Andy Bautista

One of the most serious arguments against capital punishment in our time is not first about the criminal, nor even about the victim and those who love them. It is about what the public hunger for death is doing to your own soul. Social media has made this painfully visible. Religious influencers and political personalities speak of executions with excitement, contempt, and sometimes what looks very much like pleasure. They call for death as though it were entertainment, a victory, or proof that they are serious about justice. Then others repeat it, celebrate it, and demand more. That is spiritually dangerous ground. A Christian may discuss punishment, public safety, justice, and the grave duties of the state. Those are serious matters. But the moment we begin to enjoy the thought of someone being put to death, to speak as though we are eager to watch it happen, or to make another human being’s destruction into a spectacle, something has gone badly wrong in us. The culture of death is not only found in those who refuse to protect innocent life. It is also found wherever death becomes easy to desire, easy to praise, and easy to demand for those we have decided are beyond mercy. Scripture warns us plainly: “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer.” 1 John 3:15 God is perfectly just. He judges evil more truly than any of us can. But you and I are not permitted to train our hearts to delight in the death of the wicked. If we cannot speak of even a guilty man’s punishment with sobriety, sorrow, and fear of God, then capital punishment is not the urgent danger before us. The danger is what we are becoming.