Richard Dawkins - Christopher Hitchens - Robert Winston - Soren Kierkegaard - The Bible: A History TV - Mysteries of the Bible TV - The Bible Unearthed TV - Genesis 12:2 - Genesis 12:7 - Genesis 12:10-13 - Genesis 12:17 - Genesis 13:1-6 - Genesis 13:15 - Genesis 14:14-16 - Genesis 15:1 - Genesis 15:3 - Genesis 15:12&13 - Genesis 15:18 - Genesis 16:1-4 - Genesis 16:7-9 - Genesis 17:1-14 - Genesis 17:23-27 - Genesis 18:1 - Genesis 18:11 - Genesis 18:20-33 - Genesis 19:29 - Genesis 20:9-12 - Genesis 20:17&18 - Genesis 21:1&2 - Genesis 21: 13&17 - Genesis 21:14 - Genesis 21: 20 - Genesis 22:1&2 - Genesis 22:16 - Genesis 24:1 - Genesis 24:2&3 - Genesis 25:11 - Koran 3:65 - Koran 4:125 - Koran 6:74&75 - Koran 11:69-76 - Koran 26:69-87 - Koran 37:102 -
God was only joking after all. Tempting Abraham and testing his faith. A modern moralist cannot help but wonder how a child could ever recover from such psychological trauma. Professor Richard Dawkins, lecture Lynchburg Virginia; viz also book The God Delusion
If I was told to sacrifice them to prove my devotion to God, if I was told to do what all monotheists are told to do and admire the man who said, Yes I’ll gun my kid to show my love of God, I’d say, No – fuck you. Christopher Hitchens
All thee monotheisms, just to take the most salient example, praise Abraham for being willing to hear voices and then to take his son Isaac for a long and rather mad and gloomy walk. And then the caprice by which the murderous hand is finally stayed is written down as divine mercy. Christopher Hitchens, God is Not Great p53
Perhaps afflicted by a poor conscience, but at any rate believing himself commanded by god, Abraham agreed to murder his son. He prepared the kindling, laid the tied-up boy upon it (thus showing that he knew the procedure), and took up the knife in order to kill the child like an animal. At the last available moment his hand was stayed, not by god as it happens, but by an angel, and he was praised from the clouds for showing his sturdy willingness to murder an innocent in expiation of his own crimes. As a reward for his fealty, he was promised a long and large posterity. ibid. p207
What kind of sadistic test of loyalty is that to ask someone to kill his or her own child! Julia Sweeney, Letting Go of God
According to the Bible Abraham was the first person to believe in one God. Historically speaking, mankind has preferred to believe in many gods. But for three billion people in the world today – Jews, Christians and Muslims alike – monotheism, the belief in one God, is the cornerstone of their faith. And Abraham is the spiritual father they all have in common. Professor Robert Winston, The Story of God, BBC 2005
Infinite resignation is the last stage before faith, so anyone who has not made this movement does not have faith, for only in infinite resignation does an individual become conscious of his eternal validity, and only then can one speak of grasping existence by virtue of faith. Soren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling p46
One character dominates more pages than any other: Abraham. Abraham’s life is the first detailed biography in the Bible. We’re told where he was born, where he travelled, and the tests God put him through. And the Bible tells us where Abraham and his family were buried: Here in Hebron in Israel’s disputed left bank. Rageh Omaar, The Bible: A History: Abraham
The ruins of the city of Ur are dominated by the ruins Ziggurat, or Temple. It was a sacred site for the Sumerian people, the world’s oldest known civilisation. ibid.
This is a quiet but still eerily uneasy place. And for many Muslims Iraq remains a Muslim country that is occupied by a largely Christian Western army. And they point as evidence to the fact that right here you have an American base slap-bang next door to the supposed birthplace of Abraham. The father of three monotheistic faiths. ibid.
Jews, Muslims and Christians all call Abraham their father. But so far I have failed to find evidence of how his story unites them. ibid.
Abraham actually negotiates with God in an effort to save any people in Sodom & Gomorrah who may not be wicked. Mysteries of the Bible s1e4: Cities of Evil: Sodom & Gomorrah, A&E 1994
Abraham was perhaps the first human being to believe in the concept of one God. Yet how could Abraham consent to sacrifice his own son? Mysteries of the Bible s2e2: Abraham: One Man, One God
There are two separate accounts of the creation of the world, two versions of the covenant made between God and the patriarch Abraham, and even two distinct versions of Moses obtaining water from a rock. Mysteries of the Bible s3e7: Who Wrote The Bible?
There was no migration in the direction of Canaan at the time the Bible situates Abraham’s voyage. The Bible Unearthed: The Patriarchs, Prime 2007
According to the Bible, the roots of Monotheism can be traced back three and a half thousand years to Abraham and the pact he made with God. Dr Francesca Stavrakopoulou, Bible’s Buried Secrets 2/3: Did God Have A Wife? BBC 2011
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. Genesis 12:2
And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an alter unto the Lord, who appeared unto him. Genesis 12:7
And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.
And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon:
Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive.
Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee. Genesis 12:10-13
And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. Genesis 12:17
And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south.
And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.
And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai;
Unto the place of the altar, which he had make there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the Lord.
And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents.
And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together. Genesis 13:1-6
For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. Genesis 13:15
And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan.
And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus.
And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people. Genesis 14:14-16
After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. Genesis 15:1
And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no see: and lo, one born in my house in my heir. Genesis 15:3
And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and lo, and horror of great darkness fell upon him.
And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years. Genesis 15:12&13
In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates. Genesis 15:18
Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.
And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.
And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.
And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. Genesis 16:1-4