Inspiring Bible Passages

[lame54]

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/rights/143324/playing_god_texas_jury_consulted_bible_before_sentencing_man_to_death

Playing God? Texas Jury Consulted Bible Before Sentencing Man to Death
Posted by Liliana Segura, AlterNet at 12:30 PM on October 16, 2009.

From Amnesty International:

Khristian Oliver, 32, is set to be killed on 5 November after jurors used Biblical passages supporting the death penalty to help them decide whether he should live or die.
Amnesty International is calling on the Texas authorities to commute Khristian Oliver's death sentence. The organization considers that the jurors' use of the Bible during their sentencing deliberations raises serious questions about their impartiality.
A U.S. federal appeals court acknowledged last year that the jurors' use of the Bible amounted to an "external influence" prohibited under the U.S. Constitution, but nonetheless upheld the death sentence.
Apparently, this "external influence" included the following passages from the Old Testament, some of which were read aloud in the jury room:

"The murderer shall surely be put to death"

"And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, the murderer shall surely be put to death."

"The revenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer."

[Warpy]

1. God didn't say that stuff

A bunch of Bronze Age barbarians did.

I guess the progress the race has made is only skin deep.

[gratuitous]

6. They also said, "Don't cheat your neighbor"

Leviticus 8, if you're scoring along at home (also this past Sunday's text for Jubilee Sunday). But they were barbarians, so what did they know? And that whole "serve one another in love" thing (Ephesians)? Soooo first century! Totally played. Fucking barbarians!

[Warpy]

7. They also said to kill kids who sass you

and had interesting punishments for people who ate pork or sold blended fibre clothing.

Face it, they were a bunch of barbarians. The fact that they got a few things right is an exception to their general rule.

[gratuitous]

9. We are indeed so much more advanced

We do our killing by proxy and remote control. Larger scale, too. I could never slaughter a million Iraqis all by myself, but in my name and with my tax dollars, the deed got done. Who do I thank?

[Occam Bandage]

2. I wonder, which of the jurors considered himself without sin enough to cast the first stone?

[Zoeisright]

4. No kidding. They also forgot:

"Judge not, lest ye be judged. For the measure you give will be the measure you receive."

Of course, the Bible can be used to support any position on the planet, including slavery and infanticide.

[GMA]

5. the older I get

the more I think I'd hate to be in a position of sending anyone to prison for life, let alone for sentencing someone to death , but come on, your very statement is incredibly judgmental, and I see the same kind of less-than-thoughtful posts more often than not here at du.

[Taitertots]

8. That is not anti-death penalty

It is not even anti judging.

It means that you should be held to the same standard of judgment you wish to pass on people. It is advocating equality of judgment not absence of judgment.

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

3. Too bad

this isn't about Balloon Boy.

That thread got 11 rec's within minutes. :shrug:

[spanone]

10. the taliban comes to mind