The Judeo-Christian God is Immoral

Jesusfan, thanks for accepting. Not to worry chief, there are lots of theists on DDO and I'm sure you'll get plenty of support!What I mean by "God is Immoral" is the subject of this debate! So stay tuned. Firstly, I'll try to define morality, although obviously this is going to be the most contentious part of the debate. To start with I'll use the broad definition of "conformity to the rules of right conduct."(1) Ok, so what's "right conduct"? Right and wrong are notoriously difficult concepts to define, let alone apply to decision making.I contend that "right conduct" and "morality" refer to the application of social norms and standards of behaviour which govern the interaction between people in a particular society; that is, morality in one society might differ in certain ways from other societies, but there are certainly common codes of conduct between cultures and societies. The key here, though, is that where two or more people share a relationship, whether that's cultural, geographical or even in a household, the behavioural standards between one another must be reciprocal (to avoid hypocrisy and double-standards). For instance, people might agree not to murder each other, but this falls apart if one party breaks the social contract. Of course, society (or a person) could claim that a thing is moral (e.g. female genital mutilation in certain nations, or antisemitism in Nazi Germany) and another could claim that it is immoral (most of the West would tend to hold a position that mutilation is unaccaptable, it is now universally accepted that mass genocide is wrong). And this is where we come to be at loggerheads; I can claim that according to my value system, God is immoral. You can then claim that according to your value system, God is omnibenevolent and any decision he makes is moraly perfect, so it doesn't matter what I consider to be moral. However, what I CAN argue is that where God has arbitrated to a group of people a code of conduct as outlined in my opening paragraph, and a member of that group violates the rule, they have then conducted an act of immorality. God ascribes to us rules, and then tells us to break His rules and breaks them himself. So, I will argue that God contradicts himself in His instructions to us, which causes immorality amongst us, and is itself immoral. I will then argue that by any standard, regardless of whether you adhere to God's word or not, the acts carried out by God cannot be defined as those of an all-loving, morally superior God.Firstly, the bible contends God created everything, do we agree? Secondly, we know that God created all the people before the exodus from Egypt, the Flood, etc.Thirdly, being omnipotent, he knew, when he created all the people, that he was going to kill them all.Thus, God demonstrates a tendency to kill, despite it being objectively wrong, right? Sure, because he's God so it's fine. "Thou shalt not kill" - Exodus 20:2-17 (New International Version)"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." - Matthew 10:34 (NIV)While to me that is immoral, it won't inherently prove immorality to you, because the fundamental basis of God's morality is special pleeding, which, of course, is fallacious but incombatable. So instead what I said I would do is argue that you are more moral than God. This is, of course, a matter of subjective morality, however, my point is that you make decisions that are subjective because you recognise the biblical instructions as being immoral.Do you think that a person who dashes children's heads against rocks ought to be blessed? If you don't, you're more moral than your God:"Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!" Psalm 137:9 (Standard English Version.)If a child misbehaves, should it be killed?If you think he or she shouldn't be killed, you are more moral than your God:"[...]And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear." Deuteronomy 21:18-21Should a rapist and murderer who atones for his sins be saved and sent to heaven, and a man who steals bread for his starving daughter but does not repent burn for all of eternity for feeding his child? Is this all loving? Infinite punishment for finite crime, Infinite reward for finite deed? If you don't think this is fair, you are more moral than your God. I have more to say, however I think it might be prudent to try to get through definitions first (as I predict contention and rebuttals along the lines of "God can tell us not to do something but he can do whatever he wants because he's the ultimate moral arbiter") to which I'll obviously disagree, plus you'll probably want to contend some of your own arguments as well so I'll pick up on the rest of my stuff next round.Have fun! (1)[http://dictionary.reference.com...]