[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 9




SOUTH AMERICA:

Church in South America Passes Statement Opposing Death Penalty----Document was 
drafted with input from the world church's Biblical Research Institute.



Delegates from the 8 countries that make up the South American Division (SAD) 
church region voted to accept an opinion statement on capital punishment and 
its promotion within local churches at the regional year end meetings in Bahia, 
Brazil, in early November. The statement was drafted by the Biblical Research 
Institute (BRI), the world church's advising body on theological matters, after 
a specific request from the regional church.

The document contextually discusses biblical texts and passages that seem to 
support the application of the death penalty by governments, to conclude that 
"Adventists believe that violence and capital punishment have no place within 
the Church. In other words, it is not the task of the Church to take human 
life."

The statement of opinion by the BRI shed light not only on the topic of capital 
punishment but on how biblical doctrinal studies should be tackled, said some 
of the theologians attending the SAD year end meetings.

"The document is interesting not only for its contents but for the 
hermeneutical principles it explicitly states," wrote South American Publishing 
House editor in chief Marcos Blanco in an email exchange with Adventist Review. 
"We should never react to isolated texts without their wider theological 
context.... Against that background, I think the document agrees with the 
general nature of Scriptures and historical positions of the Adventist Church 
on similar topics."

The Crafting of the Document

BRI associate director Ekkehardt Mueller, who coordinated the BRI Ethics 
Committee (BRIEC) team that drafted the voted statement, sent Adventist Review 
an email detailing the crafting process of the document. "This is not a 
full-fledged approach to the issue of capital punishment," he wrote.

"Adventists believe that violence and capital punishment have no place within 
the Church. In other words, it is not the task of the Church to take human 
life."

Mueller explained that it was written after a request and in response to a 
specific situation in South America, where the topic was causing unrest among 
members in some local churches. Most South American countries do not 
contemplate capital punishment in their legislation, except for specific 
military charges in times of war.

The opinion nature of the document, however, does not mean that the BRI took 
its assignment lightly. Months before the BRIEC meeting, members received 
reading materials on the topic by different authors with different positions, 
explained Mueller. BRI director Elias Brasil de Souza also prepared a paper 
that was read before the committee. "We spent about half a day discussing the 
topic, and substantial time the next day to discuss and modify the 
statement/opinion that was written overnight," shared Mueller. "After the 
meeting, BRI members continued to tweak the document before sending it to the 
SAD."

What the Document Says

The document states that even though the Bible does not ignore the suffering of 
those affected by heinous crimes, the question is raised whether capital 
punishment is an appropriate response. The application of capital punishment 
"is often fraught with procedural difficulties," and "is irreversible," 
something that "should make us very cautious."

As the document states, however, the key task is to get to know the biblical 
view of capital punishment by studying biblical texts on the topic in various 
contexts. It is also important to understand it from "a robust biblical 
anthropology," as over the years, the Adventist Church has issued official 
statements "against violence, war, and euthanasia, and in favor of tolerance 
and noncombatancy," it reads.

"The Church shares the biblical teaching of the immense value of all life and 
the sanctity of human life especially, which was created in the image of God," 
reads the statement. Accordingly, "[it] seeks to preserve and protect human 
life."

After explaining that under the Old Testament theocracy, "the death penalty is 
mentioned in a variety of cases," the statement goes on to read that "in the 
New Testament [the capital punishment] legislation is not applied to the 
Christian church." And it adds, "with His first advent, Jesus brought to an end 
the Jewish theocracy and established His kingdom ethics."

Citing a specific example of an incestuous relationship mentioned in 1 
Corinthians 5, the document states that in the New Testament, "capital 
punishment is no longer practiced by the people of God." Within that context, 
"killing heretics, as practiced by some Christian churches in the past, is not 
only unwarranted but absolutely wrong and unlawful from a biblical 
perspective," the document reads.

Governments and Capital Punishment

The statement goes on to discuss 2 specific biblical texts - Genesis 9:5, 6 and 
Romans 13:4 - that are commonly used to support the execution of the death 
penalty by governments. After a contextual analysis, the document voted 
acknowledges that "currently, there is no agreement on the interpretation of 
these texts in the larger Christian community or in the Adventist Church." And 
it adds, "Consequently, there is also no agreement on the issue of whether, 
from a biblical perspective, governments are allowed or even required to 
institute capital punishment."

Despite that lack of agreement on the specific role of governments on the 
application of the death penalty, the voted document states that the church 
should not adopt an active role in promoting it. "In view of the fact that 
capital punishment has no place in the Christian church, it is not right for 
the church to be seen as a quasi agent in advocating capital punishment, even 
though the state might carry it out," it reads.

In the closing paragraph of the document, BRIEC members recommend church 
members not to get involved in campaigns promoting the death penalty. "The 
mission of the Church is not to promote death but to announce life and hope," 
it states.

To read the original English version of the document voted, see: 
https://adventistbiblicalresearch.org/sites/default/files/pdf/Death Penalty An 
Opinion rev7 copy.pdf

(source: Advent Review)