Maybe I used too many monkeys

[cyrano]

While I'm thinking about it.
So there's a man in prison right now, sentenced to death. And, like many people sentenced to death, he has Found Jesus and Become a Better Person. And is asking not to be killed since he has Found Jesus.
I am opposed to the death penalty. This has no bearing upon my question.
Which is this: If somebody had Found Jesus, then wouldn't they (thinking that killing a person is a Bad Thing) feel that they deserved to be punished for it? And with the Bible calling for an eye for an eye, wouldn't they think that punishment should be death?

This doesn't confuse me as much as the question about people who want to charge doctors who perform abortions with murder but not the women who request the service. But it confuses me.

Comments

[eyelessgame.livejournal.com]

Finding Jesus has, in my experience with those who say they have, less commonality to it than you'd think. For one thing, Jesus was definitely not about an eye for an eye; he specifically replaced that with 'turn the other cheek' -- but there's a lot of people who find Jesus but still can't quote much of his work.

So I think it's a mistake to think all Christians are the same, even all newly-minted Christians. Probably some death-row inmates do find Jesus, do think as you suggest, and go quietly to their deaths without making a fuss.

But to a lot of other people, finding Jesus is about wiping your slate clean, being forgiven for your sins, and feeling a calling to do something with your life. Some of those who beg for leniency may feel they honestly need to go out and make amends, say by preventing other murders, or making more people into the sort of Christian that discourages murder, or something like that.

Honest religious conversion is (imho) a personal thing. It's not a love-big-brother we-are-all-one mind control.

And of course some of them are likely to be plain opportunists, which should deeply shock you.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Well spoken. Thank you.