By The Mouths Of How Many Witnesses?
BY Herschel Smith
7 years ago
When we discussed what I called the unbiblical idea that exculpatory evidence is excluded from the court because it’s “hearsay” evidence, it occurred to me that we could add more discussion to this. From R. J. Rushdoony, The Institutes of Biblical Law, pages 566 -567.
The Biblical law of testimony does not permit torture or coerced confessions. Voluntary confession is possible, but two or more witnesses are required for conviction. More strictly, confession is never cited in the law; its place in court was apparently only in connection with corroborating evidence. Thus Achan’s confession required confirming evidence before he was sentence and executed (Joshua 7:19-26). The voluntary aspect of Achan’s confession must be noted. Biblical law preserves the integrity of the individual against forced confession; the right of citizens to be protected from the power of the state to compel their self-incrimination does not appear outside the Biblical legal tradition.
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The objection to self-incrimination means that a Christian must oppose the use of lie detectors as a matter do principle. The lie detector reverses a basic principle of justice …
Another point of interest with respect to lie detector tests has been cited by a Christian police officer. An innocent man may submit to the test in the hopes of clearing himself, but, once under the test, his total privacy is subject to invasion. He can be asked about religious beliefs, political opinions, does he own any guns, and almost anything the examiners choose to ask him. The result is a forced confession.
Like lie detectors, wire-tapping is a form of illegal invasion of privacy; it involves a form of coerced confession, a destruction of the integrity of communication, which makes it clearly immoral and wrong.
But America has long since defenestrated a Biblical notion of righteousness and justice, in its place having substituted the notion of the state as god, and thus you see today that Robert Mueller’s team has absconded with emails to which they have absolutely no right. In a more righteous society, Mueller and his team would be held accountable for this immoral action.
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On December 18, 2017 at 11:49 am, Fred said:
There is something hinted at in the Rushdoony quote you cited. That is; even if I confess, forget coercion for a moment but voluntarily, even then actual evidence is still required.
The natural law of God is perfect. Because to convict solely on confession would be destructive of God’s given freedom to the confessor. And more over if death was the punishment for a supposed crime against another (there is no instance of crime against the state or society, I agree with Herschel) that was not committed by the confessor that death would then be murder, a violation of the Decalogue. So to violate ones liberty or life as indicated is unjust (or an injustice if you prefer), unbiblical, evil.
How then, all the more evil is a coerced confession or one obtained by deception? In God’s economy there is no ‘ends justifies the means’.
Other than Christ on the cross, I can’t think of another instance of imputed guilt to set an offender at liberty.
Interesting.
And oh by the way, speaking of Christ and imputed guilt:
As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
There is none that understandeth, there is none that
seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way,
they are together become unprofitable; there is none
that doeth good, no, not one. For all have sinned, and
come short of the glory of God;…For the wages of sin is
death; but the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord. And death and hell were cast into
the lake of fire. This is the second death.
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe
in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is
made unto salvation. For whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved.