Genesis 22:1-19
I have read the story who knows how many times of God telling Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. First off, I think it's so funny that we tell these kinds of stories to our children in Bible Class on flannel boards when they're like five years old. Anyway... the past few times when I've read this story, it just leaves me unsettled. It makes me view God as this Tester. And I'm not a fan of viewing him like that.. Like if my friend made me do something to see how good of a friend I am, I would not be a happy camper with her. You know what I mean? I don't want God to have to test me to find out how much I love him or fear him, as He did with Abraham. Which maybe that means I have to show how much I love him.. I don't know.
What are your thoughts? How do you view this story?
4 comments:
i think God already knows and He's trying to show us how much faith we do or don't have. i don't know if that helps any.
I think you need to watch "The Gods Are Not Angry" by Rob Bell for a good explanation of this story. It may be a little deep for the 5 year olds, but actually involves God making a huge statement about His character. I have a copy, if you need to borrow it... or several of us can watch it if you know of other deprived souls who haven't viewed it yet.
I'll second Jeff's suggestion. Rob Bell's The Gods Aren't Angry offers a great perspective on the Abraham/Isaac sacrifice story in contrast to other concepts of "sacrifice" and "gods" of Abraham's time. I think Bell is extremely helpful when it comes to this. (Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard also wrote some on this...but you probably already knew that...because you read old Danish Existentialist Philosophy all the time ;) )
I'm pretty sure itunes has like 6 free preview clips of "The God's Aren't Angry" if you want to check some of it out before you can borrow it from Jeff.
AE
thanks for the input. i have seen The Gods Aren't Angry before.. but i can't for the live of me remember that one part! of course that would happen. haha. and adam, you know i love my old danish existentialist philosophy. haha
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