Sarpedon

Charming apologetics TrueMyth, but if a human sacrifice is an Abomination unto the Lord, why didn't the lord prevent it by having him meet his fattened goat first instead? I disapprove of murder. If I see a murder about to be committed, and have the power to stop it, I do. Now, I know you people have thouroughly excused your omnipotent, helpless god from the obligation to stop crime, but god in the OT repeatedly takes a hand when people offer him sacrifices that he doesn't approve of. There were several such incidences in Deuteronomy and Exodus. He preven'ts the unauthorized sacrifices of Aaron's sons by burning them to death with lightning, but he doesn't prevent the abominable sacrifice of Jephthah by simply having him sacrifice something else? No dice, apologists.

TrueMyth

You've hit on one of the age-old questions: Why does God command us to worship Him if He is truly sufficient, and yet punish us when we do not? I would love to discuss this with you; however, it would have to be in another thread.

TrueMyth

Thanks for your thoughts!

I'm not sure if you read the whole answer in that link-- they pointed out that "sacrifice" can be used (and was used in this instance) as something much less than killing and burning the remains. Here: "I sacrifice $100 of my money to you". I am not burning it, but giving up my claim on it and all benefit that I would reap from it. In the same way, the authors in that link were stating that `olah was used in this sense in the text. Lest you claim ad hoc maneuvering, they point to how the girl leaves to "bewail her virginity", not her death. Also, the text goes out of its way to point out that she was his only daughter, which would have meant the extinction of his family line because she would be a temple virgin her whole life. Finally, after the text states that he fulfilled his vow, it makes the unnecessary statement (assuming a blood sacrifice) "And she was a virgin", which further supports that the sacrifice in question was not killing and burning, but a giving of one's whole self in service to the LORD.

Hope this helps! If you want to discuss this passage in depth, perhaps a new thread?

jonesg

God would smile on you.

jonesg

Like the Dylan song, "You're gonna serve someone, no matter who"

If you don't worship God, you'll worship something which will fail you.
Money, sex ,drugs ,power, success, other people, self ,etc etc

Sarpedon

The reason I didn't talk about that part is that I think it is laughably absurd apologetics. Just because it does not explicitly say he killed her doesn't mean he didn't. it says "He did to her according to his vow." that is sacrificed her. The modern misuse of the word sacrifice is completely irrevelant. In those days there weren't any orders of holy women or nuns in the Jewish religion, and there still arent. Just as god didnt command Abraham to metaphorically sacrifice Isaac, so Jephthah didnt metaphorically sacrifice Mizpah.

jonesg

What about female rabbis today ?

"Just as god didnt command Abraham to metaphorically sacrifice Isaac,"

Hmm, does that open the possibility that Abraham mistook what he was told to mean he was to sacrifice his son?

Does that then tie in with 'unto us a son was born', or that jesus understood what Abraham didn't and he would have to be the son who would be sacrificed?
To give his life (literally) to God without commiting suicide.

Mercurious

I believe that God is in everything, and cannot be incarnated as one man. This pantheistic belief I have means that I don't think I would have this dilema. For me God is truth.

It might be the case that I feel that God is telling me to kill my best friend, but some people might say I'd become schizophrenic by then

Afghan

a) The Rabbinical traditional is much much later.

b) They are under no vows of celibacy.

c) Rabbi literally means teacher. They serve the Jewish community rather than the Big Cheese. Of course, they do serve the Big Cheese but only inasmuch as any other Yehudi does.

d) In case you hadn't got it, the Rabbinical traditional is in no sense a monastic one and is about as relevant to Bronze Age Semitic human sacrifice as post-modernism is to changing the oil in your car.

coldskool

In the case of a robot, it would probably get stuck in a loop and just freeze (doing both rapidly) kinda like the current in an AC light bulb, or just crash if its running Windows.

Seems irrelavant anyhow since humans have free will (there are no programmed orders within anyone)

To answer the initial question posed of would I pull the trigger, yes, I would, so long as it could prove to me that it was the creator of the universe.