Capital Punishment
God is a strong advocate of capital punishment.
"The wages of sin is death...
But let's be clear. Death by capital punishment comes to a swift end. God is not an advocate of cruel and unusual punishment like the doctrine of eternal conscious torment. God loves His enemies and after the death penalty is administered, He intends to give them eternal life.
...but the free gift of God is eternal life..." (Romans 6:23)
This "free gift" was one of the mysteries revealed by God to the Apostle Paul.
"When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations..."(Ephesians 3:5)
Down through the years only a few people have tortured others. Much of the torturing was done by political or religious leaders in their wrath against "infidels." But that behavior is how wicked men treat their enemies, not God. When God's wrath is poured out on wicked men it is swift and always ends in the death of its object (i.e. capital punishment). But death is not the end for its objects. Paul tell us...
"I believe everything that is laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets, and I have the same hope in God that they themselves cherish, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked." (Acts 24:14-15)
God and religion differ on what happens to the righteous and the wicked after they are resurrected? Religion teaches the righteous go to heaven and the wicked to hell. God's plan, however, is to reconcile and save all mankind by His grace, both Jew and Gentile.
"For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly... This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel...To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church..." (Ephesians 3:1-9)
The "church" long ago ceased teaching this "manifold wisdom". It has become another religion teaching that the righteous go to heaven and the wicked to hell. But if you want to read a summary of God's plan, the good news that the church was intended to proclaim, it is found in 1 Corinthians 15:20-28 where it is revealed that "all die", and "all will be made alive" so that God ends up "all in all".
"For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive...so that God may be all in all."
Capital punishment is good - it removes the wicked from society. Religion adds eternal torment to their sentence which is bad, but the mystery of God's grace is that He will raise both the "righteous and the wicked" up as a rehabilitated new creation, and give us all the "free gift" of eternal life.
"And He who sits on the throne said: Behold, I am making all things new. And He said: Write, for these words are faithful and true." (Revelation 21:5)
"The wages of sin is death...
But let's be clear. Death by capital punishment comes to a swift end. God is not an advocate of cruel and unusual punishment like the doctrine of eternal conscious torment. God loves His enemies and after the death penalty is administered, He intends to give them eternal life.
...but the free gift of God is eternal life..." (Romans 6:23)
This "free gift" was one of the mysteries revealed by God to the Apostle Paul.
"When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations..."(Ephesians 3:5)
Down through the years only a few people have tortured others. Much of the torturing was done by political or religious leaders in their wrath against "infidels." But that behavior is how wicked men treat their enemies, not God. When God's wrath is poured out on wicked men it is swift and always ends in the death of its object (i.e. capital punishment). But death is not the end for its objects. Paul tell us...
"I believe everything that is laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets, and I have the same hope in God that they themselves cherish, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked." (Acts 24:14-15)
God and religion differ on what happens to the righteous and the wicked after they are resurrected? Religion teaches the righteous go to heaven and the wicked to hell. God's plan, however, is to reconcile and save all mankind by His grace, both Jew and Gentile.
"For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly... This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel...To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church..." (Ephesians 3:1-9)
The "church" long ago ceased teaching this "manifold wisdom". It has become another religion teaching that the righteous go to heaven and the wicked to hell. But if you want to read a summary of God's plan, the good news that the church was intended to proclaim, it is found in 1 Corinthians 15:20-28 where it is revealed that "all die", and "all will be made alive" so that God ends up "all in all".
"For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive...so that God may be all in all."
Capital punishment is good - it removes the wicked from society. Religion adds eternal torment to their sentence which is bad, but the mystery of God's grace is that He will raise both the "righteous and the wicked" up as a rehabilitated new creation, and give us all the "free gift" of eternal life.
"And He who sits on the throne said: Behold, I am making all things new. And He said: Write, for these words are faithful and true." (Revelation 21:5)