HOW IS AN ATHEIST CONSCIENCE FORMED?

[DaizyMae0007]

Well when I was younger my mother belonged to a church that took away our music, our movies, certain video games and that made us as children mad. That right there was what made my little sister claim to be atheist. She was raised Christian and because she was selfish enough she claimed atheism to get her stuff back.

 

[Drew98]

Carl:

Did Abaraham kill his child? Why not?

No, a “messenger from heaven” stopped him before he could do it.

Carl:

Obviously, the story is meant to correct the pagan practice of human sacrifice of the young.

Not obvious at all. I just re-read the story and there’s no mention of a “pagan practice of human sacrifice of the young”. And Abraham is praised rather than condemned for being willing to kill his son.

 

[Carl]

And Abraham is praised rather than condemned for being willing to kill his son.

No, he is praised for trusting the will of God, no matter how inscrutable it may seem. This is the same problem for atheists … that they cannot put themselves completely in the hands of God, no matter how unfathomable He may appear.

Angels are messengers of God, they do what God wills them to do.

You need to look at the outcome of the story of Abraham, the theme, instead of keying in on what you would like it to say because it plays into your agenda.

If God had really meant for Abraham to kill his son, he would not have been satisfied until Isaac was killed. And Jews and Catholics would not even exist today except in terror of being killed by their fathers.

O.K.?.

 

[Carl]

I just re-read the story and there’s no mention of a “pagan practice of human sacrifice of the young”.

You need to bone up on your history. Read any history book on human sacrifice … a common practice among pagans in the days of Abraham. It doesn’t have to be mentioned in Genesis as a practice among the pagans in order to make the connection. The people reading Genesis knew very well about the practice among pagans and that Yaweh’s order to Abraham was recinded to show that the practice was not really acceptable to the true God.

This was the most dramatic way for God to make two such great points essential to moral theology: that God’s will must be trusted, even when horrors seem to flow from it; and that God is always teaching us, even when the lesson is a painful one to learn.