The Athiests Wager

[Sorunome]

Off the top of my head, the Bible commands killing children for disobeying their parents. Does that sound like something a good person would do?

But doesn't the bible also say that you should not kill and that you should love your enemy? -> Bible doesn't make a sense.

[xenawarriorprincess]

The Bible says that believing in God isn't enough because even the demons know that there is a God, you have to believe that He loved us so much that He sent His Son to die for our redemption as well.

[Menno]

Maybe I'm missing something...but does commandment #2 mean that it's immoral to make a sculpture of a fish?

[Tobias_Marco]

<Sorry everyone that it took me so long to get to these, after a while with all that life was throwing my way I was feeling worn out, and I just haven't gotten back to this.>
<Making a sculpture of a fish or a bird or anything else you can think of is alright, just so long as you don't plan on worshiping it.>
<The Bible does say that you should not kill and that you should love your enemies, between these two points I don't think there is any problem, the problem comes in when the Bible tells us that for some crimes someone should be put to death. Let me ask you this: if someone is arrested and the government puts them to death for their crimes is it murder? Some people will say yes, other people will say no. In this case I think God is saying 'no, that doesn't count as murder, that counts as justice." There are many times where I have watched a movie or a TV show and someone is about to do something and their motives are questioned. "Are you doing this for justice or revenge?" If I take someone's life because I want revenge than it is wrong, if I take someone's life because I work for the government and it is my job to weed out the most evil people and cut them off from everyone else, then it is good.>
<If a rapist, and a murderer are both put to death by the government then most people will not see a problem with it. On the other hand if I put on a mask and drive around looking for murderers and sex offenders and break into their homes and put a bullet between their ears, then that would be wrong, and I would be a murderer. Same action, for the most part, yet one has the authority to do so, the other does not.>
<Do I like the idea of children being put to death for any reason? No, however I heard a true story worth thinking about. Some city somewhere made abortions easier to get, 15 years later the crime rate went down. At first they thought that it was because they had a better police force, however research showed that they had less criminals because families that couldn't afford to have these children were having abortions before the children could grow up. Now this is not to say that I think all poor families should get abortions, however if at the first BIG sign of trouble a trouble maker were put to death, than wouldn't the crime rate go down?>
<I have been reading a book of Aesop's fables, in it there is a story of a thief and his mother. A young boy came home from school and showed his mother that he had stolen something, it was small and not worth a lot. Now most mothers would punish the boy for this, however she praised his cleverness. Many years later he is a grown man and he has been caught with something far more valuable. He is about to be put to death and wishes to say one last thing to his mother before he dies. He leans in close and bites her ear. The crowd goes crazy. He tells them that he is a monster, however if his mother had only raised him a little better he would not be about to die.>
<The moral of this story is "Spare the rod and spoil the child." This same line is found in the Bible.>
<If I were writing the rules, I don't think I would ask for children to be put to death, however I would support a good spanking or a time out for naughty little children.>
<By 'a good spanking' I mean that it should not be done in anger, and there should be a measure of restraint. There is a difference between spanking a child and beating them.>