This Represents The Last
Recorded Interaction
Between God And Abraham
Skeptics get a lot of mileage from Abraham going through the motions of sacrificing Isaac, especially since God was the one who requested it.
The whole thing flies in the face of morality as we understand it. Not only did Abraham prepare to execute his son but God is complicit, ordering what can only be viewed as ritualized homicide.
Atheists, who claim no need of guidance from a higher power and would eradicate the Bible’s influence if possible, find the whole thing appalling, at least for the present. But can any atheist really claim neutrality? Are any of their ideas completely free from God’s influence?
Since the Bible says a lot about protecting the rights of children even their indignation at Abraham is a by product of outside influence, namely the Bible.
There’s no telling what injustice they might rationalize should they succeed in erasing Christian influence from humanity, if such a thing could be done.
They, of course, are capable of logical thought but their rational abilities are not well exercised when it comes to events in the Bible. Because they don’t believe in God and aren’t dispassionate there is no reason to expect them to investigate biblical matters with a serious mind.
That is an important observation because these events didn’t happen yesterday and the further removed they are from the present the less likely atheists are to consider relevant cultural details. Social trends in Abraham’s day, for example, were very different to ours. In his day:
- Sacrificing children was neither against the law nor uncommon especially in the land of Canaan.
- It got worse. Archeological digs in Canaan have shown that children were sacrificed in greater numbers just before Israel took control of the land.
- And there were no local or international agencies to enforce child protection laws if they had existed.
None of that means Abraham thought human sacrifice was acceptable. It wouldn’t have been a test if he did. There is no reason to think he would have considered such a thing if God hadn’t suggested it.
When informed that Sodom and Gomorrah would be destroyed he prayed fervently that God would spare them even if only 10 righteous souls were found there.
Obviously, he was thinking of Lot and counting on his influence being strong enough to protect his family from Sodom’s corruption but the count was off. Only four righteous souls were found but his prayer does reveal what he thought of Sodom.
The depravity of Sodom and Gomorrah is well known so I won’t elaborate but Abraham’s prayer at least illustrates his very poor opinion of local morality. He nor his immediate family would have seriously considered adopting the life style of Sodom which no doubt endorsed human sacrifice.
When God instructed Abraham to sacrifice Isaac he knew this was extreme and sadly, when Abraham acted on the instructions he wasn’t looking over his shoulder. Any neighbors watching would have considered it a normal, natural thing to do.
He didn’t have to do this on the sly. At the very best, locals would have considered it none of their business and wouldn’t have interfered.
In this case, however, atheists’ treatment of scripture is motivated more by disdain for God than cultural accuracy. Reading the text superficially, they accuse God of being a Tyrant and Abraham of psychosis, cowardice and insensitivity, actions that provoke indignation.
But are they really being indignant or confusing critical thought with emotional manipulation? [Read more…] about Abraham Sacrifices Isaac – Not!!
Hermanus is located in the Western Cape region of South Africa on the coast of the Indian Ocean. Though a small town, boasting less than 26,000 in population, it has a big town attitude and there is good reason for it. 
The coastal route is a little longer and must be driven more slowly but is well worth the extra time. Too say it follows the coast is misleading. The land comes out of the ocean so vertically in spots you think you’re traveling “on” rather than “by” the ocean. It must have taken great fetes of engineering to install the road. 
by P. J. Wiseman