Let me start by saying that in the deepest part of my soul I am opposed to “capital punishment." The hairs on my neck crawl when the state of Georgia injects killing poisons through the veins of anyone allegedly on my behalf. I take seriously the teaching of Jesus, which says the “one without sin” gets to cast the first stone.
However, I also know if at 2 a.m. someone breaks into my house and has gotten past CoCo and Koda (our dogs) and is coming up the stairs to my bedroom, the phrase, “Your soul had better be with God, because your ass is mine” comes to mind. I will do everything in my power to stop the criminal up to and including killing him. With that I would probably spend the rest of my life in therapy trying to get rid of the nightmares of taking a human life.
Interestingly, my husband, if faced with this situation, would simply shoot the intruder dead, go back to sleep and call the trash people in the morning. He would not feel an ounce of remorse because that person was there to do him and his family harm.