Bible Questions Answered:
“...if god is so loving, why did he
tell Abraham to kill his son?...”
Ralph/ Riverside, California U.S.A.
Bible Answer:
Bible Texts:
Genesis 22:1-18 KJV
1And it came to pass after these
things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and
he said, Behold, here I am.
2 And He said, Take now thy son,
thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of
Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the
mountains which I will tell thee of.
3 And Abraham rose up early in the
morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him,
and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and
rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
4 Then on the third day Abraham
lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
5 And Abraham said unto his young
men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and
worship, and come again to you.
6 And Abraham took the wood of the
burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire
in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his
father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he
said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is The Lamb for a burnt
offering?
8 And Abraham said, My son, God will
provide Himself A Lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of
them together.
9 And they came to the place which
God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the
wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar
upon the wood.
10 And Abraham stretched forth his
hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
11 And The Angel Of the Lord called
unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here
am I.
12 And He said, Lay not thine
hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I
know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son,
thine only son from Me.
13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes,
and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his
horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a
burnt offering in the stead of his son.
14 And Abraham called the name of
that place Jehovah jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of
the Lord it shall be seen.
15 And The Angel Of The Lord called
unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,
16 And said, By Myself have I sworn,
saith The Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not
withheld thy son, thine only son:
17 That in blessing I will bless
thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the
heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed
shall possess the gate of his enemies;
18 And in thy seed shall all
the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed
My voice.
Many are the Bible skeptics that love
to roll out this story, but none ever get the facts straight.
Killing of children was the devil
inspired practice of Canaan, and other pagan nations, in service to
their god Molech.
Psalm 106:34-38 NLT
34 Israel
failed to destroy the nations in the land, as The Lord had commanded
them.
35 Instead,
they mingled among the pagans and adopted their evil
customs.
36 They
worshiped their idols, which led to their downfall.
37 They even
sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons.
38 They shed
innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters. By
sacrificing them to the idols of Canaan, they polluted the
land with murder.
Proverbs 6:16,17 KJV
16
These...things doth The Lord hate: yea...are an abomination unto Him:
17 ... hands
that shed innocent blood,
In the story of Abraham, he was “never, told to “kill,” his
son....but to offer his son to God.
Genesis 22:1,2 KJV
1 And it came
to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham (God tested
Abraham’s faith- NLT),
and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
2 And He said,
Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get
thee into the land of Moriah; and offer* him there for
a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
*Offer- Alah (Aw-law): To carry up, get up, offer, raise.
Nowhere here, is a command to kill his son! This was a test of
Abraham's faith.
Hebrews
11:2,17-19 NLT
2 Through their
faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation.
17 It was by
faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was
testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to
sacrifice his only son, Isaac,
18 even though
God had told him, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants
will be counted.”
19 Abraham
reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life
again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the
dead.
Abraham, had faith in God!
This precious story, relates to us how that one day God The Father
would offer
up,
His Only Begotten Son, as a sacrifice for the sins of the world, and
no one would be able to stay the hand of His sacrifice.
II Corinthians
5:21 KJV
For He (God
The Father) hath made Him (Jesus,
God's Son) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him.
As Christian people, we are to be people of faith,
“yielding,”our lives as a living sacrifice to
The Lord.
Romans 12:1 KJV
I beseech you
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present*
your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is
your reasonable service.
*Present-Greek: Paristemi (Par-is tay-mee): To exhibit,
provide, to yield.
God's
People Of Faith:
Hebrews 11:1-40
NLT
1 Faith shows
the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we
cannot see.
2 Through their
faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation.
3 By faith we
understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command,
that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.
4 It was by
faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to God than Cain
did. Abel’s offering gave evidence that he was a righteous man, and
God showed His approval of his gifts. Although Abel is long dead, he
still speaks to us by his example of faith.
5 It was by
faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying—“he
disappeared, because God took him.” For before he was taken up, he
was known as a person who pleased God.
6 And it is
impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to
Him must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who
sincerely seek Him.
7 It was by
faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood.
He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened
before. By his faith Noah condemned the rest of the world, and he
received the righteousness that comes by faith.
8 It was by
faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to
another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went
without knowing where he was going.
9 And even when
he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for
he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob,
who inherited the same promise.
10 Abraham was
confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a
city designed and built by God.
11 It was by
faith that even Sarah was able to have a child, though she was barren
and was too old. She believed that God would keep His promise.
12 And so a
whole nation came from this one man who was as good as dead—a
nation with so many people that, like the stars in the sky and the
sand on the seashore, there is no way to count them.
13 All these
people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not
receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and
welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on
earth.
14 Obviously
people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can
call their own.
15 If they had
longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back.
16 But they
were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God
is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for
them.
17 It was by
faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was
testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to
sacrifice his only son, Isaac,
18 even though
God had told him, “Isaac is the son through whom your
descendants will be counted.” 19 Abraham reasoned that if Isaac
died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense,
Abraham did receive his son back from the dead.
20 It was by
faith that Isaac promised blessings for the future to his sons, Jacob
and Esau.
21 It was by
faith that Jacob, when he was old and dying, blessed each of Joseph’s
sons and bowed in worship as he leaned on his staff.
22 It was by
faith that Joseph, when he was about to die, said confidently that
the people of Israel would leave Egypt. He even commanded them to
take his bones with them when they left.
23 It was by
faith that Moses’ parents hid him for three months when he was
born. They saw that God had given them an unusual child, and they
were not afraid to disobey the king’s command.
24 It was by
faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of
Pharaoh’s daughter.
25 He chose to
share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the
fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He thought it was better to suffer for
the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was
looking ahead to his great reward.
27 It was by
faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king’s
anger. He kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who
is invisible.
28 It was by
faith that Moses commanded the people of Israel to keep the Passover
and to sprinkle blood on the doorposts so that the angel of death
would not kill their firstborn sons.
29 It was by
faith that the people of Israel went right through the Red Sea as
though they were on dry ground. But when the Egyptians tried to
follow, they were all drowned.
30 It was by
faith that the people of Israel marched around Jericho for seven
days, and the walls came crashing down.
31 It was by
faith that Rahab the prostitute was not destroyed with the people in
her city who refused to obey God. For she had given a friendly
welcome to the spies.
32 How much
more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories
of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and
all the prophets.
33 By faith
these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received
what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions,
34 quenched the
flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their
weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put
whole armies to flight.
35 Women
received their loved ones back again from death.
But others were
tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They
placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection.
36 Some were
jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were
chained in prisons.
37 Some died by
stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the
sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute
and oppressed and mistreated.
38 They were
too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding
in caves and holes in the ground.
39 All these
people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of
them received all that God had promised.
40 For God had
something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach
perfection without us.
Prayer:
Isaiah 43:10,11
KJV
10 Ye are My witnesses, saith The
Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe
Me, and understand that I am He: before Me there was no God formed,
neither shall there be after Me.
11 I, even I, am The Lord; and
beside Me there is no savior.
Isaiah 45:22 KJV
Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all
the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
