Tennessee should end capital punishment and cancel execution dates for five men
'The Tennessee State Attorney General has asked the Tennessee Supreme Court to set execution dates for the following five men…'
I read that statement, took a deep breath, and read the names of the five men. My heart sank. I know all five of them. I regularly talk with three of the men.
One of the men is a dear friend. Our church ordained him while he was on death row and then helped him start a church, The Church of Life, on Tennessee's death row.
The fifth gentleman, I knew, but not very well. Once I caught my breath, I asked myself, 'Why, after a five-year hiatus, has the state of Tennessee decided to resume state sanctioned killings?'
Proponents of capital punishment will tell you executions are necessary and just and reserved for the worst of the worst criminals.
Some will add a Bible verse to their reasoning. 'Whoever sheds innocent blood, by humans shall their blood be shed' (Genesis 9:6). In the words of old-fashioned Baptist preachers, 'God said it. I believe it. That settles it.'
However, if God said it, and capital punishment was meant to be an immutable law, God did not believe it because God did not follow it with absolute commitment.
Cain killed his brother, Abel, and God did not require Cain to pay for it with his life. King David had Uriah killed, but God did not make him pay with his life. Saul, before he became Paul, killed several people. Yet, God never required him to be executed. Apparently, there is something else going on in Genesis 9:6 besides an absolute law that cannot be changed or altered.
There is no doubt in my mind the God of the Bible is a God of justice who requires us 'to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly' (Micah 6:8).
This leads me to believe the universal principle behind Genesis 9:6 is to make justice the top priority in any legal system and in any penalty for violating a law. Justice is the goal, but does justice require a person who takes a life to give his life? Apparently not!
Opinion: Kevin Burns should be out of Tennessee death row. Our new book tells his story.
If so, God would have violated a divine standard. Something God could never do. But I repeat, God does require justice in all circumstances. The writer of Proverbs states, 'To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice' (Proverbs 21:3). The question is not, 'Should justice be done?' The question is, 'If there is another way for justice to be done without taking another life, should we not do that?'
Another question is, 'What type of justice does God require?'
Considering the Bible in its entirety, the type of justice flowing from an all merciful and all loving God, is restorative justice.
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God is a God of reconciliation. Restorative justice seeks reconciliation for the victim, for the victims' families, for the communities in which the crime occurred, and for the perpetrator of the crime.
Restorative justice is holistic and upholds the Imago Dei in all of us. Capital punishment if purely punitive, absent of any restorative virtue. Punitive justice is not divine justice. Restorative justice is.
God is a God of restoration and reconciliation, and God requires us to be a people of restoration and reconciliation.
The Apostle Paul writes, 'All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation' (2 Corinthians 5:18-19).
As moral people. As people desiring 'To do what is right and just,' let's encourage our state not to resume executions. Let's fight for justice in all situations. But let's fight for restorative justice, not punitive justice which isn't really justice at all. We don't need more execution dates. We need more restorative justice practices in our legal system.
Rev. Dr. Kevin Riggs is pastor of Franklin Community Church. Reach him at kevin@franklincommunitychurch.org.
Submit a letter to the editor at this link.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Capital punishment is punitive, not restorative, justice | Opinion
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