I think in order to truly grow, there are times we have to look deep within ourselves and confront the personal beliefs that we have that might be incompatible a Christ centered faith. A belief system in Christian thought and in Christ as Savior, should challenge us to examine our inconsistencies.
Our faults in thinking can be as simple as losing one's temper while driving, becoming aggravated with a coworker, being rude or thoughtless. On a more serious scale a fault may lie in a belief that the ends justify the means; that torture is okay, that deliberate cruelty is fine so long as the end result is the desired result. Additionally some may come to the conclusion that the death penalty is acceptable to rid society of those that society deems unreachable and unredeemable.
I think that the fault in believing that torture is okay is that torture in its truest sense is a form of rape. The victim, the one being tortured if you will; must surrender himself to the fact that he is indeed helpless in the hands of his tormentor. What we often fail to recognize though is that the torturer is at some level tortured himself or in deep and undeniable torment. The act alone dehumanizes both the victim and the assailant. This is often the case with most debasing behavior though isn’t it?
In contemplating the death penalty, I believe that when humankind meters out this form of punishment that humankind is playing God. It is part of God's divine plan that all human beings are redeemable. When humanity kills a human either as punishment, or in war or in any sort of conscious act of inhumanity is acting like God. That sin of playing God, robs God and the punished individual of their right, their divine right to redemption and reconciliation. As I mature more I’ve become much more steadfast that no human or human institution has the right deny another the right of redemption.
Hebrews 12:14
Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
