It's Sickening How People Can Sympathize with Criminals over the Victims of Crime

In a world that loves sin, it's already expected to get people to sympathize with criminals over the victims of crime. The call for abolishing death penalty is nothing more than a joke. Some people even claim that death penalty isn't even an effective deterrent to crime. The Vatican is also participating in the same sick joke for several years. It's no surprise to me how the world today cries foul against the death penalty saying it's inhuman and taking many verses out of context.

What verses are these? Here's a few verses I can remember were taken out of context:
  • Exodus 20:13
  • Deuteronomy 5:17 
  • John 8:7

Those are just a few verses that get habitually taken out of context. But let's know that the whole "thou shalt not kill" actually means "thou shalt not murder" in today's modern language. While I personally prefer the King James Bible and I'm personally a King James only-ist but I try to study the Greek and Hebrew in context. The prohibition was against unlawful killing and not against death penalty itself. 

Please continue to read the whole book Exodus before you jump into conclusions. God also ordained the death penalty in Exodus 21:23-24. What an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth is not a recipe for personal revenge. Anybody who thinks otherwise is taking the Scriptures out of their context. Instead, it's all about how to limit penalties that nobody gets punished more than they committed a crime. If their crime didn't violate the right to life then the death penalty was not given. There was a right to due process and false witnesses were to be put to death (Deuteronomy 19:16-20). Today, perjury is hardly taken seriously never mind that an innocent life could have been taken away. But back then, false witnesses were put to death making sure misjudgments were hardly made.

Let's go to John 8:7 which is also misplaced. When Jesus said to them let He who sinned not cast the first stone, He wasn't going against the death penalty. Instead, what He was against was taking the Law into one's own hands. If you want to be a vigilante then make sure you haven't sinned. The Pharisees were trying to take the law into their hands. Plus, the procedures for death penalty required two valid witnesses, a proper trial with proper evidence and what they did was not even verified for a bit. Plus, the adultery law required both the man and the woman to be sentenced once they're verified for adultery (Deuteronomy 22:22). In later laws, adultery required both the man and the woman to serve sentence in jail depending on the gravity of the offense. 

The attitude that criminals are getting sympathy over victims isn't even biblical. Deuteronomy 13:8-9 and Deuteronomy 19:13 calls no pity for murderers. Although nobody should take satisfaction for the life of an unrepentant murderer but no pity is called for it either. God may not take pleasure in the death of the wicked but He won't hesitate to punish them when the time is right. Just because God commands people not to take pleasure in the death penalty doesn't mean He doesn't command it either. While God takes no pleasure in throwing people into Hell but He will do it because He's just and holy. Just because a necessary course of action is going to hurt doesn't mean you have the option not to do it. If any pity should be given towards them it's at the fact that they died unrepentant. 

Crime is so rampant today as Ecclesiastes 8:11 says that because punishment against sin is not done quickly whenever it's needed so men's hearts are set to do evil. Just think of countries that carry out strict law enforcement according to one's offense. If there's strict law enforcement then people will start to fear God. You can take a look at countries with lower crime rates. It's because people there fear to break the Law. On the other hand, one can take a look at countries that don't have strict law enforcement. It's really chaos all throughout. Instead of following the advice of Ecclesiastes 8:11 we have people who choose to sympathize with crime. While Jesus indeed called for a ministry of reconciliation but it was for the repentant. When He dined with harlots and tax collectors they were already repentant. The adulterous woman was forgiven and not stoned to death because she was repentant. 

Romans 13:1-4 acknowledges it that the government is called to also bear the sword not in vain. A sword is not used to plant vegetables. A garden knife is used to plant vegetables. The sword was used to execute doers of evil to execute wrath upon evildoers, not to murder people out of hate or convenience. Besides, nobody should wonder why crime is so rampant now if that's the case. It's because of certain governments who are not doing their responsibility of punishing crime all in the name of political correctness and humanity. But it's doubtful they ever thought of justice that had to be done. It's no wonder the world is getting worse because of the attitude that's so anti-God and pro-sin. Yet many of them are still crying out to why God's unfair and unjust whenever they become victims of sin. Isn't that really stupid?


See also: