Can God Murder?

Yesterday I was on an Atheist blog where it was being suggested that because God murdered more people in the Bible than Satan he must be less loving. Now, I though about this and, you know, I don’t think any of the judgements of God can be defined as murder within a Christian reference frame. Capital punnishment, yes, but murder no. You see murder implies an illegality. But for Christians there is no law above God – God is the law – so it is quite illogical to speak of God acting illegally. It is akin to saying the law is illegal. Buried within the atheist question is an assumption of a higher authority than God. To buy into that question is to buy into that assumption.