Pray For the Abolition of the Death Penalty

Pray For the Abolition of the Death Penalty

Deacon Alex Kwok

The God we believe in is a God of life. In His unfathomable wisdom and love, He created us in His own image and put us in a universe suitable for our existence with a Big Bang. At the moment, our scientists and cosmologists are still struggling to understand its mechanisms and new discoveries keep flooding in. These discoveries manifest the intellectual faculty of our souls which are beautiful. With the advancements of information technology and artificial intelligence in recent years, morality is becoming our last stance to differentiate what is human and what is non-human. Regrettably our morality is lagging far behind our sciences and technologies. For example, the Ten Commandments forbid us from stealing and upholds the right to private property. Yet today we can easily download any movie from the Internet without paying one cent simply with a click without any remorse!

The Ten Commandments also upholds the sacredness and dignity of human life and forbids the killing of innocent persons. Wait a minute! Who allows you to qualify this Commandment with the word “innocent”? Who decides who is innocent and who is not? Only the author of life may decide, not you, not me, nor any chief justice in courts! Our technologies of killing have been refining throughout the ages whereas our appetite for revenge remains unchanged. The death penalty has become less bloody and less brutal these days but still it terminates life. We justify the killing by declaring the defendant guilty of crimes so serious that only death is the most suitable retribution.

“An eye for an eye” is the rationale behind sentencing a murderer/treasonist to death. Yet death penalty is a retribution and not a restitution because the death of the murderer/treasonist compensates nothing and restores nothing. It is unable to bring the victim(s) back to life. In case of serial killers, the death of one killer is not in proportion to the deaths of tens of victims. Worse still, if the electrocuted “murderer” is later found to be innocent when the true “murderer” turns himself in, it is impossible to undo the miscarriage of justice! In case of a treasonist, had the administration been impeccable, the treasonist would have had no opportunity to incite rebellions/riots. So, instead of putting up a patriotic show, would it not be better for the administration to spend more resources and to focus more on improving the governance of the country?

God is the author of life which is a gift to all humanity, whether one is innocent or guilty, intelligent or stupid, dissident or loyalist etc. Only the giver of life can withdraw the gift of life. When we decide to kill legally, whether it be abortion, euthanasia and even death penalty, we are denying God’s majesty and declare that God is wrong in allowing those people to continue living. In short, we play God! It is a sin as ancient as Cain’s refusal to be the keeper of his brother Abel. It shows that we have made very little progress in our morality. No wonder it takes God the Son to incarnate and to die a bloody and shameful death on the cross for us in order to redeem us.

Brethren! Let’s pray together with Pope Francis for the abolition of the death penalty in each and every country on earth. Let us acknowledge the majesty of the author of life, the sacredness and dignity of human persons and stop abusing our authority to eliminate unlikable people. Remember, whether you like them or not, they are also images of God.
God bless!