Greg,
You started by saying that if someone spoke of having been told by God to kill their child they’d be put away as criminally insane. Yes, perhaps this would be the manner in which God was sparing them from taking that step, just as he spared Abraham from taking Issac.
With Issac, God, rather than using the men in white coats to spare Issac, he used Abrahams own faith and willingness to be obedient. As has been said in the replies of others here, at that time, there would have been no societal restriction to prevent him from proceeding with the sacrifice, it was a common practice. I doubt that a God fearing man of that time would have even questioned it beyond a deep sadness that God was now asking him to give up this son whom he and his wife had so desired and who had been so miraculous in coming at all. And yet, how could he, after all that had happened, how could he not do as God asked.
Had he not already incurred God’s wrath in his lack of faith when he took the slave as his concubine? This was a common practice, and yet he knew, without the letter of the law to tell him so, that this was not the heir he was meant to give to Father a people for God. And yet, the ways of God are a mystery, and here he was, being asked to sacrifice his son, perhaps to attone for the sins he had committed against God. Perhaps his sins were so great that God could not forgive him. So certainly, if he loved God, he would love Him more than he loved even his greatest love, the fruit of his seed, his son. When God asks us to do something, we are not meant to stop and apply reason, not if we are absolutely certain it is He who asks and not if we are certain it is not contrary to that which we know He has revealed to those who come before us. But we MUST be certain it is not contrary to that which he has spoke infallibly to those who have come before.
In our time, it is infallibly understood that God does NOT want our sacrifices, he wants our Love. But later in the thread you ask if it is possible for God, even in this day and age to ask a parent to sacrifice their child, and if so, what kind of God is that?
God does in fact ask parents on a regular basis to sacrifice even their children to him. As parents, it is an incredible sacrifice to allow one’s child to go into harms way to risk the possibility of being a martry through missionary work, and yet that is exactly what many parents are asked to do. We are asked to support our children if they discern that this is God’s will for their lives.
Parents are asked to sacrifice their future unborn grandchildren when they are told that their children are discerning a calling to the religious life. This is becoming increasingly difficult with smaller families, as there may be no grandchildren at all in families that accept this path their children set before them.
But would God ask any parent to “Kill” their child? No, God has revealed himself to us far more fully at this time in history than he had in Abrahams and we know that such a request is highly suspect and likely to be of another source. Either that or we have not understood the actual intent of the request, similar to St. Francis thinking that when God asked him to “Repair my Church” that he was being asked to fix the building of the broken down chapel that St. Francis stood before.
I know that I once was incredibly puzzled by this chapter of Old Testament history, just as you’ve stated and it’s taken me a long time to begin to better understand it. Thank you for bringing it up so that I could also read some of the other answers posted. They took my understanding to another level.
I also think it is important to note that Abraham, in his willingness to give his own son to God, foreshadowed God’s willingness to give his son for Mankind. How incredible is the love of God for us that he was willing to do this. No-one imposed this sacrifice on God and yet he did so, for us.
CARose
