are there any christians who approve of the death penalty?

I am a Christian. I do believe in the death penalty, but not because "an eye for an eye." "Eye for an eye" was not meant to poke someone's eye out if they caused you to lose an eye, per se. It's about equity in the law, not getting your hand chopped off for stealing a loaf of bread. Spirit of the law, not letter of the law.

I think the DP is overused, a political tool to show the citizenry that "I'm tough on crime -- in an election year." I think if you have DNA evidence, you'd better use it. You'd better be absolutely, positively 100% sure this person's guilty. Sometimes we have that.

And it's not about vengeance, it's about recompense. The State does not choose to put someone to death, and judges cannot and do not condemn someone to death. It is a jury of one's peers who decides, and no one else. The jury does not "form the intent to murder," but carefully metes out punishment juxtaposed to ones actions. DP cases have two phases; first, we decide if you're guilty, then we decide if you're so depraved that you forfeit your life, and all 12 jurors must agree. Any dissent, and it's LWOP, and not death. This is not a dark intent to murder, this is penalty based on careful consideration of one's actions.

The State DOES list an execution as a homicide by the State, so the commandment "Thou shalt not murder" is moot in this regard -- because the State lists an excution as a homicide, though God most definitely sees a difference, intent versus penalty.

Why do I believe in DP? Murder is an intent of the heart, formed in the darkest recesses of the human mind. Murder is an abomination, an aberration, a thought that most of us would never even consider, no matter what. That someone does begs the question, What the hell is wrong with you? Something is clearly wrong with you that YOUR mind goes where most minds never would.

Now clearly I'm not talking about crimes of passion or accidents or bar fights. I'm talking about the person who stalks up on you, plans your death, carries it out. THAT person, something is wrong with him or her.

In order to murder someone, you must overcome the very nature of your humanity. That is not an easy thing to do. Ask Ted Bundy (if he were alive), and he would tell you, the first one was SO hard. It took a year to do it again. After the first one, it was a whole lot easier. Any seriel killer will tell you the same thing.

God's law instituted restitution, recompense, repaying to someone what you have unlawfully taken from them. Sometimes -- SOMETIMES -- one's crimes are so evil that they must be paid for by you forfeiting your own life. Most people actually don't get the DP for killing someone. Most people don't even get LWOP. DP is often reserved for the worst of the worst. Having worked in the criminal justice system, there are people who are patently evil, depraved beyond rehabilitation.

Yes, you can house someone forever in prison. Yes, it's even cheaper. And I am well aware that blood does not satisfy blood. But none of those were your question. I hope I've answered your question sufficiently for you (my beliefs, no one else's).

What you are talking about illustrates the need to have some means of checking out what the original languages that the Bible was written in say. The word in the original Hebrew of the Old Testament that is sometimes translated as kill is "retzach" which actually means "murder". This mistranslation of the Hebrew to "kill"" has caused many problems in the world. One of which is the view of some that capital punishment is against God's Will.

Not only did the word in the original language mean "murder". If the word had meant "Kill", it would be impossible to obey. "Do not kill" is extremely general and does not specify what shall not be killed. Because of that, Do not kill, means thou shall not kill anything and this is impossible to obey.. It would mean not only that we could not kill animals to eat but also prohibit us from eating plants.

THE SCRIPTURE MEANS "THOU SHALT NOT MURDER," not "thou shalt not kill." If it meant "kill," then you could not kill pests such as cock roaches and you'd have be careful where you walked to not step on ants.

As for the death penalty, I am opposed to it, except that I couldn't bring myself to not make an exception for the most heinous of crimes such as we've seen lately. I do think before we impose it at all, we need more fairness in the courts.

"Thou shalt not kill" is one of the Ten Commandments, the law given to Moses. Certainly they are important to any Christian. But for Christians Christ fulfilled the law and we are no longer obligated by it. Rather, we live by faith.

Christians are human beings. We are the products of our society and our culture as well as our religion. And just as different people in the society have different views about capital punishment Christians do too. Thus some Christians believe in capital punishment while others oppose it.

What is important is that secular government does not permit dissent when it comes to policies on capitol punishment. Almost half of all executions in the United States are in the state of Texas. And Texas requires all to pay taxes to support capitol punishment regardless of what the individual believes about it. If, in America, people were allowed to debate capitol punishment before it is imposed it is unlikely that there every would be another execution. But because the secular government does not allow any opposition whether it be religious or not capitol punishment continues to exist in the United States.

Yes, I do believe in capital punishment. God gives the State the power and authority to enact capital punishment for crime. It is just.

Thou shall not murder refers to the individual taking the law into their own hands and murdering someone. The individual does not have that authority.

By killing, it means murdering

State executions and killing in wars are examples of killing that is not considered murder

Thou shall not kill only apply to innocent people. But once you have committed the crime, you have to pay for it by being killed.

You're arguing with nobody.

God said if man sheds the blood of man, his blood is to be shed because man is made in the image of God

Every Christian sent to war believes in the Death Penalty, as they should. The question is, what about innocent people ???

There are utter atrocities going on in Syria now and the President does NOTHING. Atrocities. If I saw one I would kill the perpetrator NO QUESTIONS ASKED. And it would be a virtue.

BBC News - Syria child trauma 'appalling' -

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-19709041