Wouldn't it have been courageous of Abraham to stand his ground & not sacrifice his son to a threatening God?

Question

Your responses prove that people with courage and character always seem sinister to the rest.

Even when I was a little Christian kid, I always thought this was f@cked up of Abraham.

Answer 1

I read the Bible as a child and remember running downstairs to talk to my Father when I reached the part about Abraham and Isaac. I was absolutely terrified. I remember asking him, "You mean people who would sacrifice their children to a voice in their head are all around us?" I was about nine years old at the time. He replied that most Christians wouldn't and not to worry about it, he'd stand in front of absolutely anything that tried to hurt me. That's what Fathers do.

A Father incapable of loving his child enough to put him ahead of his own beliefs is a very bad Father indeed. Abraham didn't even offer himself in his child's stead - what's up with that?

To me, I don't know why a person wouldn't assume that was a devil talking if it was asking for a human sacrifice.

I have no child yet but I know in my heart that no man or God could tell me to kill my child and get away with it. If I died, so be it. If there were a fiery lake I got tossed into, so be it. Maybe that's why they didn't put Sarah in the part of the story with the sacrifice?

Answer 2

No, it would have been stupid becuase God promised him that he would be the father of many nations therefore God wouldn't let his son die and whether Abraham wanted or not, God could just take his son away. It is always better to follow the Commands of God, he knows what is best for us and he understands things way better than we do. He thinks and sees out of the box while the only things we can see is inside the box.

Answer 3

Context. Context. Context.

Abraham lived hundreds of years before the Ten Commandments were given to Moses and the Jewish people.

Abraham lived in a society where human sacrifice and child sacrifice was the normal thing to do.

God was just beginning to reveal himself to mankind and Abraham did not have the Bible or much of anything else to go on.

Abraham knew that his son was a gift from God. If God demanded that Abraham kill the son, then Abraham, although it probably broke his heart, would do it.

Under the same circumstances (context) would we be able to follow God's will?

Under the much easier circumstances that we live in today, can we follow God's will as Jesus revealed it to us?

With the Ten Commandments, the Prophets, and especially Jesus Christ as part of our current circumstances (context), God would not put us to this test.

But we do have similar issues to tackle, like abortion where we kill our children who are miraculous gifts from God just like Isaac was to Abraham.

In abortion we sacrifice our children to the gods of lust, convenience, economy, and selfishness.

With love in Christ.

Answer 4

prior to this Abraham and Sarah were told they would have a baby they were both old at the time and decided to have one of Sarah's hand maidens give birth to a child instead, doubting what God had told them...so when Sarah in her old age became pregnant they were feelings a myriad of things. so the next time God spoke to Abraham he listened...wasn't it Abraham's house the angel stayed out before destroying Sodom and Gomorrah as well? I think Abraham had seen a thing or two and was well beyond arguing with God

Answer 5

You must not have read the story. He didn't sacrifice his son. He was willing to but that was just because he knew that God would raise him frim the dead if he did. God had made promises of a nation that was going to come through the line of Isaac so Abraham knew that Isaac had to live on. Abraham simply believed that God was going to keep his promise. That's called trusting God. God never had any intention of letting Abraham kill Isaac. Abraham never laid a hand on Isaac.

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http://www.tektonics.org/

Answer 6

God tests our faith often. He has the right to do that because He is God. He had no intention to let Abraham kill Isaac, He stopped him right when he lifted the knife up and gave Abraham a ram to scarifice instead. And Isaac knew what was happening. He willingly went with him father because he trusted his father and knew that his father was a faithful man and would do as God commanded of him. Isaac carried the wood that was to be used to make the altar; Jesus carried the cross that was to be used to crucify Him on. Jesus went willingly with the Roman soliders and never fought them, like Isaac went willingly with Abraham. God stopped Abraham and let Isaac live, God let Jesus fulfill the prophecy and raised Him from the dead. Isaac is a typology, a prefiguration of Christ's sacrifice and death. Abraham, like any truly faithful person, would never 'stand up' to God. God is our Creator and has reasons for all that He does. He never has to justify Himself to a human. Faith leds us to full trust in the Lord, in any and all situations. Abraham didn't want to kill Isaac but he knew he had to obey God and that God would lead Isaac to Heaven after his death. People back then were much more faithful than we are today. We live in chaos and it's hard to hear God through all the B.S.

God isn't a threatening God, He gives us plenty of warnings and if no one listens, then we are punished, just like a fair parent would punish their disobedient child. God has more patience than any human has ever had. He waits for generations to see if someone will turn back to Him. He punishes us accordingly to our sins and rewards us accordingly to our faith.

Answer 7

You just don't really understand it, and that's okay. For your level of understanding, yes, it would have been courageous to defend his son against any threat.

But for a man such as Abraham, who had experienced so much in his life, offering even his own son in obedience to his God shows a trust that, without having known about his life, someone such as yourself would not understand. And I'm sorry about that, but hope for you that one day you will :)

Answer 8

Abraham did not sacrifice his son...it was a test for him from God and I am glad to say that he passed. If he was disobedient to God he would of probably suffered like many that chose to disobey God. Today many of us chose to straight out disobey God and at the end we will suffer the consequences of our sins.

Answer 9

A threatening God would want you to sacrifice your child to him. How many "believers" would do something like that today? Would they have the courage to stand up and say to their God "hey this is wrong, you gave me a commandment "thou shalt not kill".

Answer 10

Yes!!! absolutely, I think at least. I remember that bothered me, and I later on read a book in which I found out about the theory that Abraham was being tempted to do so by Satan disguised as YHWH (GOD), and that the real GOD appeared and stopped him from sacrificing his son. The book was called Jesus:l'exorciste.Not a novel. Anyways this theory makes sense to me because how could a God of love ask for such a cruel and violent act????? IMPOSSIBLE! You stick to your intuition and brains there and don't let anyone convince you of the contrary.