I have submitted the following letter to ‘The Belfast Newsletter’, the new editor of which is Rodney Edwards.
He is the former editor of the local Co. Fermanagh weekly newspaper, ‘The Impartial Reporter’.
If truth be told, that newspaper ought to have changed its name to ‘The Partial Reporter’ during his editorship!
I therefore do not expect this letter to be published!
Sir,
Your correspondent, Mr John Fitzgerald from Co Kilkenny, rails against the death penalty because of the sad and distressing debacle of the attempted execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee. There is no more merit in Mr Fitzgerald’s argument any more than there would be in a call for the abolition of all police forces on the basis of the killing of an innocent person by some rogue policeman!
Why that dreadful event in Tennessee should have taken place has yet to be disclosed. However, the death penalty is not an institution of man but is of divine origin.
“Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man,” Genesis 9:6.
It is intended as a deterrent against murder. It serves to underscore that sin will be punished. It is meant to be punished by society for its own security and peace. But all sin, irrespective of how it has been dealt with by society, will one day be dealt with by the Lord in the strictest justice and righteousness.
Over the centuries man has adopted very contrary views on what is sin to that set down by the Lord in His Word.
At this present time, there is much that men have determined to be legal and proper which the Lord has repeatedly declared, in the strongest terms, as wickedness.
These contrary views endorsed by men will not alter the final judgment meted out by the Lord Jesus Christ.
God “hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead,” Acts 17:31.
That “man” is the Lord Jesus Christ. “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son,” John 5:22.
God’s Word is cast aside today for the most spurious of reasons, but the dreadful consequences of such folly will be realised one day.
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
6th October 2026