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Do Christians call for executions?
I’m trying to figure out the messaging on divorce and gays.
Growing up in Evangelical, you’re often told humans are to follow a set of laws found in the Old Testament books. The ‘Law’ is often cited as an ongoing authority, especially as regards divorce and homosexuality.
In these laws, execution is called for. I wonder: are Christians suggesting divorced people, gays, etc., should be punished on these terms?
I ask Christians who cite Jewish law: Are you calling for people to die?
Judaism itself does not adjudicate capital crimes out of a belief that the Law requires the Temple, which was destroyed. Then rabbinic commentaries point to high standards of proof, as in adultery—two witnesses to the act.
But Christian tradition does not observe these requirements. No trials need be held for a finding that Jewish law has been broken by, and evidence need not be processed by biblical standards.
What happens, then, is that an accusation of breaking Jewish law creates a field of animosity. To identify a Christian (or non-Christian) as committing adultery or homosexuality as a crime, is to see this as permission to be mean to the offenders, and to exile them from gatherings.
