Should Adultery Be A Capital Crime?

[ibowatjesusfeet]

This debate is going on elsewhere, but I want to get the opinions of those here.

Is adultery a crime which should be punished by death? This means that the US government would prosecute and then execute those who are found guilty of adultery.

[Pate]

Are you serious? :o

[GrayPilgrim]

The site that Ibow is referring to has a number of theonomists on it, and Ibow has only been a Christian for a short period of time, so I believe that he is serious. I'll try to get to this later in a more detailed fashion. But for now the short answer is no. This does not mean adultery is okay, but I have to run out the door so more later.

[spl_cadet]

No. But it is already punishable by jail time and various other penalties for those in the military.

[Pilgrim]

No it should not be punishable by death. There should be consequences but I am not sure it is the governments job to enforce such things.

Of cource, there are civil proceedings that are punative. Divorce, breach of contract, etc.

[J. J. Ramsey]

Adultery already is a Capitol crime. Many people in the Capitol have committed it. :p

Sorry to punish you for that malaprop.

[Dark Knight]

ibowatjesusfeet:

Is adultery a crime which should be punished by death? This means that the US government would prosecute and then execute those who are found guilty of adultery.

Without question.

We must raise the bar against all lifestyles that are damaging to a society. The penalties must increase as the poor behavior increases.

[Shaolin]

i dont think it should be punished by death...if so then they should make rape, molestation, etc. by death also

[Sozo]

Shaolin:
...they should make rape, molestation, etc. by death also

Sounds good to me!

[Alden]

Dark Knight:


Without question.

We must raise the bar against all lifestyles that are damaging to a society. The penalties must increase as the poor behavior increases.

Before I reply, I must say that I am in no way a moral relativist.

The problem with the statement regarding "lifestyles that are damaging to a society" is that it is highly subjective. If we punish this offense by death, what else might follow? This is possibly a very dangerous path. Who decides what is damaging to a society? Murder, we know is damaging. Depriving innocent citizens of life is damaging. If we punish adultery in this way because it is "damaging to society", will we punish jaywalkers in the same way if their behavior is found "damaging" to society's motorists? I realize that this is going a bit far, but hopefully you get my point. Also, the word "unconstitutional" comes to mind.

Also, if society as a whole actually thought that adultery was detrimental (as I do), then we wouldn't be seeing more than half of all marriages end in divorce due to adultery and other causes.

My 2 cents:)

[Sozo]

Alden:
... if society as a whole actually thought that adultery was detrimental (as I do), then we wouldn't be seeing more than half of all marriages end in divorce due to adultery and other causes.


Sometimes you have to make things a crime before a society wakes up to it's destructive influence.

(Nazi Germany comes to mind)

[Ryokan]

Adultery is already illegal as a breach of contract. The state can't concern itself with the religious bond, so it has to treat adultery like breach of contract, and do you really want to kill people who breach contracts?:hrm:

[Alden]

Sozo:


Sometimes you have to make things a crime before a society wakes up to it's destructive influence.

(Nazi Germany comes to mind)

I do agree that it is destructive. My parents marriage disintegrated due to my mother's infidelity. However, I don't see a strong comparison / link in any way to Nazi Germany. What we are talking about here is legislating morality, not protecting the sanctity of the right to live.

[Patroclus]

Excellent point Ryokan :thumb:

[Shaolin]

sozo if u make such crimes punishable by death then that makes you no better then saddam. i mean, thats the way he thinks and thats what he does. i was reading an article on saddam and his kids, they are some messed up ppl. for his kids 16 or was it 18th birthday..well one of those. he took his kid down into the dungeons and gave his kid an ak. he told him kill anyone u want to. so he starts unloading the ak into almost everyone in the dungeon. now u tell me how screwed up is that.. :o

[flipper]

Sozo wrote:


Sometimes you have to make things a crime before a society wakes up to it's destructive influence.

(Nazi Germany comes to mind)

You mean being Jewish? Figures.

[ACow]

I'll have to go with the nuppers.

First of all because i'm against the death penalty.
Second of all, because i think partners who are faithfull to each other purely because of fear to be possibly THE most unhealthy thing to have to live with or to have in the relationship.

Not sure how to put this into words, but if you need punishment to stop you commiting adultery, you probably shouldn't be with the person you are anyway.

[Pilgrim]

I haven't read the whole thread but has anyone addressed the idea that if it does become a capital crime we will al be pu tto death because I have never met a man who has not had lust in his heart at one time or another and according to Christ, that is the same as adultery.

Pretty scary.

Pilgrim

[Sozo]

02-04-2003 @ 02:37 AM
flipper:

Sozo wrote:



You mean being Jewish? Figures.

I figured you wouldn't get it?

[Pilgrim]

I don't get it either. Of course people will think you are talking about being Jewish when you bring up Nazi Germany unless you clarify.

Any takers on my previous post?

[Sozo]

02-22-2003 @ 09:36 AM
Pilgrim:

I don't get it either. Of course people will think you are talking about being Jewish when you bring up Nazi Germany unless you clarify.


The people of Germany were slowly seduced (as we are in this country) to accept the destruction of human life as justifiable through vain and self-promoting arguments. Until we outlaw, abortion, homosexuality, adultery, etc., we may never realize the negative impact that it has on our society.

[Pilgrim]

I understand. It was with the destuction of the Nazi party that Germans were fianlly free to see what it had done to them all those years.

[Sozo]

02-22-2003 @ 12:43 PM
Pilgrim:

I understand. It was with the destuction of the Nazi party that Germans were fianlly free to see what it had done to them all those years. :thumb:

[Ryokan]

Adultery is a form of contract breach Sozo, should all contract breach be ended in death?
And how do you define a homosexual?
What is etc.?

[Pilgrim]

Is that really a good comparison to make? To say that because one form of contract breach deserves on punishment all do seems to overstate the case a bit.

Even the civil law has different sentences for different levels of contract breach and for breaching of different types of contract.

[Ryokan]

I know, Pilgrim. But I have to say something. I am not a big fan of the death penalty period though, and find it appalling that people want to spread its use. Unfortunately, I am not smart enough to convince Sozo of that within his belief frame work. :(
But I have to try.

[undead]

02-01-2003 @ 10:21 PM
Dark Knight:
Without question.

We must raise the bar against all lifestyles that are damaging to a society. The penalties must increase as the poor behavior increases.

I agree. There is a grave illogicality with all you "adultery ought NOT to be punished by death" people. A very serious issue with your "I'm against the death penalty" flippancy.

What, "biblically speaking", are you going to do to the husband when he finds his wife and her lover flagrante delicto, and kills them?

Well, what does the Levitical law allow you to do to the husband?

NIL, NOTHING, NULL (check out Phinehas).


Num 25:8 And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.


Too bad. Go condemn the husband, and you may as well say good bye to heaven, for God will condemn you for hypocrisy.

Wouldn't it be more sensible to have a sensible law? There is only one law, when it comes to laws concerning morality, as Christ testified, and that was the Levitical law.

[brother vinny]

:bump:

[micah4]

Brother Vinny, the time bandit. Is it 2003 again?

[Genesius]

Well I guess for me the first thing that comes to mind is... who is going to cast the first stone?

Am I taking the easy way out with this answer?

Christians at least should not be calling for the death penalty for such a "crime".

[ashestoglory]

Well I guess for me the first thing that comes to mind is... who is going to cast the first stone?

Am I taking the easy way out with this answer?

Christians at least should not be calling for the death penalty for such a "crime".
I've been cheated on. Not much in life is more painful, but I think I would've hurt even more had some well meaning person turned the guilty party in to be executed while I still loved him and had hope that he would repent.

Raising the bar is great, but who is sinless enough to hold that job? Not me.

[HRG_new]

Sometimes you have to make things a crime before a society wakes up to it's destructive influence.

(Nazi Germany comes to mind)

"The Nazi's enacted the Nuremberg laws and increased the penalty for abortion, so that society woke up to the destructive influences of Jews and abortion"

I'm sure you did not mean it that way, but it certainly sounded a bit like that.

[HRG_new]

The people of Germany were slowly seduced (as we are in this country) to accept the destruction of human life as justifiable through vain and self-promoting arguments. Until we outlaw, abortion, homosexuality, adultery, etc., we may never realize the negative impact that it has on our society.

You mean outlaw homosexuality and increase the punishment for abortion like the Nazis did ?

I don't know if you are familiar with the expression "pink triangle". That's what homosexuals had to wear on their clothing in the concentration camps - to single them out for extra brutalities by the guards.

[kawaika]

The people of Germany were slowly seduced (as we are in this country) to accept the destruction of human life as justifiable through vain and self-promoting arguments. Until we outlaw, abortion, homosexuality, adultery, etc., we may never realize the negative impact that it has on our society.

Actually, this isn't true. While some Germans did "accept the destruction of human life as justifiable through vain and self-promoting arguments" most didn't. Just look at what happened when the Germans found out about the T4 program. They protested against it, but the program was continued in secret.