Lindsay Clancy And The Two Kingdoms
By Jim Cassidy - Posted at The Heidelblog:
Published September 4, 2026
I believe Lindsay Clancy, if found guilty, should receive the death penalty for the murder of each of her children. I understand that capital punishment is not an option in Massachusetts. I also understand all the complexities of the very real suffering that comes with postpartum depression and other forms of psychosis. Still, God’s design for an ordered society is capital punishment for capital crime, and it offers no “get out of jail free” card.I have argued elsewhere, on the basis of Genesis 4 and 9, that the civil magistrate bears a divine obligation to punish murder with death. If she is guilty of deliberately taking innocent human life, the lex talionis principle requires that her blood be shed.1
I also hope she goes to heaven.
On the surface, that may seem contradictory. But, in fact, it is not. The believer’s desire for justice in the face of heinous crime, on the one hand, and his desire for the criminal’s eternal salvation, on the other, rather sweetly cohere. Let me explain.
The Blood of Abel
Cain murders Abel. When God confronts Cain, he says, “The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground” (Gen 4:10).
This is a remarkable way of speaking about murder. Abel is dead. He cannot testify before a human court. But his blood testifies. Innocent human blood has been unjustly shed, and that blood cries out for justice. Initially, God announces his sentence on Cain: exile from his holy presence. Cain protests that the punishment is too harsh, for he knows the land of Nod—with its bloodthirsty men—will be the place of his demise. But God assures Cain that he will be protected, for “if anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold” (v. 15; cf. Gen 9:6). I have argued elsewhere that this is the origin of state power, with its special focus on protecting life through the threat of lex talionis justice.
This is the kind of justice the murder of the Clancy children deserves.
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