Should We Judge Who Deserves Death?

Filed under Christianity, Rants

I was very troubled by an interview I saw on the other night. Shirley Phelps Roper () was on the show defending why she was going to protest at the funeral of the little girls that were killed at an Amish School in Pennsylvania. Within this post, I will analyze some of her statements and point out the logical inconsistencies.

When Colmes asked Roper if the little girls deserved to die, Roper responded with this statement, “They did deserve to die.”

Her reasoning that the little girls deserved to die was because the little girls were killed by God. Talk about a circular argument. The little girls deserved to be killed because they were killed?

Roper went on to say that since Adam sinned, we have all sinned, and we all deserve death. She said that those who do not uphold the commandments of the Lord are condemned to death. Although not entirely untrue, she did leave out one little part about where Jesus comes into play.[1] God knew that no human could ever obey all of His commandments. The commandments were put into place just to prove that all humans have fallen short and that none of us will ever be as good as God. Knowing this, God sent His only Son to make up for our shortcomings.[2]

Roper went on to say that God killed those girls to “punish those families, to punish the state of Pennsylvania, because you’ve got a governor in that state got on FOX News and lambasted us because we serve God.” Right, so humans can read God’s mind now? Wouldn’t that imply that somebody has power over God?

My question is, should we be the ones to judge who deserves death? Death penalty and politics aside, what makes us capable and competent enough to determine who lives and who dies?

I conclude with this quote from The Lord of the Rings: “Many that live deserve death. And some die that deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then be not too eager to deal out death in the name of justice, fearing for your own safety. Even the wise cannot see all ends.”

Notes

  1. Romans 3:21-26 (NIV)

    21But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

  2. John 3:16-24 (NIV)

    16“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”

Related posts:

  1. Final Destination and Cheating Death
  2. Death is Inconvenient
  3. Coyote Ugly
  4. Can You Delay the Inevitable?
  5. I’m Glad I Don’t Know the Future

Oct10

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