They stand outside of the prison complex, holding candles and singing songs. They are the protesters; a mix of non-believers and believers. Their protest is that it’s wrong that a condemned prisoner is about to be executed. “Human life is precious” is the bond that holds the protesters together.

Indeed, human life is precious. What makes it so is that it bears the image of God. Human life is meant to be a forever, continuous flow. To interrupt it with murder is to show a disregard for the Life-Giver, and is to deny the right of the recipient to experience His gift of life.

Murder is a sin that breaks the 6^th commandment. Sin, an aberration of life, leads to death—the first one and the second one. That’s called justice. So when God calls for the end of a murderer’s life, it is simply the inevitable being fulfilled.

That God approves of capital punishment is explicitly stated in Genesis 9: 6. He instituted the death penalty by saying “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for (the main reason follows) God made man in his own [precious] image.”

There too, I think, is a secondary reason for capital punishment; that is, God wants us to be fruitful by multiplying and filling the earth (Genesis 9: 1). Therefore, the death penalty is meant also to be a deterrent; one that would discourage interference with God’s planned number of people.

So the following should be taken into consideration by those Christians protesting the death penalty. When the government appropriately administers punishment, with its establishment and authority ordained by God (Romans 13: 1-4), it is rightfully following a divine plan.