Quote:
Originally Posted by Lisa111
God's way of asking is like a person pointing a gun at your head and saying, "You have every right to disobey me, because you have free will. Although, if you do, I'll shoot you..."
Yes, I know the whole story. God asked him to blatantly lie to his son (as when Isaac told Abraham that they'd forgotten the sacrifice, and Abraham replied, God will provide us one...), then kill him in God's name. Then the angel came down and said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."
That whole encounter, if it actually happened, had to be traumatizing. Think of Isaac's reaction to this whole thing... His dad was going to kill him... Come on... And the fact that Abraham would actually go through with it is a test of his sanity... I don't have empathy, and even I know that's not right...
|
No, God's way of asking is more like, "You have every right to disobey me, because you have free will. Although, if you do, know that Satan is waiting to ravage you in sin, and I cannot tolerate to be with sin."
It's an offer for life, not a choice between life and death. There is a slim difference, and it means a lot.
There is a bit more to the story than that. And God did not actually ask Him to lie, all Abraham said is God will provide the offering, and guess what? God did, and it was not His son. Kinda cool.
For Abraham, the Bible said it was a relief and a gift to both, as it was also shown to Isaac belonged to God.