I had recently read the story of Abraham and i was just questioning it?

Question

I recently was re-exposed to the story of Abraham, the one where God tells him to sacrifice his son for no reason, and i started to believe that God must be a little sick in the head to want to screw with people like that. I believe the moral of the story was that one had better fear God or He will smite your head off. Now is it me, or does anyone think that God enjoys messing with people. If I were Abraham, and God just told me to drag my son to a mountain and BURN him to death without any reason at all, i would be friggin pissed off. In the end Abraham was happy with God's approval of him and as a reward, He gives him a ram to sacrifice. I wouldn't sacrifice s**t after being totally messed with like that. Am i the only one who thinks that this particular Bible story portrays God as a total lunatic?

Answer 1

No. It wasn't for "no reason" or to mess with his head.
It has everything to do with Abraham believed God's promises. The promise God made was fulfilled in His son which was a complete miracle as he was born long after he and Sarai were physically able to bear children (her womb had dried up, translated no more periods, no more eggs dropping to be fertilized and had been that way for many years and he wasn't spring chicken either as he was about a hundred years old and his ability to fertilize those non-existant eggs were like zero) and that Abraham's seed would be as the sands of the seashore. It was several years before Isaac was born when he recieved this promise.
Here were the odds of Isaac even being born without supernatural intervention; NIL! So, Abraham had already believed God for Isaac or even many children were possible in his mind. He knew that God was able to do anything. He just proved it that's all just like Job did. Job said "though he slay me, yet will I trust Him". So, do you think any Christian who puts their own life in the hands of God and loves not their own lives unto the death is crazy too? Do you think Jesus willingly dying for your sins to give you eternal life and spare you from God's wrath was crazy too? I sure hope not! Accept eternal life through Jesus Christ today and pray for your spiritual eyes to be opened as you read the Word of God.

Abraham believed that even if he sacrificed His only son to God that God would raise his son from the dead (he understood God as having the power of resurrection, the power over life and death) and was still able to perform the oath made to Abraham that the promise would be through his own seed. He completely trusted God to perform another miracle because He knew that God could not lie because when God sware the oath to Abraham, because the Great I Am could swear by no greater, he swore by Himself.
God didn't want Abraham to kill his only son, the seed of promise but he wanted his complete trust and faith in Him and Abraham proved that. His faith is one of the greatest stories of faith throughout the history of time and he goes down in the Bible as being justified by faith and the father of us all.
1) His faith was counted unto him for righteousness
2) The promise was through faith
3) Abraham against hope, believed in hope (that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken)
4)He staggered not at the promises of God
5)He was fully persuaded God was able to perform what He promised

You totally missed the nature of God and the spiritually uplifting moral of this story. I hope this helps set it right. Only carnal minds would think badly of this story.

Answer 2

Well let's think about it from another point of view. Here is this human who has just promised G-d to keep a brand new covenant with ONE god while everyone else at the time was paying homage to many. Peer pressure much? Wouldn't you want to make sure your guy is going to follow through? So you give a test or something, and he is proved faithful. Abraham was faithful to G-d from beginning to end, just as the Jewish people are faithful to G-d through what's happened to us through the years. It is a story of hope today BECAUSE at the end of the story G-d said "just kidding!!" and things were good for Abraham. No matter what happens to us here, soon G-d will come out and shout JUST KIDDING! And boom there's Moshiach coming to save the world, etc. Take it as a metaphor. It may seem like G-d is putting us through horrid terrible loops, but in reality He is testing our faith in Him and will fulfill His promises to us.

Answer 3

God had no intention of killing his son Isaac because he promised Abraham that he would have a great nation through Isaac. Abraham knew that even if he had to kill Isaac God would keep his promise to have many children through him. God requires that we love him even more than our own children but he is not out to have anyone kill their children. This was a test to see if Abraham loved and believed God with all his heart even more than his own son. God has all wisdom and he knew what he was doing. Nobody got hurt. The moral is trust God.

Answer 4

I am not a Christian, but let me ask you a question..
Abraham was a great man in the sense that people looked to him for guidance, etc. So, wasn't God testing him to see if he was worthy of such a title and prestige among the people? Also, this story, as you have clearly stated, has been passed down to us over thousands of years and has served as a reminder for us to worship God. So, by God testing Abraham, He has shown us the way to God's happiness, and that is not in killing others for no reason, but to obey your Lord, and to follow His Commands. This story is there as a lesson for us all and should be taken as one.

Answer 5

Ok, I think you have a misunderstanding of it. Now one must remember that Abraham was a man of God, and he had no children as heir, and being he was old, God allowed sarah to have a child. Now one must understand how much it meant to abraham,to have a son. Now Abraham worshipped his son. And as God says, God is a jelous God. And God felt abraham might go astray. and stop believing in him. Now you must look deep into the understanding as to why God did this. Abraham loved God ok, and he feared God. and he knew if he didn't do what God ask, he would lose everything he had accomplished. And he also knew what God giveth God taketh away. In order to prove to God that he loved him, abraham was willing to sacrafice his sons life, just to prove he loved God more then life itself.
But abraham also knew that God would restore ,or give him another son. So in a way,abraham wasn't worried. But now ask your self this. If you love someone so much, and you are willing to do what is ask of you., would you do it? I mean anything within reason. . anyway, you need to look into the understanding as to why. You need to go to the begining,and reread it.
Let me ask you this. Now i don't know if your a man of God or not. but let me ask. If God was to say to you, go jump out of a plane without a chute. for i will protect you. Now depending on how much you love God, that is if you are a man of God. And you totally believe in God, with your mind body and soul. would you do what he ask?

Answer 6

As with any Biblical story it has to be in context and also to understand what was happening in that period of history. The current cults at that time, it was not only common practice, but require to shed the blood of children as appeasements to gods.
If you read the story correctly....it discusses this. So God asked Abraham to perform a task that was common at the time. Also Abraham grew up with this practice in Ur.
What was the purpose? God made covenant with Abram and his descendants. To do this he tested Abram (Man) to see if he was willing to give up his only begotten son for God. That way by covenant God was able and willing to give up His only begotten Son for man....Thank You Lord.

Answer 7

You portray yourself as nutty.

Did you notice that Abraham told the servants to wait at the bottom of the hill and "he and the boy would return . . ."

Maybe he thought God was going to raise him from the dead . . .

The 11th Chapter of Hebrews puts Abraham in the Faith hall of Fame . . .

You? you don't measure up

Answer 8

He also supplied him with a knife but it was a test of faith and God knew that he wasn't going to make him kill him. He just wanted to see if Abraham had faith. Abraham was a very Godly man. God doesn't enjoy it. He does enjoy seeing the faithful follow him though. It was just a test.

Answer 9

now what you dont understand is that god and some friends had a friendly little wager on this one and god just waited till he was sure abraham would do it and then he spoke the famous words "Just playin Abe"

Answer 10

I think Abe was our best president. He was smart and had a lot of moral integrity and gave his life to make "the" United States of America