Steve Cornell has a timely editorial in the Washington Times explaining the difference between murder and execution mandated by God and carried out by government.
Cornell wrote, "Sadly, the death penalty is needed to protect civilized society. Elimination of it could lead to barbaric anarchy. Those who willfully take the life of another must face punishment by losing their own lives. Some killing is unjust, and we call it 'murder.' Other killing is just, and this we might call 'self-defense' in some cases and 'just punishment' in others."
"I think it is best not to use the term 'killed' to describe what the authorities did to bin Laden. They executed a murderer. An act of murder is far different from just punishment of a murderer. One action is criminal, the other a God-ordained function of government. When capital punishment is wrongly applied or abused by inequities in due process, revisions in the judicial system must be made without eliminating the death penalty."
To read the entire editorial go to this website link:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/may/12/christian-perspective-on-bin-ladens-death/
Posted on
Sun, May 15, 2011
by Hugh Morgan