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McCook Gazette
Letter to the Editor

Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Evil

Monday, October 31, 2016

Dear Editor,

Christians need to know the difference between these two terms when deciding on whether to vote for "repeal" (voting for the death penalty) or "retain" (voting for lie in prison as a substitute for the death penalty. Abortion, for example, is intrinsically evil, that is inherently evil inasmuch as it is the murdering of an innocent human being who has a right to life. The "death penalty," on the other hand, is an extrinsic evil, namely, has an appearance of evil but it not an inherent evil because of the fact that society has a right to be protected from capital offenses.

The death penalty, in fact, provides a positive good, securing the common good by taking just means of maintaining that public good.

Finally, what all Christians worthy of the name know, is that a man or a woman facing death will tend to reflect on the evil they have committed, and are more likely to feel sorrow for their sin and look forward to god's mercy. And this, rather than being an ugly thing, is rather, a very beautiful thing in the eyes of real Christians.

Sincerely,

James G. McHale,

McCook, Neb.

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  • Jesus tended to think that there were 2 forces in the world. One was evil and was authored by satan. The other was good and authored by God. This would be Jesus's God - not the Christian God. Jesus had a single God - the Christians have 3 of them. Or, a 3 headed one. Anyway, he thought that satan was behind all forms of killing. Obviously, there being only 2 forces, killing would tend to originate with satan. I doubt that Jesus thought that there was some "human" force out there somewhere. Just satan and God. We are moved or motivated by one or the other. An example - if someone strikes you, don't strike back. The person striking originally is motivated by satan. You are motivated the same when you strike back. Jesus would say here that nothing would please satan more than to continue this type of conduct. Nothing would be more pleasing to satan than to act in the world in a way that pleases satan and promotes satan's agenda. Satan's agenda being here to live in a world full of discord. God being different and opposite of satan. Christians, in general, don't really have a God whose opinion they regard in any special way. They have their own opinions. Or, they have a communal opinion. Most Christians would think Jesus a complete fool. It's unlikely that he was.

    -- Posted by bob s on Mon, Oct 31, 2016, at 1:45 PM
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