Book One

The Dream Catcher's Dream

Chapter Nineteen

The Assumptions Underlying Capital Punishment

"Assumptions are beliefs treated as facts
even when there is little or no evidence
to support the assumptions."

I ask, "Can you give us an example?"

OK.   Capital punishment is an easy area to see
where the assumptions direct behavior and
make  significant differences in human behavior.

Our American society says,
if you have committed a very serious crime such as murder,
we are going to kill you as punishment.”

“And what are the assumptions?”

“Capital punishment assumes that
the offender must be punished for his crime
and that death of the physical body is punishment. ^17-1    
It also assumes that death is the end of life.”

I say, “It certainly appears to be the end of life.”

“What something appears to be and
what it actually is are two distinctly different things.  
To Galileo’s inquisitors, the earth appeared to be flat.  
To Louis Pasteur’s detractors,
a germ-laden operating knife appeared to be clean.  
To a hungry native,
cutting down the rain forest to graze cattle
appears to be a good idea.

Capital punishment appears to be the end of life,
and for that physical body, yes, it certainly is,
but then, we need to look at the assumptions we make
about what the physical body is.“

I say, “We know physical human bodies
are made of earth matter.”

Herbert continues, “Yes, but who and what are you?  
If I kill your physical body, did I kill you?  
Are you your physical body?  
Are you only your physical body?  
Are you your physical body plus something else?  
Are you something else
that merely inhabits a physical body?  
These are questions that no Earth-bound human being
can answer with absolute provable certainty.”

“So are you saying that
capital punishment kills the physical body, but,
from the broader, philosophical perspective,
we have no idea what physical death really means?”  

“Precisely!   In the context that we refer to
as the greater reality of life,
humans have no scientifically provable facts
regarding what a human being actually is.  
Everything is based on one or another of
the three assumptions we’ve been talking about.

    In the Atheist assumption,
the criminal is assumed to be only his body.  
At death he ceases to exist.  
If this assumption is correct,
executing the body does indeed
produce a significant consequence.

     In the Christian one-life-ism assumption,
humans have only one Earth life
and then go to heaven or hell forever.  
The criminal is assumed to be his body,
which, at death, is somehow magically transformed
into what is called a soul.  
If, after his crime and before his death,
he prays to God for forgiveness,
he (as a soul after death)
goes to heaven forever to be with Jesus
and all the most holy and saintly."
   

“So you are saying that a child rapist and murderer
goes to heaven, if, just before death, he says, 
‘Dear God, please forgive me.’  
And you ‘re saying that he’ll be there
in the same place with those who lived saintly lives
like Mother Teresa?”

“I am not saying that.  
I am merely reporting
the Christian assumption which says that.”

I ask, “What happens if the child rapist and murderer
just says, ‘God, please forgive me’
and he’s not really repentant of his behavior?”

Herbert laughs and says, 
“You’ll have to ask God
for the answer to that question.  
Christian doctrine says the sinner must be repentant,
but, here again, where do you draw the line
between true, deep repentance
at one end of the pole and
just saying the words on the other.”

    Herbert continues, 
“If the criminal doesn’t ask God for forgiveness,
he goes to hell forever.  
In light of the criminal’s choice to ask for forgiveness,
execution of the physical body is almost irrelevant.  
In fact, capital punishment could be considered a great blessing.”

“A blessing?   You’ve got to be kidding!”

“Well, just look at the Christian beliefs,
and then you tell me.  
If the Christian assumption is correct,
by the death of the physical body,
every criminal who has sincerely
asked for God’s forgiveness
is ushered directly into
an eternal heaven of bliss and joy
without having to endure any more of
the pain and suffering of Earth life.  
For a condemned human facing life in a miserable prison
under the constant control of guards,
and often at the mercy of
sadistic, fellow prisoners,
an immediate ride directly to heaven
really is a great blessing."

“So, instead of receiving a terrible punishment,
the criminal is actually being given a wonderful gift.”

“Yup!   If the Christians are right, he sure is.”  

“So are you saying that a terrorist, and
even a man who has raped
and then murdered dozens of women and children
can get into heaven if, at any time before death,
he, with sincerity, simply says,
 ‘Dear God, I’m sorry I did those bad things.  
Please forgive me’?”   ^17-2

“I am not saying that.  
I didn't make any of this up.  
I'm merely reporting what’s in the Christian theology.”

“And are you are saying that
the saintly person who commits a serious sin
just before death gets shipped off to hell forever
 if he forgets to ask forgiveness?”

“Again, I am not saying that.   
I am merely reporting that is
another of the Christian assumptions.”

“And what about reincarnation?"

“In the Reincarnation assumption,
the criminal is assumed to be an eternal soul temporarily
living in a physical body.  
At death, he sheds that body
as simply as you take off your clothes.  
Execution is merely a ticket to
a different dimension of reality.  
By being executed, the criminal
is simply freed of his ties to this life
and is later reborn into another life.  

    What level or degree of consequence
he brings to that next life from his crime
is another unknown.  
Some theories say he will reap
the karmic consequences of his actions.  
If the karmic assumption is correct,
execution of the body merely
shifts the time and place of retribution.

    Others say no consequences follow the body’s demise.  
If this is correct,
the criminal simply gets a free ticket
out of a bad situation.  
Thus, if the reincarnation assumption is correct,
execution of the physical body produces
either a positive or a neutral consequence.”

I say, “So unless atheism is the correct assumption,
capital punishment is a weird joke on those who believe in it?”  

“Yes, a blatantly-obvious, weird joke,
sitting right under everyone’s noses,
and yet, the bureaucrats and
the advocates don’t see it.  
Considering the significance of the consequences involved,
it’s amazing that those promoting the death penalty
don’t bothers to examine the issue
and find out as much as possible
about what they’re actually doing.  

    I have one more point to share with you
relative to capital punishment, and
that deals with correcting mistakes.  
Suppose you apply the death penalty
and later find you’ve made a mistake,
how easy is it to correct your mistake?”

“It’s literally impossible to correct.”   
“And are there readily available alternatives
that would be equally as effective
at preventing the offender from repeating his offense?”

“Yes, of course there are!”

“And are these alternative actions more easily reversible,
 if they are later determined to be in error?”  

“Infinitely more.”  

“So,” Herbert continues,
“is capital punishment forward-looking, crime prevention
or backward-looking punishment?”  

“Isn’t there some famous quote somewhere about
the name of something describing what it stands for?  
Following that standard,
committing a socially-sanctioned murder
could be labeled simply as ‘revenge’?”  

“Now do you see how assumptions
change the meaning of an action?”

“Yes,” I reply, “assumptions obviously do
make a big difference.” 

"Let me add a point of clarity here.  
Regardless of what we believe or assume,
reality is whatever reality is. 
If we assume our beliefs are actual reality
and we're wrong, we're living in a fairytale."  

"How do we eliminate or minimize
our chances of unintentionally creating harm?"  

"You cannot eliminate the possibility of causing harm,
but you minimize the chances of doing so,
first by thoroughly examining the evidence
and making a choice based upon the evidence
and not on emotion or on
what you mama taught you
when you were a very young child,
second by being open to new information
and reevaluating your choice
when new information becomes available,
and third, as much as possible,
make choices that are correctible
if they later turn out to be wrong.   .

"Am I corect in saying that
we make a lot of assumptions
that have no supporting evidence.  

"Yes, we make hundreds of assumptions every day.  
Most, obviously, are less dramatic than capital punishment.”

“Are there other areas of life
which give us very different perspectives
when viewed from each of these three assumptions?”

“Yes, but that’s another story for another day.”

“Seems I’ve heard that line somewhere before.  
Please just mention a couple of the areas
you’re referring to.”

“I’ll just mention the most profound farce of all,
the anti-abortion war.  
This huge controversy is based on fantasy,
on illusion, and on
totally unprovable, religious assumptions.”   ^17-3

“Why would anyone want to ignore the truth?”

“Denial!  It’s their attempt to hide from
the realities of life, but
that’s several other stories
for several other days
so I’d rather not even get close to that question.”

I ask, “Is it that bad?”

“I wouldn’t use the word bad; however,
denial is a serious and far-reaching problem
on both the social and personal levels.  
It touches the core of the work that I do.  
Denial touches the very core of life on this planet.”

End of Chapter Nineteen  -- 
The Assumptions Underlying Capital Punishment    

Take me to Book One -- Twenty 

Assumptions underlying Forced Motherhood

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Copyright  ©  2011  --   

Robert E. Cote'  --  The Life Center

All rights reserved.    

Ch-19  --These Are the Assumptions Upon Which I Base My Facts

https://mysticrystal.org/yd-bk1-ch19-capital-punishment-assumption.html

yd22 -The Yoni Dance trilogy - Book One - The Dream Catcher's Dream - CH-17 - Assumption-Based Facts - Yoni-Dance.net

http://www.Yoni-Dance.net/yd-bk1-ch19-assumption-based-facts.html#gr

http://www.Yoni-Dance.net/yd-bk1-ch19-assumption-based-facts.html#gr

17-1   It also assumes that punishment will prevent other from committing similar offenses.   The evidence seems to indicate that, while some people are, indeed, stopped by fear of punishment, many are not, and some are even inspired by threat of punishment.  

17-2  According to the beliefs in some of the Christian denominations, in order to get into heaven, the repentant criminal must also have been baptized.   If the person wasn’t baptized as a child, that can be very easily done at any time prior to his/her execution.

 17-3  The assumptions underlying the anti-abortion war are either being completely ignored or are being peddled as if they were irrefutable truths.   Examining abortion within the context of each of these three assumptions also gives us some startlingly morbid conclusions about those who are forcing unwilling women to become mothers.  

For an overview of the abortion controversy is really all about, see the web site:  https://truth101.org/vs-ab-abortion.html#gr

To understand how the three religious assumptions affects the abortion controversy, see the web site: 
http://www.ReligiousAssumptions.com#gr  

To understand the grief and misery that is actually being peddled under the disguise of saving babies lives, see the web site:  http://www.pro-truth.net/08-pro-life-leaders.html#gr