*thou shalt not murder

Can you murder that which has eternal life? :O

What are you talking about?

[quote]Also, because they're not generally psychopaths.[/quote] I'm surprised EW didn't respond to this

1. The parents are already going to hell, so they should no longer care about sinning. 2. There is nothing psychopathic about wanting your children to not-be-tortured-forever.

[quote]1. The parents are already going to hell, so they should no longer care about sinning.[/quote] You don't obey the commandments just to avoid hell. You obey them because, you know, God commanded you to. [quote]2. There is nothing psychopathic about wanting your children to not-be-tortured-forever.[/quote] Killing your children for religious purposes, while perhaps not strictly speaking psychopathy, is certainly pretty deranged, and frowned upon in most civilised societies.

[quote]You don't obey the commandments just to avoid hell. You obey them because, you know, God commanded you to.[/quote]You're already going against God's commands. You're already sinning. You're already going to hell. Your allegiance is to the happiness of your children at that point, not to God. [quote]Killing your children for religious purposes, while perhaps not strictly speaking psychopathy, is certainly pretty deranged[/quote]But only if the religion is false.

[quote]You're already going against God's will. You're already sinning. You're already going to hell. Your allegiance is to the happiness of your children at that point, not to God.[/quote] No, I think the whole point of Christianity is that your allegiance is always to God.

[quote]No, I think the whole point of Christianity is that your allegiance is always to God.[/quote]Pure semantics. But I'll play along. "Why are parents Christian if being such means they allow their children a chance to be tortured eternally?"

Because... if they're not Christian (or any other religion with a Hell), why would they be worried about their children going to hell?

You do realize what I meant by "pure semantics," right? Your point changes nothing. The parents still believe in heaven and hell and God and Satan and sin and Jesus and all that, they just place their own children's worth over the worth of God's commands.

If you're just going to wave my point away like that, why play along in the first place? The real reason Christians don't kill their children is because they're not machines, evaluating everything based on cold logic and risk versus reward. They don't want to kill their children because that would be [i]horrible[/i], and because they think if they raise their kids properly, hell won't be something to worry about. And because they're a little bit selfish, in that they actually want to raise children. Why would they have children anyway, if they were just going to kill them? Seems a bit pointless.

[quote]If you're just going to wave my point away like that, why play along in the first place?[/quote]I'm beginning to regret it. You had no point; I was just trying to demonstrate that your stipulative definition of "Christian" has no bearing on this particular ethical dilemma. [quote]The real reason Christians don't kill their children is because they're not machines, evaluating everything based on cold logic and risk versus reward.[/quote]Okay, now *you're* just handwaving all of logic and ethics. And I completely fail to see how "not-wanting-your-children-potentially-tortured-forever" is in any way "cold." [quote]They don't want to kill their children because that would be horrible[/quote]More horrible than not-fighting-tooth-and-nail to make damn sure your children aren't tortured eternally? [quote]and because they think if they raise their kids properly, hell won't be something to worry about.[/quote]So they believe they can completely safeguard their child from sin, even after they die? How utterly arrogant and prideful of them. [quote]And because they're a little bit selfish, in that they actually want to raise children.[/quote]I like this point, but I don't really see a need to comment on it further. [quote]Why would they have children anyway, if they were just going to kill them? Seems a bit pointless.[/quote]Perhaps because God encourages them to in the Bible. As for the pointlessness, I agree it would be pointless if they thought this way from the get-go, but they could just arrive at the "kill" conclusion well after having the child.