Roger Olson says captial punishment is sin

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the

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Apostle Paul said, "...but we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you."

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By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her

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King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. My name is

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Mike Abendroth, and we are on the radio today, and actually there is some talk maybe by now.

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I'm taping the show six weeks in advance. Some growth to a satellite station, and then another local radio station, or maybe two, and so No Compromise Radio ministry is expanding, so I'm thankful for that.

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I just do the shows here. I have, for those of you, maybe I'll put it on the website to see so you can see what it's like.

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I have two microphones, two headphones. I have a mixing board.

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That is all I have. It says host, guest, caller, etc., and that's what we've got here at No Compromise Radio ministry, and we are thankful, though, that just through simple things like this, just probably a couple thousand dollars worth of equipment, we can be on the radio.

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It costs more money than to be on radio, but at least this is the fixed cost for this spot, and today we're going to talk about capital punishment.

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What about capital punishment? This seems like such a no -brainer to the thinking

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Christian. For any Christian who can simply open up his Bible and say, please teach me,

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God, from your word, what I should think about, and you name the topic. In this particular case, capital punishment, it should be very, very simple.

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The problem is this. We are a people who are influenced by our culture, and our culture is very anti -capital punishment, and the news of the day is how bad that is.

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We've punished and executed innocent people, etc. How do we make restitution?

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Is this fair? It's worse to actually have somebody live in prison for the rest of their life.

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We're influenced by that kind of thinking as Christians, as people, and we're also not impervious to the kind of thinking that says,

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I have a certain idea of what I think is right. Therefore, I will read the

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Bible, the Old and New Testament, through the lens of what I think. That's not good.

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That's not good. We want to get out of the text. We want to, of course, receive information out from the text, but we personally want to get out of the text.

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We don't want to have our thoughts and views and opinions and our wicked heart influencing what we believe from God's word.

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God has spoken. God has said it very clearly. God's word is sufficient. It's breathed out.

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God did not find men, 2 Timothy 3 .16, and say, they really talk so well,

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I'll inspire. No, God breathes out. He spirates.

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He doesn't inspire, technically. He spirates out what his thoughts are from him through men.

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And so we want to know what the Bible teaches. And it is so clear, it is a no -brainer, that the

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Bible teaches capital punishment. And so I found it interesting today that posted on April 17th,

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I want to guess that was last week by now, on Roger E. Olson's blog, he has an article called

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Capital Punishment is Sin. Well, I'll give him props, I'll give him kudos for an interesting topic, an interesting title.

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The subtitle to Roger E. Olson's blog site, some of you may know who he is,

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My Evangelical Armenian Theological Musings. And so he's written a lot against Calvinism, a lot for Arminianism.

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He is probably a super nice guy. He's well -written, well -spoken, and you know, people say that before they say but, before they lower the boom.

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So Roger Olson writes this article, Roger E. Olson, Capital Punishment is a Sin. Now if I ask you today on No Compromise Radio, what would your response be to Roger Olson?

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Now to me this whole article, it's interesting because I think the rest of his theology is leaking out into his view of capital punishment.

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His man -centered view of salvation, his Arminianism, his semi -Pelagianism, cannot be contained.

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It's not in some black box that does not affect other ologies. Your theology bleeds through to other ologies, and so your view of God bleeds into your view of salvation.

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Your view of salvation bleeds into your view of the Spirit. Your view of the Bible bleeds into your other views of other ologies.

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And so that is almost the main topic today, that someone would say capital punishment is a sin.

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That's happening all the time. Most evangelicals though, almost everyone that I respect,

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I can't think of anyone who I respect that doesn't teach it, although that doesn't prove it right or wrong either though now, does it?

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But the people that you respect, that I respect, they all teach that capital punishment is not a sin.

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And so it should not surprise you that the Arminian theological musings of Roger E.

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Olson somehow find themselves contorting this doctrine.

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And so let's look at it today. How would you talk about capital punishment on No Compromise Radio?

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Now first he gives a series of illustrations. 1991, a house fire killed three children in a small

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Texas town. The father, Cameron Todd Willingham, by most accounts not a particularly good citizen, was arrested and convicted of murder.

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A major contributing factor to his conviction was the testimony of their Texan arson experts who testified the fire was most definitely arson.

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He then was executed by lethal injection. He denied playing any roles in his children's death to his dying day.

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Long after Willingham's execution, the Innocence Project brought forth the top arson experts in America who have declared the evidence against William Han flawed.

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Junk science, et cetera, et cetera. Within the last year, Dateline aired an episode about this phenomenon.

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And so that's how it starts. And of course we have this kind of anecdotal information. Of course it's not anecdotal if you happen to be this guy.

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That is actually true. But he gives this case and then he gives other reasons.

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So let's just jump to the other reasons on No Compromise Radio why this is an important topic, not just because of this issue that's come up that he talked about, but these are his theological and ethical problems with capital punishment.

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One by Roger E. Olson, it ends a person's opportunity to exonerate himself or herself.

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So once you are killed, it's hard to really do anything. It's hard to brush your teeth. It's hard to especially exonerate yourself.

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And so that is why it's a theological and ethical problem. So far,

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I haven't told you why I believe in capital punishment. I'll do that in a moment. But that doesn't, that's not a theological problem.

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That person should have not killed and not murdered and he wouldn't have to deal with this. He goes on to say, second, it ends a person's opportunity to accept

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Christ and live a God -honoring life in prison, ministering to the inmates and guards. Well, that's true.

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It does end a person's opportunity to accept Christ. But again, this is not a moral or ethical or problem biblically.

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Three, third, it usurps God's place and assumes a God -like right and power to take the life of a person created in God's image and likeness.

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And so here is when we start running into the major problem. The major problem with this is

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God gives that right to kill people via capital punishment to the state.

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And so he is totally wrong. He now starts going off the theological deep end because if you look at Romans chapter 13,

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I knew you knew that verse. I knew you knew those verses. When you look at Romans 13, it becomes crystal clear.

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When you look at Genesis chapter 9, verse 6, it becomes crystal clear. Let me read to you

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Romans 13. By the way, Romans 13 tells you how

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God has vengeance given. For instance, in chapter 12, Beloved, never avenge yourself, but leave it to the wrath of God.

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For it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay. So it's interesting that one of the ways

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God shows his vengeance is if you keep reading 12 goes into 13 and it comes to the state.

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Let every person be subject to governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

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Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

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For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority?

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Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval. For he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain.

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For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.

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Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience.

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For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God attending to the very thing.

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Pay to all what is owed to them, taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is due.

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That is very, very fascinating. If you do wrong, be afraid, he does not bear the sword in vain.

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That is the issue. Romans 13, 4, we're talking about capital punishment today. This sword, shaped like a saber, actually was carried around, if you look at the

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Ryrie Study Bible, he's got a note there, carried around by magistrates to show that they had the power to punish even to death.

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This is a biblical concept. How is wrath of God, vengeance of God shown?

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Vengeance is mine, I will repay. It's often and regularly given through the government, the

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God -ordained, God -sovereignly ordained, government of the people. Remember, after God executed capital punishment, it's called the flood, and he killed everybody but eight people.

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He summarily executed every man, woman, child, and beast on the earth in Genesis 6, 7, and 8.

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Right after that, he makes a covenant with Noah in Genesis 9.

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What is that covenant? He talks about fruit, he talks about meat, he talks about a variety of things, and then it says, and for your lifeblood

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I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal, and from each man too I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man.

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Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God has

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God made man. Would you like justification for capital punishment? Yes, there is justification,

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Genesis 9, 6, because man is made in God's image and likeness. And if you murder someone and kill them, you could care less about God because this is an image -bearer, and so you are killing the image -bearer, therefore you should be killed.

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So Romans 13, 4 and Genesis 9, 6 solve our problem.

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Is it sin? No, it's not sin. It's commanded in Scripture. It's given in Scripture.

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It is available for those men in Scripture. So Roger E. Olson, the

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Arminian, in his Musings, says fourth, his fourth reason why capital punishment is sin, it has no social benefit.

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It only serves a bloodthirst for vengeance. It has no social benefit.

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It only serves a bloodthirst for vengeance. Isn't that interesting?

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That is so interesting that he would say that. Is there any social benefit to capital punishment?

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Well, I think there is, and so we have strike two for Olson here. Ecclesiastes 8, 11, because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil.

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You want to know why capital punishment doesn't deter a crime in America? That's the reason, but there is a social benefit.

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Back in the old days when there was a public hanging, I think there was a benefit. It was a gross benefit. It was a benefit that maybe was not the highest on your empathy list, but there's a benefit to say if someone sins against God and there's another person and then gets justice executed swiftly, it deters other people from sinning.

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Roger Olson says capital punishment is a sin. I totally disagree. He says, fifth, no modern

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Western country still has capital punishment. Well, that's no argument. That's no argument, since nobody else wants to obey the

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Scripture, since all the secular countries disobeyed the Scripture, since all the secular Western countries like Canada, they don't want to have it, therefore it's not biblical.

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That doesn't solve anybody's problem, and that certainly Roger Olson should know better than to argue that way.

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No modern Western country still has capital punishment. That doesn't prove anything.

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Sixth, Roger Olson says, capital punishment is barbaric. Now let me just stop here for a second.

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I almost hate to say this, but I'm going to have to say it because it's no compromise radio. Somebody who has these thoughts, this is how he tries to prove capital punishment is sin, and who has these arguments that are no arguments at all, that even a simple radio host like me whose

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IQ isn't really that grandiose can just punch holes through it without even really doing much.

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I mean, I just saw this, printed it, and now I'm talking about it. And you can say, well, that's obvious that you are, because it's not really that tight.

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Well, I have a job for a living and this isn't my job. So that's my first retort back, my first rejoinder.

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As Jonathan Kirshner said, the rejoinder. The second of all, doesn't it make you question his anti -Calvinistic stance?

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His arguments for Arminianism, sadly, aren't any better. His arguments against Calvinism aren't any better.

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When I say Calvinism, I just mean the sovereignty of God in salvation and sovereignty of God in perdition. This is not good thinking.

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I don't know, I guess he's the most eloquent speaker for Arminianism, but it's hard to sell a lot of books and get a lot of people reading because it's just such a man -centered system.

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This is all man -centered thinking here. Roger E. Olson says on his blog, capital punishment is barbaric and cruel, if not to the person being executed, to his or her family.

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Well, wah, wah, wah is my no -compromise response to that. First of all, barbar is a

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Gentile, barbaric and cruel. Does hurt, I guess it is cruel, but it is the right thing to do when someone has murdered someone else who's bearing the image and likeness of God.

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And this person who's getting executed could care less for his barbaric treatment to the person or people he killed and his cruel treatment, and his or her family,

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A, should have done a better job raising that murderer, or second of all, should say, yes, we're sad, but justice is served.

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Seventh, you can see where the liberals go here, and then now Roger Olson does the same thing.

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Innocent people are executed, and then he gives an illustration. A few years ago, Ethel Rosenberg's brother came forward and admitted publicly that he knew she was not complicit in the plot to steal

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American nuclear secrets and deliver them to the Soviet Union. He fingered her to help himself.

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She was electrocuted in 1953, leaving behind two small traumatized boys. Well, innocent people are executed, but that doesn't mean that it's a wrong thing to do.

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That doesn't mean that it's wrong. There will be a final accounting. Aren't you glad of that? There will be the sovereign God who makes the final accounting.

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And God in his sovereignty knows he's delegated the authority to kill people who have committed capital crimes.

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He's delegated this authority to states, and he knows these states are not omniscient. He knows the states are not omnipresent.

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He knows the states have fallible, sinful people at the top. He knows there will be mistakes, and yet he's still instituted it,

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Romans 13 .4. Where is Romans 13 .4 in this blog? Gone. Where is

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Genesis 9 .6? Gone. Roger E. Olson says, For these and other reasons, capital punishment needs to be abolished, and Christians ought to be in the forefront of that effort.

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Most Christians who support capital punishment rely entirely on Old Testament material, which is transcended by Jesus.

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And I only have two words for that. Say what? Say what? Of course there's a lot of reasons to have capital punishment in the

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Old Testament. Matter of fact, I have the list here in front of me, and I will read you that list. These are some of the ways that, some of the reasons why you could be killed in Old Testament Mosaic Law.

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Capital punishment, one, premeditated murder, Exodus 21. Kidnapping, Exodus 21.

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Striking or cursing parents, Exodus 21. Incorrigible rebelliousness,

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Deuteronomy 17. Sacrificing to false gods, Exodus 22.

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Violating the Sabbath, Numbers 15. Blasphemy, Leviticus 24. False prophets were to be killed,

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Deuteronomy 13. Those who sacrifice humans, that's a capital crime, Leviticus 20. Divination, Exodus 22.

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Adultery, Leviticus 20. Bestiality, Exodus 22. Incest, Leviticus 18.

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Homosexuality, Leviticus 18. Premarital sex, Leviticus 21. Rape, Deuteronomy 22.

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Now those are all required capital punishment, and you can look up the verses and, you know, if you want to send me an email,

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I'll give you more specifics. But in general, the person, Roger E. Olson, is right when he says

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Old Testament material, there's a lot of Old Testament material that would support that. That is true.

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But then he says it's transcended by Jesus. What do you mean transcended by Jesus? You mean the passage that's not even in the

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Bible, where Jesus in John 8, verses 1 through 10 or 11, says, you know,

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He without sin cast the first stone? Even if that was in the text,

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I don't think it is. Just look at the liner notes in your Bible and you'll soon find out it's not. But even if it was, the

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Jews didn't have the authority to kill anyway now, did they, when they had the Romans over them?

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That's why the Jews were so tenacious in the desire to get the Romans to kill Jesus, because they know they couldn't.

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And so that doesn't fly at all. Jesus has an apostolic messenger, and his name is

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Paul. And Paul says, yes, you state do have the authority to do that very thing.

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I'm also thinking right now about 1 Peter. Turning my Bible to 1 Peter, I wonder what

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Peter the apostle says. I don't know if he was sent out by Jesus or not. What do you think?

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I think he was. 1 Peter chapter 2 is an interesting passage, and I'm turning there right now.

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Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good, for this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.

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So, I guess the sword in Romans 13 is for spanking? I guess the sword is for a display?

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It's a deterrent? No, the sword is for capital punishment. You say, well, the

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Bible says thou shall not kill. Well, the word for Hebrew kill and Hebrew murder is different. Don't murder people.

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But this has nothing to do with judicial execution. It has nothing to do at all. Yeah, but you've heard that it's been said an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth.

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But I say resist evil. Do not resist evil. But who shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

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Will you ever try to punch a person with your right hand on his right cheek? No, that's a backhanded slap.

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That's you offend me. That is, you don't even like me enough to give me your fist. You have to use the back of your hand.

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That is Semitic, cultural, offensive language to someone. You are not going to get that to say capital punishment is wrong.

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What if you say, well, you know what? Capital punishment is used mainly for minority people and the poor people, and they don't have any protection.

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This is all an argument of feelings and touchy -feely stuff. If a poor person, if a rich person, if a white person, if a black person, if a

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Puerto Rican person, if a Honduran person, if a man, if a woman kills another person, premeditated murder, then they ought to be killed.

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And that is not a sin. So that's the issue. You could say, well, the government can, if they want to, they have the power and it's up to them to decide.

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I'm with you. And I wish they would decide more often to do it and more quickly, more swiftly.

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But if you're saying capital punishment is a sin, and then you give no verses to back it up, not one, you say, well, yeah, but it says it's his musings.

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Well, it's not a musing to me, as in funny, but it's a musing because he's not thinking.

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And don't you say, if you're a pastor, if you're a teacher, if you're a promoter of God in the

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Bible, don't you use verses to back them up? I mean, how long does that take? I find it quite odd that there are none there because he knows once he goes to Romans 13, 4 and 1

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Peter 2 and Genesis 9, 6, there's no hope. There's no hope.

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You say, well, you know, but then there's no way people can make restitution. Like people incarcerated for 35 years can really make restitution.

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No, God executes capital punishment himself in Genesis 6.

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And you say, yeah, but God didn't kill murder. I can't kill murder. God didn't murder Cain. That's easy for me to say, but this is show three today.

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I'm almost done. Just trying to make it. I got 30 more seconds and then my close.

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Friends, these objections to capital punishment, I understand that the

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CBS shows and the NBC shows will find these people and they'll find evidence and maybe they didn't do it.

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I get all that. But I just trust in the sovereign God that he knows what's going to happen. And there'll be an accounting day.

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If someone were killed by the state wrongly, then God is a just God.

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And on judgment day, those things will all be weighed out. And so for you, the New Testament Christian, you have one of two choices.

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I either believe the Bible or I don't. If you believe the Bible and you look at Genesis 9, 6 and Romans 13, 4, you'll believe in capital punishment.

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And if you can make those things say that capital punishment is a sin, then you can make the

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Bible say anything you want. You might want to pick a different religion because we have a religion based on the book. The special revelation of God, God's revealed mind in a book, unchanging, sufficient, authoritative, and God -breathed.

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Capital punishment is not a sin. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston.

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You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.