Engineer Andy's Journal: gnats in the soup of life

Every now and then there are gnats in life, whose annoyance is disproportionate to their size or importance. I had to deal with one such gnat today, not part of my professional capacity, but someone socially from back home.

A difference of opinion arose as to a certain moral issue (the death penalty). While i don't like it personally, i know that when in certain countries, you respect their law and be very careful, as they are liberal in its use. Part of when in rome, you submit yourself to the roman authorities.

The other chap took umbrage at this, and requested that i not identify myself as christian. effectively questioning my very salvation. while i might socially find the death penalty distasteful for any number of reasons, i would not have put it on the list of salvation issues. i fully acknowledge that its severity makes it a very hard issue to discuss without getting emotional responses from all sides.

I personally think that a life in a small prison cell (I have designed enough of them to know that they are small, spartanly furnished, and that it would not be a pleasant place to spend any length of time) knowing that you will never be free again would be a far worse punishment than death. That is predicated on having your relationship with God resolved, and knowing that you have your salvation assured.

If we want to dispute other countries' (and frankly they are civilised countries) rights to set laws and exercise their sovereignty, the standard way of doing this in the past is to invade and impose our norms. I don't think that is likely to happen any time soon, and frankly i wouldn't support that.

O well. I should have bit my tongue, and not replied to this chap, and avoided the whole messy incident. It's what happens when you swat at a gnat swimming in your soup.

moral issues

[the boat rocker]

I think you raise three moral issues in todays entry. 1. The death penalty. personaly I don't think that individually or collectively we should have the power to determine the worth of a human life. 2. The laws of other countries. Although I think that we should raise questions where we believe human rights are being are compromised, I do not believe that as foreigners abroad we should not be expect to be exempt from their laws. 3. Questioning someone elses salvation. Never a good idea, lest you be judge

Re:moral issues

[Engineer Andy]

fair points.
well said. my preference is to not have the death penalty as it can't be revoked if there is a miscarriage of justice.

The point re raising concerns about human rights should lead to all death penalties being questioned, not just those of people who are from western countries. you're right in saying that we can't be exempt from foreign rules. there is no way that we would allow foreigners to get off offences in our country because it is not a crime in their home country.

I'd already thought low

Re:moral issues

[the boat rocker]

I'd say I'm currently a random wanderer but I found out about you journal though a link a friend sent me. :-)