gregor

hinduwoman,

I guess I'm at least confused with your question because it is a little vague. I guess there are four ways to answer your question:

1. If one assumes the Genesis story is historic, then why doesn't the explanation in Genesis satisfy you? The story tells why God chose Abraham. Take it at face value if you're a believer.

2. If one assumes the Genesis story is historic, but you think the expressed rational is insufficient and you want to know the mind of GOd, why do you think anyone here could answer for God.

3. If one assumes the story is myth, then as I explained (as have others), it is simply a literary device with a fictional founder. Writing some 1,500 years after the mythical event, the author invented a reason for God to chose Abraham.

4. If one assumes the story is a myth, but you are really interested in why the Judaic people would respond to this mythical story of selection (i.e. why would this justification - while mythical - seem compelling or satisfying to a group of people in 580 BCE), I think Anat tried to answer this question. I'm certainly not educated enough to say whether this was a good or bad story in 580 BCE.

hinduwoman

Gregorsmith, I am sorry but my KJV does not say anything about why God chose Abram. God simply turns up one fine day and without any warning told Abram that he had been chosen.

That is why I asked the question

Johnny Skeptic

The topic question assumes a fact that is not in evidence. There is no evidence that God chose Abraham.

David B

Well, my first thought is to say that you really need to establish the existence of any god before pondering about its motives.

But then, I thought that in BC&H it might be more appropriate to take the existence of god as a working hypothesis, in some threads at least.

So let's assume a god with free will.

If such will is truly free, the idea of it having to have reasons becomes nonsensical, IMV.

Else - a god without free will?

David B (ventures into strange territory by entering this forum)

Toto

Don't be shy, we don't bite.

It is not appropriate to take the actual existence of god as a working hypothesis. But it is appropriate to realize that you are examining documents written by people who did believe in the existence of god.

Make sense?

Biff the unclean

Odd that’s what my accountant used to say…before the police took him away.
Did you ever think, when it comes to bible stories, that maybe it would be a good thing if you didn’t “overcome� all of the factual errors and contradictions?
When you don’t take it LITERALLY you wind up with Abraham as THE honored figure, God Himself is called the God of Abraham, the worthy Jews went to the “Bosom of Abraham,� he’s the patriarch of Christianity, Judaism and Islam.
If you do take the story literally you have a psychopath who marries his own sister, whores her out to the Egyptian court, hears disembodied voices, rapes his slave. Not only does he attempt to murder Isaac, he tried to murder his older son Ishmael and his mom also. We tend to forget those two but Abe cast them out into the desert without enough water.

Wouldn’t we have been wiser taking these stories literally so that the Big 3 Western Religions didn’t wind up venerating a maniac?

Philadelphia Lawyer

I think you ask a good question. This article says it was because Abraham was a just, honest and upright human being. (The nice thing about this article is that it comes complete with its own disputation!). This article cites a Midrash about the young Abraham smashing his father's idols. The article says the following about Midrashim in general and this Midrash in particular:

I hope you find this helpful.

(Note to Johnny Skeptic: I am assuming that hinduwoman is interested in explanations that take it for granted that what is written in the Torah is true.)

Johnny Skeptic

There is not any evidence at all that Abraham was chosen.

hinduwoman

Genesis, 12, 2: "And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing".

hinduwoman

Yea thanks.

But was this midrash written after the bit in the genesis to account for divine favour? Because the Bible itself does not say any such thing.