Is believing in a false religion, worse than murder?

ChristJudgeOfAll · Dec 24, 2015

The first commandment of God, was not to worship any false idols.

Thou shall not kill comes much later, does this mean non-Christians are equivalent or worse than murders?

MehGuy · Dec 24, 2015

ananda · Dec 24, 2015

How are you sure this commandment came from god? What is the nature of that god, and how are you certain? After those questions are answered, then we can address your immediate question.

GrowingSmaller · Dec 24, 2015

If a book says worshiip God and eat sandwiches, you can folow one rule and no the other. If you only make sense if it were logically impossible to be a non-christian and a non-murderer, but we see all around that there are billions of non christians, and the vast majority are not murderers.

SteveB28 · Dec 24, 2015

ChristJudgeOfAll said:
The first commandment of God, was not to worship any false idols.

Thou shall not kill comes much later, does this mean non-Christians are equivalent or worse than murders?

Yes, I am absolutely convinced that my failure to be convinced of the existence of your non-existent deity makes me far, far worse than the brute who shot all of those people in San Bernardino recently!

Good grief.

madaz · Dec 24, 2015

ChristJudgeOfAll said:
The first commandment of God, was not to worship any false idols.

Thou shall not kill comes much later, does this mean non-Christians are equivalent or worse than murders?

Thou shalt not rape doesn't even get a mention, does this mean Christians can rape?

timewerx · Dec 24, 2015

ChristJudgeOfAll said:
The first commandment of God, was not to worship any false idols.

Thou shall not kill comes much later, does this mean non-Christians are equivalent or worse than murders?

The future consequences of following a false beliefs could be worse than homicide.

It may directly or indirectly lead to more literal murders, general misery where large numbers are affected, etc.

Aryeh Jay · Dec 24, 2015

SteveB28 said:
Yes, I am absolutely convinced that my failure to be convinced of the existence of your non-existent deity makes me far, far worse than the brute who shot all of those people in San Bernardino recently!

Good grief.

MONSTER!!!

Albion · Dec 24, 2015

ChristJudgeOfAll said:
The first commandment of God, was not to worship any false idols.

Thou shall not kill comes much later, does this mean non-Christians are equivalent or worse than murders?

Why should we think that one excludes or trumps the other?

KWCrazy · Dec 24, 2015

ChristJudgeOfAll said:
The first commandment of God, was not to worship any false idols.
Thou shall not kill comes much later, does this mean non-Christians are equivalent or worse than murders?

No.
The most important command is to love God, and the second is to love your neighbor.
Do these and all others fall into line.

essentialsaltes · Dec 24, 2015

madaz said:
Thou shalt not rape doesn't even get a mention, does this mean Christians can rape?

Not necessarily, but this hypothesis does imply that it's worse to be rude to your parents than it is to rape somebody.

Sophrosyne · Dec 24, 2015

I think that one has to remember that murder is a sin that if against a non believer can impact them eternally while other sins against non believers still allow them the ability (and time) to become believers but once dead you have no more chances.

AirPo · Dec 24, 2015

ChristJudgeOfAll said:
The first commandment of God, was not to worship any false idols.

Thou shall not kill comes much later, does this mean non-Christians are equivalent or worse than murders?

I thought that was the second commandment?

ViaCrucis · Dec 25, 2015

ChristJudgeOfAll said:
The first commandment of God, was not to worship any false idols.

Thou shall not kill comes much later, does this mean non-Christians are equivalent or worse than murders?

No. The Decalogue isn't an ordered list of worst to least worst.

Also the severity of following after other gods/idols is rather contingent on the fact that those to whom this commandment was given were to be the special covenant people of God. God didn't make this covenant with Egypt or Assyria, but to Israel; so Israel's following after other gods was a much bigger deal than the Egyptians and their gods.

It would be error to worship gods that aren't God, but it is especially a problem for that people to whom God is their covenant God.

If you wanted to try and translate that to a more contemporary context it would be this: A Christian worshiping Vishnu, Odin, or Zeus in addition to God is a bigger problem than a Hindu worshiping Vishnu, or Pagans worshiping Odin or Zeus.

-CryptoLutheran

ViaCrucis · Dec 25, 2015

AirPo said:
I thought that was the second commandment?

Depends on whose doing the numbering.

The traditional Western numbering used by Catholics and Lutherans counts the First Commandment inclusive of "I am the LORD your god who brought you out of Egypt....you shall have no other gods...do not make graven images" with the Second being, "Do not take the name of the LORD your God in vain". This is the numbering scheme which St. Augustine of Hippo drew up.

In the 16th century John Calvin introduced a new numbering scheme in his Institutes, this is the one familiar to most Protestants today.

Jews use a different numbering system to both, as do Eastern Christians.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Commandments#Traditions_for_numbering

-CryptoLutheran

smaneck · Dec 25, 2015

madaz said:
Thou shalt not rape doesn't even get a mention, does this mean Christians can rape?

Oh, it gets mentioned, just not in the top ten. According to the Bible a rapist must marry his victim. I'm sure she appreciates that.

smaneck · Dec 25, 2015

ViaCrucis said:
It would be error to worship gods that aren't God, but it is especially a problem for that people to whom God is their covenant God.

True. When the Prophet Amos issues God's judgement on the nations, other nations are condemned for their injustices, but only Israel is condemned for worshiping other gods.

Nithavela · Dec 25, 2015

Well, since you can get into heaven while being a murderer, but not while believing in the wrong god...

JackRT · Dec 25, 2015

ChristJudgeOfAll said:
The first commandment of God, was not to worship any false idols.

Thou shall not kill comes much later, does this mean non-Christians are equivalent or worse than murders?

A sincerely held belief might indeed be mistaken but it cannot even be called a sin let alone be compared to murder.

SkyWriting · Dec 25, 2015

ChristJudgeOfAll said:
The first commandment of God, was not to worship any false idols. Thou shall not kill comes much later, does this mean non-Christians are equivalent or worse than murders?

Treating your neighbor as well as your self is first and primary.

Is believing in a false religion, worse than murder?

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