On Abraham and Isaac



                One of the caricatures I have been seeing on atheist pages is a picture of Abraham sacrificing Isaac and equating him to people like Casey Anthony and so on. They will go on and on about how the Bible condones child sacrifice and the like just from this one story. There are a few things that people tend to leave out because it discredits this argument, and that is what I would like to attempt to convey to you today.
                One must look at on whose authority Abraham was doing this deed. Well go to Genesis 22, it starts with God calling Abraham to take his only son, Isaac, and sacrifice him as a burnt offering in the region of Moriah. This is where many people stop and accuse God of condoning child sacrifice, but bear with me a moment. In my translation (New International Version), it says that God tested Abraham. This is indicative of God wanting to test Abraham’s faith in Himself and to make sure that Abraham loved God more that he loved Isaac, whom he had waited almost 100 years for. Further, God had promised Abraham that from Abraham’s flesh God would raise a nation of many people. This means that the nation of Israel was going to be built with the lineage of Abraham at its core. Abraham was fully aware of this promise, and we see it a few verses down the passage.
                Abraham, Isaac, and a few servants got up early the next morning and prepared for the offering, then set out for Moriah. When they got close to their destination, Abraham stopped and told the servants to wait there while he and Isaac went up to worship. He also said that we will come back. Abraham trusted in God that no matter what happened, God would fulfill his promise to build a great nation through Isaac. So even if Abraham had sacrificed Isaac, Abraham trusted in God to bring Isaac back somehow. For those familiar with the rest of the passage, Abraham and Isaac go up, Abraham prepares to sacrifice Isaac, and an angel of the Lord stopped Abraham and God provided a ram to sacrifice instead.  
                So hopefully this helps to clear up some of the issues that people have with the passage. I can definitely see where people would have problems with it, but please reread it with an open mind and pray that God reveals to you what he revealed to me through reading this and consulting with different commentaries. God bless you and have a good night.

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