Customer Reviews

The Biblical Truth about America's Death Penalty

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Biblical Truth about America's Death Penalty is a must-read. It deals with Biblical standards of Capital Punishment and then compares them to the system used in America today. It is the best-researched, most faithful to scripture, and most evenhanded analysis I have ever read concerning the Death Penalty. Whatever your persuasion on the issue, this book will teach you a great deal. Recinella is a trained lawyer and committed Christian who now volunteers full-time on Florida's death row. He thus understands law, the Bible, and the system of execution in America. I challenge anyone who supports the Death Penalty to read this book.

This is an excellent review of the death penalty and its application in the U.S. today. Given the vociferous nature of the claim that the Bible supports the death penalty, the focus of the book is a legal analysis of what that standard is and whether the death penalty in the U.S. actually meets that standard. The author, an attorney himself, has done his research and has provided extensive citations to the authorities he relies upon, so that the reader, if interested, can check those authorities for him or her self.

The interesting thing I found about the book was that, despite its focus on the biblical standards for death and the U.S. death penalty's (lack of) compliance with those standards, it also provided a thought-provoking and, to me, scary insight into how our death penalty is administered and applied today. I hope that every person who is involved in the application and administration of the death penalty, from the legislator who votes for it, to the governor who signed the bill, to the prosecutor who prosecutes the cases, to the parol or pardon board member which decides clemency issues, reads this book.

This should be a must-read for everyone who claims to be a Christian and also supports the death penalty in the United States. I'm guessing that because the writer is a lawyer and wants to make his point bullet-proof, he repeats himself frequently, and that becomes tedious. However, the meat of the book is incredibly challenging. It is a wake-up call to use the entirety of Scripture in our approach to criminal law, rather than thoughtlessly picking and choosing sound bites to support an only marginally thought-out point of view.

The author uses over 300 pages to convince us of something that only needs 2 Bible verses. that is, if you believe the Bible.
Genesis 9:6 says, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man."
Ezekiel 13:9 says, "And will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live"

Man was made in the image of God, and the Bible is clear, if you kill a person, you are to be put to death. God is not happy when we keep alive those who should not live!
But go ahead and base what you believe on your feelings and not the truth of God's word.
Proverbs 14:2 & 16:25 both say, "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
It might seem right, and your feelings might agree, to not put a man to death. But are you going to go with your feelings or with God??

Man is not perfect, and if you dont have Christians in positions of power, you DO run the risk of possibly having someone on death row who shouldnt be there. But that is no reason to ignore God's word and do away with His commands!!

300+ pages of feel good words. Few pages of Bible truth!!