Abraham & Isaac - Bible Truth is Sufficient for Real Faith - “THE FORCE” That Destroys Tyrants
This started as a reply on Fakebook to a well known former Christian who had posted a criticism of the story of Abraham and Isaac and other violence of the Old Testament. I’ve argued with many atheists or agnostics who often cite Old Testament violence as proof that the God of the Bible is not good.
On Abraham and Isaac, that was a type of the story of Jesus. This fellow said today we’d put Abraham in jail or a mental hospital for preparing to kill his son because God told him to. Well, actually, today fathers listen to the government that tells them to send their sons off to die “for their country”. So, which is worse, the father who was stopped by God from killing his son or the father who blindly “worships” a false god: government, and DOES let his son get killed in an illegal war that benefits only those who profit from war.
As for the other Old Testament stories of God ordering killing, I think it’s presumptuous to impose our current standards on ancient times that were apparently extremely more violent and barbarous, to an extent we can hardly imagine or fathom. These stories are historical, and may have been the victors’ version of events. But the violence in the Bible is indeed just that - historical, not prescriptive as in Islamic texts. See Bill Warner PhD: A Comparison of Violence in the Bible & the Koran https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzU7MoVp4lc
I do not hold to the belief that every word in the Bible is “the word of God”. Of course it’s been edited by fallible men. But I believe it contains sufficient truth for a basis for REAL faith in a Creator. Even if part of it is fairy tails, I believe a compassionate Creator honors one who holds to it’s principles, especially Jesus’ teachings.
I believe in a God that is so much higher and more powerful than we mortals, that He knows our every thought, He dwells inside us and we in Him. He can sort out what we believe and how well we hold to those beliefs. He knows our hearts. He is all powerful and ever present. He and His Holy Spirit is even MORE real AND QUICKER than the radio waves you use to communicate via your cell phone or the electrons or light waves your data lines use. His communication lines cannot be interrupted, censored, manipulated or blocked.
We just have to answer the “phone” and/or open the link. He’s always LIVE STREAMING. If we decline His call or block Him, it’s our loss. He is God. We’re not. Though we often pretend we’re in control of our lives or others’ lives.
I believe you can be excused for not accepting or liking every story or contradiction in the Bible, by God Himself, but not for rejecting the teachings of Jesus, which I view as the best software for navigating this life. He is the conduit through which we tap into the Universe to achieve a higher cosmic consciousness.
False christian institutions, or those that have mixed truth with poison, have caused many to reject the actual teachings of the Bible. The Catholic Church presided over the Dark Ages and Inquisition that persecuted and killed hundreds of thousands for rejecting its authority or for even daring to read the Bible for themselves. It was the Fake News centuries ago. It was, and still is, an authoritarian organization that smothers true Christianity, even though there are many good Christians who are Catholics, but who have been trained to believe that simply following certain rituals will get them into heaven.
We had a Protestant Reformation and eventually people could read the Bible for themselves without fear of being burnt at the stake. But the devil still does a good job of convincing folks not to read it for themselves.
Today, we can reject Fake News: ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, NPR (“national pacifier radio”), Fox, MSNBC and any local affiliates: corporate/globalist controlled, sycophantic press-titutes all. And we can reject 501c3 churches that muzzle their pastors for tax exemptions. The Internet has allowed us, exponentially more so than the printing press allowed our predecessors, to get real, unfiltered news for ourselves. The truth will set us free.
Abraham was obedient to God. For that, God spared his son. What about us? What about our sons and daughters? Will we allow the warmongers on the above named fake news networks lead our children off to die or be maimed in illegal wars for the benefit of the military industrial complex? Whom should we obey, God or corrupted politicians and their sychophantic press-titutes?
All we have to do is be willing to tap into “THE FORCE” = Jesus Christ.
“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” Rev. 3:20
“I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” John 15:5
Mark Young 9/1/17