Comments on: How is the story of Abraham and Isaac a moral example? http://silouanthompson.net/2009/12/abraham-and-isaac/ Why a nice Protestant guy became Orthodox... Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:00:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Kester http://silouanthompson.net/2009/12/abraham-and-isaac/comment-page-1/#comment-6455 Kester Mon, 21 Dec 2009 11:25:40 +0000 http://silouanthompson.net/?p=967#comment-6455 Kierkegaard wrote a whole book on this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_and_Trembling Kierkegaard wrote a whole book on this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_and_Trembling

]]> By: Ethan http://silouanthompson.net/2009/12/abraham-and-isaac/comment-page-1/#comment-6335 Ethan Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:28:06 +0000 http://silouanthompson.net/?p=967#comment-6335 I like this take on the reason for the demand. There is another take on this from the Seventh-day Adventist theological history books that I also like. The pastors Jones & Waggoner wrote on the topic in 1888 and used this story as one of the Bible's premier examples of faith. Not blind faith, but intelligent and perfectly complete faith. Their argument ran like this: God had already promised Abraham that he would make a great nation of him <em>through Isaac</em>. Abraham had already seen God do many seemingly impossible things, and had paid high prices for failing to take God at his word in the past. Abraham had no need to consider this demand of God's in a vacuum - God had outstanding promises to Abraham. Faith is taking God at his word; no more, no less. It is, in the words of Jones & Waggoner, to act as if the result had already come about. To act as if it were impossible that the word of God could be controverted. For Abraham, this meant that once God had promised to make a great nation through Isaac <em>nothing could change it</em>. It was as good as done. He had every reason to believe that God could raise Isaac from the dead, or perform any other miracle necessary in order to fulfill his earlier promise, even things beyond Abraham's imagination or comprehension. So for Jones & Waggoner, it was a test of faith, probably brought about by Abraham's earlier lapse of faith that Sarah could conceive. God was saying "Do you now have <em>perfect</em> faith that I will make a great nation through Isaac? Have you learned to trust my word, and my word only?" Theirs is the best definition of faith I have ever found. It ties faith to action naturally and intrinsically, and it does not leave reason out in the cold. It is fairly old writing, but a very powerful set of sermons. This specific account is on page 15 of this PDF: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3195430/Permanent/Lessons%20on%20Faith.pdf I like this take on the reason for the demand. There is another take on this from the Seventh-day Adventist theological history books that I also like. The pastors Jones & Waggoner wrote on the topic in 1888 and used this story as one of the Bible’s premier examples of faith. Not blind faith, but intelligent and perfectly complete faith. Their argument ran like this:

God had already promised Abraham that he would make a great nation of him through Isaac. Abraham had already seen God do many seemingly impossible things, and had paid high prices for failing to take God at his word in the past. Abraham had no need to consider this demand of God’s in a vacuum – God had outstanding promises to Abraham. Faith is taking God at his word; no more, no less. It is, in the words of Jones & Waggoner, to act as if the result had already come about. To act as if it were impossible that the word of God could be controverted. For Abraham, this meant that once God had promised to make a great nation through Isaac nothing could change it. It was as good as done. He had every reason to believe that God could raise Isaac from the dead, or perform any other miracle necessary in order to fulfill his earlier promise, even things beyond Abraham’s imagination or comprehension.

So for Jones & Waggoner, it was a test of faith, probably brought about by Abraham’s earlier lapse of faith that Sarah could conceive. God was saying “Do you now have perfect faith that I will make a great nation through Isaac? Have you learned to trust my word, and my word only?”

Theirs is the best definition of faith I have ever found. It ties faith to action naturally and intrinsically, and it does not leave reason out in the cold. It is fairly old writing, but a very powerful set of sermons. This specific account is on page 15 of this PDF: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3195430/Permanent/Lessons%20on%20Faith.pdf

]]> By: Vasiliki http://silouanthompson.net/2009/12/abraham-and-isaac/comment-page-1/#comment-6326 Vasiliki Fri, 11 Dec 2009 07:32:32 +0000 http://silouanthompson.net/?p=967#comment-6326 Brilliant, thank you ... this has resolved many issues that atheist chat has caused for myself and put my thinking back on track with the logic of the Old Testament. Brilliant, thank you … this has resolved many issues that atheist chat has caused for myself and put my thinking back on track with the logic of the Old Testament.

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