Kingdom Ethics Against Jesus In Contemporary Context By David Gushee And Glen Stassen

In this paper, I am going to discuss the issue of the death penalty. Christians have been debating against the death penalty for a long time. In the book, Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context, David Gushee and Glen Stassen have established some interesting arguments and key factors that Christians might would like to use to continue their debate against the death penalty. I am going to lay out Gushee’s and Stassen’s arguments and focus on the reasons they give for being against the death penalty. They focus on Christlikeness, Powers and Authorities, Forgiveness, and Mission of the Church.

Gushee and Stassen propose that Jesus “always omitted any parts of the teaching that advocate violence, nationalist fervor, or triumph

It seems that they are trying to hint that if it was meant for us to support the death penalty, why would Jesus die on the cross for our sins so that we can live a good life. They are suggesting that instead of encouraging people to treat someone badly because of their wrongdoings seek for ways to end the cycle of violence. “Nowhere in the Old Testament do we see an actual case where what seem like prescriptions of the death penalty for various offenses get carried out by an Israelite criminal law system.” They are trying to say that if Jesus is willing to give people a second chance we as Christians should be willing to follow in his footsteps. It seems that Gushee and Stassen are hinting that as believers we should avoid the death penalty because people who do evil are not able to work out their wrongdoings if they are forced to die. They want us to come to the realization that nobody is perfect, so, therefore, do not support the death penalty because everybody should get the opportunity to be able to repent of their sins and get forgiveness from

They are informing people that the reason why the death penalty should be avoided is because the State Authorities can easily make a mistake by causing innocent people to get killed. Gushee and Stassen states, “one thing churches can do is be involved in prison ministries and overcome the distance polite society has placed between itself and the incarcerated.” This statement illustrates their basic convictions for the Mission of the Church because they are encouraging Christians to visit the prisoners so that they can pray for them and inform them that God still loves them. Also, they would like for Christians to visit the prisoners so that they can notify them that they still have a chance to turn their life around for the better and that they still have time to ask God for