Given the Bible, God is Morally Repugnant and Undeserving of Praise (+).

An interesting defense, if somewhat circular. I shall move through my opponents points swiftly and show not only that they are circular, but that they offer an improper criteria for the source of morality. (1) Of course the resolution necessitates the use of the Bible in order to define God - that's why the phrase "Given the bible" is in the resolution - to illustrate that we're referring to the Judeo-Christian God, and not the deities of Jefferson, Madison, Avicenna, bizarre personal definitions, etc... However, God cannot be the arbiter of morality. Morality is authority independent - some actions are wrong qua wrong. Consider a case where God made a rule that raping babies was morally permissible... The actions of God do not change the fact that raping babies is wrong qua wrong. The verses my opponent references are simply more cases where the Bible is incorrect. Genesis is incorrect about how man came to be. Deuteronomy is incorrect about the actions and motivations of God. (2) My opponent holds that I have no working definition of morality other than that defined in the Bible. He uses Cl 1:16 as a defense for the Bible being the arbiter of morality. Cl 1:16 reads "For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created through him and for him." That simply sounds like a statement that all things created were created by and for God, not that God is somehow the arbiter of morality. A much better argument on that case would have been to state that God has the authority to judge people on the last day. However, the criteria for which he judges them is outlined in the Bible by the Ten Commandments, various oaths and bargains God has made with the people of Israel, various laws passed down from God to Moses, and even the words of Jesus. If God is the final arbiter of morality, then he must be a hypocrite as well, ordering the Israelites to show no mercy to their enemies, wiping out armies that oppose Israel, murdering babies in Egypt, and accepting bargains involving human sacrifice.... all while telling the Israelites "Thou shalt not commit murder." (3) How can I make the claim that an entity that tells you he is worthy of praise is not? Easily - by looking at his actions. If the Bible is the word of God, we cannot take God's word that he himself is moral - that's completely circular. It's like asking a suspect to sit as judge in his own trial. As for Samuel and David... again... another case of Biblical characters being mistaken about the nature of their deity. ************************** My opponent is of course obliged to rebut the verses I have put forth, for if they go unrebutted, it is evidence of gross hypocrisy on the part of the deity he holds to be moral. Calling God morally repugnant only contradicts parts of the Bible if one holds that God is actually the arbiter of morality, which clearly cannot be the case, both for reasons of circular logic and the authority independence of morality. On the other hand, calling God morally praiseworthy ALSO contradicts parts of the Bible, regardless of who we hold the arbiter of morality to be.