What is the purpose of hell in Christian or Muslim theology?
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Anonymous
Ok, where does God tell Abraham he better run when they see each other again? God didn’t use any threats of violence against Abraham. He didn’t say he would withdraw His favor. He didn’t bully Abraham in any manner. Dylan is a artist and took artistic inspiration and license with the story, but also misrepresented some of it. |
Anonymous
| Excuse me, an artist. No doubt he’s very famous and very prolific and very successful. Yet, not accurate in this particular instance. |
Anonymous
Yes, his fiction is different than your fiction. |
Anonymous
No, his song embellished Scripture for artistic purposes. Hint: learning about the Bible from Bob Dylan songs is probably not the best way to go about it. |
Anonymous
The point. You miss it. There is no qualitative difference between how you interpret that fiction and how Mr. Zimmerman does. None. |
Anonymous
There are no words in the Scripture that describe God as threatening that Abraham must kill his son, or Abraham would have to run from God at their next meeting. |
Anonymous
Maybe not in that passage per se, but does that negate these? I don't think it does. Deuteronomy 11:26-28 “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today; and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following other gods which you have not known. Deuteronomy 28:15-20 “But it shall come about, if you do not obey the Lord your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: “Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country. “Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 1 Samuel 12:15 If you will not listen to the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the command of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you, as it was against your fathers. 1 Kings 9:6-7 “But if you or your sons indeed turn away from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them, and the house which I have consecrated for My name, I will cast out of My sight. So Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. Ezekiel 6:9-10 Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations to which they will be carried captive, how I have been hurt by their adulterous hearts which turned away from Me, and by their eyes which played the harlot after their idols; and they will loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed, for all their abominations. Then they will know that I am the Lord; I have not said in vain that I would inflict this disaster on them.”’ Those all sound like threats to me, if he is not obeyed. |
Anonymous
No threats, no violence, no perceived running and after God and Abraham stumble into one another at the local watering hole, literally or figuratively. |
Anonymous
An understanding of the ancient context makes this scene all the more potent. The God of the Bible adopts the mask of his rival gods in order to reveal his true nature. When God intervenes to stay Abraham’s hand, Abraham receives an in-your-face object lesson of who this God really was. This God was unlike other gods. This God desired the rending of hearts, not the slaughter of children. In fact, this God did not even require the killing of rams from a thicket. It’s a truth that becomes clearer as time goes on. As Israel’s history unfolds, people begin to see more of the truth of God’s heart. Unlike the gods of the Ancient Near East, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did not revel in sacrifices like a bloodthirsty tyrant. Child sacrifice is condemned in the clearest of terms and is seen as one of the reasons for Israel’s exile when they disobey (Leviticus 18:21, Deuteronomy 12:31; 18:10). Later it becomes clear that God did not even delight in the blood of cows or sheep (Ps. 50:9-13, Hosea 6:6, Isaiah 58:5-6, Amos 5:21-24, Jeremiah 7:22-23), but preferred acts of mercy and compassion as a sign of worship. Finally, in the coming of Jesus, God’s heart is fully revealed. In dying on the cross, God showed that he would rather provide his own sacrifice than to receive sacrifices from others. Jesus’ death finally signalled the end of a system that was never on God’s heart. |
Anonymous
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if you or your children break off from me, and knowingly and wilfully violate my laws, this house will not save you. Then will I cut off Israel — By one judgment after another, till they become the most despicable people under the sun, though they be now the most honourable. This implies the destruction of the royal family, though it is not particularly threatened; for the king is of course undone if his kingdom be destroyed. And this house — will I cast out of my sight — I will not regard it, but will take away my presence and protection from it: it shall be abandoned and laid desolate. And Israel shall be a proverb — Their calamities and miseries shall be mentioned proverbially, to express extreme affliction and distress. And a byword among all people — Who would mock at their calamitous and deplorable state.
Anonymous
Nobody knows what the heck you are talking about. |
Anonymous
No, I do not believe that is true. We all understand completely. Some just don't like it/disagree. |
Anonymous
LOL. Trump is not religious. He's fake. And the last admistration is the nutty fringe. |
Anonymous
Is that post meant to dispute or disprove the one it responds to? Because it does neither, and rather supports it. |
Anonymous
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Genesis relates the binding of Isaac, by Abraham to present his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah. It was a test of faith (Genesis 21:12). Abraham agrees to this command without arguing. The story ends with an angel stopping Abraham at the last minute and making Isaac's sacrifice unnecessary by providing a ram, caught in some nearby bushes, to be sacrificed instead. Francesca Stavrakopoulou has speculated that it is possible that the story "contains traces of a tradition in which Abraham does sacrifice Isaac". Rabbi A.I. Kook, first Chief Rabbi of Israel, stressed that the climax of the story, commanding Abraham not to sacrifice Isaac, is the whole point: to put an end to the ritual of child sacrifice, which contradicts the morality of a perfect and giving (not taking) monotheistic God. According to Irving Greenberg the story of the binding of Isaac, symbolizes the prohibition to worship God by human sacrifices, at a time when human sacrifices were the norm worldwide.
The Tanakh mentions human sacrifice in the history of ancient Near Eastern practice. The king of Moab gives his firstborn son and heir as a whole burnt offering (olah, as used of the Temple sacrifice). In the book of the prophet Micah, the question is asked, 'Shall I give my firstborn for my sin, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?', and responded to in the phrase, 'He has shown all you people what is good. And what does Yahweh require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.' The Tanakh also implies that the Ammonites offered child sacrifices to Moloch. In Leviticus 18:21, 20:3 and Deuteronomy 12:30–31, 18:10, the Torah contains a number of imprecations against and laws forbidding child sacrifice and human sacrifice in general. The Tanakh denounces human sacrifice as barbaric customs of Baal worshippers (e.g. Psalms 106:37). James Kugel argues that the Torah's specifically forbidding child sacrifice indicates that it happened in Israel as well. The biblical scholar Mark S. Smith argues that the mention of "Topeth" in Isaiah 30:27–33 indicates an acceptance of child sacrifice in the early Jerusalem practices, to which the law in Leviticus 20:2–5 forbidding child sacrifice is a response. Some scholars have stated that at least some Israelites and Judahites believed child sacrifice was a legitimate religious practice. ^^^Child sacrifice was normal, acceptable, and actually widely practiced throughout the world in the time of Abraham. God wanted it stopped. He was showing Abraham He was a different God. |