Death Penalty - Right or Wrong?

 

Laws of Death Penalty in Noahide Laws

 

Idolatry in Christianity

 

Idolatry Servered out of Love or Fear

 

Homosexuality and the Death Penalty

 

Abortion and the Death Penalty

 

Divine Judgment and the Death Penalty

 

Death Penalty in the Bible

 

 

It should first be pointed out that the Noahide Laws promote civil obedience to an established court system.  A society of anarchy or a situation where individuals take law into their own hands are antithetical to the aims of the Noahide Laws.  The Noahide Laws aim at a civilized society of order and peace.  Individuals are not allowed to take law into their own hands by executing idolaters, homosexuals, or any other type of people who the Western World considers free to practice what they so desire.  It seems to me that any such individual who takes the law into his own hands would himself be guilty of breaking the command concerning establishing courts in the Noahide Laws.  The only person who may seem to be an exception is a "redeemer of blood."   This is a person who kills someone of whom it is known for certain killed another individual, although this someone killed the other individual unintentionally.  The Noahide Laws do not say that this "redeemer of blood" is allowed to kill the inadvertant killer; the Noahide Laws only state that the "redeemer of blood" is himself not worthy of the death penalty in the event that he does take revenge on the inadvertant killer; for the inadvertant killer is to some extent responsible for the death of the individual whom he killed; a court is not to punish the inadvertant killer.

 

Those deemed criminals according to the Noahide Laws are first to be tried in a valid court which itself upholds the Noahide Laws before any punishment is carried out.  There are particular requirements of a court system under Noahide Law which would actually make a death sentence under such a court less likely than in American courts today. 

 

* First, no punishment is given under the Noahide Laws for a case where there is no human witness of the actual prohibited crime. 

 

* Second, some things considered crimes in American law or according to Christian or Muslim perspectives would not be considered crimes under Noahide Law; for example, although adultery is prohibited by the Noahide Laws, the definitions of marriage and divorce according to the Noahide laws are such that they makes adultery very unlikely to occure. 

 

* A person who was forced to do a crime worthy of death is not punished; if he is forced, he is even permitted to do the crime rather than give up his own life.

 

* A person can not be sentenced for a crime based on the witness of more than half of potential witnesses, since only men can serve as a witness.  There is a higher population of females on the planet than males.

 

* It seems to me that only an adult male whose faculties function properly and who keeps the Noahide Laws can serve as a witness, since minors, the deaf, and the handicapped are not termed "sons of the commandments," and any other adult male is himself assumed to be under the death penalty.

 

* Minors are not sentenced for punishment.

 

* The deaf are not sentenced for punishment.

 

* The mentally handicapped are never punished.

 

*  A person who transgressed one of the Seven Commandments unintentionally is not punished, such as someone who had intercourse with his fellow's wife while thinking that she was [either] his own wife or unmarried;

 

Christians should find nothing offensive about a death penalty if this is truly what the All-mighty has decreed.  After all, the Christian Scriptures themselves teach not only that those who are not Christians will be punished, but that after they die, they will be resurrected during Jes'us' reign on earth, and then be thrown into a lake of fire to burn forever.  (See the Book of Revelation).  Besides this, not all forms of Christianity are idolatrous.  It is certainly worthwhile for a Christian to look deeply and carefully into this website, the topic of the Noahide Laws, as well as into the interesting history of early Christianity well before disregarding the Noahide Laws simply because of the issue of the death penalty.

 

Many historians believe that the earliest followers of the man from Gallilee would not have been considered idolaters according to Torah / Jewish Law, but that they were merely Jews who considered this man to be (or potentially be) the Messiah.  This is backed up by the testimony of many early Catholic authorities and by the Christian Scriptures themselves when understood from a 1st Century perspective.  Check out www.schuellerhouse.com  for books related to this issue, or order the book "Jesus the Pharisee."

 

Additionally, although any form of idolatry is forbidden according to the Noahide Laws, not all acts of idolatry are punishable by death.  Any Christians who practice Christianity simply because they love the practices or ideas of Christianity or find them beautiful, or who practice Christianity out of a fear of damnation, or whatever else, are not liable for the death penalty so long as they have not truly accepted within themselves any created thing as the "power/authority" which they serve.  Therefore, it would need to be determined within a Noahide court what the intent of the Christian's service was.  Undoubtably, many myriads of Christians throughout the world do not practice Christianity because of a true inward acceptance of the human Jes'us as the the "power/authority" that they devote themselves to serve.  If a Christian, or anyone else, did an act considered idolatry according to the Noahide Laws because of a feelings of love or of fear, but not because the individual accepted the object of idolatry as the power/authority over him which he serves as an act of devotion, there is no death penalty (Avoda Zarah 3:6).

 

Although according to the Noahide Laws a person should not do the prohibited act of homosexual intercourse, or any other act prohibited by the Noahide Laws, whether in public or in private, a person would only be liable for the death penalty for doing the prohibited act of homosexuality in the view of a valid witness.  Any sane individual could do the prohibited act in a place where no one would witness the forbidden act; and if the individual is not sane, then as stated above, the law is that the mentally handicaped are not liable for the death penalty.  Also important to note is that according to the Noahide Laws, a Behn Noah (one from the non-Israelite nations) is punished only the actual act of anal intercourse between two men.  No punishment for other homosexual acts is given in the Noahide Laws.  Lesbianism is also not prohibited to Bneh Noah (people from the non-Israelite nations).  A society that upholds the Noahide Laws would be more accepting and understanding of those who are attracted to the same sex than the majority societies in the world today, though within the framework of law.  This is because a society upholding the Noahide Laws would publicize the distinction between the specific prohibited act between two men and those acts which are not prohibited.  Even in countries where full homosexual intercourse is allowed, most citizens of such countries still do not show much understanding towards such individuals due to the lack of distinction their religious views make between various forms and acts of homosexuality.  This all said, it must be emphasized that the Noahide Laws do not advocate any homosexual acts or the development of a homosexual culture.  The Noahide Laws merely put these things into perspective.  While the Noahide Laws only present and enforce the basic laws binding on all the non-Israelite nations of the world, it also directs people toward the additional commands of the Torah given to the people of Israel for extra guidance and refinement of the individual's character, although the additional commandments given to Israel are not to be enforced upon the nations.  (CLICK HERE for more information on HOMOSEXUALITY in light of the Noahide Laws.)