drewj

Interesting. So you're saying that stoning for certain sins was a means of preserving the lesser Law on the earth? In this case, I'm not so much concerned with the death alone as I am with the fact that a person's chance to fully repent in this life is cut short. If we believe that a person must repent during this mortal life, how does capital punishment under this Law leave room for that?

Well, I think the most obvious answer (although not completely satisfying to my understanding) is that nothing, especially his own laws/commandments, will destroy God's plan. And knowing that the Lord is abundantly merciful, it's easy to suppose that he will provide a way for someone under these conditions of capital punishment to repent. It just doesn't play well in my mind with "this life is the time to prepare". In regards to Nehor, I've always understood that the murderer "shall not have forgiveness in this world, nor in the world to come". So it never bothered me too much that his mortal probation might be cut short. It's more the case of these other sins that I listed. And in regards to Christ fulfilling the Law, I think that helps. I think we often use this story to illustrate Christ's mercy, when it seems that Christ may not have been wholly against the stoning had all the requirements as outlined by the Law been met. Joseph F. Smith even seemed to indicate that we would practice it today if modern laws permitted:

To preface my question, I can't say I'm much of an OT scholar, so I may be missing a large portion of the picture. What I find confusing is that God would institute a law that would require capital punishment for certain crimes (kidnapping, sexual sins, blasphemy, hitting a parent). Now, I'm not hung up on this because I think it displays a lack of mercy on the part of the Lord-- consequences follow our actions. What trips me up about this is that if we believe that this life is a probationary period for us to work out our repentance, how would the practice of stoning someone to death for sin support that concept? I used to understand Jesus' "go thy way and sin no more" interaction to be a rejection of that practice in the Law of Moses and a teaching about mercy. However, I've read some sources that compellingly argue that it is less of a story of mercy, and more a story showing Christ's ability to discern those who were trying to entrap Him. That because they only brought the woman and not the man, as required by the Law of Moses, and because under Roman rule, the Jews were allowed to govern themselves in some matters only (not capital punishment). Therefore, He wasn't rejecting the practice of stoning (as He had been the one to give the Law in OT times) but saying "if you're going to do it, do it by the book". So, I guess I just fail to see how such a law supports the ultimate goal of providing salvation through repentance in this life and relying on His grace.