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Rembrandt ~ Abraham en Isaac, 1634
Today we hear a heartwarming story—a story of love, commitment, trust and faith.
LOL. Yeah right. No. This is actually a story about a guy who tries to kill his son because the voice of God told him to.
“Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, ‘Abraham!’
‘Here I am,’ He replied.
Then God said, ‘Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.’” —Genesis 22:1&2
I’m not making this up, the Bible—GOD—really says that.
I would like to point out that this section in my Bible has lots of really long study notes to go with it. Everything up until this point has been relatively short and unnecessary, but Christians feel that this story needs a lot of explaining for some reason… I can’t imagine why…
First, notice that God ‘tests’ Abraham. The note in my Bible makes the distinction between ‘test’ and ‘tempt’ very clear. God doesn’t ‘tempt’, He only ‘tests’. Because ‘testing’ is so much better than ‘tempting’. Why would a perfect, all-knowing and merciful god need to ‘test’ anybody? And why would anyone want to worship a God who would test them in this way?
Second, God really stresses how important Isaac is to Abraham: “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love…” It’s bad enough that God is telling Abraham to sacrifice his son, but also his only son (remember that Ishmael was effectively disowned when he was sent away). And not only is it Abraham’s only son, but he is also his son whom he loves.
And third: “Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering.”—“Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering”—“SACRIFICE HIM there as a BURNT OFFERING”
“Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, ‘Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.’” —Genesis 22:3-5
Abraham wouldn’t even beg and plead for his son’s life? What kind of dad is he? Instead, he just gets up the next morning and sets about getting ready for the big bonfire later. Unquestioning obedience to his God, something that Christian’s admire and seek after.
Just a bit of advice: if ‘God’ is telling you to sacrifice your children as a burnt offering, it probably isn’t ‘God’ and you PROBABLY SHOULDN’T DO IT!!! A God who is any kind of God doesn’t need sacrifice and especially not sacrifice of innocent young children. Christians: STOP GLORIFYING THIS!!!
Notice, too, that Abraham says that ‘we will worship and then we will come back to you.’ The note in my Bible says that Abraham was in denial, or he just believed that God would raise his son from the dead (after Abraham brutally murders him, of course). Seems more likely to me that he was lying because if he says ‘I will come back’ then the servants and his son might get suspicious. But his son get’s suspicious anyway:
“Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, ‘Father?’
‘Yes, my son?’ Abraham replied.
‘The fire and wood are here,’ Isaac said, ‘but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’
Abraham answered, ‘God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.’ And the two of them went on together.” —Genesis 22:6-8
This sickens me. Poor Isaac has full trust in his father and has no reason to think that his father would do him harm. Abraham lies to him and Isaac accepts the explanation without question. This exemplifies how children in the church are raised. They trust their parents and (as I can attest) can’t imagine how their parents could ever be wrong or why their parents would ever lie to them.
“When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, ‘Abraham! Abraham’
‘Here I am,’ he replied.” —Genesis 22:9-11
"Celebration" - Episode 1 - God + beer = trouble. While dictating the Torah to Moses, God reveals the true story of Abraham and Isaac... Subscribe to 'celebrationtv' and keep up to date with the latest comedy sketches from the "Celebration" team.
I can’t even imagine what was going through Isaac’s mind. Christian’s like to sugar coat the story by saying that Isaac probably understood Abraham’s need to obey his god—but no. There is no possible way that Isaac, a scared little boy, had any conception of god, and if he did—it was not a nice friendly god, this god wanted to do Isaac harm! This god was NOT just. This god was NOT merciful. This god told Isaac’s father to KILL HIM! Isaac must have been terrified, he must have been screaming and crying and begging for his father to stop. He must have been struggling against the ropes and against the dried and splintered wood. He must have suffered bruises as he attempted to escape from his fathers clutches as he was strapped to the altar. He must have been bleeding from cuts and rope burn as he fought to free himself. Isaac was NOT okay with this, don’t let ANY Christian tell you otherwise—EVER.
Luckily for Isaac, God changed his mind at the last minute. I’m sorry, he didn’t change his mind, after all, he was just testing Abraham anyway. This story makes me physically ill.
“‘Do not lay a hand on the boy,’ he said. ‘Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.’” —Genesis 22:12
God’s like, ‘I just needed to be sure you were afraid of me, looks like you are, so we are good!’ What kind of god is this? You have got to be kidding me! God is supposed to be all-knowing, he should have been able to tell that Abraham ‘feared’ him WITHOUT making Abraham almost kill his son.
‘Fearing God’, according to Christians, means to trust absolutely in Him.
“Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, ‘On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.’” —Genesis 22:13&14
So somehow this bloodbath gets made into a catchy phrase that people say ‘to this day’.
(If you can’t tell, this passage pisses me off)
“The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, ‘I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed because you obeyed me.’” —Genesis 22:15-18
Great, so what does Abraham get out of almost sacrificing his son? The same @!$%#ing promise that he has been getting since he first left his father’s household!
“Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.” —Genesis 22:19
Still today, parents kill their children because ‘God’ or ‘angels’ or ‘demons’ etc. tell them to. This in NO WAY is justified. We call these people insane. Abraham is not exempt.
I’m just—I’m speechless guys. I really am. Stupidity like this is intolerable.
Totally ripped from http://atheistbiblestudy.tumblr.com/post/3494996882/god-tells-abraham-to-kill-his-son
