Miscellaneous

The Meaning of Life and Death; Capital Punishment & Human Life

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Religious studies

Lesson: 2-18

Genre: Lecture

Track: 19

Dictation Name: RR270A1

Location/Venue:

Year: 1960’s-1970’s

[Audience Leader] Doctor R.J. Rushdoony has made a deep study of Capital punishment; he is going to approach it refreshingly, quite differently from the normal, usual, legal or moral approach, his approach will be theological as we indicated in the bulletin in which we invited you to this meeting. I think if I were to sum up the qualifications of Doctor Rushdoony for this appearance tonight, to speak to us on this subject I would simply say that he is dealing with this subject as a scholar who is not looking through a tube with a tubular approach to this subject. He brings a general background of his general grasp of theology and human disciplines and human problems to this discussion of the subject.

Just this before I present him. I have a clipping here from a local newspaper, the Register, quoting a man named Gary Phoenix. Gary Phoenix was on death row before we decided to do away with death row in the state of California. He was on death row for sexual assaults on women in several cities, and other related crimes, a real pervert convicted of many crimes, but he has made this statement about capital punishment: “Nobody in this world can vote for capital punishment and be a Christian.” Doctor R.J. Rushdoony is it true? Maybe we will let you answer that one. Let us welcome Doctor Rushdoony. [Applause]

[Rushdoony] A Cartoon that has long been my favorite, came out a few years ago, and it showed a long haired toga wearing man, parading in a public street carrying a sign that said: “We are doomed, the world will not end.” I thought of that cartoon again this past week when I concluded the reading of a book published about 10 years ago written by a distinguished American scholar, Leslie Fiedler. The title of it is: Waiting for the end. His study is a commentary on modern man and modern scholars. And the point that comes out emphatically is that among the modern writers and thinkers, there is a suicidal urge for the end. A feeling that life is meaningless and hopeless. An eschatological hope that somehow something will come in and smash it all, end it all, bring judgment and punishment upon man, and wipe the slate clean.

Fiedler as a humanist shared the feelings of these men. But his last two pages are a very mournful commentary. “They are all wrong,” He says. “It will not end. It will go on and on and on in its meaningless way.” This is the character of our time. Men longing for death and yet decrying capital punishment. Writing at great length that what the world needs is some kind of humanistic judgment day, which will obliterate man and society, and then saying: “We must not lay hands on a single criminal to execute him.” It is paradoxical. It should give us cause for reflection on the motives that impel these men.

I am reminded of the fact that once a good many years ago I visited a man who lived in a very tall apartment building on one of the upper stories. He kept his drapes drawn all the time. I went up and looked from one of them, pulling the drapes back and it was a magnificent view of the bay area. And I remarked about it, and I said: “it would be worth having that view all the time, day and night with the drapes pulled back.” And his answer was: “It would then be too tempting to jump.”

Modern man both wants death, and is afraid of it. Both wants judgment and runs from it. He commits suicide as men have never done before in history, and yet pours millions on millions in a search to eliminate death. In fact I learned Sunday from the L.A.Times that there is a protest movement against death.

He fights against capital punishment even when he feels that he and the world need it.

This is the outcome of humanism. Make no mistake about it, humanism is the great enemy. It has captured our churches, schools, states, all of society. Modern life is given over to the worship of man and the rule of man, to a belief that mans will, man’s wishes, man’s whims should be gratified. And we who believe in the worship of God and the rule of God are in the minority. Humanism believes in the rule of man. This can take varying forms as it has throughout history. It can be the rule of man by monarchy, dictatorship, or democracy, but it is man as Lord, man as the living word.

But we believe in Christ as king, Christ as king over all things, over church, state, school, home, science, business, every area of life. One of the things that anyone who counsels anyone nowadays about problems encounters is the expression of feeling. If people have a problem ultimately when they get down to the basic reason why they are asking the question, it is because: “Well, I feel this way.” And they don’t like it if you say: “Well, what have your feelings got to do with it?” the issue is not a question of man’s feelings, but of right or wrong in terms of God’s word.

One of our state senators asked me to help him answer the senate chaplain. That Chaplain had written a paper against capital punishment, which he was circulating as a clergy man, and as the Christian point of view among our state senators. He held of course that Christ was against Capital punishment.

Let me cite one sentence from that statement of his, which expresses the totality of it, and I quote: “Jesus asks that we make our value judgments on the basis of what we would want if we were in the guilty one’s place.” Can you imagine a statement more fantastic than that? Jesus asks that we make our value judgments on the basis of what we would want, our feelings, if we were in the guilty one’s place. Our feelings moreover, as guilty men. Is this the law and the prophets? Is this what the law of God amounts to, that we should take the feelings of the guilty and make them the standard of judgment? This is to say then that man’s feelings and man’s guilt are the basis of judgement, rather than the righteousness of God, and this is moral anarchism.

A year or so ago a group of women who favored abortion invaded the committee chambers in a certain state in the east where hearings were being held on the subject of abortion. And they told the men assembled there, the state senators of that particular state that they had no right to debate on the issue. No right to pass or maintain any legislation which in any way infringed on the right of a woman to have abortion at will. And what was their reason? “You men have never been pregnant. What right have you then, what right do you have to govern or to legislate where pregnancy is concerned? The test is again, experience.

In terms of the logic that this chaplain in Sacramento used, and in terms of the logic of these women, there should be no legislation concerning murder except by murders. After all, what do we who have never murdered know what it feels like to murder? What right have we then to judge such a one? This is humanism. Justification. By man and man’s feelings. But we believe in justification by the grace of God through faith. We believe in sanctification by obedience to God, by works of law. We believe that scripture is the guide, not man’s feelings and experience. And therefore as we deal with the meaning of life and death, as we try to get a perspective on capital punishment, we begin with the word of God. And Gods law is: “Thou shalt not kill.” Thou. You and me. Every man, shalt not kill.

Now I know there are some people who try to say: “This should read murder, thou shalt not murder.” This is not true. This is not the reading of Scripture. The reading of Scripture is emphatically clear, “Thou shalt not kill.” All killing by man’s initiative and mans will is banned in every area of life. But the Bible is neither pacifistic nor vegetarian. What does this mean then? God emphatically forbids man to kill in terms of his own will, his own feelings, his own law. It means that life and all things are created by God, owned by God, governed by God and subject to use by man, only in terms of Gods law.

One of the emphatic statements of scripture is: “The earth is the Lords and the fullness thereof.” We are guests in the household of God. And no more than you have the right to enter my home, and use anything therein, or any part of it except by my permission, do we have the right to do anything in this world apart from the word of God. We are told in fact by Saint Paul: “Whether ye eat or drink, do all to the glory of God.” Over and over again the scripture makes this point clear. When God gave the law he prefaced it in Exodus 19:5 with the statement: “The earth is mine.” Therefore God gives the laws for it.

Leviticus 18:4 “Ye shall do my judgments and keep my ordinances to walk therein. I am the Lord your God.” Again in Deuteronomy 1:17 the statement is emphatically made, that in all parts of law where men act faithfully in terms of God’s word, the judgment is the Lords. What does this mean? It means that when capital punishment is enforced in terms of the Word of God it is not man killing, it is Gods sentence being carried out, and man is merely the instrument. But the judgment is not that of man, though a man sits in the courtroom, the judgement is the Lords.

As a matter of fact, the law, the Psalms, and indeed our Lord went so far as to speak of Judges, as Elohim, Gods. They are called Gods because they act in God’s place as judges among men. And as long as they act in terms of Gods word, they carry an authority and a power that is not mans, to kill and to make alive, to sentence to death or to release. But if they fail, if they are faithless to Gods law, what is the sentence? “Ye are called Gods, but ye shall die like men.” Judgement will be there destiny then. If judgment were left to men to ask, we would be very likely to spare many who are guilty out of pity, or to kill right and left out of anger and rage. But when the judgement is the Lords, when it is applied in terms of Gods law word, life is not taken by man but by God with man as His instrument.

Moreover the scripture makes it clear that in every area of life, life is to be touched only in terms of Gods law. God gave permission to man to kill animal life for food. He not only did so, but he specified the kinds of animals which were to be clean and gave specification. (?) the beasts of prey in the animal kingdom, and scavengers among aquatic creatures were to be avoided. Moreover, he gave principles of conservation, that there should be no killing of both mother and young. Life can be taken for food, by God’s permission, and then it is not man but the Lord who has given the commandment, made the provision, and charted the course for man to follow.

Again, when the death penalty is required and is made mandatory for certain offenses, we are told emphatically that it is because God requires that all sin be atoned for, or judged. In other words, the sentence for all sin is death. Either we accept the vicarious death of Jesus Christ, or we ultimately face the judgement of God.

But sin begins the process of death, and at the judgement we are consigned to everlasting death. Moreover, in this life where we offend in certain areas we are here and now required by the law of God to undergo Capital punishment. This is seen as so serious in Gods eyes that in Deuteronomy 21:1-9 the law provides for unsolved murders. What is required, the law says? When a man is found murdered and no one knows how to solve the crime, there are no clues, nothing turns up, the crime remains unsolved. But God’s judgment overhangs the community. In fact if it is out in the fields it has to be determined which town or village or city that body is nearest. Because that community has to bear the guilt. Restitution must be made to the family of the victim, and atonement must be made to God. Every violation of Gods law, every murder, every capital offense is very serious in the sight of God, and therefore Gods mercy must be sought. And if the murders go un-avenged, then Gods vengeance falls on the community or the nation that treats such offenses so lightly.

What this law very clearly means, is that in a land where murders abound, not only are many of them unsolved, but there is no death penalty, then Gods death penalty is operative against that country. And today we must say that the word is ripe, therefore, for judgment.

So seriously does God regard every taking of life apart from His law word, that in Exodus 21:21-23, we are given the law of accidental abortion. Now what Exodus 21:21, particularly 22 and 23 deal with is not a case of deliberate abortion, it is assumed that that is murder. But if a man through some kind of accident causes a woman to abort, and either the child or the mother dies, the penalty is life for life. Capital punishment. If there is any damage to either mother or child, the judges must assess a penalty. This is how seriously God protects life in His law. Man has no right to take life casually, under any circumstances. And never apart from the word of God.

There is another law that indicates the function of capital punishment. You know there are some defenders of the repeal of capital punishment who say that it is no deterrent to criminals. I’ve never known a case where an executed man has committed any further crimes. It has been a remarkable deterrent in every case. But far more than that is intended by God.

In Deuteronomy 21:18-21 we have a very important law. The law of the rebellious son. Now all these laws in scripture apart from the 10 commandments, which the principles, the legal principles, are case laws. They establish a particular case as a minimal case; if it is true here, how much more in other cases? Scripture itself gives us an example of how case law works. Case law as you have it in the courts today is a product incidentally of scripture. And it comes to us in this country from the Colonial, the Puritan era. Thus, “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox which treadeth out the corn.” Saint Paul tells us that the laborer is worthy of his hire. If the ox is entitled to something for his work, how much more so man? And if man is entitled to it, Saint Paul then goes on, how much more so those who are the servants of the Lord who faithfully serve him. Are they not worth, he says, double honor? A very interesting point that some of you ministers should remember and remind your laymen of.

Now, in this case of the incorrigible son, an incorrigible delinquent, the whole point of it is, if an incorrigible delinquent is to be executed, how much more so an incorrigible adult? This because it was in scripture was once a part of the law of most countries, including our country. In almost every state of the Union, not too many years ago, a habitual criminal after the 3rd or 4th sentence can be executed. Then it was changed to life imprisonment, and now it is abolished.

Deuteronomy 21:21 tells us that the purpose of this law is: “So shalt thou put away the evil from the midst of thee.” What is the purpose, then, of capital punishment? It is to cleanse the land of evil doers. To put evil out from amongst us. It is not Gods purpose that the incorrigible criminal remain alive. He is to be weeded out from society, eliminated. And repeatedly, Scripture emphasizes this fact.

Theologically therefore we must say that the purpose of God’s law is not only to declare that life can only be taken in terms of this word, but it is to be taken to provide life for man, where food is concerned, and to further the life of man under God by eliminating the Godless. Repeatedly Scripture states that as a function of capital punishment.

The land thus is to be cleansed, because it is the creation of a holy God, or a holy people, and therefore God wants the earth to prosper and abound under His people, who have been called to exercise dominion over it, and to subdue the earth to develop it, to make it Gods dominion. To develop science and the arts, to every area to exercise mastery over the things of this world in terms of Gods law word. To be prophets under God. Setting forth the implications of God’s word for every of life, to be priests under God, to develop the earth and to offer it unto God as a holy sacrifice, and to be kings unto God, exercising dominion under His name over every area of life and thought.

The commandment thou shalt not kill, thus, is one of very great importance. A good many years ago, Adam Clarke In commenting on the 6th commandment, wrote as follows: “God is the fountain and author of life. No creature can give life to another. An archangel cannot give life to an angel, an angel cannot give life to man. Man cannot give life even to the meanest of the brute creation, as God alone gives life, so He alone has the right to take it away. And he who without the authority of God takes away life is properly a murderer.”

All of life thus, is to be lived unto God. And every area of life must be the exercise of God’s law as the cleansing agent. There is a great deal of talk today about pollution. People who are against pollution should therefore favor capital punishment, because in terms of Gods law, nothing more pollutes the earth than to allow those who deserve to die to live. And repeatedly the scripture says: “So shalt thou put away evil from the earth.” That which pollutes, that which destroys life. This must be put away. And today our urban life, our rural life, our national and our international life is under grave pollution, because the law word of God is being set aside. Capital punishment is not enforced. And indeed those who deserve it are to all practical intent being subsidized.

Early this summer I sat in the office of one of our state senators, a very devout Christian, Bill Richardson. He said: “I want to show you some pictures taken inside our newest state prison.” There were swimming pools, a golf course, tennis courts, television, the rooms looked like excellent motel rooms, and he said: “This is the new standard in penology.” And he said: “These people get more entertainment and more recreation than you and I do in a years time.” They are being subsidized in an increasingly good life at our expense.

Whereas scripture says: “So shalt thou put away evil from amongst you.” But positively Thou shalt not Kill has as its counterpart, “Thou shalt further and protect that which God would have you further and protect.”

At this point Calvin made an interesting commentary in his analysis of the 6th commandment. He said, and I quote, because I think this is especially pertinent to our time: “It will however more clearly appear hereafter, that under the word ‘kill’ is included by synecdoche violence, smiting, and aggression. Besides, another principle is also to be remembered, that in negative precepts as they are called the opposite affirmation is also to be understood. Else it would not be by any means consistent. But a person who would satisfy Gods law by merely abstaining from doing injury to others. Suppose for example, that one of a cowardly disposition, and not daring even to assail a child, should not move a finger to injure his neighbors, would he therefore have discharged the duties of humanity as regards this commandment? Nay, natural common sense demands more than that we should abstain from wrongdoing. And, not to say more on this point, it will plainly appear from the summary of the Second Table, that God not only forbids us to be murderers, but also prescribes that every one should study faithfully to defend the life of his neighbor, and practically to declare that it is dear to him; for in that summary no mere negative phrase is used, but the words expressly set forth that “Thou shalt love thy neighbor, as thyself.” It is unquestionable, then, that of those whom God therefore commands to be loved, He here commends the lives to our care. There are, consequently, two parts in the Commandment, — first, that we should not vex, or oppress, or be at enmity with any; and, secondly, that we should not only live at peace with men, without exciting quarrels, but also should aid, as far as we can, the miserable who are unjustly oppressed, and should endeavor to resist the wicked, lest they should injure men as they list.”

Scripture thus when it commands us that we should not kill, requires us to conserve all life in terms of Gods law, as well as to eliminate that life which Gods law requires to be eliminated. It also requires us to be careful of the life of our neighbor. Deuteronomy 22:8 for example goes so far as to tell us that we are guilty if we do not have battlements on the roofs of our house. And what that means is that in Palestine in those days, roofs had a flat top and people in the summer very often after dark ate on the roof top where it was cool and pleasant, and often slept there. And a great deal of entertainment and recreation during the summer was on the rooftop. They were required to have a railing of sufficient strength and height to prevent any child or adult from tumbling and falling to their injury. And the Scripture states that: “Thou bring not blood upon thy head, should any man fall from thence.”

This terminology appears very often. To be guilty of blood means to incur death. The capital penalty from God. And scripture makes this emphatic, an individual or a nation that brings blood upon its head by failing to obey Gods law, which does not punish murder, or abortion, incurs blood. It brings upon his head the death penalty. We live in an age where all nations virtually have in one way or another blood upon their head. And this puts us in a very critical position. We live in an age, we live in a generation that is sentenced to death, and it knows it.

Remember I began by calling attention to a book entitled: Waiting for the End. Not a single person quoted in that book by Fiedler is even remotely a Christian. They were all modern writers, modern thinkers, a reprobate group. They all of them not only regard everything we hold dear in utter contempt, but hold God as dead and His word as irrelevant. And yet they have in terms of the word of God, incurred blood upon their heads. And what is it they come up with after all their disregard for God? A crying out for judgement, waiting for the end. And the words “Waiting for the end” Which Fiedler quotes is from a very famous poem by a modern poet, whose theme is modern man is waiting for the end. “We are waiting for the end (the voice?) we are waiting for the end.” And he goes on to speak of that waiting, waiting for judgment that delays. Waiting for an ax that has not yet fallen. They have incurred blood, and though they deny God, they know His judgment is upon them, and they are waiting for the end. In Gods sight, they are deaths row, and psychologically they know it.

It is therefore necessary for us in this day and age to preach the saving power of Christ. To insist upon the kingship of Christ and the rule of His law. To strive to reestablish His law concerning life in every area, and to kill and to make alive in terms of the law word of God. This do, the Lord says, and ye shall live. Thank you.

[Audience Leader] Thank you Doctor Rushdoony for this very fine discussion, now we will open for questions, we have time for some questions, who will ask the first question?

[Audience Member] My question has to do with the legitimacy or illegitimacy of the power of the (?) in terms of whether they function according to that law where God does not, specifically, I have in mind communism for example, where people do not reject those who impose tyranny upon them and then carry out their law, the illegitimate law upon the people, could you comment or specifically, in reference to the power that (?)

[Rushdoony[ Yes. First of all, a historical fact. The powers that be when Saint Paul wrote those words meant Nero. As degenerate and debauched a man as has ever ruled. Vicious, murderous, a pervert, and yet saint Paul at the same time did appeal to Caesar. As a result we have to say that to a very great extent, even when the powers that be are very corrupt, we still have to recognize a duty of obedience within limits. Moreover, Saint Paul says that the rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Every civil government is a law order, now very often it is a very ungodly law order, but it (?) a certain point it cannot go beyond a certain minimum of respect for what we would regard as law and order without destroying itself. Thus even communism protects, despite its terrorism, despite the fact that at almost any time you may have a knock on the door, and be taken without any good reason to enslaved labor camp, up until that point it protects you from say, a noisy drunk down the hall, they’ll come and pick up that drunk and throw him into prison immediately, it will protect you from a thief in the apartment house, it will protect you from a rapist and a murderer, because it realizes that if it destroys all law and order, it will have anarchy. It will not have that necessary element of order to survive.

Now, having said that, in defense of what Saint Paul has said, let us go into another aspect of this theologically. It is true, many states are very lawless. Communism, par excellence. And our country in some respects is becoming, some claim, more dangerous to walk in after dark than even Moscow, which is not particularly safe. So, we ourselves are approaching a fearful situation.

Now Saint Augustine in the City of God, goes into a very lengthy analysis of the whole doctrine of the state from scripture, which I don’t have time to go into, said that the state has a duty to be under God, to be God’s agent and minister as Saint Paul has declared. When it ceases to be God’s minister, it becomes imply the most powerful organized thief or band of thieves in Rome. What we have to say today is, our government , which still has aspects of Godly law and order to it, is also in the process of becoming the biggest mafia band you might say, in the country. An organized band out to rob the people, and it is robbing us. And because of the same godlessness, capital and labor alike are becoming lesser bands of thieves.

Now the answer to that is of course is again theologically is that the answer does not rest in rebellion against the government, because it is something that comes down from the heart of every man. In any store today we are told the greatest shoplifting is not by people coming into the store, shoplifters, but by employees and employers. In other words, the management as well as the workers feel (astorebrang?) and then write it up in insurance or charge it to the customers at higher prices. So when you have a government that is lawless, godless, and capital and labor are the same way it is because the people themselves are. When you study the life of Russia in the past century, and they had a much better life under the Czars, what you find is during the past century it is moving more and more into a godlessness, and today, its reaping the harvest of it. Certainly the Bolsheviks represented a criminal conspiracy, but they could succeed precisely because the seeds of the same evil were in the hearts of the people.

Very soon after the Revolution when the Bolshevik reign of terror began, an English journalist who was there and talked to some of the people, and they were bewailing with some considerable grief and horror what was happening to them, still some of them said: “It was our own fault. The Bolshevik leaders told us that if we would attack the lords and the landlords and seize everything they had that the land and the wealth would be ours. So we began the killing, and now they are killing us.” And that is exactly the situation. People get the kind of government they deserve.

They are getting it to their own grief in the Soviet Union, and t is not going to change until the end of (?) which is growing, begins to create a different kind of people, and the Kremlin will know it. And this country isn’t going to change until you and I create a different kind of people, and they will know it. And today the thing the fear most in the United States is the Christian School movement, because they know the effect of it. Did you know that the Supreme Government has said that the chief business of government is education? That is a new statement isn’t it. And in the decision overturning the (party tax?) basis of our local school the California state Supreme Court said that the business of the states is education, and the Texas supreme court echoed the same statement.

I have a law on my desk out of the congressional record, they are all adamant, the decision, the three of them; the Texas Supreme Court said that the chief business of the state is education. I always thought it was justice, to protect us and our life and property, but now they say it is education, because they are afraid. Their power in this area is being destroyed by the Christian school. The battle of the 70’s will be in education. Between the states and the Federal government and the cities and the counties against the Christian schools, and the future of America Is going to be determined by the out come of that battle.

[Audience Member] In terms again of the practical Christianity, (?) for a Christian community to publically support capital punishment, and thereby break from the mafia state who uses capital punishment to murder innocent people. One of the things that frightens me about the state having the power of Capital punishment is that dead men tell no tales, if they can on some technicality or for some reason execute a man he is not a nuisance to the mafia state.

[Rushdoony] Well the answer to that is, I doubt that many innocent men are executed or have been executed in our state prison. I think it is possible in our long history a few have been, but first of all. Of the people who ran in our criminal courts…

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] True. But that was by the providence and purpose of God for His purposes. Of the hundred people who go to court, depending on the state, from 75 to 90% plead guilty. So that, in the overwhelming majority of cases, the person who are taken to court recognize their guilt and plead guilty. Of the remaining percentage, most of them are convicted, or were until the last few years, now not so readily, have endless right of appeal, and their appeal is maintained at the tax payers expense endlessly. Now, if even going in the other direction, in the state of California in the most recent year for record there were 264,000 major crimes against person and property, no excuse me, there were 664,000 major crimes against persons and property. There were only about 224,000 arrests, so in most cases they didn’t catch anyone. The district attorney said we will only take the open and shut cases before Court because the juries and the judges are so lax today, so they took about 15-20 less than 50,000 out of the 224,000. Out of that 50,000 the judges and jury’s convicted less than 5,000. Less than 5,000 served any time. And yet those 50,000 were so clearly guilty that the D.A.s had felt, this was the 1970’s, that it was impossible that they cannot convict.

Now, the likelihood of anyone when this is the situation in state after state, being sent to prison when he was innocent, is very farfetched and remote. Those who have been sent have such long records already and are so ostensibly criminal that in terms of God’s law they should have been executed long ago. I think we should be more concerned about the victims of crime, because today in terms of the fact that in 1970 there were almost 700,000 major crimes, in a population of 20,000,000, it means that your chance of being involved in a major crime against you in the near 1973 is very great. You had better see yourself as a potential victim.

[Audience Leader] …?... First of all let me thank Doctor Rushdoony for his appearance so we will all join in an expression of our thanks. [Applause.] I dare say there is no other place in the country where you would have heard this very enlightened presentation of capital punishment from a theological Biblical standpoint. Now shall we stand and Doctor Rushdoony will lead us in a benediction.

[Rushdoony] All mighty God our heavenly father, who called us forth and made us a great nation unto Thee, we thank Thee that Thy saving word can again make us great in Jesus Christ, and we pray our Father that Thou wouldst revive us as of old, and make us a people unto Thee, to show forth Thy saving grace unto the ends of the earth. And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost, bless you and keep you, guide you and protect you, this day and always, amen.