Conquer Club

tzor wrote:

Lucarilover240 wrote:If God made "Thou shalt not kill" one of the ten commandments, then why is there murder? Apparently, if he does exist, he doesn't even take himself very seriously.

Another thing I believe is that any "All powerful" being that would alow anything such as genocide, child molestation, muder, anything like that, has under no circumstances earned himself or herself the title of "God", free will or not. No right minded God would allow the horrors that we see today to take place. I agree with the OP: Either there is no God, he isn't a God at all, or he has a sick, sick sense of humor.

Nit pick, the commandment is not “kill” but “murder.” The word “kill” is a mistranslation.

How do you know to be true? From reading your particular version of the Bible?

BigBallinStalin wrote:

tzor wrote:

Lucarilover240 wrote:If God made "Thou shalt not kill" one of the ten commandments, then why is there murder? Apparently, if he does exist, he doesn't even take himself very seriously.

Another thing I believe is that any "All powerful" being that would alow anything such as genocide, child molestation, muder, anything like that, has under no circumstances earned himself or herself the title of "God", free will or not. No right minded God would allow the horrors that we see today to take place. I agree with the OP: Either there is no God, he isn't a God at all, or he has a sick, sick sense of humor.

Nit pick, the commandment is not “kill” but “murder.” The word “kill” is a mistranslation.

How do you know to be true? From reading your particular version of the Bible?

No, its accurate. This is what Jewish scholars tend to say. Christians, particularly groups like Mennonites often translate it as "kill". At any rate, that's why wars are OK under old Testament Law.

Many times its actually translated as "thou shalt not kill they brother".

PLAYER57832 wrote:

BigBallinStalin wrote:

tzor wrote:

Lucarilover240 wrote:If God made "Thou shalt not kill" one of the ten commandments, then why is there murder? Apparently, if he does exist, he doesn't even take himself very seriously.

Another thing I believe is that any "All powerful" being that would alow anything such as genocide, child molestation, muder, anything like that, has under no circumstances earned himself or herself the title of "God", free will or not. No right minded God would allow the horrors that we see today to take place. I agree with the OP: Either there is no God, he isn't a God at all, or he has a sick, sick sense of humor.

Nit pick, the commandment is not “kill” but “murder.” The word “kill” is a mistranslation.

How do you know to be true? From reading your particular version of the Bible?

No, its accurate. This is what Jewish scholars tend to say. Christians, particularly groups like Mennonites often translate it as "kill". At any rate, that's why wars are OK under old Testament Law.

Many times its actually translated as "thou shalt not kill they brother".

You're both right in some ways. Traditionally it's "kill", and it's very far from being just Mennonites who translate it that way. Most Bibles translate it that way, notably the KJV in English. Some more modern Bibles use "murder", but it's far from being a clear cut issue even now. I've heard "unjust killing" brought up, but I can't give you references right now.

Either way, the use of "murder" might well be more accurate, but it's certainly a modern twist on traditional Christianity to translate it in that way.

dwilhelmi wrote:

thegreekdog wrote:Seriously, volunteer discussion moderator here trying to moderate discussion...

If God does not exist, how do you know something is evil?

Group consensus? If there is no higher power, the only law that would exist is the law we would make for ourselves. Therefore each person would define for themselves what is evil or not evil. At most, you could say that the law of the land decides what is evil. But if there is nothing beyond ourselves, then evil is defined only by ourselves.

Are far more interesting question is:

If God does exist, why are some things evil?

Symmetry wrote: You're both right in some ways. Traditionally it's "kill" and it's very far from being just Mennonites who translate it that way. Most Bibles translate it that way, notably the KJV in English.

That "tradition" applies to Christians, but Jews have more often viewed it as meaning "murder". In truth, Christians (other than certain groups) have typically been free with the exceptions. Many people were not even considered "real people", and therefore not subject to that rule. Jews, on the other hand, tend to be a bit more consistant.

Symmetry wrote:
Some more modern Bibles use "murder", but it's far from being a clear cut issue even now. I've heard "unjust killing" brought up, but I can't give you references right now.

St Augustine's treatise is one of the most famous, discussing the "just war concept". For individuals,
this has more to so with our changing language than any real change in how the Bible is understood. In the past, many people were simply "excluded', it was "understood" without saying that it was OK to kill enemies that attacked your family, etc. In more recent times, many Christians have taken a different view. However, this gets complicated because, for example, a commong theme in Judaism is "mercy" , even for the animals they eat. Animals must be slaughtered so they endure the least pain possible. Christians have pretty well discarded that and, for many years, passed on completely false notions of what "Kosher" meant.

tzor wrote:If God really loves us, he would put us all in straight jackets, surround us with bubble wrap and force us all to eat broccoli every day! If God really loves us he would micromanage every aspect of our lives so that every day would be perfect, wonderful, and just like every other day. The sky would always be the right shade of pink, the grass always the right shade of blue, and the sea always the right shade of green.

That’s not love; that’s evil.

I actually understand your point about free will being necessary. The main problem still doesn't go away though. That problem being people who are minding their own business for the most part who are subjected to absolutely horrible injustice. This goes on all over the world, and most horrific stories aren't even reported. It's way too tough of a problem to just sweep under the rug, my friend.