Tag Archives: Death Penalty

A time to Die

Living in the Spirit

September 7, 2022

Scripture Reading: Psalm 51:1-10

Prayer for Cleansing and Pardon
To the leader. A Psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

Have mercy on me, O God,
   according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
   blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
   and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions,
   and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
   and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
   and blameless when you pass judgement.
Indeed, I was born guilty,
   a sinner when my mother conceived me.

You desire truth in the inward being;
   therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
   wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
   let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
   and blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
   and put a new and right spirit within me.

I am writing this the day after James Coddington was executed in Oklahoma. He killed a friend after going on a rampage of stealing from stores to buy drugs. He had served 15 years in prison for the crime and had become a changed man. He peacefully accepted his death by human hands not by God’s timing.

Psalm 51 is one of my favorites. I usually do not quote the headings added by the publisher of the Bible cited below that I copy for these postings. I quoted it today because it describes why David prayed the prayer. His affair with Bathsheba had caught up with him. I take to heart Romans 3:23 since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. It reminds us of our need to maintain a close and meaningful relationship with God. I also do not believe any human has been given the right to pronounce final judgment on anyone. God always leaves open the opportunity for forgiveness and restoration. Humans should too.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us for not loving our neighbors by granting them the time to live that allows them to seek God’s forgiveness however long it might take until God decides their time to die. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Death Penalty

Living in the Spirit

November 1, 2021

Scripture Reading:

Wisdom of Solomon 3:1-9

But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,
and no torment will ever touch them.
In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died,
and their departure was thought to be a disaster,
and their going from us to be their destruction;
but they are at peace.
For though in the sight of others they were punished,
their hope is full of immortality.
Having been disciplined a little, they will receive great good,
because God tested them and found them worthy of himself;
like gold in the furnace he tried them,
and like a sacrificial burnt-offering he accepted them.
In the time of their visitation they will shine forth,
and will run like sparks through the stubble.
They will govern nations and rule over peoples,
Those who trust in him will understand truth,
and the faithful will abide with him in love,
because grace and mercy are upon his holy ones,
and he watches over his elect.

Oklahoma has jumped back into the desire to execute prisons with great enthusiasm. A new governor and his newly appointed Attorney General are anxious to correct the state’s requirement to do this job. I wish they had the same enthusiasm for solving our homeless problem or that we are in the top ten worst states in the nation for public education and health care. Oklahoma placed a moratorium on execution in 2015 after a second botched attempt at executing persons sentenced to the death penalty. Last week we used the same protocols to execute a man and got the same results. Witnesses reported that while he was strapped on a gurney like Jesus on the cross, he vomited all over himself twice and convulsed two dozen times immediately after being given the sedative that was the first step in the process. The second shot paralysis him. And finally, they administered the lethal drug that killed him.  

Prayer: May John Marion Grant rest in peace, and may God have mercy on all responsible for his execution, including me whose taxes helped pay for it.  Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Truth in Justice

Death_Penalty_hi_res_Living in the Spirit
June 15, 2015

Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 17:32-49

Saul clothed David with his armor; he put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail. David strapped Saul’s sword over the armor, and he tried in vain to walk, for he was not used to them. Then David said to Saul, ‘I cannot walk with these; for I am not used to them.’ So David removed them. Then he took his staff in his hand, and chose five smooth stones from the wadi, and put them in his shepherd’s bag, in the pouch; his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine. –1 Samuel 17:38-40

I believe in taking prudent precautions. I take shelter when a tornado siren is sounded. Lock my doors on my house and car. But I also know that all the precautions in the world will not save me from all that can harm me. In the story of David and Goliath, David knows where his strength lies and it is not in the heavy armor of a warrior. He was a shepherd who had honed his skills at protecting his sheep with the tools available to him.

David also knew as a teenager what Paul instructed us over a thousand years later:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil…. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. (Ephesians 6:10-11, 14-15)

Paul speaks of truth, righteousness, and peace as the armor that will protect us from harm. On April 3, 2015, Anthony Ray Hinton was released from death row after serving 30 years for a crime he did not commit. The truth had finally set him free. He was quoted as saying, “All they had to do was to test the gun, but when you think you’re high and mighty and you’re above the law, you don’t have to answer to nobody,” Hinton told reporters. “But I’ve got news for you — everybody that played a part in sending me to death row, you will answer to God.”* I wonder how many men like Anthony Ray Hinton we have executed.

As followers of Christ, we are called to speak the truth, live righteously, and be at peace. Just as importantly we are compelled by the love of God to demand the truth for others, hold our public officials accountable for righteous action, and in all things seek peace.

Prayer: We pray for the future of Anthony Ray Hinton as he returns to a society that failed him. We also pray for your guidance and strength to do everything we possibly can to assure truth in justice throughout our land. Amen.

*http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/03/us/alabama-death-row-inmate/

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Irony of the Death Penalty

CrucifiedLent
Good Friday
April 3, 2015

Scripture Reading: Acts 10:34-43

…how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; — Acts 10:38-39

How ironic on this Good Friday, I think, as I write this. I am distracted by preparation for the annual meeting of the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. We still execute people in Oklahoma.

There are no good rational reasons to continue the use of death penalty. Studies done by other states clearly document the much higher cost of executing the death penalty than sentencing someone to life in prison.  Social scientists have long noted that the use of the death penalty does not serve as a deterrent to crime, one of the reasons often given for supporting it. Perhaps the more chilling fact is that since 1973 when the use of the death penalty was reinstated by a Supreme Court ruling, 150 persons have been exonerated as not being guilty of the crime for which they received the death sentence, ten of those in Oklahoma.  We do not know how many innocent persons have been executed. If the death penalty has no impact on crime and if there is lack of certainty in whether a person is actually guilty of a crime, why is it so important that we spend our limited dollars on maintaining the use of the death penalty?

We humans, as much as we feel we are enlightened with reason and logic, are not. We are afraid—afraid of the evil that surrounds us and afraid of change. We also tend to believe that there is a hierarchy of sin. Surely, if we identify people who have sinned more than us that means something about us. Not true, sin is sin and must be confessed and forgiven.

It is ironic that our salvation came through an innocent man who was executed and because of him we have no reason to fear evil or change for he has conquered the world (John 16:33). We have every reason to trust that if we repent and confess our sins we will be forgiven. We have every reason to work toward every human, even the criminal, knowing the love of God through Christ.

Prayer: Lord, you commanded us to care about prisoners. Help us open our hearts to them and to restore them to wholeness. Amen.

 All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved

 

Vengeance

forgiveness-is-freedom-05-11-13Living in the Spirit
August 29, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Romans 12:9-21

 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’— Romans 12:19 

The windmill I have jousted the most with over the past several years is the abolition of the use of the death penalty both in Oklahoma and in the country as a whole. There is absolutely no logical reason to use the death penalty. Several studies have concluded that it does not serve as a deterrent to crime, it has been shown to be way more expensive than life without parole, most victims’ families do not get closure from the killing of the one who murdered their loved one, and even lethal injection appears to be cruel and unusual punishment. Oh, did I mention that people of color are far more apt to be executed than whites, women are rarely executed, and almost all persons executed are poor? There is not that great a discrepancy among these groups in the demographics of people who kill people.

I classify the death penalty as my windmill because none of this matters to most supporters of the death penalty. It seems that somewhere in our culture the seed was planted that vengeance is necessary following a senseless murder to set the earth correctly back on its axis. Some of that comes from the Eye for and Eye rule, which Jesus actually dispatched rather quickly in Matthew 5. I think it probably comes from that primal childhood response to hit back at anything that is hurting us or that we fear might hurt us.

It never works for children and it never works for adults. Actually vengeance hurts the one wanting it more than it hurts the perpetrator of it. Whole lives have been wasted by dedicating them to seeking vengeance. Vengeance and all the emotions that accompany can eat a person up from the inside out.

Part of the problem for some with letting God’s wrath be sufficient is that God is fully capable of messing around and redeeming the scoundrel. In all honesty victims’ family members with whom I have discussed this issues were most often able to find some type of closure only when they forgave the criminal.

Prayer: God of Justice and of Mercy, help us leave room for your wrath and trust that your way is always the better way. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.