Roger Olson says capital punishment is sin. Of course, God commanded capital punishment for a variety of crimes. Therefore, Olson must logically believe that God commanded his people to commit sin. So doesn't that make God the author of their sin?
http://rogereolson.com/2011/04/17/capital-punishment-is-sin/
In the meta to his post, Olsen makes the following unaccompanied comment.
ReplyDelete"I don't believe in certainty."
No word on whether that statement is certain or not.
Here's a comment that Olson left in the thread:
ReplyDelete"The Old Testament also contains alleged commandments by God to commit genocide. And capital punishment is ordered for children who disobey their parents, etc."
Here's my response:
“alleged”
Are you saying that God never gave those commands? Are you saying that the entire book of Joshua was fictitious?
“And capital punishment is ordered for children who disobey their parents, etc.”
Are you saying that this command was evil? What about Romans 1:30-32:
“…they disobey their parents…Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”
i do not think he is accusing God as being the author of sin. I think he is doubting innerancy. Not that the second option is much better. I just think it needs to be clarified so Olsen does not accuse you of slander.
ReplyDeleteIf and when he openly denies inerrancy, I'll consider that alternative interpretation.
ReplyDeleteThe Old Testament also contains alleged commandments by God to commit genocide. And capital punishment is ordered for children who disobey their parents, etc."
ReplyDelete!!!!
Dang, I never figured Olsen was that far off the rails. Maybe I should read him more often.
Rhology,
ReplyDeleteHere's the context of Olson's comments:
One blogger made this comment:
"I very much feel the same as you. From my outlook, living in Europe (Sweden) I can’t at all understand why some states in the US continues to practice it.
However I must confess that the precense of capital punishment in the Bible, especially as found in the Old Testament regulations of Israel makes the issue a bit trickier. How do I condemn capital punishment in modern time while accepting the Old Testament as God’s inspired word and thus the capital punishment there are something that should not be condemned."
Olson then responded with this:
"The Old Testament also contains alleged commandments by God to commit genocide. And capital punishment is ordered for children who disobey their parents, etc."
So, it sounds like Olson doesn't believe that the Old Testament commands were just, or he believes that they were far too harsh.
I wonder if there is a correlation between the rejection of capital punishment and a rejection of "penal" substitutionary atonement as one commenter suggested and Dr. Olson didn't answer.
ReplyDeleteIf Olson can distort his hermeneutic enough to deny Romans 9, then it's easy enough for him to deny the justice of capital punishment without being particularly bothered by the fact that God commanded the Israelites to kill at times. It's just one intellectual conflict out of many.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of Christians who adore Olson.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, it seems there are a good number of Calvinists who think it is bad form to criticize Olson. And that criticism of Olson shows that Calvinists are too ...
too whatever. And that this whatever is bad and discredits Christianity.