Death Penalty: Would Jesus Support It?

I find it amusing that a lot of the people who believe so passionately in capital punishment also claim Jesus as their lord and savior. Now I don't claim to know a lot about Jesus, but from what I've gathered, he was a pretty decent guy. His stance on helping the poor, loving others, etc. All of this is good stuff.

However, the very same people who claim to follow his teachings do not side with what Jesus taught. I can guarantee your lord and savior wouldn't support the illegal war in Iraq; I can guarantee your lord and savior wouldn't support the killing of our own people, especially when there's evidence pointing to them being innocent; I can guarantee your lord and savior wouldn't support discrimination against gays. The very people who claim to love the guy should really take a step back and look at how they are actually living their lives. Would Jesus support these REPUBLICANS policies?
Jesus who?
No Jesus would not support those things, but we love him anyway.
Don't know.
Would Jesus kill babies, and call it 'pro-choice'?
Look, once and for all, there is only two ways to offend a Christian:

1. Question their religion.

2. Practice it.

Have we all got it now?
Jesus WAS Death Penalty-ed. Had he not been, we wouldn't have had our salvation. The Bible also says 'The wages of Sin is death.' So according to the Bible, compassion can have its limitations.

I however, do not believe in the death penalty: not because it is too cruel or inhumane, but because I feel it is too light of a sentence. People speak of repaying one's debt to society, but in my opinion the death penalty is getting off without paying a cent. I am personally a fan of forced labor camps as a 'capitol' punishment, where restution can be paid by a lifetime of sweat and hard work.
In response to your question, in the New Testament where some people want to stone a woman. Jesus famously said:

'Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone'

I think that speaks volumes of Jesus' policy on capital punishment.
It would seem you asked this question simply to have a opportunity to bash people that don't agree with your policies.
The same book that says 'turn the other cheek' also says 'an eye for an eye'. What it comes down to is: what are you willing to personally own up to on Judgement Day. Personally when St. Peter asks why I agreed to let people be put to death I will tell him because they attempted to harm others without cause and would continue to do so if not stopped. If there is evidence of innocence then that is what appeals are for, right? Further I believe I will be able to say that I personally did not discriminate against anyone and I did not encourage or enable others to do so.
When you say 'I don't claim to know a lot about Jesus' you might want to refrain from following up with 'I can guarantee your Lord wouldn't'. That would be called a contradiction. But again, I don't think you were really looking for an answer. Right?
Really? How can you make such guarantees?

I suggest you read the Bible instead of assum...I mean guaranteeing so much.
Man, where are you coming up with these guarantees? Has Jesus spoken to you lately? Capital punishment is what STARTED Christianity - without it there would be no Church!

You say you don;t claim to know much about Christianity - that would be a good place for you to stop.
Well there is no way Jesus would be in favor of capital punishment!

But, I am not Jesus. Even though I believe in his teachings. I know I can't live my life like he lived his.

I don't know of anyone that follows every written word of their religion and lives by it infinately. If they did they would be considered their own God.
the bible talks a lot about the church of the whore of babylon and biblically the laws of god pertain largely on how you treat your god AND how you treat your fellow man -- particularly those with less than you.

jesus tought turning cheeks. i don't think the death penalty and turning cheeks could fit in the same church unless of course it was the church of the whore of babylon.
I'm very conservative and I don't support the death penalty.

I support life in prison. That doesn't mean 25 years with a chance of parole after 10 or 15 years. It means the convicted murderer spends every day of his remaining life on this Earth in the same 6x6 foot jail cell. No gourmet meals in the cafeteria, no gym time, no visits to the doctor, no private meetings with their lover. And no TV, computer, or correspondence university degrees either.
you'd probably have to ask him. but seeing as he would've pardoned people who had done much worst things (like betray him) probably NOT
I do not claim to be like Christ...I am a man and have opinions.
I doubt he would approve of it...but he is a better than I...
I am not for the death penalty only because I don’t think our government should be killing its citizens. They can’t do anything else correct why would I trust them with this? The government incompetence is amazing but people still want the death penalty.

Since you brought up Jesus I have to say he never spoke against it and he died from it. So as a Christian how can you be against it when Jesus never had a problem with it.

Those of you who say God does not support the death; penalty have you read the bible? It is filled with god killing people and sex. The book should be band because it is so graphic.

The men of god daniel - killed this chicks husband so he could get some action

Noah - married to his sister

Abraham? (I think) was made drunk by both his daughters and they banged him.

two cities where destroyed, the earth was flooded, ywo people kicked out of ta garden for eating fruit, a band of jews had to walk around for 40 years in the dessert as punishment and the leader and most faithful could not go to the promise land because he got angry.

God is pissed all the time and kills people. We are made in his image.
dude you rock! No Jesus wouldn't support these policies. he do sent support any kind of war, do sent support the death penalty, and certainly do sent support discrimination of homosexuals. they do need to step back and look at how they're living their lives.
Yes, I believe He did. He was pretty liberal for His time (i.e. even treating women as the equals to His male disciples), but He wasn't THAT liberal. If you look closely through the New Testament you'll find that Jesus definitely forbade acts of personal vengeance and encouraged forgiveness, but had no qualms about the civil government's authority to try and condemn criminals to death. Jesus made no political statements, outside of accusing the Jewish priesthood of cheating and profiteering off the people. He certainly had ample opportunity to protest the death penalty when He was being tried by Pontius Pilate and hanging on the cross, but He said absolutely nothing against that. As for the incident where He said 'He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone' and saved the woman from being stoned to death, He just felt that she didn't deserve to die because a lot of the men who were about to stone her were obviously guilty of adultery at some point in the past as well, and such an execution would have been grossly hypocritical.

While Jesus was on the cross the Romans inflicted the death penalty on the two criminals next to Him. Christ said nothing in their defense, or against their crucifixions. One of those two mocked Christ. In response, the other criminal (whom Jesus would immediately declare righteous, Luke 23:43) said of their punishments, 'we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong' (Luke 23:41). What did this forgiven criminal, this newly justified man, say about the death penalty? Bottom line: the criminals were getting their just punishment. The dying criminal knew the truth, as he said, 'we indeed' are 'justly' punished. Obviously, Jesus agreed with the punishments they were getting.

The fact is, 2000 years ago in the Roman era (when even torture and slavery were approved of in one form or another by every ancient culture), you might have found some people who didn't think certain specific crimes should be punished with death (the criminals themselves thought that, certainly), but there was NOBODY around back then who voiced the idea that the death penalty, as a rule, was wrong. That, quite simply, is a modern belief, like the principle abolishing cruel and unusual punishment, the abolition of slavery, or the idea of human rights in general.
thats deep, but it boils down to this....90% of all people are hypocrits in one way or another..including myself. the Garden of Eden is no myth..we live on it now. There is MORE than enough resources and food to go around for everyone on earth, yet billionaires, and millionaires, and all kinds of rich socialites keep getting richer while the poor get poorer and the gap between them continues to grow. There is no solution because you cant change the minds of everyone. You can only go out and work hard to get your peice of the pie. If you don't.an unavoidable fate awaits you.
Yep.
You don't have to be a Republican to support the death penalty nor do you have to be religious. You should know that in many passages Jesus also said a rich man will have a harder time getting to heaven than a poor man. Sounds a little socialist to me. He also recommended to a young man who asked him how to get to Heaven to give all his things to everybody else. I don't see anybody agreeing with this, Jesus said many far out things that just doesn't make sense.
First, it seems silly that you can guarantee that you know what Jesus would and would not support. You and I both do not know what he would say or do.

Jesus said that we should follow the law of the old testament. the old testament supports the death penalty for murder, rape, and sexual crimes. Leviticus 17 states that it is a sin to have sex with a person of the same gender as you. Many times in the old testament God told the Israelites to go fight and kill specific groups of people.
Of course the bible is up to personal interpretation, but please, please read the old testament and preferable the whole bible before you pass judgment on other people's interpretations.
I believe he would not support the death penalty. Most Christian who support it sight the Old Testament where god said it was acceptably. Though, the New Testament does not.

I believe he would be against all wars. Early Christians where often put to death with out struggle because violence was wrong and they would be reward after they were martyred. Though, I do not believe the war in Iraq is illegal. Congress voted for it and the President sent the troops. That's all it needs to be legal. If you say it needs UN approval, it does not. We have not ceded our nationality to them.

As for being against gays. He saved a woman accused of adultery from being stoned. The phrase, 'He with out sin may cast the first stone' was his quote. After he saved her he told her that she was a sinner and needs to repent and pray for forgiveness. Both the Old and New Testament say being gay is a sin, but the New Testament says we are not the ones to issue punishment for it.


Answers:
Great points, all.

It is true that there are many Bible passages (especially in the OT) that support capital punishment, often for relatively mild offenses:

- Adultery (Leviticus 20:10)
- Blasphemy (Leviticus 24:16)
- Breaking the Sabbath (Exodus 31:14 & 15)
- Disobedient children (Exodus 21:15 & 17; Leviticus 20:9)
- Homosexuality (Leviticus 20:13)
- Not being a virgin on your wedding night (but only if you're a woman - Deuteronomy 22:13-22)

But, there are many passages (esp. in the New Testament) that are ANTI-death penalty. For example, Matthew 5:38-39 insists that violence shall not beget violence. James 4:12 says that God is the only one who can take a life in the name of justice. Leviticus 19:18 warns against vengeance (which, really, is what the death penalty amounts to). In John 8:7, Jesus himself says, 'let he who is without sin cast the first stone.'

There are many, many practical problems with capital punishment (that I won't get into here), but purely from a moral standpoint, I can't imagine that Jesus would support it. True Christians shouldn't, either.
Death Penalty: Jesus was against revenge and the death penalty is basically just revenge and is proven not to protect society and costs more money.

Iraq: He would support it to support genocide but, if we make it a confederacy as in Biden's Plan there will be no genocide because Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds can run their own regions.

Disrimination: He does not support any discrimination but, if you are referring to Republicans being against 'same-sex maarriage' then he would not support that. Christ said something like 'Marriage is when one man and one woman become one flesh'. This is not disrimination because same-sex marriage does not fit that definition and if you say it is not fair, Christ explains that life is not fair. I could expand this argument but, I don't want to make this too long.

Abortion: The Democrats support abortion, when it is said in the Bible that an unborn baby is a child. How is killing a child Christian.

I am an Independent and will vote for any canidate that I think would be best.
Religious hypocrisy is wide spread in politics. Politicians including George Bush cunningly use religion when it serves their agenda. God has to be shaking His head, 'No'.