Was the story of Abraham and Isaac about blind faith or was Abraham testing God?
Gen. 22:5 says: "And Abraham said to his young men, 'Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go yonder; and we will worship and return to you.'" Abraham was ready to sacrifice his son and he expected the Lord to resurrect Isaac. This is what it says in Heb. 11:19, "He considered that God is able to raise men even from the dead; from which he also received him back as a type." So, God knew that Abraham was completely trusting in the Lord. Why then did God still need to test in Abraham? Gen. 22 is full of types and representations of the gospel. The Son, Isaac, is offered on wood, on a hill after a three day journey. Jesus, the Son, was offered on wood, on a hill, and was in the grave for three days. In fact, Jesus said in John 8:56, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." The day that Jesus is speaking of is the day of Christ's sacrificial death. God ordained that the gospel be revealed in the Old Testament just as it says in Amos 3:7, "Surely the Lord God does nothing unless He reveals His secret counsel to His servants the prophets." God is doing two things: First, God is revealing the gospel in hidden form. Second, God is speaking for Abraham's benefit; that is, it was Abraham who needed to hear that God was acknowledging that Abraham feared Him. The act of sacrificing Isaac was important prophetically. But it was also important to us as a testimony of faithfulness to God.
Was the story of Abraham and Isaac about blind faith or was Abraham testing God?
Gen. 22:5 says: "And Abraham said to his young men, 'Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go yonder; and we will worship and return to you.'" Abraham was ready to sacrifice his son and he expected the Lord to resurrect Isaac. This is what it says in Heb. 11:19, "He considered that God is able to raise men even from the dead; from which he also received him back as a type." So, God knew that Abraham was completely trusting in the Lord. Why then did God still need to test in Abraham? Gen. 22 is full of types and representations of the gospel. The Son, Isaac, is offered on wood, on a hill after a three day journey. Jesus, the Son, was offered on wood, on a hill, and was in the grave for three days. In fact, Jesus said in John 8:56, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." The day that Jesus is speaking of is the day of Christ's sacrificial death. God ordained that the gospel be revealed in the Old Testament just as it says in Amos 3:7, "Surely the Lord God does nothing unless He reveals His secret counsel to His servants the prophets." God is doing two things: First, God is revealing the gospel in hidden form. Second, God is speaking for Abraham's benefit; that is, it was Abraham who needed to hear that God was acknowledging that Abraham feared Him. The act of sacrificing Isaac was important prophetically. But it was also important to us as a testimony of faithfulness to God.
In the Bible; what was the blessing of Abraham?
‘I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and the one who curses you I will curse and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ Gen 12:1To your offspring I will give this land. Gen 12:7‘Raise your eyes now and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of he earth; so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. Rise up, walk through the length of the breadth of the land for I will give it to you’. Gen 13:14‘Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them’. Then he said to him, ‘so shall your descendants be’. Gen 15:5‘I will make my covenant between me and you and will make you exceedingly numerous. You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make nations of you and kings shall come from you’. Gen 17:2‘God said No, but your wife Sarah shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. As for Ishmail, I have heard you. I will bless him and make him fruitful and exceedingly numerous, he shall be the father of twelve princes and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac’. Gen 17:19‘I will indeed bless you and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of their enemies, and by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves because you have obeyed my voice’. Gen 22:15
Biblical Archaeology: Did Abraham (of the book of Genesis) exist historically?
If I were a minimalist, I'd agree with Harold Kingsberg's answer. My logical side tends to agree with him.But I'm not a minimalist, especially not my emotional side. My emotional side revels in hints of real history in the bible, even though I'm not a Christian or Jewish believer. I enjoy Simcha Jocobovici's rather maximalist speculations. He talks about Ur and points out the consistency between the archaeology and the written history in Abraham’s Birthplace Uncovered! He says 100,000 tablets were discovered at the site.That's quite a pile of tablets. Some forger may have scratched Abraham's name in cuneiform onto a tablet already.Jocobovici and his compadres from a number of universities see the glass half full. In another example, he argued he'd found Jesus family's tomb. Watching that program was a blast. He and his friends made a probabilistic argument that it was the family tomb. I'm sure the minimalists, who don't like any guesswork or speculation at all, were horrified.We could haggle too about whether or not Calvert and Schliemann found Troy, or whether it was another city they found, but that was an astounding discovery, in any case, and it certainly doesn't contradict Homer. You could probably say nay with some justification to about any archaeological finding ostensibly tied to any ancient written reference. But the written record gives us what often seems to be reasonable context. Is it truth? We can't establish it as such. With the same scant evidence, some will nod yes, others will shake their heads in disbelief. The minimalists tend to balance the maximalists, and even if you don't take either side, the debates in Biblical Archaeology Review (BAR) are fun to read, and the speculative history programs on TV can be fun to watch.
What God or Gods/goddesses did Abrahams family worship?
They had knowledge that there were gods before the flood that were worshiped, and in Egypt, but they have just entered into the Promised Land that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had given them through Abraham, Exo.6:3, Matt.1:1-17 of the genealogy of Jesus, so from Moses to Joshua they have been taugh about the true God, and are to turn away from all forms of flase gods that they will see in the land, Lev.18:21. Josh.24:14 Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. From before, 2Chr.28:1-4, and at 606 BCE Jer.7:30,31, 19:1-5, they are doing terrible, Jer.25:12, 2Chr.36:2-23, the land will be desolate 70 years, all will be captive to Babylon and Judah kings will end, there will be no king until king Jesus at his 2nd coming, now 2009 CE, is 2615 years [ of the 2670 given ], from Judah kings end. As time brings all near to Rev.20:1-6,12,13, the 1000 year reign of Christ.
Christians - Why did God tell Abraham to kill his son?
If God recognized to me and instructed me to take my remarkable son to the authentic of a mountain and sacrifice him in his call, i'm sorry, yet i could tell him to **** good off. i like my son extra beneficial than something in this worldwide. in spite of if Abraham knew God could grant an option sacrifice, and in spite of the certainty that Abraham depended on God to convey Isaac lower back from the lifeless it may nonetheless be a harrowing journey for any parent. If Abraham believed God could convey Isaac lower back from the lifeless he nonetheless knew that Isaac could would desire to journey the excruciating soreness of the certainly sacrifice. If Abraham truley believed God could stop the sacrifice on the final 2d there could nonetheless be doubts on the lower back of his concepts, as while situations contain ur babies moms and dads will consistently be scared that something will flow incorrect. And for God to ask Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, whether he believed it may be stopped, particularly it extremely is basically some ill concepts interest on gods area? what style of sicko asks a parent to kill their baby whether they stop the homicide on the final minute? Can u think of the turmoil of Abraham?can u think of the concern of dropping a son at your individual hand? If somebody immediately asked me to homicide my own son and that i agreed, basically to be stopped on the final minute how do you think of human beings could respond while instructed of my tale? they could think of that despite the fact that this individual stopped the sacrifice, that he remains a psychotic, skill hungry weirdo who has a sadistic outlook on lifestyles and needs human beings to 'instruct' their faith by utilising putting them in the process the worst journey a parent can ever think of. on the instant if God replaced into replaced with a human however the story saved a similar then 'God' could be arrested and banged up for lifestyles. which you would be able to all you believers available it extremely is high quality for God to devote undesirable crimes, yet while a real individual commits a similar crime they'd desire to be locked up for good.... Double standards plenty?
How do I find God?
I would like to tell a short story from one of my favorite authors, Khalil Gibran.Two men were walking in the valley, and one man pointed with his finger toward the mountain side, and said, "See you that hermitage? There lives a man who has long divorced the world. He seeks but after God, and naught else upon this earth."And the other man said, "He shall not find God until he leaves his hermitage, and the aloneness of his hermitage, and returns to our world, to share our joy and pain, to dance with our dancers at the wedding feast, and to weep with those who weep around the coffins of our dead."And the other man was convinced in his heart, though in spite of his conviction he answered, "I agree with all that you say, yet I believe the hermit is a good man. And it may it not well be that one good man by his absence does better than the seeming goodness of these many men?"God can be found in the church, mosque, synagogue, temple, and monastery but God can also be found in nature. By nature, I mean all of creation; this includes us. Christ tells us plainly in the Gospel of Luke “It is neither here nor is it there, but the kingdom of God is within you” (17:21). The Book of Genesis says that God “breathed the breath of life into man.” From the Hebrew, this is the “ruach” or the spirit that is within every living thing. The spirit, the soul, or whatever you wish to call it, is the divine in us. If God created us in His image, then God must have given us a piece of Himself; that is what connects us to Him. This is a common theme in apophatic theology, also called “negative theology.” This is to view God as an inconceivable, totally infinite force that cannot truly be described by using language. The Sufi Muslims and Hasidic Jews also have this viewpoint as do other great religions of the world. The Sufi would call this “wahdat al-wujud,” or “the unity of existence,” and the Hasid would call this “tzimtzum,” or “contraction” (referring to God giving the divine to us). The Sufi may call God “Haqq,” or “Truth,” and the Hasid may call God “Ein Sof,” or “Infinity.”Before we look to God high up in the sky, we should start by looking within first.
So Abraham built the first Mosque in Mecca?
We came with that conclusion with the Quran. We don't pray to Mecca, we pray to God, just simply facing Mecca. To show unity of the Muslims in the world. So every Muslim in the world face the same direction. Even now, despite sunni, shia, wahabbi, ahmadi etc. We are still one religion, we still all face the same direction. Even now that the religion has been in little sections or what not, we still show our unity in our salat (prayer). It was going to be 50 times a day, (read the story of the journey to Paradise that the Prophet (pbuh) took and it explains we were ordered to pray) Its a good story. That last question is also mentioned in the Quran. It was mentioned later on. Pagans used to fill Mecca and then Allah commanded in the Quran that no non-Muslim shall enter. So no non-Muslim shall enter it. Its not to separate ourselves, but Mecca and Medinah are the holiest cities in Islam. These cities hold great importance and are cities of worship. We don't go there for vacation or anything. We go there to worship to strengthen our faith. People in Mecca and Medinah leave there door unlocked, count money in the street, they just don't have to worry about anything really. Nobody to steal from them, nobody to hurt another one, nobody to be a rapist. Its so convenient that at least one (or two) places in this world, Muslims can go and be free. Not judged for wearing niqab, not judged for being happy to be a Muslim, not worried about there children getting lost. And most importantly a place where Muslims can feel the faith around them and inside them and truly be at peace with themselves. is just two cities. Its not the whole country or anything. Its really beautiful and really peaceful.
The difference between Judaism, Islam and Christianity?
Correction answer of Butch Vlad - Heathen:_ About virgin birth, according to God when He declares a thing then He need only say “Be” and it is. If it’s possible for God to create Adam and Eve without parents or give Abraham and Sarah a child in their barren old age then a virgin birth is possible too. About 2nd coming in Islam Jesus didn’t die(someone else who looked similar was crucified), so he would come back to die like everyone else. As I recall Jesus is not the only prophet in the bible that didn’t die - Elijah was taken “up to God” Elijah used to raise the dead too (by God’s will) and Jews believe he will come back About equality all are equal before God and judged according to their faith and deeds in Islam. I don’t know how prophets can be perfect when in Quran God tells even prophet Muhammad about his faults. Moses killed a man, ..etc. the prophets were obviously tested the most and they were better than most in character, deeds and actions and also in repentance as they always praised, thanked and repented to God. About Hell Quran states that those who believe God and do righteous deeds will have their rewards with God whether they be Christian or Jews so it’s not correct to state that Islam or Quran states other religions go to Hell. About conversion Quran clearly states that there is no compulsion in religion. People converted to Islam because they believed - this was the case in the Middle East and further the biggest Muslim nation is Indonesia which never saw a Muslim army conquering them but they converted by learning Islam from Muslim merchants. In Spain where Muslim ruled a long time most remained their religion (but when the Muslims were defeated later the Muslims were given the choice of converting or dying by the Christian rulers). There were no second class citizens in Muslim conquered countries, all people religions and culture were protected especially the conquered countries. The Muslims was required to pay zakat which was like a tax at the time for the upkeep of the country and Muslims were also required to fight in the army. But the non Muslims were not asked to pay zakat but they were asked to pay a parallel tax called jizya but they were not required to fight in army. The Christian scholars agree (with evidence) that the gospels (and I assume Torah) are not the same as the original.
Which is better: Islam or Christianity?
I would prefer Islam. Because Christianity is much more irrational than Islam.In Islam, you have God requesting/demanding/commanding/suggesting you to believe in Islam, in Christianity you do not have a god that says “Christianity is my religion. Christianity is the religion you have to believe in”Same for books. In Islam, It is told by god to follow the Quran, in Christianity nowhere you can meet god saying “believe in bible”Same for main doctrines: In Islam, you are born pure (without any sin) and you are here to be tested, your deserving destination will be based on your deeds. It makes sense to me, how can a baby who has not done anything can be a sinner? The baby is pure, in Christianity he is born sinner. Wait, what sin has he done? Did the baby kill someone? insult god? made blasphemy? raped someone? Nothing but he is a sinner.Same for eternal world concept. In Islam, your destiny will be determined by comparing your deeds, in Christianity the one who raped and killed throughout his life can go to heaven by simply accepting Jesus died for his sins. On the other hand, a Muslim that killed and raped throughout his life will be judged even though he is a practicant Muslim. For ex: if Hitler was a christian, he is in heaven by now and if Gandhi or any other good man not christian, he is in hell by now.No authentication in Christianity. Jesus never asked people to believe in Paul, Paul is a self-assigned successor of Jesus. in order to accept someone as the assistant of someone, I need a verification stamp by the authority e.g by the boss. Paul and some others claims that Paul is the successor but we do not have it from Jesus.The reasoning of god is so hilarious in Christianity. God sacrificed himself to himself to save us from himself? It is like Hitler crucifying himself to free prisoners from Himself. why would Hitler crucify himself when he could easily set the prisoners by just saying “it is over. Everyone is free.” Do not come with “God is just” absurdity, what kind of justice is that? Penalize 1 person for millions and even billions of criminals. imagine your government doing it: one person is jailed and every and each rapist, killer, burglar, robber and e.t.c are awarded a castle, lux house, helicopter and e.t.c Is that a justice?There are many but I will just mention one. Finally: Christianity believes in the messiah but Jesus does not even match a single criteria of the messiah. Then how could I believe in Christianity?