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Guilty On Monday, June 2, 1997, a jury of twelve men and women returned a verdict of guilty for Timothy McVeigh on all 11 counts of murder, conspiracy and weapons charges in the Oklahoma City bombing. Now the question is whether McVeigh should be sentenced to life in prison or be put to death. From a scriptural standpoint the question is moot. "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man." Genesis 9:6 However, we are in a country where this decision has been removed from the hands of God and placed in the hands of men. I am not the least bit ashamed of the fact that I am 100% pro capital punishment. Under the conditions set forth in scripture, if one man murders another, he will forfeit his life for that sin. This article is not about capital punishment. It is about criminal thought. I have already read articles, heard interviews and listened to opinions of several people. Surprisingly though, there seems to be one vein of thought that pervades the countries thinking today, i.e., "Timothy McVeigh should be made to suffer because he has caused so much pain and suffering. "Those in favor of the death penalty feel that he should be made to suffer the most horrible agonizing death possible. Those who favor life imprisonment feel strongly that his time in prison should be one of pain and suffering. I suspect the chances are slim that we will ever know what actually brought Timothy McVeigh to the place where he could murder on such a large scale. I cannot help but think that, somewhere deep inside, he wanted someone to suffer for something. Only Timothy McVeigh knows what motivated him to knowingly, intentionally murder 168 people, but suffering was undoubtedly a part of that motivation. Now we see the effect of a nation being bitten by the serpent. The venom of McVeigh's bite is hard at work in the people of this nation causing us to seethe with the same desire for suffering found in McVeigh himself. Though our cry for suffering stems from a desire for "justice," genuine justice never seeks to cause suffering, but to eliminate it. Justice must surely have been in the mind of Timothy McVeigh when he authored the lethal blast. In the verse quoted above we see what God says we are to do with those who murder. What we do not find there in Genesis 9:6 is the reason why we take the life of a murderer. That is revealed elsewhere in scripture. "If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant, And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded; And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel: Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die. At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you." Deuteronomy 17:2-7 The point of capital punishment is not to cause suffering, but to eliminate it. God tells us that we are to put the murderer to death in order to put evil away from among us. If we allow an evil, suffering-motivated mind to live among us, we are still susceptible to its poisonous influence. As long as there is breath in his body, he can influence others to rally around his standard. Life imprisonment will still allow Timothy McVeigh the privilege of writing books, articles, letters, etc. He will still be allowed to speak his mind and convert others to his "cause." Life imprisonment does not remove the evil from among us. We must not delude ourselves into thinking that cloistering McVeigh in a prison cell will remove his influence. He has been cloistered since the day of his arrest and his influence is still at work. The voice of justice calls for the death penalty in order to remove McVeigh's influence from among us. Justice requires his voice be silenced just as completely as the 168 voices he silenced. Justice does not cry for a torturous, agonizing, lingering death. Justice seeks a swift, even merciful death. How many minds have already been influenced by McVeigh? What will it take for McVeigh to inspire someone else to rise up and carry on his work of suffering? We cannot unmake the ocean of human history, but we can refuse to add another drop of evil influence to it. That is our perspective, what is yours? |
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