“How can you Christians oppose abortion and at the same time favor the death penalty? That doesn’t make sense!” Maybe you’ve heard that – maybe you’ve even said that before. Well, the simple answer is that’s what God teaches us.

In the first place, the death penalty is clearly prescribed for murder (Numbers 35:30). But at the same time, God said that no one should be executed without at least two witnesses testifying to their crime. Moreover, God told Moses to designate six cities of refuge, which would allow those accused of murder to be safe from lynching pending their trial (Numbers 35:10-12). Thus, even the life of a killer must be treated with reverence. He should only face the death penalty if a fair trial proved he had committed premeditated murder (Numbers 35:16-21).

Okay, so why did God prescribe the death penalty for murder? In Numbers 35:33-34, God explains that shedding blood pollutes the land, making it unfit for Him to dwell in the midst of His people. And that, in turn is because of what God told Noah back in Genesis 9:6: “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in His own image.”

And so we see the real problem with any sort of murder – by intentionally destroying an image of God, a murderer is attacking not only his human victim but God Himself. And so, any society that refuses to punish murderers, any society that allows its citizens to treat images of God in such a careless way shouldn’t be surprised to find God abandoning it to its own devices.

We Americans have gone to great lengths to make sure that no one is wrongly convicted of any crime and that everyone has access to legal due process. And yet over sixty million American images of God have been destroyed before they ever had a chance to be born. Can we imagine that God will long overlook such an incredible amount of bloodshed?

Numbers 35:30-34 (ESV)

30 “If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the evidence of witnesses. But no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness. 31 Moreover, you shall accept no ransom for the life of a murderer, who is guilty of death, but he shall be put to death. 32 And you shall accept no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to dwell in the land before the death of the high priest. 33 You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it. 34 You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell, for I the LORD dwell in the midst of the people of Israel.”