Biblical Wisdom

Background Information Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. Romans 13:1-7 New International Version (NIV) Nanette was a friend of Jeff’s. Jeff lived with his father, Paul, in the same neighborhood as Nanette. Nanette was aware that Paul kept money in his house because Jeff told her he had stolen money from his father numerous times to purchase drugs and beer. Around 3:00 a.m. on July 3, Nanette left the trailer she and her five children shared with her mother-in-law and invited Jeff to go with her to purchase crack cocaine in another city. Nanette’s husband Eric was in jail at the time. Nanette purchased the cocaine and drove to an isolated rural area where she and Jeff smoked crack cocaine. When Jeff got out of the car to answer nature’s call, Nanette drove away without him. Nanette returned to the same drug dealer two hours later and purchased more crack cocaine. The drug dealer noticed that Nanette appeared very nervous and was not wearing any shoes. Nanette told the drug dealer that she got the money to purchase the drugs from a friend and that she “might’ve killed the old guy.” In the meantime, after hitchhiking back to his dad’s house, Jeff arrived home around 6:00 a.m. and discovered that his father was dead. Paul had been struck in the head with a ceramic lamp and stabbed at least seven times, with fatal wounds to his neck and chest. Jeff ran to Nanette’s trailer and accused her of killing his father. Later that day, police questioned Nanette about Paul’s murder, and she denied any involvement. One week later, police contacted Nanette and asked her to talk with them again about Paul’s murder. Nanette voluntarily went to the police station around 8:00 p.m. on July 9. After executing a waiver of rights, police interrogated Nanette for approximately five hours, all of which was recorded on videotape. Initially, Nanette again denied any involvement in Paul’s murder, claiming that she had been in her trailer all night. However, Nanette gradually changed her story as police confronted her with incriminating evidence, some of which was true and some of which was fabricated. Ultimately, Nanette told police that she took the drug dealer to Paul’s house in order to steal money and, when Paul unexpectedly awoke, Nanette smashed a lamp on his head and assisted the drug dealer in stabbing him. Nanette also told police that she and the drug dealer took $100 from Paul’s home. The drug dealer was never considered a suspect in Paul’s murder. During the course of the interrogation, police interrogators made at least two factual misrepresentations to Nanette. They told her that the police found her fingerprint and that two witnesses had seen Nanette at Paul’s house that night. Neither of these representations was true; they were made, at least in part, to judge Nanette’s reaction to this information. No evidence exists of any additional substantial misrepresentations made by the police. No evidence exists of any promises made regarding leniency or special treatment or other inducements. Instructions 1. Navigate to the threaded discussion and respond to the following prompt: a. Should police be allowed to make misrepresentations (essentially, to lie) to a suspect or to use other forms of trickery to obtain a confession? Justify your position. 2. Defend your answer and provide a meaningful and factual response. It is expected that this initial posting be a minimum of one paragraph long. a. A paragraph consists of a group of at least five sentences and is approximately a half a page long. In order for a paragraph to be effective, it must begin with a topic sentence, have sentences that support the main idea of that paragraph, and maintain a consistent flow. Use the link below to access the book https://www52.zippyshare.com/v/ABmLAUAL/file.html