AN EYE FOR AN EYE - Government - http://www.maxpagesplus.com/darkevilworld/An_Eye_for_an_Eye

Now, to the point here:

In the past couple of years more and more people are apparently abandoning any pretense that capital punishment is justified on the basis that it will deter others from committing violent acts. The justification is retribution, pure and simple. The purported spirit and licence for the right of vengeance said to be contained in "an eye for an eye" is swiftly becoming a national motto. Lately we are also hearing a lot of talk about how executions are necessary, in order to bring some "finality" to the grief and suffering of the victim's survivors. Loose ends need to be brought together, it is said, and the demands of justice must be satisfied. People need "closure."

Giving this some deeper thought, it seems fairly evident that putting people to death has now become a kind of social and individual "therapy"; a vehicle which purports to bring a kind of individual and social "healing." Frankly, that makes me shudder. Sigmund Freud must be rolling over in his grave with frustration over not having the opportunity to be alive in this particular time. He was of the opinion that virtually all human actions have root in the self-gratification demands of the libido, and I think that his theory would have been significantly corroborated with the observance of the motivations and behaviors of most of the proponents of capital punishment. And yet, I doubt that even he would have equated capital punishment with therapy and healing, although I think that the concept of closure does sometimes closely parallel orgasmic releases.

I must acknowledge that I personally cannot renounce capital punishment per se; as a concept, I mean. That does not, however, mean that I will support it. There's a profound saying about allowing "the dead to bury the dead," and about the wise ever being caught in their own craftiness. Also, I think anyone who reflects seriously upon life must conclude that there are indeed spirits manifested which, if hurled off the edge of the world will leave the world incrementally less threatened and therefore an incrementally better place to be for those who will remain..a brief time longer.

Beyond that, there appear to be two broader social "judgements" at play regarding those who support and applaud capital punishment. We can sum them into two broad spheres; religious and non-religious.

To see it through these respective eyes, executing someone is, for those who have little or no religious beliefs little more than advancing a day appointed for us all. We all must "die" physically and given this inescapable event, it seems to be merely a relative matter when and under whatt circumstances one's "number is up." Musing about it, I suppose that it could be said that in the broader scheme of things Life itself seeks "closure" from the presence of the human organism. I mean, after all, humans die at the rate of 4 or 5 per second on a global scale, and if death and exercising the power over life and death is a function of libido as Freud would proclaim, then Mother Nature must be in veritable orgasmic bliss.

If indeed we are truly autonomous beings, as those who dismiss the notion that there is a God espouse, then for a murderer to slay his victim is merely an act of autonomy, while society's executing someone is likewise the same thing except that it's done by a collective hand. In that light, official executions seem hollow indeed, simply because a killer can exercise his autonomy to theoretical infinity, while society can execute each killer only once.

Without belief in a God who will exercise a flawless justice in the end, more and more individuals are apparently deciding that they will then execute their own justice. That places the killer and the executioners onto equal footing indeed. In that context, a killer is just as justified in killing whomever he will for whatever reason he will, as society is supposedly justified for executing a killer for killing. The whole thing becomes merely relative. Since the world so greatly emphasizes human individuality as an ideal manifestation of freedom and qualitative plateau, then it can be said that an individual killer is actually being more true to the ideal of autonomy for taking the life of his victim(s) than society is for taking the life of the killer by the voice of the herd.

In contrast, for those who profess to have some religious, and especially Christian beliefs, the matter is vastly more complex and difficult. Despite the obvious proclamations contained in the New Testament undermining the concept of executions, there are very many professing Christians who support capital punishment. It has often been a source for a kind of wry amusement to me to listen to all the malice and hatred, the self-justifications which these people spew forth.

Whenever I contemplate this self-contradicting mentality and emotion, I am left with a feeling of deep pity and sadness. However, because I do believe in the promise that in the last day justice will be executed flawlessly, there is also a perpetual private prayer that those who entertain this kind of hypocrisy and evil in their minds and hearts will indeed quickly seal their own fates in echo of their own judgements. Then again, by simply patiently awaiting time running its course, person by person is dealt their individual justice quickly enough. A flicker and a twinkle of time and we will each know the truth.

When pressed regarding their self-contradicting and hypocritical belief that it's ok to support capital punishment, most such who profess Christianity will eventually revert to the biblical concept of "and eye for an eye and a life for a life." The many verses such as "vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord" and "whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer" are, of course, conveniently dismissed by them. It is simply not self-justifying to have to reconcile a new with an old covenant, or to contemplate that God might be saying something other than that which is conveniently spouted by those who seek to justify their carnal sickness on supposed biblical principle.

However, having myself come to believe and to strive to implement a true and healing faith in my own life, I feel an obligation to make an appeal to those Christians who support capital punishment, or who in any way entangle themselves in the affairs of the world, to consider that the notion of an eye for an eye and a life for a life, whatever it formerly meant, was itself transformed with the death of Christ under a new covenant; that is, was brought under a new and penetrating meaning and dynamic. I bid every Christian to consider this:

To the two in Eden who defied God's will, it was forewarned that in the day that they ate of the forbidden fruit, "thine eyes shall become open and thou shalt surely die." Without question, with the opening of that eye death surely ensued, and so it is that death and the opening of that eye are synonymous. Later, another dictate issued to Israel implicated the lawful pursuit of retributive justice, since one was indeed justified under the law in taking an eye for an eye and a life for a life. Then, at the beginning of Christ's ministry by those who came before Him, the faithful witnesses began their testimonies with "let the eyes of their understanding be opened." Finally, our Lord Himself went about his ministry in causing the blind to see, and causing those who said they had sight to become blind. Then came the final warning, "let thine eye be single."

Every Christian should also know and accept the proposition that in order to find eternal life, there must first be the death of "the old man and his deeds" (by works, in faith). With that creature's death is manifested a "new creature," born according to the spirit, not after the flesh.

Collectively, these teachings reveal that an "eye for an eye, and a life for a life" do not in fact deal with retributive justice in the manner mankind conveniently justifies when justifying his murders, but with perceiving, and with exchanging the life of the old man and his evil deeds for the rebirth into a new creature of the spirit.

To begin to solve the mystery, a Christian need only consider that it is self-evident that before the eye in Eden opened to bring death, those in Eden could already "see." They beheld the glory of God and the beauty of His creation. However, the eye by which they saw these things then closed, when the other eye opened with the eating of the forbidden fruit, and when death came.

So, later came the command that in order to re-open the eye that was closed in Eden, man has to close the eye that opened when the warning was ignored. He must now exchange "an eye for an eye." In order to see by the eye that was closed, man has to close the eye that was opened. However, through works alone and by individual effort, none could perform this miracle among men, and so it became necessary that with the issuing in of the new covenant, all teaching began with the miracle of the opening of the "eye of their understanding."

At this point of Christian awakening there exists a dual vision in those whose spiritual eye has opened, and whose carnal eye had only begun to close. Hence, Christ's bidding that after the closed eye first is re- opened, the faithful are to "let thine eye be single"; that is, to completely close the eye which opened in Eden, and by whose sight every creature born into the world first "sees." Indeed, "if thine right eye offend thee, pluck it out." An eye for an eye.

Perhaps the Christian who currently justifies support of capital punishment on the basis of an eye for an eye and a life for a life, prayer will seek prayer to know the meaning and spirit of these things, and repentance of the murders that have been perpetrated in support of WORLDLY judgements and executions will follow. You are otherwise no longer justified through faith and holy scripture to issue judgement against your fellow men. Let the world pursue its own affairs. There is a deep mystery in the washing of the hands of Pilate.

No matter what else may be said for or against capital punishment, and there is much, it is undeniable that society is still struggling with it all. It still seeks answers to the crime problem and to so much wanton violence in the world. Yet, if this is true, that few answers have been found and that society is still seeking a true solution, then why do executions continue? Is not "acting now and worrying about the consequences later" precisely the attitude so universally condemned as being irresponsible and immature? Is not acting now and worrying about the consequences later at the very root of crime and criminal behavior itself? When an accused does in fact come to see the error of his ways and appeals for understanding, forgiveness and mercy is he not told, "You should have thought about all that before you did the crime"? And yet, society continues to go on with executions, knowing it has no answers and knowing that it has no means for measuring the consequences. What on earth can be said about that kind of folly and evil?

I personally feel that it is well that it takes place in the night, this execution business. "Night" has always been a deeply revealing metaphor.

Sixteen candles have recently been lit in Arkansas. Perhaps when an entire highway is lined with such candles; when an entire city is illuminated with such candles; when an entire nation is aglow with such candles, then some answers will have been found, and this strange form of therapy and healing for reason of closure will be seen for the evil that it is. On the other hand, it seems to be a fundamental premise that all mankind is under sentence of death, whether or not it has believed in the God who issued that judgement. So, let it be done to us all as we have adjudged against each other.

In the regard to Christians, it would be well to remember that Christ was not crucified amidst upstanding, noble and righteous citizens of His day, but BY them, amidst thieves. He did not consort with the vipers and hypocrites of His day, but with publicans and sinners. There is something to recognize there.

EXECUTION UPDATE:

Another two candles lit; and another two lives are extinguished. Mark Gardner and Alan Willett were executed after 8:00 p.m. on September 8, 1999, thereby becoming the twentieth and twenty-first to die since Arkansas has resumed capital punishment in 1990; and the 188th since 1913.

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LINDA TANT MILLER

WASHINGTON

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