Death to the Death Penalty

Under the rules of the EU (European Union), a country cannot enter the EU charter if it allows capital punishment.

Capital punishment, to the modern-day liberal is considered cruel and unusual. It's considered barbaric and anachronistic. "Who has the right to take another's life?", an anti-capital punishment pundit might ask.

It's been said that "Jesus would forgive" so that we haven't the right to pass judgment. The founder of Stand To Reason, Christian apologeticist, Greg Koukl's argument AGAINST the simplicity of that argument:

Some say Jesus’ ethic of love and forgiveness requires us to end the death penalty. This was the appeal Mother Theresa made when Robert Alton Harris was facing the gas chamber in California. She appealed to the governor saying, “Jesus would forgive.”

This view falters because it simply proves too much. What alternative punishment would be justified with this rule? Should we put capital criminals in prison for life? But Jesus would forgive. Imprison them for ten years? But Jesus would forgive. Imprison a murderer for 24 hours? But Jesus would forgive.

If this argument works it becomes justification for the abolition of any kind of punishment whatsoever. What Jesus decides to do in God’s court does not dictate what justices should do in man’s court.

Perhaps one day the death penalty musn't or needn't exist. But for now, the claim that "Jesus would forgive" is insufficient to champion that cause.