By Rev. Chris Ponnet

 1 Sam 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a | Eph 5:8-14 | Jn 9:1-41

Not as a human sees does God see. (1 Samuel 16:6)

On the night before California resumed executions, I stood outside San Quentin. It was a beautiful and quiet night. When the sun began to rise, an evangelical preacher arrived to set up his signs of support of executions. As the press arrived, he mocked me and demanded the press allow us to debate. I agreed on one condition: as fellow Christians we would use only Christian biblical texts. He refused. This evangelical pastor's only support is found in Hebrew texts that Rabbinical scholars remind us that we Christians often misuse, such as an "eye for an eye" (Luke 24:19). We are reminded that as Jewish practice and law developed, executions were allowed only when the 72 leaders were in full agreement, which was set up so execution would not be allowed in practice...