Only an Evil God would ask Abraham to sacrifice Issac

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LilyM said:
A few points:
  • Isaac wasn’t sacrificed - God spared him
  • God didn’t have many other options as to valuable posessions that Abraham could sacrifice to show his devotion - he’d already gone the animal route before
  • Isaac didn’t punch Abraham’s lights out or run away (think about it, Abraham was ONE HUNDRED years his senior, if Isaac had been upset he’d definitely have tried it)
  • Isaac wasn’t even miffed at God, he certainly stayed faithful to him as Abraham had
  • Human sacrifice was hardly unheard of in the area at the time - on the contrary. It’s one of those cultural things that seems more horrific to us than it would have to Abraham or Isaac
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Isaac was a BABY.
 
dianeeh said:
No, that wasn’t Isaac.
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Isaac DID carry the wood

Gen 22
4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. 5 And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”
6 So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together.
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Abraham did set out with two other men, but when they came within sight of Mt Moriah, Abraham had the two men remain back with the donkey. Abraham placed the wood on Isaac and they headed out up the mountain.
 
shaka said:
I have heard from atheists that only an evil God would ask Abraham to sacrifice Issac. They say i"magine what Issac was thinking,"

How can I explain this passage to atheists?
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Oh, if God is evil, sacrificing Isaac is the least of it! God sent His own Son to die for our sins. could you even imagine such a thing!!

If you had 1500 years to write a story, could you ever come up with anything so ridiculous?

Sin is so evil and God’s love for us is so great, that God was willing, and even eager, to do just that. And, that love was so great, that the gates of Hell would not prevail against it.

And, of the Son of God, scripture writes

Revelation 5:12 and they cried out in a loud voice:
“***Worthy is the Lamb that was slain ***
***to receive power and riches, wisdom and strength, ***
honor and glory and blessing.” NAB

This very truth is at the core of Christian belief. Scripture itself says that to those who do not believe, the cross is a stumbling block.

The account of Abraham and Isaac is a story to makes God’s plan very personal to us. And, as these people point out, if we don’t have the whole story, it doesn’t make sense, does it?

You should invite your friends to pray for faith, even if they are atheists, and offer to pray for them, as well.
 
Sir_Knight said:
Some accounts say that Isaac could have been as old as thirty.
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I found an article that mentioned Isaac is referred to as a “lad” which means he could have been anywhere between 5-30 years old.
Hence, the sacrifice of Isaac must have occurred between the age of 5 and 36, which is quite a broad span. In addition, Isaac is referred to as a “lad” or na’ar in Hebrew in Genesis 22:5 and 12. This noun is used to refer to a male from infancy to young adult not yet married. For example, Joseph is called a lad at the age of seventeen (Genesis 37:2) and at the age of thirty (Genesis 41:12, 46).
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We do have some further clues. Isaac is old enough to travel three days with Abraham but without his mother. His conversation with Abraham is that of an older child or a young adult. Finally, Isaac is the one who carried the wood for the sacrifice up the mountain (Genesis 22:6). The latter is strong evidence that Isaac was no longer a small child and serves as the main reason that our best guess is that he was at least in his late teens.
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lavistachurchofchrist.org/LVanswers/2004-01-29.htm

(Obviously not a Catholic site but it was the first site that answered my question.)
 
colliric said:
It’s simple really, God needed to test the faith of Abraham fully, before giving him the real beginning of full Revelation. God doesn’t allow Abraham to sacrifice Issac once Abraham passes the test. He tests abraham’s faith in order to find out how integral and faithful he is.
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As a lapsed Catholic trying to figure out whether to go back, I have to say this sounds quite hollow. If God was testing Abraham, he was testing to see if Abraham would do something evil (kill his son) for God. If I thought God was telling me to kill my son, I would fail the test as I could not believe that God would tell me to do so.
 
Mike12 said:
As a lapsed Catholic trying to figure out whether to go back, I have to say this sounds quite hollow. If God was testing Abraham, he was testing to see if Abraham would do something evil (kill his son) for God. If I thought God was telling me to kill my son, I would fail the test as I could not believe that God would tell me to do so.
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Then why did another Father (God) offer His only Son (Jesus) in a sacrifice, that was not stopped, to pay the price for our sins? This story is a disfigurement of what it would take to rectify the damage created by our willful disobedience to God’s commands.
 
Mike12 said:
As a lapsed Catholic trying to figure out whether to go back, I have to say this sounds quite hollow. If God was testing Abraham, he was testing to see if Abraham would do something evil (kill his son) for God. If I thought God was telling me to kill my son, I would fail the test as I could not believe that God would tell me to do so.
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Yes, but what if God had been talking to you for years, like in the case of Abraham? Could I do it? Probably not, but I don’t have the faith that Abraham did. God knew he did, that may be why God tested him.
 
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