• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

If God commanded you to...

If God commanded you to sacrifice your child, would you do it?

  • Yes

    Votes: 2 5.4%
  • No

    Votes: 35 94.6%

  • Total voters
    37

an anarchist

Your local anarchist.
If someone says I will not do something to God when he commands you that means you don't believe God exists so that whole statement is an oxymoron. It does not make sense.
What you're saying doesn't make sense. ;)

Do you believe that believers can sin? I do.

God says not to sin. Yet, the believer sins. That contradicts what you are saying.
 

Father Heathen

Veteran Member
You maybe a Bible believer but I am not.

If someone says I will not do something to God when he commands you that means you don't believe God exists so that whole statement is an oxymoron. It does not make sense.

So if you believe in god, and he shows up and tells you to eat a poop sandwich, he'll cease to exist if you refuse?
 

firedragon

Veteran Member
What you're saying doesn't make sense. ;)

Do you believe that believers can sin? I do.

God says not to sin. Yet, the believer sins. That contradicts what you are saying.

You are right. Everyone can sin. Thats not relevant to God coming in person and instructing someone directly.

Hope you understand that.
 

firedragon

Veteran Member
So if you believe in god, and he shows up and tells you to eat a poop sandwich, he'll cease to exist if you refuse?

Its an oxymoron.

If God exists, and he comes in person, instructs you, you will do it. Simple. Unless you don't believe God exists, which means he cannot come in person because God does not exist, which is a contradiction. It's not logical. Its not even a logical possibility.
 

an anarchist

Your local anarchist.
You are right. Everyone can sin. Thats not relevant to God coming in person and instructing someone directly.

Hope you understand that.
I don't understand.

It is relevant.

You are saying that it is impossible to disobey God if He commands you directly. We aren't Bible believers but it's what I know so I'll point to it to help illustrate my point.

Jonah disobeyed God. He is considered a prophet so that means he had direct contact with God, or something like that. He ran away when God directly instructed him what to do.

Help me understand how it is impossible to disobey God if He directly commands you.
 

Father Heathen

Veteran Member
Its an oxymoron.

If God exists, and he comes in person, instructs you, you will do it. Simple. Unless you don't believe God exists, which means he cannot come in person because God does not exist, which is a contradiction. It's not logical. Its not even a logical possibility.
Isn't the Koran considered god's instruction? So if someone reads it yet doesn't abide by it, is that proof god doesn't exist?
 

mikkel_the_dane

My own religion
Its an oxymoron.

If God exists, and he comes in person, instructs you, you will do it. Simple. Unless you don't believe God exists, which means he cannot come in person because God does not exist, which is a contradiction. It's not logical. Its not even a logical possibility.

Only hold for a certain definition of God. I could believe God exists, but that God is evil.
 

Mock Turtle

Oh my, did I say that!
Premium Member
If God commanded you to sacrifice your child, would you do it?

Christians, suppose Jesus Himself appeared to you and gave you this command. Would you do it?

Abraham is praised for being willing to do so.

Debate point: should you sacrifice your child if God commands it?
Not a believer so can't answer the poll, but did I miss any references to Hitler (or Putin), and where it might possibly be justified to do so? :oops:
 

Colt

Well-Known Member
If God commanded you to sacrifice your child, would you do it?

Christians, suppose Jesus Himself appeared to you and gave you this command. Would you do it?

Abraham is praised for being willing to do so.

Debate point: should you sacrifice your child if God commands it?
Good question. God never commanded blood sacrifices. God is by nature loving and forgiving. In our ignorance man concocted the atonement schemes.
 

9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
Even if a trip of heaven was guaranteed, it denies the victim the choice over their own life.

It's easy to make a "sacrifice" when the loss is someone else's.
So it would be like uprooting one's family to move to a new, far-away city.

That would also deny the child choice over their own life. There would also be sacrifices on the child's part - severed friendships and the like - that are imposed on the child without consent.

Again: if we take the tenets of the religion as true, the act makes sense.
 

leroy

Well-Known Member
What if there is only irrefutable evidence that He is God? But He either doesn't give a reason or that you disagree with the reason?

There is a crucial point here: Is God the source of morality or simply a personification of it? In the first, whatever God decrees is automatically moral *by definition*. In the second, God recognizes what is moral, and agrees to it, but morality itself is not *from* God.

Given the absence of 'yes' votes, it seems that the second position is the most common.

Well there are 2 completely different questions .
1 what should I do? (Answer sacrifice my child)

2 what would I do? (Answer Ignore the command, dont sacrifice my child)

There is a crucial point here: Is God the source of morality or simply a personification of it? In the first, whatever God decrees is automatically moral *by definition*. In the second, God recognizes what is moral, and agrees to it, but morality itself is not *from* God.
What if I have a time machine, prove beyond reasonable doubt, to you that i really come from the future, and then tell you that you should sacrifice your child for the well being of humanity. (No details are given)

Also asume that you trust me , and you consider unlikely that I would lie to you.

Would you sacrifice your child? ( No )should you sacrifice your child ? (YES.)


My point is that while intelectually you know that you should sacrifice your child, chances say that enotionally you couldn't.

So in response to your question, yes what God commands is automatically morally ogood, but that doest change the fact that it is stilll hard to follow the command even if intelectally you know its the correct thing to do.
 
Top