Deuteronomy 21:18-21King James Version (KJV)
18 If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them:
19 Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place;
20 And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.
21 And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.
Now I wonder if someone would stone his child for being rebellious? The death penalty is useless, the people who are condemned to death are carefully picked, and you know what, if I kill someone with a bullet because I hate him, he's just as dead as if I had unwittingly run him over with a car. So I think if you are going for the death penalty it's all the way or nothing, you either apply life for life or don't, anything else is Hypocrisy.
God didn't say it is useless....neither has six thousand years of human tradition precluded it from usage....So I think it may be wise to correct the abuses but still to accept the principle of Capital Punishment. By the way you are over your head I think in your exegesis of the passages in Deuteronomy.
Why would I be over my head, it is in Deuteronomy, you might not like it but it's there. And also I didn't say God said it is useless, I am the one saying that. See I don't believe in the bible, (I do believe in a Creator) I was just quoting from it to make the point that if you look deep enough into the bible you will find a passage that fits any purpose the one in deuteronomy is exact for the death penalty, you just have to be rebellious to deserve it.
You are over your head in that you presume to instruct from the Bible which you say you don't even believe. I wonder if you have ever read the bible through. The fact is the bible will judge you one day instead of you judging it. You assume this son is a "child" or young boy who is guilty of only being ornery, when clearly he isn't. He is a full grown man. He is is a determined [stubborn], rebellious, and habitual drunkard [v.20]. The son is rebellious not only to his parents but also to God.Though the nature of the rebellion is not clearly stated the implication is that of some grievous and major sin such as blasphemy or other sin worthy of death at that point in Jewish history. The consequences of this rebellion are apparent in home and community. Every warning and admonition are unheeded by the son [v.18.] It is required that the parents present their son to civil authorities [v 19] and indicate the nature of the crimes. The execution then comes from the community because ultimately the son's crime affects the entire community [v.9.] By the way, the absolute right of parents to control and even kill their offspring was far more cruel and unrestricted in other ancient cultures including the Assyrians, Persians, Greeks and Romans. God greatly restricted or much mitigated this abuse among the Hebrews.