A different reading of Abraham and Issac - cougarguard.com — unofficial BYU Cougars / LDS sports, football, basketball forum and message board

MikeWaters · 10-13-2008, 01:21 PM

I was watching a dumb special on the Mayan on the History channel, and it talked about the human sacrifices they performed in hopes of getting rain, etc.

It sparked an idea for a different reading of the account of Abraham and Isaac, which I am sure is not original, but not something I have really thought a lot about before.

The idea that God would command the sacrifice of Isaac is troubling for what it implies, at least to a lot of people. In the church we emphasize Abraham's willingness to kill, in the similitude of the Father allowing his Son to be killed. We also justify it by saying that Isaac was possibly an adult, and was therefore voluntarily submitting himself as well (because the idea of strapping an 8 year old to an altar and murdering him is even troubling to people who believe in blood atonement).

Another reading is this: that our God is merciful and does not require human sacrifice. The message being "we have a different kind of God that does not require human sacrifice, versus all these other religions you have heard about among other peoples."

In an era and time when the notion of human sacrifice would not have been foreign or unusual, the emphasis, while sitting around the campfire and recounting these stories/legends was on the merciful nature of NOT being required to perform the sacrifice. In contrast to the pagan religions that surrounded them.

Meanwhile in the 21st century we dicker about the ethics of the Judeo-Christian God concerning this event, perhaps missing the larger point which was used to differentiate the nature of God to these people thousands of years ago.

10-13-2008, 01:21 PM	#1
MikeWaters Demiurge Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 36,365	A different reading of Abraham and Issac I was watching a dumb special on the Mayan on the History channel, and it talked about the human sacrifices they performed in hopes of getting rain, etc. It sparked an idea for a different reading of the account of Abraham and Isaac, which I am sure is not original, but not something I have really thought a lot about before. The idea that God would command the sacrifice of Isaac is troubling for what it implies, at least to a lot of people. In the church we emphasize Abraham's willingness to kill, in the similitude of the Father allowing his Son to be killed. We also justify it by saying that Isaac was possibly an adult, and was therefore voluntarily submitting himself as well (because the idea of strapping an 8 year old to an altar and murdering him is even troubling to people who believe in blood atonement). Another reading is this: that our God is merciful and does not require human sacrifice. The message being "we have a different kind of God that does not require human sacrifice, versus all these other religions you have heard about among other peoples." In an era and time when the notion of human sacrifice would not have been foreign or unusual, the emphasis, while sitting around the campfire and recounting these stories/legends was on the merciful nature of NOT being required to perform the sacrifice. In contrast to the pagan religions that surrounded them. Meanwhile in the 21st century we dicker about the ethics of the Judeo-Christian God concerning this event, perhaps missing the larger point which was used to differentiate the nature of God to these people thousands of years ago.