Does the god of the bible allow human sacrifice or the sacrifice of children?
It's said in the bible that one of the foul things done by the nations whom the Israelites conquered was sacrificing their children to their god.
But isn't that exactly what happens in the story of Jephthah?
He promises god that if he will grant Jephthah victory in battle then he will sacrifice whatever comes out of his house to meet him upon his return. Now let's just blow right past the fact that at BEST something coming out of his house to meet him is going to be a pet and more likely a family member.
When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of timbrels! She was an only child.
Judges 11:34
And then Jephtha burns his daughter as a sacrifice to god in return for his victory.
How selfish is any "god" that demands it's people suffer for the glory of it? And what is sacrifice other than a form of masochism? Take what i cannot afford to give, for the sake of worship? Sounds backwards.
did not just allow.. sometimes demanded it. God commands Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice. After Isaac is bound to an altar, a messenger from God stops Abraham before the sacrifice finishes, saying "now I know you fear God". Abraham looks up and sees a ram and sacrifices it instead of Isaac. and then he said .. JUST JOKING
Yeah i know that's a fucked up story but i don't consider it an example of god demanding a child sacrifice since we can safely assume he didn't intend for Abraham to go through with it.
@Pikachu When Yahweh your god has cut off before you the peoples among whom you are about to enter to dispossess, and you have dispossessed them and lived in their land, be careful lest you are ensnared by them, after they have been destroyed before you—lest you inquire about their gods, saying, “How did these peoples serve their gods? I also will do likewise.” You must not do likewise for Yahweh your god, because every abomination to Yahweh that he hates they have done for their gods—for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods! (Deut 12:29–31)
lol yes there are an abundance of fucked up stories in the Bible. And i agree that some of those stories don't seem to support the notion of a loving god.
I think it's important to be able to do both. Otherwise it's just a miasma of disparate beliefs with no way to determine the veracity or value of any one over the other.
SW-User
@Pikachu Without evidence for atheists failing to kill children I see no possibility of morality comparison.
Definitely fucked up and i'm not sure why Abraham thought it was a command his god would give but in the end it's not an example of god accepting child sacrifice.
I read the Bible story. And i read some fringe views that Jephthah didn't actually sacrifice her...which is odd considering the Bible straight up says "And at the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow that he had made."
SW-User
It's definitely acceptable when gawd is the one doing the sacrificing to sate gawd's bloodlust
