Some Capital Resources

I found this very well done series of columns on capital punishment through Townhall.com. I don't agree with everything he says - I think that capital punishment provides a stronger deterrent than he gives it credit for, and I dislike his statement that he would consider arguing against the death penalty if he thought it would make him look more consistent with his pro-life stance on abortion - but in general, it seems a very solid and well thought through set of articles. It's in several parts, so I've listed links to all of them here for your reading convenience:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5
• Part 6

Because he very wisely wants to keep his series focused, he spends very little time dealing with the validity of retributive punishment. But that's an important issue, since the general attitude of our society is that retribution should be excluded from the reasons to punish. For an utterly fantastic defense of retributive punishment, see C.S. Lewis's article on "The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment."

Two Sonnets on Theodicy

I wrote these sonnets last year for Literature class. We were reading Moby Dick, and the poems were supposed to cover the reactions of Ahab and Melville/Ishmael to the suffering that they experienced and witnessed. I stumbled across them on the computer today and reread them, and I think they're worth posting, because they stand pretty well alone, without any knowledge of Moby Dick.

The first one is the musings of Ahab, or anyone who is driven to reject God because of the evil in the world:

My God! My God! Forsaken, here am I;
No man can cure the ailments of my soul;
Does heaven also leave me here to die?
Can neither spirit nor my flesh be whole?
God, you are good, or so they say – then why
Does evil dog me so – is’t your desire?
All-powerful God, if naught escapes your eye
Then why am I left bare to this world’s ire?

If there’s a God, why should he rule my pride?
Or weak or spiteful – neither earns esteem
I must strike out – must sail against the tide
That bears me to and fro as God doth deem.
God, I reject thee; govern Me no more.
I turn My face and soul from heaven’s shore.

This one's the response - the proper way to view things:

This world seems no fit place for mortal men
What have we done to earn our agonies?
Beyond all doubt, it seems, much pain has been
Quite undeserved. Can God be hurt by these
Whom He created? Surely ‘tis not so,
Is God, then, not almighty, as say some?
Then what is God? Or can He wish us woe?
A demon then, not God, He would become.

But hold – the answer’s clear as break of day,
For life is good; each breath of air we draw
Is undeserved. If grief’s unearned, I say
That joys are far less ours by any law.
God’s seeming spite but serves to make us see
The mercies He pours out so liberally.