Faith - Can it Go Too Far?

[BloodyHeretic]

But a real test of faith is given in The Bible. The story of Abraham is heralded as the ultimate test of faith. In this story, Abraham is asked to sacrifice on an altar his own son Isaac. I cannot help thinking that, if this happened in a modern day setting, Abraham would most likely be arrested as a dangerous schizophrenic or possibly even psychopath.

There wasn't anybody to do that back in the day. Pity.

The story makes little sense: surely he must have had some doubt, in which case he could surley not risk murdering his own son. On the other hand, if God had really left him in no doubt, then where is the test of faith?

The point I think, is that he overcame these doubts and trusted in god.

To me, I find the story of Abraham frightening. It holds the very essence of fundamentalism, yet tries to 'pass it off' as a virtue. The story highlights a very real concern for all Humankind, namely, what are the limits of faith?

Why god wanted this unthinking, blind, stupid, ignorant obedience as his chief virtue in first the Jews and then Christians, is beyond me. If I was god, and asked Abraham to ritually murder his son, and he didn't have the integrity and moral courage to refuse point blank to carry out this disgusting act, I would not be impressed. This is the patriarchal figure of the three monotheisms, a source of inspiration! He was a spineless moral degenerate coward, not to mention delusional, and is no role model for anyone.

However, in a system trying to propagate itself (religion in this case), unquestioning devotion and obedience is desirable in it's followers. Another trait of it's man made origin, how anybody can actually believe this stuff is, I agree, a scary prospect.