There is a novel, and damned if I can remember the title, where a rabi proposes that god commanding Abraham to kill his son was a test, which he (Abraham) failed.
My understanding of the story (in the novel, which I still can’t remember the name) was that in knuckling under to the command to murder his own child, Abraham failed the test.
Ha! Just remembered the name of the novel. Hyperion by Dan Simmons. The Rabies name was Sol Weintraub, for what that’s worth. OK, now I can think about something else…
The implication I’m making is that a moral deity that allows free will might allow bad things to happen as a test for people to act morally. Religion, instead has been at the root of problems and/or stood by while bad people do bad things.
I’m functionally an atheist. I certainly have a disdain for religious orgs.
I’d accept the argument that this, in fact, a test. If so, religious people are failing it.
There is a novel, and damned if I can remember the title, where a rabi proposes that god commanding Abraham to kill his son was a test, which he (Abraham) failed.
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My understanding of the story (in the novel, which I still can’t remember the name) was that in knuckling under to the command to murder his own child, Abraham failed the test.
Ha! Just remembered the name of the novel. Hyperion by Dan Simmons. The Rabies name was Sol Weintraub, for what that’s worth. OK, now I can think about something else…
How so?
I might have misunderstood your statement. If this life is a test and the eternal afterlife is what they seek, how are they failing it?
They don’t care about a finite 90-something year life and would give it away for an eternity which is incomparable.
The implication I’m making is that a moral deity that allows free will might allow bad things to happen as a test for people to act morally. Religion, instead has been at the root of problems and/or stood by while bad people do bad things.
Removed by mod