The Death Penalty on Trial: Taking a Life for a Life Taken (Nordskog Publishing)

Contact: Helen Cook, 979-922-1512

HOUSTON, Mar. 23 /Christian Newswire/ -- For centuries Christians and secular individuals alike have debated whether taking the life of a convicted murderer is fair punishment, with proponents falling on both sides of the issue. Is there a guiding principle to settle the dispute? According to Gleason, the benchmark is the ethical standard found in Holy Scripture and the solution is just.

"Christian ethics is based on a recognition of the authority, wisdom, and goodness of God as Creator over man the creature, based on the Biblical teaching that man is created in the image of God (imago Dei)," Gleason says in the introduction to his book. . . . "The crime of murder is heinous precisely because every human being bears the image of God. Someone who strikes down the image-bearer strikes at the holy, almighty Image-Giver, God Himself."

The Death Penalty on Trial examines the pros and cons of capital punishment and addresses thirteen objections from within both the Christian and secular communities. It also offers thoughtful, good-sense grounds for employing the death penalty as appropriate punishment for murder as determined in a court of law. Written from a Christian worldview and based on both the Westminster Standards and the Belgic Confession as well as the Bible, the book will engage readers regardless of their religious standing.

"Every person has a viewpoint, and generally it is to do what is right in his or her own eyes," says publisher Gerald Nordskog. "On this particular issue, there must be a best, right-approach solution, since it is too critical for the safety and well-being of society as a whole, which includes the victims and their families as well as the criminal."

The Death Penalty on Trial delivers that "right-approach" solution and equips readers to defend capital punishment in today's open market of ideas. Specific topics in Gleason's book include a historical overview (including church history) of capital punishment; a review of Old Testament and New Testament perspectives; the critical difference between the Biblical terms to kill and to murder; and the importance of debating capital punishment from the position of Christian ethics.