Killer Laws

The greater part of human actions have their origin not in logical reasoning but in sentiment.
-Vilfredo Pareto

Bible apologists have a habit of crediting God for anything they see as good, and ignoring the obviously bad. This report exposes the deadly side of what they call God's moral laws.

There is no argument that there is universal agreement against killing, stealing and lying. Apologists argue that they are moral laws which come from a divine source, that is from outside of ourselves. By labeling them laws, the logic follows that they come from a lawgiver and enforcer: God. And because they come from an absolute authority, it is held that they are absolute moral truths.

This line of reasoning is based on a fallacy known as begging the question: It assumes at the outset what it has established as the conclusion. I.e., the label law implies the existence of a lawmaker: God. Thus, the fact that there is moral order is proof of God's existence. The argument goes in circles.

I'm going to argue that moral behavior is inherent in our social instincts. When we make moral judgments, in effect, we make value judgments. That there are many areas of disagreement is what defines them as value judgments.

There is a practical way to demonstrate the inherent nature of moral behavior: Without them our species would not have gotten to where it is now. On the whole we need each other for what we can't achieve alone; we're social animals. If antisocial behavior was basic to our instincts we would have become extinct long before biblical days. We see social behavior in animals, from ants to monkeys; and they don't function under law. Nay, the majority of the world's population, since the beginning of history, doesn't even believe in a Judeo-Christian God. The theist argument just doesn't hold.

This is a big deal among apologists. For they argue that without God there is no objective standard of right and wrong. Take away this standard, and what you get is a relativistic or morally subjective society. Our godless society is falling apart, they say. It is becoming more and more violent, dishonest, crude, selfish and superficial. Then they recite a litany of things that violate God's law.

What's new? There will always be war and crime at the margins. But on the whole, people go about their affairs peacefully, trying to make the best of every day.

I sense missionary propaganda in their logic. They would have you believe that humans are born tabula rasa and need to be taught right from wrong according to God's laws at an early age. It also follows that childhood is the best time to instill the fear of God so they behave morally into adulthood. But if we act out of fear, then it means that our behavior is guided by slavish obedience, not from natural goodness.

Frankly, we don't reason by objective standards very well. Our thoughts and actions are guided by sentiment. And this is what religious indoctrination plays on: the fear factor. Without fear of some kind of divine punishment, God's laws are meaningless.

Since the Ten Commandments are held as the highest standard of God's laws, it is only fair to examine them to see how they are applied. The list below presents a collection of verses which call for the death penalty. Some even call for child sacrifice.

To put it mildly, they are inferior to subjective standards of right and wrong. By demanding an extreme level of conformity, they can only be enforced with extreme punishment: death.

¹⁶"The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor shall the children be put to death for the fathers; every man shall be put to death for his own sin. (Deut. 24:16)

To put it bluntly, there is nothing objective about them; they are extremely vicious. Apologists are not fit to argue that human society would be better off with God's moral laws.

Ten Commandments

1. You shall have no other gods before me.

1. Whoever sacrifices to any god but Yahweh shall be utterly destroyed.

²⁰"Whoever sacrifices to any god, save to the LORD only, shall be utterly destroyed. (Ex. 22:20)

2. Sacrifices to Molech - death by stoning.

²"Say to the people of Israel, Any man of the people of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, who gives any of his children to Molech shall be put to death; the people of the land shall stone him with stones. (Lev. 20:2)

3. Whoever has gone and served other gods shall be stoned to death.

²"If there is found among you, within any of your towns which the LORD your God gives you, a man or woman who does what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, in transgressing his covenant,
³and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have forbidden,
⁴and it is told you and you hear of it; then you shall inquire diligently, and if it is true and certain that such an abominable thing has been done in Israel,
⁵then you shall bring forth to your gates that man or woman who has done this evil thing, and you shall stone that man or woman to death with stones. (Deut. 17:2-5)

4. If someone tries to entice you to serve other gods, you shall stone him to death.

⁶"If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, entices you secretly, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods,' which neither you nor your fathers have known,
⁷some of the gods of the peoples that are round about you, whether near you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other,
⁸you shall not yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him;
⁹but you shall kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.
¹⁰You shall stone him to death with stones, because he sought to draw you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. (Deut. 13:6-10)

5. If you hear that someone has drawn others out of the city to serve other gods, you shall investigate. If it is true you shall put them to the sword.

¹²"If you hear in one of your cities, which the LORD your God gives you to dwell there,
¹³that certain base fellows have gone out among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of the city, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods,' which you have not known,
¹⁴then you shall inquire and make search and ask diligently; and behold, if it be true and certain that such an abominable thing has been done among you,
¹⁵you shall surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword, destroying it utterly, all who are in it and its cattle, with the edge of the sword. (Deut. 13:12-15)

6. He who does not believe will be condemned.

¹⁶He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. (Mark 16:16)

7. You will die for your sins unless you believe that I am he.

²⁴I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he." (John 8:24)

2. You shall not make any graven images or any likeness of anything in heaven.

1. Mediums and wizards shall be stoned to death.

²⁷"A man or a woman who is a medium or a wizard shall be put to death; they shall be stoned with stones, their blood shall be upon them." (Lev. 20:27)

2. You shall not permit a sorceress to live.

¹⁸"You shall not permit a sorceress to live. (Ex. 22:18)

3. You shall not take the name of God in vain.

1. Blasphemers shall be stoned to death.

¹⁶He who blasphemes the name of the LORD shall be put to death; >all the congregation shall stone him; the sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death. (Lev. 24:16)

2. Blasphemers will not be forgiven in the age to come.

³¹Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.
³²And whoever says a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. (Matt. 12:31-32)

4. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.

Working on the Sabbath is punishable by death.

¹⁵Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD; whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall be put to death. (Ex. 31:15)

²Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a holy sabbath of solemn rest to the LORD; whoever does any work on it shall be put to death; (Ex. 35:2)

5. Honor your father and mother.

1. Whoever strikes his father or mother shall be put to death.

¹⁵"Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death. (Ex. 21:15)

2. Whoever curses his father or mother shall be put to death.

¹⁷"Whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death. (Ex. 21:17)

⁹For every one who curses his father or his mother shall be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother, his blood is upon him. (Lev. 20:9)

3. A stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his parents may be stoned to death.

¹⁸"If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they chastise him, will not give heed to them,
¹⁹then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives,
²⁰and they shall say to the elders of his city, 'This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.'
²¹Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall purge the evil from your midst; and all Israel shall hear, and fear. (Deut. 21:18-21)

6. You shall not kill.

1. Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death.

¹²"Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death. (Ex. 21:12)

2. If a man attacks and kills another treacherously, take him from my altar so he may die.

¹⁴But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him treacherously, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die. (Ex. 21:14)

3. If an ox with a violent history kills a man or a woman, its owner shall be put to death.

²⁹But if the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has been warned but has not kept it in, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death. (Ex. 21:29)

4. Killing a man gets the death penalty.

¹⁷He who kills a man shall be put to death. (Lev. 24:17)

5. Killing a beast gets the death penalty.

¹⁸He who kills a beast shall make it good, life for life. (Lev. 24:18)

6. A murderer may be put to death by an avenger.

¹⁶"But if he struck him down with an instrument of iron, so that he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death.
¹⁷And if he struck him down with a stone in the hand, by which a man may die, and he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death.
¹⁸Or if he struck him down with a weapon of wood in the hand, by which a man may die, and he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death.
¹⁹The avenger of blood shall himself put the murderer to death; when he meets him, he shall put him to death.
²⁰And if he stabbed him from hatred, or hurled at him, lying in wait, so that he died,
²¹or in enmity struck him down with his hand, so that he died, then he who struck the blow shall be put to death; he is a murderer; the avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death, when he meets him. (Num. 35:16-21)

7. Anger and insults to your brother get the same penalty as killing - burning in hell.

²¹"You have heard that it was said to the men of old, 'You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.'
²²But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be liable to the hell of fire. (Matt. 5:21-22)

7. You shall not commit adultery.

1. Adultery with a neighbor's wife - both die.

¹⁰"If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death. (Lev. 20:10)

2. Whoever lies with a beast shall be put to death.

¹⁹"Whoever lies with a beast shall be put to death. (Ex. 22:19)

3. Sex with your father's wife - both die.

¹¹The man who lies with his father's wife has uncovered his father's nakedness; both of them shall be put to death, their blood is upon them. (Lev. 20:11)

4. Sex with your daughter-in-law - both die.

¹²If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall be put to death; they have committed incest, their blood is upon them. (Lev. 20:12)

5. Male homosexuality - both die.

¹³If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death, their blood is upon them. (Lev. 20:13)

6. Sex with your mother-in-law; both shall be burned to death.

¹⁴If a man takes a wife and her mother also, it is wickedness; they shall be burned with fire, both he and they, that there may be no wickedness among you. (Lev. 20:14)

7. Male sex with an animal - both die.

¹⁵If a man lies with a beast, he shall be put to death; and you shall kill the beast. (Lev. 20:15)

8. Female sex with an animal; both die.

¹⁶If a woman approaches any beast and lies with it, you shall kill the woman and the beast; they shall be put to death, their blood is upon them. (Lev. 20:16)

9. Sex between a man and his aunt - it is not clear if they are to die or if any children produced die.

²⁰If a man lies with his uncle's wife, he has uncovered his uncle's nakedness; they shall bear their sin, they shall die childless. (Lev. 20:20)

10. Sex between a man and his sister-in-law - any children produced shall die.

²¹If a man takes his brother's wife, it is impurity; he has uncovered his brother's nakedness, they shall be childless. (Lev. 20:21)

11. If a man charges his wife with non-chastity and if it proves true, she shall be stoned to death.

¹³"If any man takes a wife, and goes in to her, and then spurns her,
¹⁴and charges her with shameful conduct, and brings an evil name upon her, saying, 'I took this woman, and when I came near her, I did not find in her the tokens of virginity,'
²⁰But if the thing is true, that the tokens of virginity were not found in the young woman,
²¹then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has wrought folly in Israel by playing the harlot in her father's house; so you shall purge the evil from the midst of you. (Deut. 22:13-21)

12. If a man has sex with the wife of another man, both shall die.

²²"If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman; so you shall purge the evil from Israel. (Deut. 22:22)

13. If a man has sex with a virgin in the city, they will be stoned to death because she did not cry for help.

²³"If there is a betrothed virgin, and a man meets her in the city and lies with her,
²⁴then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor's wife; so you shall purge the evil from the midst of you.

14. If a man rapes a married woman in the open country, only the man shall die because there was no one to rescue the woman.

²⁵"But if in the open country a man meets a young woman who is betrothed, and the man seizes her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die.
²⁶But to the young woman you shall do nothing; in the young woman there is no offense punishable by death, for this case is like that of a man attacking and murdering his neighbor;
²⁷because he came upon her in the open country, and though the betrothed young woman cried for help there was no one to rescue her. (Deut. 22:25-27)

15. It is better to cut off one of your offending members then to for your whole body to be thrown in hell.

²⁷"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.'
²⁸But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
²⁹If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.
³⁰And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. (Matt. 5:27-30)

8. You shall not steal.

1. Whoever steals a man (kidnapping) shall be put do death.

¹⁶"Whoever steals a man, whether he sells him or is found in possession of him, shall be put to death. (Ex. 21:16)

2. Kidnapping and enslaving is punishable by death.

⁷"If a man is found stealing one of his brethren, the people of Israel, and if he treats him as a slave or sells him, then that thief shall die; so you shall purge the evil from the midst of you. (Deut. 24:5)

9. You shall not bear false witness.

10. You shall not covet.

Child sacrifice

You shall give to me the first born of your sons.

²⁹"You shall not delay to offer from the fulness of your harvest and from the outflow of your presses. "The first-born of your sons you shall give to me. (Ex. 22:29)

You shall redeem the first-born of your sons.

¹⁹All that opens the womb is mine, all your male cattle, the firstlings of cow and sheep.
²⁰The firstling of an ass you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. All the first-born of your sons you shall redeem. And none shall appear before me empty. (Ex. 34:19-20)

Any male who is to be devoted to God shall be destroyed. 

²⁸"But no devoted thing that a man devotes to the LORD, of anything that he has, whether of a man or beast, or of his inherited field, shall be sold or redeemed; every devoted thing is most holy to the LORD.
²⁹No one devoted, who is to be utterly destroyed from among men, shall be ransomed; he shall be put to death. (Lev. 27:28)

Further reading

Ten Commandments and Jesus Even Jesus didn't live up to the Ten Commandments.

Hellfire Jesus Jesus was not a good person in any sense of the word.

Moses' Articles of War Good laws cannot come from an evil God.