its more like 70-30 these days but does that excuse christians from their doctrine? the point remains. barth tried to claim god is against murder when in fact the bible is chuck full of commands to murder.
I fear that I am missing your point. If you are stating that it is a contradiction for the commandment "..Thou shalt not kill...." to be given to man, and then Scripture has numerous instances of G-D's judgement that results in death, then I would state the following: How much of the required judgement by G-D, against the perversion of man would have been required IF man followed the commandments of G-D ? Many are so accustomed to focus on the merciful, graceful and long-suffering disposition of G-D, that the inexorable character of His righteousness, and what that requires from a righteous Judge, is not given careful reflection. Man is commanded "..Thou shalt not kill...", end of debate, however, there are conditions in which G-D cannot show mercy precisely because He IS merciful. My question to vhehn, regarding the execution of McVeigh, makes my point. Would it have been "merciful" to order the release of McVeigh ? In the strictest definition of the word "mercy", one could argue that it would have been merciful. Would it have been a righteous judgement ? No, I dont think it would have. And I would further state that mercy occured along with righteousness in the above example. The execution of McVeigh was also merciful, if it speaks to a potential miscreant at a later point in time, that this behavior carries this penalty. Some potential mass murderers would be dissuaded from such actions by the example of the judgement of the government in the McVeigh penalty, therefore saving innocent lives. [of course, others might not, as they are fully prepared to die for their desire] If G-D is righteous, then by default, there must be conditions in which mercy cannot be shown; our worldly courts of justice reflect this principle. If government, which in my faith is instituted by G-D to manage the wordly affairs of man by man, wields the sword to defend life and liberty, you would deny this permission to a more righteous Judge ? You would be astonished by such ? Really now, this would defy logic ! For another example......The constitution states that men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. This is important, that these rights were handed down from a "higher authority" than man, otherwise, as many refugee's from more despotic regimes would testify, what man giveth, man can take away.
Vhehn, we could only HOPE that the ratio of Christians to atheists becomes 70/30. We aren't even close to those numbers. At best, 10% of the world's population is "atheist". i suspect the number is even loweer in the US. BTW, neither Christians nor atheists abort 'babies': you abort a fetus.
Are you kidding me? There is no evidence for the existence of a creator? Seriously? Are you that blind? There is nothing BUT evidence of the existence of a creator. How do you think everything got here? You think it came from nothingness? Here is a test to show you how absurd your beliefs are. 1. Open your hand and look at it holding nothing. 2. Wait for that nothing to become everything. (or to make it easy on you, wait for that nothing in your hand to become something small...like an entire planet.) Because thats what these crackpot scientists are telling you. That nothingness turned into everything from planets to stars to comets, and moons, ect. 3. Realize how crazy you are for trying this experiment. Or if that doesnt convince you give your self an advantage. Hold a pencil in your hand and wait for that pencil to become a mountain. Hey...at least you have SOMETHING to start with holding a pencil. Not like with the big bang where you had NOTHING. Can you see evidence of a creator now?
Peilthetravelor, you believe this? One egg, one sperm can grow to be a person. That person is born and can not do anything but cry for food, warmth. That person grow, learn language, learn what is in his/her world. That person can grow to build the house, to farm for food, invent and discover. Maybe that person from just a sperm and egg is the creator of electricity for example. So you can believe the sperm and egg (cell) can be the beginning of the person who discover electricity? You can understand how the cell can be the creator of electricity in maybe 20 or more years?
HEAR,HEAR!!! I quite like this post. These Smart Guy EggHeads will realize their foolish ways some fateful day when they stand before the Light. My sincere advice is to step back from your beliefs for a week, and study the life of the greatest man to ever walk the planet, the Carpenter of Galilee. Resist from typing some reactionary post and just do it. Take it from a Guy who has tasted the evil of war, and felt the grace of the Great I Am. Rennick