Dear Saltpetre,

Thank you for your post.

You wrote;

“What would Christ say? Who can really know? Preventing the stoning of an adulteress (or prostitute) is indeed commendable - since neither would we now consider such a severe penalty warranted (or if any penalty at all be warranted, in our now more compassionate and understanding society).”

I would say that it is quite evident what Christ's position was on killing those found guilty of crimes deemed deserving of the death penalty. He was against it. It doesn't take a very nuanced reading of the scriptures to ascertain that. To be attempting to impose our values on the situation Christ faced with the adulteress dramatically lessens the impact of his actions. In his time and under Jewish law she should have been put to death.

I have had this debate before with so called Christians like Platypus900. I always say if they are that determined to bring back capital punishment in my society well first find me a sinless person since according to the teachings of Christ only that individual is permitted to flip the switch, or tighten the noose, or push the syringe, or pull the trigger. Of course they would only be good for one killing as their sinless status would immediately disappear once they had done the deed so another would need to be found.

Remember even Christ could not have been employed in this action as the scripture Jesus said “Why callest thou me good? None is good, save one,that is, God.”

You also wrote;

“Pick and choose how you like, so many passages support the maximum penalty for the most severe of crimes - the murder of an innocent.”

Ask those 'Christians' I referred to earlier if they consider abortion as “the murder of an innocent” and I wager the answer would be yes. Should a woman who aborts a pregnancy be shot or hung? This is truly what these aberrant people want for us.

The number of homicide victims in this country continues to fall. It dropped by over 30% in the last decade. We do not have the death penalty. The only Western nation that continues to employ state sanctioned killings is the US which has a homicide rate nearly 5 times ours. Please show me the deterrence effect in action because I for one don't see it.

csteele,

My interpretation of Christ's injunction "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone" was to draw attention to the hypocritical and unjust stance of the Law of the time - whereby male participants in adultery, or in utilising the services of a prostitute, were not punishable, or at least not with anything as harsh as capital punishment, by any means, let alone by stoning.
Can you not see the hypocrisy operating in the law of the time - and is this same hypocrisy not possibly still operating in so-called Sharia law?
When is what's good for the goose NOT good also for the gander?

In any event, I do not see the lesson being that punishment (of any kind) should only ever be inflicted by those of 'pure' conscience - else virtually no punishment of any kind could ever be delivered, no matter how justified.

Punishment should fit the crime, and justice should be done, and be seen to be done. Anything less is either deceit or hypocrisy.

>Should a woman who aborts a pregnancy be shot or hung? This is truly what these aberrant people want for us.<

This is what is wanted? Surely not. Surely what the 'Right to Life' movement wants is an end to abortion except where the woman's life or health is in jeopardy, and appropriate punishment for perpetrators of non-sanctioned abortions?

However, the abortion debate is complex, and it would be wrong to try to draw direct parallels with the termination by murder of a living, breathing human being. A fine differentiation perhaps, but here we enter the field of the rights of the woman to self-determination.
TBC>

csteele,

Here we are dealing with Law, and Law is man-made - and not always following God's ordinance (and possibly rarely so).
And, we are dealing with Justice - which should genuinely FIT the crime.
Deterrence should be a function of social/societal and behavioural education and development, including, but not exclusively, by way of sanctions and punishment.
The executed murderer will not re-offend, and will not remain living as a constant reminder of a soft and flawed 'system'.
Justice should be seen to be done, and life imprisonment is only an additional burden on the innocent.

Jesus speaking about people who leading people to sin

(Luk 17:1) Jesus said to his disciples: There will always be something that causes people to sin. But anyone who causes them to sin is in for trouble. A person who causes even one of my little followers to sin

(Luk 17:2) would be better off thrown into the ocean with a heavy stone tied around their neck.

The only Western nation that continues to employ state sanctioned killings is the US which has a homicide rate nearly 5 times ours
csteele,
give it a few years when the population here reaches saturation point. For time being however just try to imagine 260 million Australians. Scary eh ?