The truth of yesterday suffers to the point of death; the truth of today lives without history. Indeed, St. Augustine and St. Aquinas, to name just two Doctors of the Church who testified on behalf of capital punishment, both understood its occasional necessity. In the same way one discovers death in sin, absolving certain sins of their gravity is the revenge of the original lawlessness. In championing the ascendence of life in all cases, a paradox emerges whereby the very preciousness of life itself becomes undervalued. This is to say that it is precisely because human life is so cherished by God, because we are created in His image and likeness, that capital punishment can be a well-deserved destiny.