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Should Capital Punishment be allowed?

Yes.
No.
Only for certain crimes. (Name please)

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Author Topic: Capital Punishment  (Read 24226 times)

Vector

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Re: Capital Punishment
« Reply #315 on: July 31, 2011, 10:53:47 pm »

I'm going to add this gem of wisdom:

Quote from: Confessions of Saint Augustine
The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

Even super-hardcore Catholics know that the word of God needs to be interpreted in order for it to make any sense.  The gospel lies in the mouths of priests and ministers, not the written page itself.
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"The question of the usefulness of poetry arises only in periods of its decline, while in periods of its flowering, no one doubts its total uselessness." - Boris Pasternak

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MetalSlimeHunt

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Re: Capital Punishment
« Reply #316 on: July 31, 2011, 10:58:13 pm »

Murder is a sin. Executing a murderer is a righteous act. One has divine justification and the other is the act of an animal who needs to be put down.

Okay, so this is the basic tenet your conclusion springs from. Why is murder a sin? Is it wrong because God decreed it so, or did God decree it so because it is wrong? I do know that, arguably, both can be true (since, as the originator of all things, God would have to have decreed morality in the first place), but let's put aside that evasion of the real question for now. It misses the point; is respecting the commandment not to kill morally good solely because it is obedience to God's will, or is it also morally good because human life has inherent worth (presumably granted by God)?
But if we go with Divine Command Theory (God's Will=Moral, no questions asked), what are we to do if god appears and commands child molestation? Would it then automatically be moral because god said so? (You can say that your god wouldn't say that, but people who say that tend to turn around and say that we cannot possibly understand god's motivations when things like this actually happen, obviously sans the deity appearing.)
I'm going to add this gem of wisdom:

Quote from: Confessions of Saint Augustine
The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

Even super-hardcore Catholics know that the word of God needs to be interpreted in order for it to make any sense.  The gospel lies in the mouths of priests and ministers, not the written page itself.
I have to say, "Don't think for yourself, listen to the priest" is what I get from this.
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Quote from: Thomas Paine
To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture.
Quote
No Gods, No Masters.

Vector

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Re: Capital Punishment
« Reply #317 on: July 31, 2011, 10:59:56 pm »

Yes, but you've got a chance of becoming the priest, and you can change congregations.

You can't become the Bible.
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"The question of the usefulness of poetry arises only in periods of its decline, while in periods of its flowering, no one doubts its total uselessness." - Boris Pasternak

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MetalSlimeHunt

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Re: Capital Punishment
« Reply #318 on: July 31, 2011, 11:02:05 pm »

That still involves creating a system where groups of people are encouraged to not think and take the word of an authority figure as the be-all end-all involving their religion.
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Quote from: Thomas Paine
To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture.
Quote
No Gods, No Masters.

Bauglir

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Re: Capital Punishment
« Reply #319 on: July 31, 2011, 11:04:43 pm »

You can't become the Bible.
Maybe you can't. I'm gonna have myself made into paper after I die.
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In the days when Sussman was a novice, Minsky once came to him as he sat hacking at the PDP-6.
“What are you doing?”, asked Minsky. “I am training a randomly wired neural net to play Tic-Tac-Toe” Sussman replied. “Why is the net wired randomly?”, asked Minsky. “I do not want it to have any preconceptions of how to play”, Sussman said.
Minsky then shut his eyes. “Why do you close your eyes?”, Sussman asked his teacher.
“So that the room will be empty.”
At that moment, Sussman was enlightened.

Dr.Feelgood

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Re: Capital Punishment
« Reply #320 on: July 31, 2011, 11:06:15 pm »

America is a Christian nation founded by Christians. The fact that certain people are trying to corrupt our values and usurp our country is troubling.

How do you feel about the amendments to the Constitution that ended slavery?

This country was a slave-owning nation founded by slave-owners.  It isn't anymore.

How about the biblical laws by which adulteresses may be stoned to death?

How about the biblical laws by which one may not plant fields with multiple different kinds of plants?

We must obey the law of the land, even if we strongly disagree with it. Otherwise, it would be disrespectful to the Lord, as he established our nation.

It may be hard for some to admit, but gory deaths deter crimes. I wished we televised executions and used more graphic methods of death, such as a return to electrocution or gas. All methods of execution can potentially cause excruciating pain, even lethal injections, so I see no problem with it.

I would support this, because if you find something disgusting better it be in your face so you can't ignore it. Or people would enjoy watching it, but by that point I think we as a species would be thoroughly fucked.

There are countless examples throughout history of people enjoying executions. It's human nature to want justice. Look at the threads on the Internet created after a massacre. Most of the comments are in support of torture and execution.

Isn't the point of a jail (as it's used today) punishment? Even if it's not entirely the point, that's exactly what it ends up being.
True, but I would never defend that function.

That doesn't invalidate the fact that some people prefer life in prison over death.

Yeah, some people in fact like prison because they get to eat for free, and the possibility of getting a bed.

Do you mean jail? I doubt anybody wants to go to prison. Well, except for that guy who wanted to abuse the system for free health care.

Murder is a sin. Executing a murderer is a righteous act. One has divine justification and the other is the act of an animal who needs to be put down.

Okay, so this is the basic tenet your conclusion springs from. Why is murder a sin? Is it wrong because God decreed it so, or did God decree it so because it is wrong? I do know that, arguably, both can be true (since, as the originator of all things, God would have to have decreed morality in the first place), but let's put aside that evasion of the real question for now. It misses the point; is respecting the commandment not to kill morally good solely because it is obedience to God's will, or is it also morally good because human life has inherent worth (presumably granted by God)?

God created morality and law, and we must obey him. Without God there is no morality, so if someone claimed "there was no God", then that person would be considered in denial and immoral. Morality is obedience to God's will.
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Vector

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Re: Capital Punishment
« Reply #321 on: July 31, 2011, 11:07:21 pm »

You are now advocating slavery.

I am not listening to you anymore.
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"The question of the usefulness of poetry arises only in periods of its decline, while in periods of its flowering, no one doubts its total uselessness." - Boris Pasternak

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pronouns: prefer neutral ones, others are fine. height: 5'3".

Bauglir

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Re: Capital Punishment
« Reply #322 on: July 31, 2011, 11:10:14 pm »

God created morality and law, and we must obey him. Without God there is no morality, so if someone claimed "there was no God", then that person would be considered in denial and immoral. Morality is obedience to God's will.

But is morality only obedience to God's will? Are there no guidelines for acts not mentioned in the Bible? Can we not draw conclusions from the living world He created? Obviously, I'm not* arguing that such conclusions can take precedence over the Bible, but are they utterly without merit? Is the Universe not also God's Word?

Spoiler: * (click to show/hide)
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In the days when Sussman was a novice, Minsky once came to him as he sat hacking at the PDP-6.
“What are you doing?”, asked Minsky. “I am training a randomly wired neural net to play Tic-Tac-Toe” Sussman replied. “Why is the net wired randomly?”, asked Minsky. “I do not want it to have any preconceptions of how to play”, Sussman said.
Minsky then shut his eyes. “Why do you close your eyes?”, Sussman asked his teacher.
“So that the room will be empty.”
At that moment, Sussman was enlightened.

Vector

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Re: Capital Punishment
« Reply #323 on: July 31, 2011, 11:11:01 pm »

Bauglir, you are much more saintly and patient than I am.  I hereby give you a sticker.
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"The question of the usefulness of poetry arises only in periods of its decline, while in periods of its flowering, no one doubts its total uselessness." - Boris Pasternak

nonbinary/genderfluid/genderqueer renegade mathematician and mafia subforum limpet. please avoid quoting me.

pronouns: prefer neutral ones, others are fine. height: 5'3".

MetalSlimeHunt

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Re: Capital Punishment
« Reply #324 on: July 31, 2011, 11:12:28 pm »

Otherwise, it would be disrespectful to the Lord, as he established our nation.
The nation that specifically states in it's founding document that the lawmakers will never create a law establishing religion in the government?
Quote
God created morality and law, and we must obey him.
Proof of this would be nice.
Quote
Without God there is no morality, so if someone claimed "there was no God", then that person would be considered in denial and immoral.
Plenty of people claim that, all the time, sometimes on this very forum. I have a hard time believing the millions of atheists worldwide are all in denial and immoral.
Quote
Morality is obedience to God's will.
Let us say, hypothetically, that God appears to you and says that he is unsatisfied with the test he gave to Issac and Abraham, so he wants you to take one of your close family members out to the nearest desert and sacrifice them to him, and that this time it has to be gone through with. Moral?
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Quote from: Thomas Paine
To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture.
Quote
No Gods, No Masters.

Vector

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Re: Capital Punishment
« Reply #325 on: July 31, 2011, 11:13:50 pm »

MetalSlimeHunt gets one, too.

I'm going to try to cultivate more patience, because you two are incredibly cool.
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"The question of the usefulness of poetry arises only in periods of its decline, while in periods of its flowering, no one doubts its total uselessness." - Boris Pasternak

nonbinary/genderfluid/genderqueer renegade mathematician and mafia subforum limpet. please avoid quoting me.

pronouns: prefer neutral ones, others are fine. height: 5'3".

alway

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Re: Capital Punishment
« Reply #326 on: August 01, 2011, 12:23:44 am »

I have open in another browser tab, and am in the process of reading, 1984. It saddens me to say, but I think I shall go back to reading it now because it is less depressing than this thread. >_<

I can't even tell whether or not to invoke Poe's law...
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sonerohi

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Re: Capital Punishment
« Reply #327 on: August 01, 2011, 12:27:49 am »

Actually, Israel is God's land. If you browse through the Old Testament, in particular the stories regarding Moses, you'll find many references to various gods. In fact, when speaking to Moses, he mentions, several times, that he is a god tied to the mountains, and he also mentions that there are other gods, just as real as him, in areas nearby that he doesn't wish to fight against. Also, during Israels warring tribes period, God mentions that cultures like the Philistines are perfectly moral, save that they worship a god besides him. Basically, you can call him the One True Savior, and regardless of whether or not it is true, it is not exclusive.
« Last Edit: August 01, 2011, 12:29:35 am by sonerohi »
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Gamerlord

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Re: Capital Punishment
« Reply #328 on: August 01, 2011, 01:42:18 am »

I see God as amoral, if he exists, and the morals in the bible have being developed by man.

quinnr

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Re: Capital Punishment
« Reply #329 on: August 01, 2011, 02:18:40 am »

...The atonement for blood is blood, as written in the Bible...
I'm just going to assume you're being serious, and not just trying to mock Christianity.

We are talking about the USA here, aren't we? The United States is not bound to the laws of one religion. Any arguments for anything that refer to the bible/random holy book of choice should not have a purpose in the making of the laws here. I find it silly that people still use this sort of thing as an argument for things, from gay marriage to this thread.

I've been contemplating the whole concept of morality (why do people have morals? Thinking completely logically, it could be very possible to have a much better life if you stole and plundered from other people. Of course, there's still the governments and such in play, but still, people seem to have an inate issue with murder and such) the last few days, for reasons unrelated to this thread, and I've come to think that it's something built into people, or just plain common sense/working together for a better lives altogether. After all, I don't see all of the atheists rooting for slaughter and the rape of people, do you? Following this logic, it makes sense if different people had different morals, as everyone has a different body, mindset, and lives as children.
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