. And thou shalt do according to the sentence which they of that place, which the Lord shall choose shall shew thee. And thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee. According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do. Thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee, to the right hand, nor to the left. And the man that will do presumptiously, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die. And thou shalt put away the evil from Israel." (Deuteronomy 17:8-12)

First and foremost, the priest referred to in the above passage is NOT a Catholic priest. The Catholic priesthood is in sharp contrast with the priesthood that God ordained. We need look no further than the fact that Catholic priests are forbidden to marry. First Timothy 4:1-3 lets us know that forbidding to marry is a doctrine of devils. The priests in the Bible that God ordained were commanded to marry (Leviticus 21:13). Catholic priests do not at all match the description of God's priests in the Bible, in laws regarding marriage, and in many other ways.

With that said, we have another "problem". The nations of the world have, for the most part, abandoned God's laws and ordinances. So, to what body of law makers would we take the matter of an adolescent who has committed acts worthy of death in God's eyes? Today's law makers excuse evil in all age groups by labeling it mental illness. We do not live in a God-given justice system. Many live in evil "justice" systems that persecute the righteous, and reward those who are evil. So, the fact that we have read what SHOULD be done in such matters, does not mean that is what will be done. We do not live in the society Israel lived in the times of Deuteronomy. So, adolescent murderers and rapists and kidnappers are not going to be taken before any group at all to hear the sentence that God pronounces on them.

Where does that leave us on the matter? True Christians want to know what is right, and what is wrong in God's eyes. This is why we are asking if it would ever be right, in God's eyes, to execute a minor...whether minors will ever be executed in our earthly justice systems or not.

We have just read what God's people did when they faced matters too hard for them to judge according to the laws God had already given them. They took the matter to those through whom God truly spoke in those days. And remember, the death penalty loomed over the one who refused to do according to the sentence given by God. Deciding whether to execute a minor is too hard to judge based on the laws God has given us, because those laws speak of the adult offender. So, if we truly lived in a God-given justice system, we would have to follow the instructions of Deuteronomy 17:8-12, which we've read above, and which begins, "If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment..."

Now then, if we could truly follow the instructions from Deuteronomy 17:8-12, would there ever be cases in which God would order the execution of a minor? We firmly believe biblical scripture reveals there would be times God would sentence the juvenile offender to the death penalty. And that belief is based on the following passages from the Bible:

1. Deuteronomy 21:18-21 - A repeatedly disobedient child who would not obey his parents, and would not straighten up even after chastisement, was to be brought before the elders of the city to judge the case. If their investigation proved the parents' accusation to be true, that rebellious minor son or daughter had to be stoned. We say "minor", because we're talking about someone still young enough to be under the care of parents. This is nothing short of the execution of what we call a minor.

2. Deuteronomy 22:21 - We read of the instructions to stone damsels who committed fornication. This is nothing short of the death penalty for young promiscuous females. A damsel could be quite young. The damsel in Mark 5:42 is only twelve years old. While there aren't many promiscuous twelve-year-old damsels, there are millions of ones in their early teens. Female minors are known as damsels in Scripture.

3. 2 Kings 2:23-24 - This is the biblical record of when a servant of God cursed little children who allowed evil to move them to mock the man of God. Scripture says female bears attacked and tore the children. In those days of limited medical care, and no emergency medical system, it's highly unlikely those little children would have survived the blood loss they would have suffered in the attack. What we might chaulk up to "child stuff" is seen by God for what it truly is. In Are Some People Born Without A Conscience?, we see that the Bible informs us that children are not automatically innocent and pure, simply because they are children. And, if you believe the false teaching that "little children" is an incorrect translation, and that they were actually adults, we urge you to read Little Children In 2 Kings 2:23-25: Incorrect Translation?

Although in today's unjust "justice" systems we will not see the following of God's instructions pertaining to the execution of minors for capital crimes, we still take away a most important message: Yes, the Bible is our guide and set of instructions in righteousness. That same guide instructs us what to do when we do not know what to do. When there is information we need, but have no way to find it out. Information that only God knows. In such situations, we must diligently seek the wisdom of God for what to do, what not to do, and how to judge. And we must do whatever He sentences or judges.

Let's turn to 1 Kings 3:9 in which Solomon prays, "Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad...."

Further in the same chapter, we see that divine wisdom in action to judge matters. We read, "Then came there two women that were harlots unto the king, and stood before him. And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house. And I was delivered of a child with her in the house. And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also. And we were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house. And this woman's child died in the night, because she overlaid it. And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead. But when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear. And the other woman said, Nay, but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And this said, No, but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spake before the king. Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is dead. And the other saith, Nay, but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living. And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king. And the king said, divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other. Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it. Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. She is the mother thereof. And all Israel heard of the judgment, which the king had judged. And they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to do judgment." (1 Kings 3:16-28)

Christians should diligently study all God's written instructions (The Christian Bible) to righteously judge matters. And when it seems there are no written instructions that address the matter we must judge, we have access to the Spirit of Christ who--in reference to Himself--told us, "Behold, a greater than Solomon is here." (Matthew 12:42)

"...Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God" (1 Corinthians 1:24).

Based on true events, The Third Man by Angela Sheffield, brings the Bible up close and personal as the characters face real issues of life: Betrayal, deceit, romance, bitterness, anger against God, hopelessness, will power, perplexity, triumph, unforgiveness, mental illness, and the "Alcohol made me do it" excuse. Read chapter one FREE now.

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