Atheists Ask About Murder

by Perry Hall

Atheists pose this supposed conundrum:

1. "Did God condemn murder because it is wrong?" Or
2. "Is murder wrong because God condemns it?"

This is the horns of the dilemma atheists are hoping Christians will be gored upon by selecting either choice.

A philosophy of mine is, when offered two inadequate choices, don't let others put you into a corner. Find a third way.

There is a flaw in their queries. The purpose of asking this question is to separate morality from God and make God either unnecessary or even monstrous. If God is monstrous, God is not ethical. If ethics are separate from God, God is not the source of ethics.

Let's examine each one:

1. "Did God condemn murder because it is wrong?" The implication is that God is condemning something based upon an ethic that exists outside of himself.
2. "Is murder wrong because God condemns it?" Murder itself then is not unethical, but only becomes so because God condemns it. The implication is that God is not truly ethical but only makes things unethical by decree.

What's the third choice? Murder is wrong because God is.

The first command against murder isn't until Genesis 9, long after the first murder is condemned in Genesis 4. How could God condemn murder before the command against it was given? How could murder be wrong before there is a law condemning it?

God is.

In the beginning, God said, "Let us make man in our own image" (Genesis 1). Murder is wrong because humans - not animals - are made in God's image. Because God is, man is, and therefore murder is wrong. Murder is a type of deicide (II Peter 1:4).

God not only "is", as in who God is; God is, as in what God is. God is love.

Let's look at the first two choices again:

1. "Did God condemn murder because it is wrong?" Or
2. "Is murder wrong because God condemns it?"

   The third choice is:

3. God condemned murder because God is and man is God's image, plus God is love and murder is hatred or indifference. And murder is wrong because God condemns what is contrary to Himself, which is love.

There is no separation of ethics from God because God is.

Now the question for atheists is:

1. Is murder wrong because man condemns it? Or,
2. Does man condemn murder because it is wrong?