To the editor:

In his Wednesday column, Andy Gonzales addressed the controversial topic of the death penalty. I disagree with his opinion on the death penalty and his interpretation of scripture.

I agree with Andy that all crime, all sin, is a serious matter.

All of our misdeeds are an insult against a holy God and his creation.

In the Old Testament, God said that some crimes deserved death.

Murder and adultery are examples of this. Genesis 9:6 records God saying, “If anyone sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed.”

Leviticus 21:10 says both parties in an adulterous relationship should be put to death.

If killing all murderers and adulterers seems extreme, let’s go on to see what God revealed in the New Testament.

Jesus says those who are angry with someone face the same judgement as killers (Matthew 5:21-:22) and that everyone who looks lustfully at a woman has committed adultery (Matthew 5:27-:28).

I have felt anger and hatred. I have lusted. Everyone who reads this letter has done these same things. By God’s standards, we all deserve death.

All of us have cut ourselves off from God as surely as any death row inmate has.

Punishment for crimes shouldn’t disappear, fines and imprisonments can help produce a more peaceful society, but the death penalty has been thrown out the window. All the dying that ever needs to be done has been taken care of. Jesus did that when “He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross, so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness.

By his wounds you have been healed.”(1 Peter 2:21)

Ryan Larson

Senior

Political science and history