Biblical accounts tell us that God Himself resorted to the penalty of death as a method of eliminating evil among men. Take the Noah’s Ark story. For the transgressions of men, God flooded the earth for 40 days and nights, sparing only Noah’s family because of its righteousness.
Consider, too, the story of the pharaoh of Egypt who refused to free the Israelites from slavery. God sent the Angel of Death to kill firstborn male Egyptian babies, until the pharaoh was forced to allow the Israelites to leave Egypt. When he had a change of mind and ordered his army to bring back the Israelites—the capture of the Israelites was imminent because their only means of escape was through the sea—God empowered Moses to open up a dry pathway through the waters for the Israel people, by splitting the sea.
As soon as the last of the Israelites was through the wall of seawater and with Egyptian army closing in, Moses, empowered by God, bade the sea to return to normal, drowning the entire Egyptian army. On both occasions, God employed the death penalty in order to save the people of Israel. Even innocent, newly born babies were subjected to death by God to give the Israelites freedom.
We can cite other biblical accounts showing that God favors the death penalty to uphold the good, like when He sent a rain of fire and stone that annihilated Sodom and Gomorrah.
Heinous crimes—e.g., murder and rape (even of children), drug trafficking—have become rampant in our country and our enforcement agencies appear helpless against the criminal elements behind them, which further emboldens the latter. And the victims are usually innocent and peace-loving citizens. These criminals are a menace to everyone and have no place in a decent society and, therefore, they have to be eliminated.
The death penalty which was instituted by God Himself is the main solution in eliminating evil and criminality. The government must use it. Let’s not wait for God to do the work Himself.
—VIRGILIO JAVIER,
hades_xmer@yahoo.com.ph