Thursday Club members - please enjoy this week's note from the Editors on the States power to execute.
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Public executions and the death penalty have been in the news a lot recently with the twice-failed execution of Christa Pike and the news from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth that the execution of U.S. Army Major Nidal Hasan will be livestreamed. This news has demanded that the public square begin asking serious questions about the State’s power to execute those who have committed legitimate crimes and, in some cases, to livestream and broadcast the execution.
There is really only one biblical answer to these questions: State execution and the bloodlust desire to watch the killing of a human being, no matter his crimes, are entirely unwarranted. They are entirely unbiblical. How could this be? You might point to the Old Testament laws that directly required the Jews to execute those who murdered, committed adultery, worshiped false gods, or were disobedient to their parents. It seems, at first glance, that the God of the Bible is entirely in favor of capital punishment—and, in fact, He even instituted it among His people in the Old Testament. This is true, and I will not try to argue against it. God did institute those laws.
