Hypocrite ? or just Confused?

What makes a person do terrible things? Can a good person do a horrible deed? Does that make him/her a bad person or does it mean they used bad judgement?

These thoughts came to light after reading the headlines all week of a convicted murderer who kept trying appeals and finally appealing to the governor for a lessor sentence than that of death.

No matter how busy I found myself this week, I kept going to those headlines; even though I usually stay well away from them.

Today was execution day for the guy, and try as I might, I kept going back to our local news website and checking in. A local reporter was there covering the day, and updating the site every couple of hours.

What makes a person commit murder? Is it a heat of the moment thing? Drugs or adultry? What would make a person kill a family member or friend?

For the life of me, these questions just stay unanswered. I know, I am not without knowledge of the publicity surrounding notorious murderers. Yet, I realize something has to be a trigger, and that trigger can be different for each case.

I am just saddened by todays execution, and for the murdered victim and his family. Death is death, and oh so final in many respects.

Once upon a time, I was very much in favor of the death penalty. In recent years, I have changed my mind on this. I guess one of the reasons was that there are cases where the wrong person was convicted and was put to death. But, there is also another reason.

Just who are we to decide who lives and who dies? Do we really want to have that type of power? What does that make us?

I decided that I could not sit on a jury and administer a death sentence to someone, no matter what they had done. I do not want to be responsible for that.

But...

if I were confronted by someone trying to kill me, I would defend myself to the point of death for that person. I believe I do have it in me to take a life if my life or my families life were threatened.

So...

How can I be against the death penalty yet still feel I could take a life if necessary?

My belief in Christ and my values shape my opinion of the death penalty. Yet those same values would allow me to defend myself or my family.


I know, but what if the person on trial had committed a crime so henious and he could not be reformed and there was simply no hope for him....would I still feel the same....yes.

So, someone tell me, is there a difference? Or am I just in a state of total confusion?