This is starting to get boring, and it had some promise too.
Of course people wouldn't kill their wife and children - why bother asking the question.
If a god existed and it actually asked such an idiotic thing, people would just rationalise away the question: I didn't actually hear that did I, or, god didn't mean that I should actually do it, or some such other way out.
Which, as some have pointed out, sort of misses the whole point of the story anyway.
Given that the stories in the bible are best read as allegory, this god character wasn't actually asking Abraham to kill his son. It's an allegory for obedience and whatever else you want to read into it.
I know, you atheists and agnostics argue, but the fundies don't want to read it as allegory - they want it to be literal. Well, apart from the idiocy of such a position, so what? Let them. You're not going to argue them away from this position. So, why bother.
Better to discuss some of the other implications and positions that come out of religious and spiritual thought than to throw crap at each other for no possible outcome.
Originally posted by dottewellIs love a good enough reason to obey? If you love your wife more than say one of your friends, would you kill your friend on the orders of your wife?
1. Who do you love more - God or your family?
2. If God asked you to kill your family, would you do so?
Of course if you really believe in God, and God says "kill your wife" and promises that she is going to heaven then why not do it?