Crimes in the Bible
One crime mentioned in the Bible that I find particularly interesting is that of murder, and the consequences of murder. ” Since many practitioners and students base their opinions of capital punishment on their religious beliefs and/or the Bible, knowledge of the Bible’s content on these issues is of value for teachers of criminal justice.” (Johnson, 2000) While the Bible condemns murder and at times even promotes the death penalty for murderers, this is not always the case. In reference to the evil city of Moab it is written “A curse on anyone who is lax in doing the Lord’s work! A curse on anyone who keeps their sword from bloodshed!” (Jeremiah 48:10 NIV) As we see here, there is certainly a place and time for killing, but that does not mean that there are not consequences to the killing of innocent people. “If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the evidence of witnesses. But no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness. Moreover, you shall accept no ransom for the life of a murderer, who is guilty of death, but he shall be put to death.” (Numbers 35:30-31, ESV) The Bible generally sees the killing of another innocent person as a sin punishable by death, but also recognizes that there is a time and place for killing those who are doing evil.
In the US the death penalty is no longer a prominent means of punishment for murder but used to be a very common means of punishment. “For example, until 1951 Massachusetts provided a mandatory death penalty for anyone convicted of first-degree murder, and until 1975 felony-murder-rape was punishable by a mandatory death penalty.” (Bedau, 1998) While I understand the rationale behind the abolition of the death penalty, I do not entirely agree with it because it is not in keeping with Biblical standards.
References
Bedau, H. (1998) The Death Penalty in America: Current Controversies. Published March 20, 1998 by Oxford University Press.
Johnson, S. (2000) The Bible and the Death Penalty: Implications for Criminal Justice Education. Vol. 11 Issue 1. Published online by the Journal of Criminal Justice Education at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10511250000084731
Bible and discuss the following:
• Elements of the crime as it is presented in the Bible.
• How it compares to the modern equivalent (if there is no modern crime equivalent then pick the closest modern crime).
• How does it compare to the equivalent crime in your home state?
Responding to a post above requires both the addition of new ideas and analysis. A particular point made be addressed and built upon by your analysis in order to move the conversation forward. Thus, the response post is a rigorous assignment that requires you to build upon initial posts to develop deeper and more thorough discussion of the ideas introduced in the initial posts. As such, reply posts that merely affirm, restate or unprofessionally quarrel with the previous post(s) and fail to make a valuable, substantive contribution to the discussion will receive appropriate point deductions.
Use other sources for your reply post not the one is given above.
