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Old Testament Many Christians mistakenly think that the Old Testament favors capital punishment based on the principle of lex talionis. However, while the Old Testament does allow capital punishment, biblical studies show that this is a qualified acceptance, much like the toleration of divorce " due to the hardness of your hearts" (Mt. 19:8). Some of the passages most often used to justify the death penalty in the Old Testament are the following:
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Gen 9:5-6: After the deluge, God told Noah: "I will demand an account of your life-blood. I will demand an account from every beast and from man. I will demand an account of every man's life from his fellowmen. He who sheds man's blood, shall have his blood shed by man, for in the image of God man was made". Exod 21:12-17: In Jewish law, a sentence of capital punishment was pronounced on anybody who "strikes a man with mortal blows". "kills his fellow by treacherous intent" "strikes his father or mother". Or "abducts a man". Lev 24:17-18: Here, the death penalty is served as a form of retribution to anyone who kills another human being. Other verses which are cited to justify the imposition of the death penalty are: Num 35:9-34: Deut 21:10): Jer2:34-37: Hos1:4,4:1-5: Deut 21:7-8 While the Jewish law justified the principle of lex talionis (law of retaliation or the principle of "an eye for an eye"), in the light of many other passages of the Sacred Scripture, these laws can be considered as a limitation rather than a positive command to seek vengeance. Moreover, it would be inconsistent to use the Old Testament practice to justify the present application of capital punishment because of the following reasons: 1) The Old Testament death penalty included a number of offenses that our society does not consider as motives for imposing death. 1) The Old Testament law established a more strict set of judicial procedures. In fact, the standard of proof required before a pronouncement of the death penalty could be made went beyond our standard of "beyond reasonable doubt" to "absolute certainty" Eye witness who lied subjected themselves to the same penalty. 1) The taking of a life in the Old Testament had a ceremonial function rather than a purely legal one, and to draw parallelism to modern use would be fallacious.
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