A person-of-faith would read this story, and view it as admirable. Most rational people however would view this story in a much different manner. Here is a guy that is "hearing" a voice in his head which is ordering him to slay his son. Now which is more likely the case:
After these things God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I."
He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Mori'ah, and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; and he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. Then Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the ass; I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you." And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, "My father!" And he said, "Here am I, my son." He said, "Behold, the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" Abraham said, "God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So they went both of them together. When they came to the place of which God had told him, 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. Then Abraham put forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place The LORD will provide; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided." And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, "By myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will indeed bless you, and I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore. And your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies, - Genesis 22:1-17 (Revised Standard Version)
a). The all-powerful creator of the universe likes to screw around with random people.
b). Abraham had hallucinations.
Odds are that if this story actually happened, the cause would have been hallucination, not divine. If there was the god that Bible describes, then he would be all-knowing, and would already know what Abraham would do, so testing him would be pointless. It would be like a kid frying ants with a magnifying glass — he knows the ants would be roasted, but he enjoys watching them squirm in pain. Of course the Biblical god can be a prick, so if by chance he is real, him doing this wouldn't surprise me.
Stories like that of Abraham occur all of the time. Here is an example of one which is similar, the main difference is that the hallucination didn't intervene.
Obviously in modern-times the Father-of-Faith would have found a much different outcome to his story, probably one similar to that of Deanna Laney. But what were the reasons that Abraham obeyed this voice? Were they noble? Where they not? I suppose it depends on your perception of faith. In my opinion, an act like that of Abraham is both selfish and cowardly. Selfish because he is the only one that stands to benefit from killing his son; Isaac certainly doesn't benefit, and God doesn't — but Abraham does, he believes that by committing this murder, he will stand to benefit (otherwise he wouldn't have done it). He is cowardly because he is afraid to tell the voice in his head "no, I will not murder my son". Even though Abraham did not kill Isaac, he fully planned on doing so, which makes him no better then a murderer — no better then Deanna Laney. For they both heard voices in their heads that they thought of as being God.
One finds it funny that Abraham is viewed as such a revered figure by so many; he is as insane as the day is long — he is self-centered and cowardly — what a role-model. And all this story shows is that Abraham will obey any voice he "hears" in his head — surely he would have no way of deciphering between what is 'The Lord' and what is an hallucination. For all Abraham knew, that voice could have been the demon, yet he blindly obeyed.
No comments:
Post a Comment