If Abraham's GOD knew....

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William
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If Abraham's GOD knew....

Post #1

Post by William »

Assuming Abe's GOD knew that Abe would sacrifice his son, why bother going through the motions of it all? What is the point therein?

(The assumption is based on the idea that the GOD can look into a persons heart and mind and know that person's intentions.)

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William
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Re: If Abraham's GOD knew....

Post #21

Post by William »

[Replying to post 20 by brianbbs67]
"I desire goodness, not burnt sacrifice" Hosea 6:6 JPS

That is the general message I draw on it all. Be good, do good.
Was that before the practice of burnt sacrifice or after? Looks like someone disagreed with the practice as being something the GOD desired.

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Post #22

Post by Overcomer »

Abraham would not have been surprised that God requested the sacrifice of his son because sacrifice of one's children to a god was a common practice in all the pagan religions of that time and place.

Here's the thing: God wanted us to see that he does NOT want us to sacrifice our children to him. He wanted us to see that HE would sacrifice HIS son for us. As he provided a sheep for Abraham to sacrifice, he provided Jesus, his lamb, to be sacrificed in our place for our sins.

That's the point of the whole business.

When reading the Bible, it's important to look for the theological significance of an event. God always has a purpose and a point in what he says and does, a purpose and a point that go way beyond the people in the time period in which an event occurs.

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Post #23

Post by William »

[Replying to post 22 by Overcomer]
Abraham would not have been surprised that God requested the sacrifice of his son because sacrifice of one's children to a god was a common practice in all the pagan religions of that time and place.

Here's the thing: God wanted us to see that he does NOT want us to sacrifice our children to him. He wanted us to see that HE would sacrifice HIS son for us. As he provided a sheep for Abraham to sacrifice, he provided Jesus, his lamb, to be sacrificed in our place for our sins.

That's the point of the whole business.

When reading the Bible, it's important to look for the theological significance of an event. God always has a purpose and a point in what he says and does, a purpose and a point that go way beyond the people in the time period in which an event occurs.
That thinking has been morally debunked already in this thread.

One cannot have a GOD which despises not only false gods but also the practice of human sacrifices to the false gods, and then claim that the true GOD mimics the demand of the flase gods to get some point across that the true GOD despises such practice.

The more logical reason the story exist is that it was an attempt by the tellers to the listeners that the common practice of human sacrifice to false gods which the listeners maybe thought of as acceptable, was not acceptable, by portraying the true GOD as mimicking the demands of the false gods in order to try and break through that idea that such practice was acceptable.

Inasmuch as the intention may have been 'good' the result turned out to be 'evil' and furthermore, once Greek/Roman influences got a hold of it, it was not hard effort to claim the true GOD (who deplores such practice) sacrificed his 'only begotten son' for none other than the sinners! Those who were under the rule of Rome at the time.

How convenient!

As can be shown, the result of such a theology created large amounts of guilt in the masses which made them more pliable in a time where Rome desperately needed all the support it could muster, and proved - even to this day - an extremely useful tool for the advancement of elitism and systems of disparity - because - well, you know - 'GOD' requires you to "serve the authorities he has established as government on the planet." Paul, Christ's most trusted mouthpiece, said so...

Your post exemplifies this type of thinking and subsequent belief. The question is, will it all work out as your have been told to believe it will, or will it be a case of, the seed that was sown will only produce the fruit of it's own making?

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Re: If Abraham's GOD knew....

Post #24

Post by brianbbs67 »

William wrote: [Replying to post 20 by brianbbs67]
"I desire goodness, not burnt sacrifice" Hosea 6:6 JPS

That is the general message I draw on it all. Be good, do good.
Was that before the practice of burnt sacrifice or after? Looks like someone disagreed with the practice as being something the GOD desired.
The Tanakh is in chronological order, The Torah was long established and Hosea is the first list minor Prophet , after of course the major ones.

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