andrewcriddle

There is little in the Gospels specifically about Jesus' attitude to enforcing the capital punishments enjoined in Torah.

(John 7:53 - 8:11 would imply he was lenient but this passage is certainly not part of the original text of John and is likely not authentic at all.)

In practice in Jesus' day carrying out capital punishment was probably confined to the Roman authorities and Jesus' saying about 'render to Caesar' may suggest that he accepted this situation.

Andrew Criddle

Anat

The traditional Jewish interpretation of the law regarding the rebellious son is that it applied between the age of 13 and 13.5 (the first few months of adulthood) and refers to sons who repeatedly steal meat and wine from their parents for their own consumption despite being warned by the parents - (according to the parents' description "'This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he doth not hearken to our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.'")

Whether such a law was ever enacted inearlier times is probably impossible to tell, but the limitations added by later generations is in accordance with the trend to make justifiable execution vanishingly rare.

Steven Carr

The Times reports that the American Puritans passed a law allowing for execution of minors who did not obey their parents.

One problem with having a Holy Book full of laws that people are told to act upon is that people will act upon the laws found in their Holy Book.