People have been trained on a steady diet of "Turn the other cheek (culturally mistranslated)" to think that being a Christian means sitting down, shutting up, and letting everyone else walk all over you. We're called to love our enemies, but you can love someone and still say "What you did was wrong, and you still need to be punished." Forgiveness isn't "We'll just pretend you didn't do anything wrong." It's "You did something wrong, but I'm going to love you, anyway." Mercy can only given to those who genuinely ask for it. Jesus, through His parables, was not kind to those who would abuse His grace.

My dad once said he thinks that the death penalty could be a mercy in of itself, because it gives one a clear time limit to their waste of a life and a chance to get right with God while they have a chance.

Edit: Why am I fully upvoted when I'm agreeing with yamez?

People have been trained on a steady diet of "Turn the other cheek (culturally mistranslated)" to think that being a Christian means sitting down, shutting up, and letting everyone else walk all over you. We're called to love our enemies, but you can love someone and still say "What you did was wrong, and you still need to be punished." Forgiveness isn't "We'll just pretend you didn't do anything wrong." It's "You did something wrong, but I'm going to love you, anyway." Mercy can only given to those who genuinely ask for it. Jesus, through His parables, was not kind to those who would abuse His grace.

My dad once said he thinks that the death penalty could be a mercy in of itself, because it gives one a clear time limit to their waste of a life and a chance to get right with God while they have a chance.