sopwith said:
Then how do you delegate that right to your elected representative?
Because we live in a political system in which elected representatives are supposed to lead our country. So those elected representatives should do what they are supposed to do.
It has NEVER been given by God to INDIVIDUALS to enact personal justice on people. In fact, the opposite is true. God said in Leviticus 19:18
18 You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.
So this was a clear instruction God gave to His people NOT to take vengeance, and certainly holds true when one is talking about the enforcement of laws.
This is WHY God gave us the principles by which a Godly government should be run.
God Himself gave the clear instructions to use the death penalty and gave the instances it should be used. Where do you think that the Bible shows God repealed the death penalty or the use of governmental force to put to death the wicked?
The death penalty is a deterrent and if an individual murders his neighbor in cold blood, a government that DOES NOT put him to death swiftly EMBOLDENS other evil men to murder their neighbors. Huh....just what we see in our society today when people sit on death row for years and years and there is little justice for the wicked.
Check out the murder rates in Singapore and Los Angeles and notice that they have similar populations, but VASTLY different murder rates. If you murder in Singapore you receive a swift death penalty, and this is just further proof that God is right and man is wrong when it comes to putting to death those who should be put to death by the government.
Will YOU ignore God when God says:
19 And will you profane Me among My people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread,
killing people who should not die, and keeping people alive who should not live, by your lying to My people who listen to lies?”
God says
when people keep alive those who should
not live (murderers, homsexuals, child molestors, etc...)
and kill people who should not die (the innocent unborn for example), we PROFANE Him!
Since God says it profanes Him, and God prohibits vigilante justice, who do you think is responsible for enacting that justice? That's right! The government!
sopwith21 said:
The purpose of government is to make the world the way God wants it, and kill anyone who gets in the way?
If they are people that God says should be put to death, then yes. They wouldn't be put to death for "getting in the way" but for committing a capitol crime such as murder.
sopwith said:
So if a homosexual lives next door and you put on a hood and mask and go over to his house and shove an ice pick in his chest while he sleeps, that's murder and that's bad.
Right.
sopwith said:
But if a majority of your neighbors vote and say you're their leader, then committing the same act is okay... that's not murder and that's good.
No I wouldn't say that. A leader doesn't act like a vigilante, but rather uses the force of the government to enact the death penalty on those who commit capital crimes. If people kill or rape their neighbors, they should be put to death. A Godly government would ensure this happened. We don't have a Godly government today.
sopwith said:
And we know this because our God is consistent and unchanging.
Right?
Wrong. The Bible in no way teaches that God is unchanging. That is a false doctrine of Calvinism and would take us way off topic I believe. I will only say this here for clarification: When Jesus came to this world and was born in a manger, that was a great change. Jesus had not been a baby in a manger from eternity past and is not a baby in a manger now.
When Jesus was crucified on the cross that was a change. He had never been crucified on the cross before that time and is not crucified on the cross currently. When God the Father poured our His wrath on God the Son for the sins of mankind on the cross, that was a change, and God the Father is not currently pouring out His wrath on God the Son.
I could go on and on and as I said it would take us completely off topic, but suffice to say that your above statement that God is unchanging is NOT a position that I hold in any way shape or form.
sopwith21 said:
Asking someone to prove a negative discredits your own argument. The burden is on the one making the claim. What loss of property or life have you suffered as a result of a homosexual, and what was the homosexual's name?
If my personal loss of property or life were the standard for people receiving the death penalty, then you would have a point. But God doesn't say that. He says:
You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination.
AND
13 If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.