I used to be for the death penalty, but being a Christian I find myself unable to justify it. I tried, Lord knows I tried, but in the end I couldn't. No man has the wisdom to decide if someone should live or die, nor do they have the justification. Too many innocent people have been put down as if they're less than dogs. Yes their offense is grievous, yes they may deserve death, but are we anyone to speak on such an irreversible matter? We are a foolish lot that wishes not for justice, but for retribution, retribution for the wrongs committed against us, committed against society "He must pay for his crimes. The family deserves justice" some might be inclined to say. He will pay for his crimes one way or another, but justice? Is it justice if we degenerate ourselves to commit such an act, forcing a man to press a button that will take a mans' life? What of the executioner? What of the man whom must look back upon his life in his final moments knowing that he ended the lives of so many, some innocent? Can you imagine his pain? What about justice for him? When a life is taken in the pursuit of justice we must never forget that it not just one person is dying, but many, but only one is immediate. The others die a slow lingering death, not of body but of spirit. The judge, or jury who delivers the sentence, the man who makes the poison, the man who delivers the poison, the man who injects the poison; all of these people will forever have the burden in being part of taking a life on their consciences. Can you lift that burden from them knowing what has been done can never be undone? When we think of the death penalty we think solely of the life of the criminal that is to be taken, but it reaches much, much deeper than that, and we must see that.