In Reaching for the Invisible God, Philip Yancey often hits a recurring theme: The world is good. The world is fallen. The world can be redeemed. This is meant as a rhythm to give a cohesive thought to the message of salvation. I am reminded of the second statement when I read this letter. It was written by an 8-year-old girl whose father, a police officer, was recently shot in the head, and died a day or so later.
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Recent events have also had me considering afresh the death penalty. I believe that the death penalty is a legitimate tool of the government. I believe that such authority is ceded to governments by God. However, in a democracy the power of decision-making, of "shall we or shall we not use this power" falls to the people. Given the chance to vote, I would abolish the death penalty in all but a very few cases where the crime was both heinous and proven with absolute, 100% incontrovertible evidence. Sadly, innocent people have been executed by the state, and this is to me absolutely inexcusable. Better life in prison for horrible offenders than death for an innocent person in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I do not believe it to be immoral that the government may take the life of a person for certain crimes. For my part, I support tight limits on the exercise of that power.
Friday, December 02, 2005
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2 comments:
I have no words to respond the letter. I don't know...
I do like the way Yancey sums up the history of the world: good, fallen, redeemed. I don't know how he defines fallen, but for me I think of it as broken, fallen from grace if you will.
Sorry, that was me up there.
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