We watch the history channel very frequently. LOVE IT!!
As for the death penalty, it is a more then just punishment in particular situations. I decided that God was the one in charge of that persons heart beating day after day, no matter where they were - inmates sit on death row for YEARS. What can happen to a person while they sit there, in isolation for the most part, for a matter of years, yes at tax payers expense, is still an opportunity for that person.
If it were an eye for an eye, do we realize how much less crime we actually would have? People would know the clear consequences and there wouldn't be wiggle room for loop holes. Too much time is spent finding loop holes in cases usually on the defense side (as I have seen it in my research) to get someone off. But, that's another story.
I LOVE the History Channel!!! I'll watch the history of anything! LOL!!!
Here's the kicker, I am in favor of the death penalty. Sure it has not been administered equally, but in the Bible there was a death penalty. We know by the number of people upon whom it was served out in a variety of ways. it's broke, just fix it. In some cases "eye for an eye" needs to be administered for sure.
Lol! If you wanted to drive me insane or torture me for information you could tie me down and make me watch The View. Oy! Can't stand that show, but hey, I like shows that you wouldn't like. My favourite channel on the tube is History International. I know that lots of people are bored to tears by that kind of TV.
As to the Kennedys, the orginal statement regarding JFK was that people thought he was going to bring on the end of time. Lol! I was not around back in those days, but I bet the same SDAs who have prdicted each president since then would be "the one" really went nuts over him.
That brings me back to the topic of apocalyptic fears about each president. I am somewhat alarmed by some of the tactics I see that fit with other patterns, but I will not discuss that now. But, I do take issue with the use of every new thing as another means of trying to terrify people into submission to whatever apocalyptic direction a person or group wants them to take.
We live in a time of unprecedented peace on this earth. There are fewer and smaller wars, we haven't had a major natural disaster in over a century, economies go up and down but globally they are holding well above lines that would be disastrous. I don't buy into the idea that we are in a time of terrible turmoil. Being an avid student of world history, that doesn't wash with me.
Since WW2 there have been a few minor wars and that is all. Up through WW2 wars were conducted with the policy of targeting the civilians and killing as many of them as possible, and through most of history, the victors walked away with all of the conquered nation's valuables, including the young people as slaves. Now civilian casualties are largely avoided, we rebuild the conquered country, take nothing from them, tax our own people to provide for the people we conquered and the issue of slavery is moot. Also, with U.S. military bases and carrier fleets completely surrounding the globe, other super-powers present and keeping control of their allies, and the ever present threat of nuclear anihilation, war and unrest is kept to a minimum. All of us super powers have allies with assets and business that we have to protect and that keeps most of the world in a forced state of peace.
The last major natural disaster occured in 1883. The island of Krakatau blew in a volcanic eruption that was heard over 3,000 miles away. It spread ash and sulfur around the entire world within days and caused a global drop in temperature that resulted in famines and a huge death toll globally. The earth's temperature did not normalize for five years. This came on the heels of a mini ice age that had taken the lives of millions, but actually resulted in the emergence of the potato as an accepted food because it was an underground crop that could grow in the very short summers they had and survive the cold. Prior to that, there was the black plague that decimated many of the earth's populations and is actually considered one of the factors in bringing about the ice age as millions of acres of farmland returned to forest as the populations died off. Going back further we see where terrible super volcanoes like Yellowstone would have eliminated most living things on entire continents, there were asteroid strikes like the one in the Gulf of Mexico that would have created a wall of water over 5,000 feet high that washed across the North American continent and was only stopped by the Rocky mountain range. We could go on and on.
Then there is the matter of religious persecution. We are in a period of the least violence in religious persecution in millenia. Although there are pockets of violent religious persecution in in several Muslim countries, even where repression exists in countries like China, it is moderate.
The point of all this being that we do not live in a time when all heck is breaking loose on the earth and when there are wars and rumours of wars, and pestilence, and natural disasters like never before.