Why would God ask Abraham to kill his son in order to prove his faith and if God does ask people to sin how are you to know that direction comes from Him?

Answer 1

Christianity TELLS US THAT: When God told Abraham to kill Isaac, Abraham knew he was acting out prophecy. The relevant extracts are :-

Gen 22:1-14 KJV And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. [v. 2] And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

[v. 3] And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. [v. 4] Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.

[v. 5] And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. [v. 6] And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.

[v. 7] And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? [v. 8] And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

[v. 9] And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. [v. 10] And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

[v. 11] And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. [v. 12] And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

[v. 13] And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. [v. 14] And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.

2Ch 3:1 Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the LORD appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

Just as Abraham was to kill his only son Isaac whom he loved on Mt Moriah as a sacrificial burnt offering , Abraham knew that God would have to resurrect his son dead son Isaac since they were both going to return, and that it all started 3 days before, so God the Father was going to kill His Beloved Son Jesus Christ as a sacrifice on our behalf and resurrect Him 3 days later.

Also, Abraham was to sacrifice Isaac at Mount Moriah at a spot called "Jehovah jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen" , and Solomon built on mount Moriah the house(ie the Temple) of the LORDat Jerusalem , so God the Father would sacrifice His son Jesus Christ , the Holy Temple of the Lord, in public view where everyone could see it.

God is not malicious and does not ask people to sin: if it's not according to the Word of God The Bible, then it comes not from God but from Satan.

God was testing Abrahm so that Abrahm would know that his love for God has to come first above all else including his son. God does not and has not EVER asked anyone to sin because he is a HOLY God and that goes against who he is. If someone says that God asked someone to sin then it was not from God but Satan, The Father of Lies.

If left unchecked Abraham's love for his child would've became greater than his love for God. God had to command Abraham to do this in order to make Abraham to internally realize that he needed to love God above all else even his own son which is the entire lesson of this story. The reason it had to be taken so far is because people have free will to choose to decide and when we become indecisive about something as human beings we sometimes must experience a traumatic event to become wholly decisive and unfaltering about our future judgments.

This was more than "direction". God literally spoke to Abraham in a way that Abraham knew for certain that it was God speaking rather than some indirect subtle sign or signal. The way we know that direction comes from God is by way of the Holy Spirit which was bestowed upon us, after Jesus died and was resurrected. We know it's truth by following the will of God and doing everything we do with love.

Answer

Abraham had a tried and tested relationship with his God. God had provided salvation on many occasions. He had blessed him with a son after Sarah was barren and 90 years old; this too was a miracle. He clearly believed that God would provide a mighty nation through Isaac. A separate promise was that "through his seed all the nations would be blessed." This was a prophesy referring to Jesus Christ as the promised messiah. (Gen 22:18 and Gal 3:16)

Also is it not possible that on the way to the top of the mountain and maybe right up to the point that Abraham lifted the dagger, he actually did not believe that God would expect him to go through with the sacrifice? On what do I base this? Did not Isaac ask Abraham "Where is the Ram?" Abraham answered,"God will provide" Such was his relationship that he possibly expected that God was testing his obedience and it was only at the point he lifted the dagger that he had to confront the possibility that he may have to go through with it. We are told in God's word, "He reckoned that God could resurrect Isaac from the dead"

In hind sight we can see that indeed God did not expect him to go through with it, just that he would be prepared to go through with it.

The lesson to us is that we too should work on developing such a close relationship with God, based not on fear or ignorance but on knowledge and love and study of His word. Adam after all was disobedient to God in a small matter but for a major reason. He was selfish and wanted independence from God. If we are ever to have a united peaceful and harmonious human family, all need to be willing to obey God in all things even if we don't fully understand the reasons.

Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac would not have been sin, since no one had yet been commanded not to make human sacrifice to God. But God never gives us instructions which are contrary to His previously written word.

It is utterly terrifying to witness that there are so many mindless and evil people on this planet who actually believe in a book, written by men, enough to follow it rather than their hearts. The psychological ramifications of being "bound" to a platform, to be offered up as a "sacrifice" by fire, is enough to scar the victim spiritually, mentally, emotionally and very possibly physically!

The victim, more than likely, would not be able to trust anyone and would grow to self abuse or abuse others.

One would have to be insane to even think of carrying out such a diabolical command, but, then again, one would have to be insane to to keep making excuses for this perverse story of Abraham and Isaac.