tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5164100025139495762.post6677973483156557121..comments2023-09-18T13:23:41.372+01:00Comments on Wonder and Wondering - Attentive to Rhythms of Grace: Unnerved by Abraham’s Sacrifice of IsaacGeoff Colmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05399306737741865827noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5164100025139495762.post-53292219119934894672008-07-14T15:01:00.000+01:002008-07-14T15:01:00.000+01:00Expanding on the last point, I think it can also b...Expanding on the last point, I think it can also be read as one of many events by which God gradually subverts the cult of bloody sacrifice where order is preserved through ritual murder. In this story, God demonstrates that he wants us to sacrifice our will to Him, not the innocent. Ultimately this process of deliberately subverting ritual murder and reshaping public consciousness ends with the sacrifice of His own Son in which, because of Jesus' innocence, we look on the victim of the sacrifice more favourably than those slaughtering Him.<BR/><BR/>Although we'd be foolish to discount Abraham's human emotions, we have the luxury of a context in which it is clearer that God does not delight in these kinds of bloody sacrifices. Abraham may thus have been less surprised by the command than we would be.The Provisional BBChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13189227952094384914noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5164100025139495762.post-52125430361586683092008-07-08T15:59:00.000+01:002008-07-08T15:59:00.000+01:00I find it helpful to view it as a critique of the ...I find it helpful to view it as a critique of the prevalent practice of child sacrifice in the surrounding cultures, can´t remember where I read it, but it is an angle worth exploring and from a contemporary perspective, to what gods/idols are we sacrificing our children today?<BR/><BR/>Thanks for the thoughts a la your sons, I like your honest wrestling!<BR/><BR/>Go well!Stuart Dennishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17000324533237912613noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5164100025139495762.post-5893437836757486692008-07-07T20:02:00.000+01:002008-07-07T20:02:00.000+01:00What you have to remember about Abraham is that, l...What you have to remember about Abraham is that, largely he like noone else impressed and found favour with GOD. Lest we forget that this is a direct mirror image of what GOD would ordain a few thousand years later with his own Son.<BR/><BR/>For the first major time in scripture you get the very crux from GODs point of view, about what Love and Sacrifice are all about.<BR/><BR/>You are quite supposed to be unnerved by it, because you have offspring, they are a part of you, and to sacrifice them...well now you understand a little about the quandery of GODs unifying a fallen creation via sacrificing his son, a part of him within the trinity.<BR/><BR/>Abraham would go on to be the start of all three major world faiths, Jews from Issiac, Islamists from Ishmail, and Christian as a result of later and deeper revelation.<BR/><BR/>My worry would be the effect this would have psychologically on his son. Jesus did it willingly, he knew what was coming, Abrahams son did not know what was coming, and granted it didnt come, but it had gotten to the stage where the child had been bound and laid on an altar...now the interesting question is...even though he didnt go through with it due to GODs intervention...what do you suppose the journey home was like dynamically between Father and Son?Tyburnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09288385145741992307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5164100025139495762.post-23287077352196214952008-07-03T21:44:00.000+01:002008-07-03T21:44:00.000+01:00I found myself preaching on this passage on Good F...I found myself preaching on this passage on Good Friday, following my reading of 'Preaching the Atonement' by Peter Stevenson and Stephen Wright. There's a great chapter in the book on this passage which I wholeheartedly recommend! My thoughts on Good Friday centred on 'God himself will provide the lamb.'Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5164100025139495762.post-18696720071462714032008-07-02T23:57:00.000+01:002008-07-02T23:57:00.000+01:00I've circled round this text warily from year to y...I've circled round this text warily from year to year as it comes up every how ever many years it is in the lectionary, but I hope slightly less warily as the years have passed. The temple was where it was because of it! It's a spring of all three Abrahamic faiths. It's taken me too long to de-psychologise it, and I don't think I've manged to get to a point I cna entirely identify with ay of the characters! Bu thanks, for a really helpful post, Geoff.Bishop Alan Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13879516755776951638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5164100025139495762.post-77110358051216122292008-07-02T17:16:00.000+01:002008-07-02T17:16:00.000+01:00AT LAST! Someone else who has used the Owen poem ...AT LAST! Someone else who has used the Owen poem - it's little cracker isnt' it. I've used it once or twice on remembrance Sunday. Keep telling others about it but their eyes glaze over.<BR/><BR/>Re Gen 22 - try reading it then preaching it from Sarah's perspective.Glen Marshallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01893819289223413110noreply@blogger.com