To justify the claim that the God of the Bible is guilty of murder I think it would be good for us to define what it means to be a murderer. The definition that I would hold to and believe to be fairly normative is that murder is the crime of unlawfully and unjustly killing a person. To commit murder is not merely to kill but do so without sufficient moral reason and in violation of the law. I argue that the killings contained in the Bible perpetrated directly or indirectly by God do not fit under that definition and that it is impossible by the very nature of who God is to commit an unjust or illegal killing.
To the vast majority of Jews, Christians, and even Muslims, God is defined as omnibenevolent, omnipotent, and omniscient among other qualities.. God is aware of the totality of possible knowledge and the consequences of every potential action or inaction. He is also infinitely loving and has a perfect understanding of moral knowledge. Human beings are very much unlike God in this sense, we are far from omniscient or infinitely loving and we possess an imperfect understanding of morality. We are as a result unable to act anything like God nor can we hold him to our legal standards. An example that gives insight as to why this is true is that of a citizen without legal jurisdiction catching someone shoplifting. If that citizen proceeds to kidnap and hold such a person in their house as punishment and forces the shoplifter to pay a fine then they are clearly engaged in a crime themselves even though the police routinely do similar without consequences
Police are equipped to carry out and exercise the law in a way that a regular person can not. They recieve years of training and have the resources to effectively detain a person. Our legal process and courts are also equipped to judge a persons guilt and sentence them to punishments proportional to whatever crime they committed.
God is like this but on an infinitely larger scale. If God performs a killing his infinitely loving nature and perfect understanding and appreciation for moral law preclude that killing from being unjust. We also don't have all the circumstances and information that would lead to God commanding a killing. Perhaps if a person or people group were to continue existing millions more would perish in the far future as a result. In that situation it would be in at least some moral ontologies immoral for God to not kill while possessing such knowledge.
The simple reality is that if God is who the Bible says he is any killing that he ordered or carried out must have been justified in a way that salsifies his infinite love and goodness in coordination with his perfect moral judgement. Since humans possess none of theses attributes we cannot accurately label God as a murderer
Voting period ought not exceed 30 days. No, there is no standard suggested, but six months is excessive.
You guys getting sharp huh, getting wise .
Really depends how murder is defined. That said, miscarriage is considered murder in some places, and God takes responsibility for all of those.
In reference to the time to vote, give plenty of time for thoughts and mind changing.
By US law, yes he is.
May I hear your thoughts on why you chose for the debate voting time to be six months?
It's a genuine question. I've seen others do this, and it seems like a very long time to wait for the debate to be finished