Ted Rall for April 01, 2015

It wasn’t until I became a parent that I truly understood the absolute horror of the story.

Isaac is still on the couch, cute. Ishmael however got the short end of the stick, again?

The third school of thought was they wee both to sacrificed together. As ancient people of the time did during times of bad weather, crops, or sickness

Angry Atheist Teddy at it again……lol.Stick to your only belief, in Star Trek and Marx and let others have their faith.At least Christians actually clothe and feed the homeless in my community.What do you do besides draw horribly?

“Look – sodomites!” It’s been a rough few days at my house (which is why I’m up at 3:30 in the morning), and I can’t begin to tell you how grateful I am for that belly laugh! Theologically, it’s been pointed out that, had god asked the mom to kill the kid, humanity would have completely escaped the curse of the abrahamic religions when she’d have told him to stuff it.

@John LockeHe was fine with sacrificing his son Jesus tho. I wonder if the zombie messiah’s forgiven his all-powerful dad for not figuring out something less crucifixiony instead.

The story of Abraham sacrificing Isaac is a typological prefiguring of God offering His Son Jesus Christ as a spotless sacrifice. The language is dualistic in meaning when Abraham says, “God shall provide himself a lamb for sacrifice.” God shall provide a lamb for himself, and God shall present himself as that lamb. An amazing story, actually.

Sorry, but the entire notion of the resurrection and “everlasting life” is documented in the New Testament by anonymous authors who were not eyewitnesses to Jesus’ life. Or at least that’s the consensus of biblical scholars. Despite many years of church, bible study, sermons, and choir singing, the whole resurrection story never resonated with me. It seems exceedingly likely to me, given the muddy authorship and lack of contemporary experience, that the real message of Christ was about loving your neighbor, not being judgmental of others, and taking care of the poor and disenfranchised. The balance of the tall tales of resurrection and so forth, may well have been created to solidify the church’s grasp on its adherents. Just an opinion, but it seems far more probable than the leap of faith required to actually believe in the whole resurrection narrative, which simply makes no sense. I’ve often thought that the more improbable the religious tale, the harder people fall for it. It cannot be understood or comprehended in any real humanistic sense of the word, but the greater the incomprehensibility, the greater the faith required to grasp the “meaning.”

@John LockeThat is a sad sick point of view. Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. If someone offends you, do you hit them and then ask them why?A belief in a god is very convenient because it can never be disproved. But, when I counter that it can never be proved I hear that nonsense that the Bible says its so. Religion was invented to explain those things that primitive minds couldn’t comprehend. Thus, you have Thor, the God of Thunder; Zeus, the King of Gods and all the others. What makes your god more valid than theirs? Superstitious nonsense!

Don’t know about what the writers of the New Testament were doing. It seems to me that their early persecution might well have strengthened their faith in tall tales about Jesus. Tales that were recounted orally, best as we know. Have you ever played a game of “telephone” with a group of people. Pretty funny how messages get garbled. Ever seen the studies on the unreliability of eyewitness testimony? Now remove the eyewitnesses, play a game of telephone for 70-100 years following Jesus’ death, add in persecution and a whol lot of faith, and what do you get? Just sayin.

Oh, God said to Abraham, “Kill me a son”Abe says, “Man you must be puttin’ me on”God says, “No”, Abe say “What?”God say “You can do what you want Abe butThe next time you see me comin’ you better run”

Well Abe said, “Where do you want this killin’ done?”God say, “Out on Highway 61”

Bob Dylan – Highway 61

@twclixThank you for making a point I was going to make. Well put.

When my cousin was a courthouse reporter, he used to regale me with stories of people like a man who was told by God to minister unto his wife with power tools. Over brisket one evening, I asked him why God only ever seemed to speak to murderous psychos like him or mercenary bigoted creeps like Jerry Falwell. He speculated that The Godster was just one heck of a practical joker.

That brings us to today’s holy jest, whenso he did stick it to old Abraham. Verily, thou shouldst have seen his countenance! Never have I laughed this much since the punking of Job! God and Satan still chuckle about it when they speak together.

Yet another approach: Abraham threatened to kill his son unless his god intervened. Maybe this god needs to be tested on occasion.

Also, let’s not forget that this was the same Holy Patriarch who pimped out his wife to Pharoah . . . Twice!

The Torah IS a scary place! And the very foundation of all three “Bible” religions. And THEN the followers come along and totally bastardize the teachings in all three of those religions and their thousands of sub-sects, interpreting both old and new testaments to fit their needs, or prejudices.

@Night-Gaunt49Atheism is not just a lack of faith. It is also an active disbelief in a deity as is the case for me.

That was a teaching story intended to discourage human sacrifice. The moral was: Hey, guys, God doesn’t want you to do this after all.