- Although capital punishment was incorporated into the Mosaic Covenant, which was limited in scope to one nation, conditioned on that nation's obedience, and completely replaced by a new and better covenant with better promises, the death penalty is part of the universal and perpetual covenant with all humanity via Noah (Genesis 9, particularly v. 6).
- While Jesus requires me to forgive those who wrong me, I have no right to forgive anyone on behalf of another. There is no one left on earth that has the right to forgive a murderer - that right belongs only to the murder victim. The murderer cannot ask his victim for forgiveness, and the victim cannot communicate that forgiveness in order to stay the hand of justice. Therefore, a murderer must join his victim(s) in the afterlife as a condition precedent to forgiveness.
- All sins against God (short of blasphemy against the Spirit) may be forgiven, at God's discretion. Such forgiveness has been offered by virtue of the Cross, and is accessible via repentance and faith. Repentance includes restitution where possible. Murder, however, is not only a sin against God - it is a sin against another human being. If God's forgiveness were to deprive victims of justice, then God would be unjust. God has never been, nor will he ever be, anything other than perfectly just. Therefore, God's forgiveness does not (and cannot) abrogate the Noahic commandment of capital punishment for murder.
- Life in prison is inhumane, and never required by any commandment given by God. It is unjust to society, obligating the innocent to feed, clothe, and house the guilty. It prevents the criminal from fully repenting of his offenses by making restitution to his victim, and thereby deprives victims of the restitution that is their right under the law. In cases where restitution is impossible, either because the victim is dead (murder), or what was taken from the victim cannot be repaid (rape), death is the only just punishment. Society simply cannot avoid capital punishment without multiplying the injustice of the original offense.
To those who believe that fallen, imperfect humans don't have the right to execute another human being, subjecting them to the horrors of eternal conscious torment without the possibility of God's posthumous forgiveness: If you believe God will not or cannot punish sin in proportion to the gravity of the offense, you're accusing God of injustice, and ignoring the fact that God is fully revealed only in the the person of Jesus, and most fully in Christ's unconditional and sacrificial love for all humankind. The Judge of All the World will act justly. Our incomplete understanding of the reality beyond the grave taints our judgment, and we implicitly accuse God of injustice and perpetuate our own brand of injustice when we eschew the justice required for those who shed blood unjustly.
You're welcome to try and convince me of some error in my analysis. However, I'd beware of the claiming that God's commandment is unjust. Capital punishment is a perpetual commandment, given by the Lord to humankind via Noah, and your attempt to justify your objection to it is really saying that you know better than the Almighty.
