10 Commandments:Exodus 20:13 (King James): "Thou shalt have no other gods before me. "Exodus 20:13 (King James): "Thou shalt not kill."

Reasonable Summary of Subsequent Events:Aaron builds a golden calf for the people of Israel to worship while Moses is on Mt. Sinai receiving the 10 commandments from God. The people of Israel are violating one of the commandments, which angers God even though the people of Israel have no knowledge of what God's commandments are. Moses talks God out of retribution but then commands his people to commit murder on behalf of God.Exodus 32:27 (King James): "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour. "

This presents a problem:Within the same book (Exodus), God commands his people to break his commandment (murder) because his people were breaking another commandment (false gods) which they had not yet seen. The command to murder was issued by a human on behalf of God. Moreover, even in modern times, his followers disagree on when it is appropriate to kill someone and when it is not.

I feel the above story is absurd and potentially dangerous. Because a man instructs people to kill on behalf of God for a breaking a law the people had not even been given yet, this sets the scene for tremendous abuse of power (e.g. The Crusades, Spanish Inquisition, etc). Anyone in power could simply say God commands you to kill for X.

There are two options here:There is an all powerful god that created laws regarding killing which are confusing and still frequently debated among earnest followers thousands of years later, and the final decision on these laws is relayed to his followers through other humans who feel God is leading them.

OR...

Humans wrote the book of Exodus which told the tale of a god similar to the way humans wrote thousands of other tales regarding thousands of other gods in the past.

My final thoughts

The above story is consistent with what I would expect an ancient human to write similar to the things they wrote in Greek Mythology, Islam, etc. It explains why the commands come through humans. It explains why it's confusing. If Exodus were a fictional story, it would entirely explain all the problems above. However, if Exodus is true, it requires really complex mental gymnastics to explain how this could possibly be logical, and even then, it doesn't explain why so many people argue over something that should be relatively straightforward.

Debate topic:

Simply put, God's handling of killing in the Bible is not logical. It is more consistent with what one would expect an ancient human to write rather than an all powerful god.

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Addendum:
Through argument, I noticed there is a lot of debate over the translation "kill" and "murder" with suggestions that murder is unacceptable but killing may. However, this is problematic with the following argument:
- God's old laws instructed humans to enforce them
- Humans occasionally make errors when convicting people which leads to the execution of innocents.
- Therefore, by not administering punishment himself, God virtually guarantees some humans will execute other innocent humans thus breaking his commandment.

You could counter with the argument that God intervenes and makes human judgement perfect. However, God values free will, and does not control human decision making. Moreover, it's very clear that people can and have abused this system in the past. This seems like a poorly thought out system not compatible with an all powerful god.

Edited for formatting and per mod request. Primary argument is similar.

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