Christians!! If God told you to sacrifice your kids, would you do it?
Purely hypothetical question so don't worry... Sometimes you hear stories of parents who killed their kids and claim that God told them to. (These people are mentally ill. However, I too suffer mental illness, bipolar. I often times find myself wondering what would happen if this happened to me.) This isn't unheard of in scripture with Abraham being told to sacrifice Isaac. With this in mind, what would you tell someone who believed God was telling them to sacrifice their kids? What would you do if you believed God told you to sacrifice your kids? How would you differentiate between what God is saying and what's in your head when there is already precedence of God doing this in the Bible?
2012-07-06T02:42:29Z
What if it was a test of faith for the people who actually did it? It doesn't help me knowing it was a test of faith.
2012-07-06T02:49:45Z
Despicable? Really? This is a real question and a real fear of mine.
2012-07-06T03:30:42Z
Type 2
... I... stopped taking them... My doctor was in the middle of increasing my dosage on Lithium and I had a bit of a manic episode, stopped taking them and crashed for 3 months or so (down episode) of which I'm now coming out of.
I used to be Christian but walked away from the faith (for other reasons than this...) Sometimes I think about going back. This fear is one of the reasons why I don't. It's so much easier when God isn't involved. Then I could just say, "You don't kill kids." God confuses things because he's already done it. I'll have to research if Isaac was an adult. I don't know if that fact changes anything really.
I miss being a Christian.
zIp-Ǝ2012-07-06T02:39:12Z
Favorite Answer
The whole story of Abraham falls apart because the answers you will get are that it was a test of faith.
Question is: why does an omniscient being have a need to test faith or even have any 'questions' at all?
The people "who actually did it" and heard voices that told them to do it are probably suffering from a mental illness unfortunately.
The problem is that one person's perception of reality differs greatly from others. For example, to a schizophrenic their hallucinations are very 'real'.
EDIT: With regards to your own condition (and if this is a genuine concern) do you suffer from Bipolar 1/2 or Cyclothymia? It is as well to understand the frequency of your mood imbalances, and if you find that they are out of control seek the help of your psychiatrist. It could be that your medication needs changing. If for example (I am presuming here) you take Lithium, it's necessary to get your levels checked frequently to ensure they remain within the therapeutic range.
Take care of yourself.
EDIT 2: Sorry to hear about your problems. I have seen lots of bipolar sufferers relapse through not continuing with Lithium treatment. Unfortunately it seems to be one of them things that is necessary to continue with forever unless an alternative to managing your condition becomes evident. With regards to the religion, it's a tough one to call because I am not you. If you miss it then maybe you *need* it. I certainly wouldn't recommend it though as I have spent many years studying Christianity and as it is practised and understood today defies all logical scrutiny. If it is easier for you to dismiss the idea of God and it helps you maintain mental equilibrium then you have surely already made the wise choice that only you KNOW.
Keep taking the Lithium and please seek help from your psychiatrist to work on those harmful thoughts.
There are other places that you can seek help:-
http://psychcentral.com/
http://www.mind.org.uk/ (I am in the UK and I see that you are in USA so this may be no use)
No. Why - it is going against God's be conscious. we are by the way advised to purpose each and every spirit, no longer purely anticipate something is from God while it somewhat isn't any longer. If it is going against his be conscious it needless to say isn't. in case you're touching on Abraham and Isaac, Abraham did no longer have the written be conscious of God. He additionally lived in a pagan custom the place new child sacrifice replaced into the norm, so for those motives he did no longer question the instructions. right now of direction the placement is diverse, so we does no longer have faith it replaced into God telling us this. Abraham additionally persisted to have faith that God himself might furnish the ram for a sacrifice - that's what He did.
Change the word God to "homeland" and you get the same thing. For many people their God is their nation. In fact many people around the word pledge allegiance to a flag representing their country. Thus idolizing and worshiping their nation.
Would you sacrifice your kids if your "god" nation sent them to war?
Now God himself would not ask you to sacrifice your children. But many nations around the world do it all the time.
I would know that God does not require a sacrifice such as this. Jesus is the sacrificial lamb. Jesus requires us to believe on what he did for us to go to heaven. There is not a precedence for this. Abraham knew that he had a testimony and that Isaac was the one for whom it would be fulfilled. So Abraham expected there to be a ressurection if he slew Isaac.
They believe that Jesus absolved such sacrifices through his own sacrifice. They think he absolved the annual animal sacrifices of the Jewish, which in turn were meant to absolve the human sacrifice of Isaac.