THE EDITOR, Sir:
PERMIT ME to comment on the issue of 'Capital Punishment', which at this time seem to be the most burning topic on the lips of the Jamaican people.
The Jamaican people are predominately practitioners of the Christian religion and although they are diversified in their respective doctrines they are all guided by strong Christian religious principles.
It therefore behooves me to attempt to comprehend the thinking of the followers of this religion which includes some of our political representatives who continue to oppose capital punishment on the basis of religious principles. The Bible clearly supports capital punishment in several passages to name a few:
Acts 25 v 11; Romans 13 v 4; Genesis 9 v 6; Exodus 21 v 12.
Deuteronomy 19 v 1-11 states that "If any man hates his own neighbour and lie in the wait for him and rise up against him and smite him mortally that he dies and fleeth into one a city of refuge, then the elders of the city should send and fetch him and deliver him into the hands of the avenger of blood that he may die".
Now then, the Christian religion not only teaches but it was demonstrated on the cross by Jesus himself that if in your last dying breath you are able to admit your sins and ask for forgiveness and are sincere, your sins will be forgiven.
Christ demonstrated this to the thief on the cross who admitted his guilt and asked to be remembered in Christ's kingdom.
You must take note that the thief (not murderer) stated that he and his companion were deserving of the death penalty and Christ seemingly must have agreed with him in that he did not stay the execution, but rather saved the man's soul.
SAVING SOULS
This demonstrates that the prerogative of saving souls is for the Lord and not man.
The Christian and human rights groups are therefore misdirecting their sympathy and compassion in opposition of the death penalty.
The fact is that the man or woman who commits murder and is found guilty after going through the legal process and hence is placed on death row, has all the time to admit his guilt and request forgiveness from his Lord, whether or not he is a believer.
Jesus said He came to save and die for all, giving us hope through faith and a promise for eternal life with Him.
It is the person that is murdered that we should be concerned about. He or she might not have been given the opportunity to call on the Lord to have mercy on his soul and therefore his soul might be lost.
DESTROY SOULS
So what is also clear here is that the murderer not only takes a life, but also destroys a soul in many instances while still having the opportunity to save his own soul.
For those who argue that the death penalty is not a deterrent I would ask them the following.
Are prison sentences for rape, carnal knowledge, and incest, fraud, larceny and illegal drugs a deterrent? If the answer is in the affirmative, then how is it that we have so many criminals coming before the courts repeatedly for some of these offences.
Surely, when Blackstone wrote our laws he must have intended that the penalty for breaking the law must be a form of punishment, not a deterrent, matching the crime committed.
Therefore, the matching punishment for capital murder from a moral and Christian stand point must be the death penalty.
For those like my lawyer friend on the Patrick Bailey talk show recently, that argue against capital punishment because of the chance that an innocent life could be lost is baseless.
Is there ever a revolution, religious or otherwise, where innocent lives were not lost?
Innocent lives were lost so that we can have this religion and all other religions and will continue to be lost.
An innocent life was lost when Christ died on the cross and out of that came hope for eternal life.
Christians remember that Christ said, before his words pass away heaven and earth will pass away.
These are his words.
So let us not lament for the one who commits murder and maybe also destroyed a soul, and has the opportunity to save his soul. Rather, let us lament for the one who is murdered and hence, might have lost the opportunity to save his or her soul.
I am, etc.,
Arthur 'Teddy' R. Phidd
Justice of the Peace
