By Scott Tibbs, November 16, 2009
Last week, John Allen Muhammad was put to death. This monster was unrepentant to the end for a shooting spree that claimed the lives of ten people picked at random and shot from a distance. Muhammad has been suffering in horrible burning agony in Hell for the last week, and will suffer in horrible burning agony for all eternity. He is paying the eternal price he richly deserves for ending 10 precious lives made in the image of God. Thank God for Hell.
Muhammad is the worst kind of coward, shooting his victims while he hid far away in the safety of his perch. These people, including a child walking to school and a woman shopping at Home Depot with her husband, had never done anything to Muhammad and were simply going about their daily lives when their lives were extinguished. Even as he was only minutes away from the eternal damnation and everlasting torment of Hell fire, he never showed a hint of remorse for his evil actions. The world is truly a better place now that he is dead. It is a great travesty of justice that it took so many years for Muhammad to face death, and that his accomplice will not face the death penalty he also deserves.
Not everyone agrees that Muhammad deserved to be executed last week. Some oppose the death penalty under any circumstances. Some liberal Christians oppose capital punishment as well, despite the fact that the Bible mandates the death penalty in a number of cases. The most convincing reason is that it is possible to make a mistake and execute the wrong person. This is why there must be strict due process protections for accused criminals, and swift, certain and severe punishment for law enforcement that acts illegally to frame someone who committed no crime. In capital cases, the death penalty needs to be an option as a strong deterrent and just punishment for corrupt prosecutors who fabricate evidence or hide evidence that could prove the person in trial is innocent.
That is not the case with Muhammad, as his guilt has never been in question.
The reason capital punishment is necessary can be found in Genesis 9:6. Man (generically) is made in the image of God, and the willful termination of a living soul created in God's image requires the blood and the life of murderer. When someone commits the ultimate crime, he loses his right to exist in a lawful society. We as a society show that we place the highest value on human life when we require the life of a murderer like John Allen Muhammad. Capital punishment is the weightiest decision for a government called to bear the sword on behalf of God. (Romans 13:4)
