can this story be taken as a literal truth? i dont think so. its known as midrash in judaism to show how sacred human life is and that killing in God's name means denegrating God.
By the way i am a christian, and why dont we use jewish midraism to interpret the bible, instead of taking it literally?
2006-09-07 01:29:25 · 15 answers · asked by s21181 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
It was an experiment from God to see whether he sacrifices his dear son for the sake of his beloved Lord. And he did sacrifice everything for his God.
2006-09-07 01:34:50 · answer #1 · answered by Massiha 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There are no sources in any text that Judaism considers legitimate, and this includes Midrash, that says that the story of Abraham and Isaac was figurative.
Rather, they maintain the point that Abraham was being tested by G-d. And that fact that you mention that human life is sacred was part of the test. Abraham had taught the people that human sacrifice to false idols was wrong (something practiced by those surrounding him) and now he was being asked by G-d to do something completely contradictory.
2006-09-07 19:24:21 · answer #2 · answered by BMCR 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because while the Jews worship a book (Torah, the Word of God) and everything that flows from that, i.e. education.
The Christian faith was based on a crazy guy named Saul/Paul who had a panic attack after his job of killing/persecuting "Christians" took its toll on his psyche. The message of Paul (and the Gospel's somewhat) is that all you need is faith. You don't need to be educated or study the word of God, you just take it on faith. This is why there are so many inconsistencies in the Gospels and Paul, the early Christians just made it up as they went. Paul does not seem to know the Christ of the Gospels, he just know the Christ that talked to him in his head. The writers of the Gospels tried to reconcile the Spiritual Messiah of Christ as the political Messiah of the Old Testament and strung together a bunch of disparate quotes, many that Jews knew that had nothing to do with the coming of the Messiah, and said that Jesus fulfilled the scripture.
When I was 7 years old, I remember thinking that the whole Jesus as god thing made no sense. I spend years trying to figure it out and trying to have "faith", but a thinking person generally will fail to have "faith" with a little study.
Look at many of the questions and answers posted here. Most of the Christian answers belie great ignorance.
That guy that posts I AM do you think that I AM. Nobody gets it. This is because Christian dont even read the bible to interpret it.
By the way, I AM that I AM is the name of God (in English anyway as close as we can get)
2006-09-07 08:47:24 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think it is literally true. It was a test of Abraham's faith. There are many instances in the Bible where God's people were asked to kill. An example was when they wandered in the deserts and God had a place for them to settle but it was filled with un-Holy peoples...
Another example (or perhaps part of the same one) was when God told them to utteryly destroy a people and everything that they had (all cattle, all buildings, etc)...
I don't think that a Prophet following the command of God to kill would denegrate God.
2006-09-07 08:37:56 · answer #4 · answered by ♥Tom♥ 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
sounds like you're jewish, not a Christian because you keep saying interpret it with judaistic teachings.
If we don't take it literally, what's the point of it? You can interpret any part of it however you want. If you don't take it literally, how do you know that Jesus really is the saviour and not a symbol of an ultimate glory gained by impregnating (formerly) virgin women?
If you read the story of abraham closely, he didn't want to sacrifice his son. God told him to sacrifice his son. Here, God was testing him, as he does us. God was seeing if Abraham was willing to give up his son, his most precious thing in this world, in order to follow god's will.
Hope this answers your question :P
2006-09-07 08:35:40 · answer #5 · answered by Startoshadows 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
All souls are Gods.Abraham did not want to sacrifice his son.Isaac was given by God and was his to take back.
I have spent more days and months in ICU with my son than you can imagine,I know how Abraham felt.
The Hebrews have always misunderstood God the whole Bible is about their failure.Why would we want to do as they do?
2006-09-07 08:48:47 · answer #6 · answered by Tommy G. 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well I am a Muslim and the way that we interpret the story is that when Allah(god) told the Prophet Abraham to sacrifice Ishmael He was going to do it and Ishmael let him. But at the last second Allah sent down the angel Gabrielle and Gabrielle told the Prophet to sacrifice a lamb she had with her. That is why on Eid Il Fitr we sacrifice a lamb.
2006-09-07 08:38:55 · answer #7 · answered by starof94 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It's literal and it did happen. It was done in the similititude of the only Begotten Son of the Father. the prophets from the beginning have testified of Jesus Christ's atonement for everyone and that God would send His only Begotten Son to die and suffer for our sins. So God wanted to teach JEsus Christ's sacrifice that to Abraham and us through it. Of course, God wanted to test Abraham as well and he passed the test. All those sacrifices in those days were done to represent the Atonement. Now we bring sacrifices of broken heart and contrite spirit to God.
2006-09-07 08:36:53 · answer #8 · answered by Sailormoon 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Because I believe that this story is true. I am a Christian also and I believe that this story shows Abraham's love for God and his williness to go what God asked him to do - I wish we were all that way!@
2006-09-07 08:32:58 · answer #9 · answered by nswblue 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm not sure why we wouldn't take it as being literal. Abraham is one of the biggest icons to multiple religions. Why would they claim that he wasn't a real person?
2006-09-07 08:50:07 · answer #10 · answered by luvwinz 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋