Still Angry about Abraham and Isaac

[zwanzig]

Abraham and his wife were so old, trying for so long for a baby and god finally blesses them with a son. Then god is like, "I know everything already but I feel like YOU don't know how deep your faith in me is. How about you prove it to yourself by sacrificing your son to me?"

The boy Abraham so desperately wanted.

The boy god had blessed him with.

Anyone else looking objectively at this story about an old man hearing a voice in his head telling him to kill his child as a sacrifice, would probably assume either mental illness or that the message did not come from a being that should be followed/listened to. A malevolent creature that seeks the suffering of humans.

But no, everyone who believes this story ignores the fact that this horrible, awful vile thing was ASKED of Abraham and they focus on the part of the story where an angel stops him. As if that proves god is good. As if that erases the fact that Abraham, in his mind, did not expect god to cancel the order last minute. He went up to the mountain with intent to plunge a knife into that little boy. To kill him on the altar for his god. Which, cognitive dissonance reigns, because everyone who believes this story is true in the very next breath says this example of faith is commendable and we should ALL aspire to be that dedicated to god, that if he asked any of us to do such horrible, wicked things, we would simply do it out of devotion and love for him, with no expectation of a last minute angel to rush in to stop us.

[FrustratedFool]

Abraham should have said no.

[Foxaèr]

Chaotic morality doesn't transition well through an evolving society.

[zwanzig]

Abraham should have said no.

Absolutely. I wonder what the story would be like if we had a defiant and challenging follower of god? Like, he still gets rewarded because the answer was, "That's right. Good job Abraham. If I, yer Lord, ever ask of ye any sick and twisted shite, the correct answer ist NEIN."

Chaotic morality doesn't transition well through an evolving society.

It doesn't. And it's not like I'm expecting better of ancient goat herders who had limited understanding of the world let alone a philosophy that wasn't "might makes right". But I am critical of the religious and believers of today who don't have the simple critical thinking necessary to look at one story condemning the barbarian child sacrifice hungry gods of the pagan neighboring nations and then look at this story and realize their god also is very much pro child sacrifice and hungry for innocent blood.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Abraham should have said no.

Absolutely. I wonder what the story would be like if we had a defiant and challenging follower of god? Like, he still gets rewarded because the answer was, "That's right. Good job Abraham. If I, yer Lord, ever ask of ye any sick and twisted shite, the correct answer ist NEIN."

Chaotic morality doesn't transition well through an evolving society.

It doesn't. And it's not like I'm expecting better of ancient goat herders who had limited understanding of the world let alone a philosophy that wasn't "might makes right". But I am critical of the religious and believers of today who don't have the simple critical thinking necessary to look at one story condemning the barbarian child sacrifice hungry gods of the pagan neighboring nations and then look at this story and realize their god also is very much pro child sacrifice and hungry for innocent blood.

Actually, since Jehovah stopped Abraham, that kinda makes him anti child sacrifice - he substituted a ram for Isaac.

The point of the fable seems to be that the Hebrews were better than the neighbouring pagans because their god doesn’t sacrifice children.

Boru

[FrustratedFool]

God shouldn't ask people to kill kids, and humans shouldn't say yes when asked yo kill kids or accept moral teachings from such deity-claimants and such humans.

In my opinion, anyway.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

God shouldn't ask people to kill kids, and humans shouldn't say yes when asked yo kill kids or accept moral teachings from such deity-claimants and such humans.

In my opinion, anyway.

I quite agree. The behaviour of both God and Abraham in the tale is reprehensible. Good thing it never actually happened.

Boru

[Mister Agenda]

Abraham is as mythical as Moses, so nobody really sacrificed anything in that story, because it's fiction/myth.

[FrustratedFool]

Yes, it's highly likely to be a myth.

It would still be reprehensible to accept moral teachings from a text or ideology that held that such a story reflected the character of a righteous human and a good God.

[zwanzig]

Abraham is as mythical as Moses, so nobody really sacrificed anything in that story, because it's fiction/myth.

Okay. But the people who believe it is true are real and exist. And they're annoying and dangerous the way they justify this fictional man and what he did.