Dr Francis Shaeffer, a noted theologian, has said, “When society abandons God’s absolutes, society becomes absolute. But the absolutes of a Godless society are arbitrary. Such arbitrary absolutes result in among other things, the abandonment of ideals, proceeds with moral corruption and pleasure seeking, then collapse into chaos and confusion and finally the society falls into the hands of an evil dictatorship”.
According to the Bible, it was never God’s intention that individuals should take the law into their own hands under any circumstance. God made that quite clear after Cain killed Abel, the first murder on record in the Bible. “So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.”
And Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear! Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me.”
And the LORD said to him,“Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.”And the LORD set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him. (Genesis 4:11-15).
Unfortunately, conditions did not improve but rapidly deteriorated over time. Things got so bad that the wickedness of man was described as “great in the earth”. Consequently some 1656 years after the creation of Adam, with the exception of Noah and his family and the animals selected and placed in an Ark, God destroyed all other humans and land animals off the face of the earth in the flood.
After the flood, God entered into a covenant with Noah. In the covenant with Noah, God delegated to man the power to preserve order in society by restraining and punishing criminal behaviour (Genesis 9).
Speaking specifically to the issue of murder God said, whoever shed’s a man’s blood by man shall his blood be shed for in the image of God made He man (Genesis 9:6). The covenant by which human government was given legitimacy was not limited to Noah, “The covenant is with you and your descendants after you (Genesis 9:9).
God in His wisdom established human government, it was not man’s idea, so that man for his own good would be able to enforce the laws which God had given him; and be able to make subsidiary laws as it became necessary to preserve order in a nation and to punish those who violate such laws (Romans 13:1-5). With respect to killing another person God reiterated his pronouncement to Israel, and the rest of the world when He said, (1) “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13) and (2) Whoever murders any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses, but one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die. Moreover, you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer, who is guilty of death, but he shall be surely put to death (Numbers 35:30-31).
In Belize, as a people, we say in the Preamble to the Constitution that “we recognize that men and institutions remain free only when freedom is founded uponrespect for moral and spiritual values and the rule of law.” As a result Section 4(1) of the Constitution of Belize clearly states, in support of capital punishment, “A person shall not be deprived of his life intentionally save in execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence under any law of which he has been convicted”.
In Belize, as in some other nations, one of the arguments against capital punishment is that, “if the government executes a person convicted of murder then the government has committed murder.” That argument in my view is not valid since it is inconsistent with Section 4(1) of the Constitution of Belize which clearly states, in support of capital punishment, “A person shall not be deprived of his life intentionally save in execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence under any law of which he has been convicted”.And murder is a criminal offence.
Another argument is that capital punishment is “cruel and unusual punishment” based on Section 7 of the Constitution of Belize. However that argument is inconsistent with the intent of Section 7 which states clearly and simply, “No person shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading punishment or other treatment”.
Let us look at the definition of the words “person”, “punishment”, and “punish.”
“Person” is defined as – an individual human being; the living body of a human being.
‘Punishment” is defined as – the act or an instance of punishing; the condition of being punished.
“Punish” is defined as – cause (an offender) to suffer for an offence.
Let us now look at the definition of “penalty.” “Penalty” is defined as – a punishment, especially a fine, for a breach of law, contract, etc; a disadvantage, loss, etc. especially as a result of one’s own actions.
It is reasonable to conclude from those definitions and in the present context, that an offender would be a person; a living human being who has been found guilty of an offence – murder. Consequently the penalty for the crime of murder is punishment for a breach of law, the law being – you shall not murder (Exodus 20:13). When a person has been found guilty of murder, because that person chose to punish another person outside the legal jurisdiction of a court of law, and resulting in the death; it brings into focus the application of a penalty – the penalty of a “loss”; a loss especially as a result of one’s own actions. That loss is, in accordance with Section 4:1 of the Constitution, the loss of a life to be executed through the penalty of death or the “death penalty.”
The “death penalty” is therefore consistent with Section 4 (1) of the Belize Constitution which states, “A person shall not be deprived of his life intentionally save in execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence under any law of which he has been convicted”.
It is, nevertheless, important in the exercise of justice in Belize, to have a process of appeal that is transparent every step of the way. It would seem that justice in Belize should be relieved of the idea that capital punishment is cruel and unusual punishment. Not to do so reinforces the misconception that an individual has a right to take the life of another person in violation of the law, while the collective wisdom of the people within the provision of the Constitution is impotent in the exercise of justice in accordance with the highest law of Belize.
Belizeans, the argument that capital punishment does not stop crime simply does not make sense. Capital punishment is a penalty for an offence committed in violation of a law. Who in his or her right mind would argue that the penalty for rape should not be enforced simply because enforcing the penalty will not reduce crime?
Belizeans, we are the ones who say that we recognize that men and institutions remain free only when freedom is founded uponrespect for moral and spiritual values and the rule of law.
God gave human government the authority to restrain and punish crime, because the root of crime is the sin nature of man (James 4:1-3; Romans 1:28-32; Galatians 5:19-21). By holding before men the threat of temporal punishment, government can hold man’s sin nature in check and so often times can compel man to refrain from criminal acts. But that is all governments can do. Government can only restrain sin and promote civil righteousness – and that with only partial success. Government cannot eradicate the sin nature or cleanse men from their sins. Only the finished work of Jesus Christ on Calvary’s cross can do that.
As a nation we continue to spiral downward in a moral, political, social and economic quagmire that is being enhanced by the abandonment of divine absolutes. Where we will be at another point in time will be determined by how we respond to the question –
God, the Bible and the Church – – – relevant or irrelevant at this time?