Ask a Bible college Student

[pocaracas]

That is the reason for such questions. According to the tale, god is very well capable of asking someone to kill their own child... and seemingly incapable of taking it back... needing to send an angel to prevent that blunder.

And wasn't he lucky that the angel didn't get stuck in traffic that day?  Or have the following scenario take place:

Angel:  "Abraham, Abraham, I am a messenger of God.  God says don't kill Isaac."
Abraham:  "Don't what?"
Angel:  "Kill Isaac."
Abraham:  "OK."  *brings knife down stabbing Isaac to death*

Now repeat all that, but in ancient Hebrew (this is recent Hebrew, btw):

אנג'ל: "אברהם, אברהם, אני שליח של אלוהים אלוהים אומר לא להרוג יצחק.."
אברהם: "האם לא מה?"
אנג'ל: "הרוג יצחק."
אברהם: "אישור". * מביא סכין דקירת יצחק למוות *


You're welcome!

[vorlon13]

Why, BTW, did Abraham acknowledge a lesser being had the power to countermand an order from God, and to rely entirely on the angel's assertion he was duly authorized to do so ??

[Whateverist]

Because God knew where he lived.

[Doubting Thomas]

I do not believe the stories in the ot are literal.

Watch out, we have a heretic over here!

But, according to your Catholic doctrine, all those stories are literal, otherwise no need to be baptized to wash away Original Sin which was placed upon humanity because of Adam & Eve.  And even Jesus believed the Noah flood myth because he referenced it in Matthew 24:37.

[vorlon13]

See where scripture cherry picking leads?


[crosses arms in vexation, taps toe in annoyance at having been right all along but salvific perils were still ignored by faithful]

[pocaracas]

I do not believe the stories in the ot are literal.

I see...
None of them are literal?

What are they there for?

[SteelCurtain]

I do not believe the stories in the ot are literal.

I see...
None of them are literal?

What are they there for?

Question of the year.

[Whateverist]

I do not believe the stories in the ot are literal.

Watch out, we have a heretic over here!

But, according to your Catholic doctrine, all those stories are literal, otherwise no need to be baptized to wash away Original Sin which was placed upon humanity because of Adam & Eve.  And even Jesus believed the Noah flood myth because he referenced it in Matthew 24:37.

What was it tipped the scales, C_L?  Smelling the BBQ on our Sunday grills?

[ApeNotKillApe]

Emzap, in your opinion, is murder wrong and if so what are the reasons?

I predict his answer is "because God says so".

Clearly, from the question about the hypothetical son, if God said murder was fine then according to him it would be fine.

I wish I had a perfect objective moral standard, then I too could exploit loopholes to admonish myself of any personal wrongdoing in the legal aftermath following my deliberate murder.


Loopholes that I made up.

[Catholic_Lady]

You are all very opposed to killing children- Good! I believe that unborn babies are human beings from the moment of conception. That is why I am against abortion. I value human life- even the lives of unborn babies. I also understand that there are some extenuating circumstances such as the mothers health, rape, etc, and it is not my place to speak on those issues; they are very tough, though theologically I still believe that those babies have a right to life. Back to my point- killing a child is not something I take lightly. I hope I would obey God, no matter what He commands, but it would be very difficult.

---

Do you mind if I take this a step further? Is your idea of conception, and therefore human life, the moment that sperm penetrates egg and a zygote is formed? Or is it when the fertilized egg actually implants? Or is it a some time frame further down the line?

Next, do you consider abortion to be on the same level as homicide?

Edit: Maybe you could start a new thread outside of introductions. Or a couple of new threads.

When sperm meets egg and a whole new brand of human DNA is formed and begins to multiply. That's a new human being right there at the moment of conception.