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What would've happened if Abraham had been successful in sacrificing Isaac?
This story has always bothered me. If God was capable of asking Abraham to kill Isaac, was He really all-good? Could He bend the rules of right and wrong, the unethical and ethical that the Bible also asserts is axiomatic? It plagued my mind and actually sent me into a minor depression, a dysthymia directed towards my faith. Recently I have really put a great deal of thought into it. I’ve struggled for months over this story and the idea that God could ask someone to sacrifice their innocent child --a fundamentally evil act-- when it goes against God's pure and all-good nature. I've read and reread in many translations and studied analysis, as well as discussed it with my brother who has an M.Div. and was educated in ancient Greek. In the scriptures it says that God did this to “test” Abraham, but I believe this to be false. Perhaps it was an effort by the authors of the Bible to understand why God would do this to Abraham, or as a way to excuse or deal with the concept of God commanding someone to do evil. Later, I will get to why I think this is an incorrect conclusion.
After all of this study, my consternation and mental stress culminated in a vivid, fever dream last night, that I believe has shown me the true nature of Isaac's near-sacrifice.
In the dream, I was in Biblical clothing. I sat at the deathbed of a man who I knew to be my father, though he did not look like my earthly father. I did not fully understand the situation at the time, but I believe that in the dream I had been placed in the role of Jacob, and I was discussing the story of Abraham and the young Isaac's almost-sacrifice with Isaac himself. We did not speak as if the story was a memory, but as if it had happened to someone else long ago. Looking back it seems odd that I would have an in depth discussion of my theological dread with someone on their deathbed, but my subconscious kind of forgot as the conversation went on that this old man was supposed to be on his death bed. His vitality increased with every question and his sentences grew in complexity and penetrative insight as the time went on. His intimate knowledge of the story, his insightful questions, my unspoken but internally known role as his son, as well as his being mostly blind and quite old are what led me to believe when I awoke that he was Isaac in his old age. After waking from this dream, I believe I understand the story now.
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>>9459186
(2/2)
The reason God called Abraham to sacrifice Isaac was not a test, but because it would've been an eternal sacrifice for all future sin, on the same level as Jesus' crucifixion in the New Testament. Isaac was young and free from sin at that point, paralleling Jesus' purity. I believe this was one of God’s early “solutions” seeking to atone for mankind’s sins and reunite us with God, but because of His all-good nature, it was impossible for Him to carry out such a thing, so He provided Abraham with the ram. Perhaps even God himself experienced some form of temptation when He nearly carried out an immoral act (asking Abraham to kill his “only son, whom he loved”). If the outcome would’ve been the atonement for mankind’s sin, on par with Jesus’ later sacrifice, I can understand why God may have experience the temptation to carry out one single immoral act in order to save the generations of men who came after. In order to atone for sin and death, God would have had to sacrifice someone pure.
I also believe this to be the moment God realized (or perhaps the moment He showed mankind His reasons, since God is outside of time and all-knowing, therefore most likely doesn't "realize" anything) He could not ask Abraham to sacrifice his own son for the sins of the world, so He would have to take Abraham’s place, and his burden, sacrificing His own son (which is why Jesus is called "the lamb", a pure and younger version of the ram that Abraham sacrificed) in mankind's stead.
I believe this to be the true nature of the Akedah.
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Are you there Kierkegaard?
It's me, Anon.
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>>9459189
This is pretty cool actually OP thanks but I dont know enough about it to add or criticise.
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William Gibson on Dhalgren:
>I have never understood it. I have sometimes felt that I partially understood it, or that I was nearing the verge of understanding it... Dhalgren is not there to be finally understood. I believe its "riddle" was never meant to be "solved."
Can we solve it, /lit/?
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>>9459123
Dhalgren is terrible. One step above genre-tier, with terrible flowery prose and weak and unoriginal ideas. People have been drawn in way too much to the idea of the "wacky maximalist postmodern novel" these days. Just because a book is long and relatively difficult does not mean that it is good.
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thanks for the rec op
will read
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>>9459141
>People have been drawn in way too much to the idea of the "wacky maximalist postmodern novel" these days. Just because a book is long and relatively difficult does not mean that it is good.
This
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Has there ever been an author as slow and pathetic as this guy?
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>>9458855
Joyce.
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>>9458855
>6 (or more) years to finish a single installment of a trashy fantasy series
There's something seriously going wrong with him. My guess is he's depressed and wants to move on from the series. He's written himself in knots with his convoluted bullshit and has been outpaced by the TV adaptation anyway.
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>>9458855
It took Pynchon 17 years to come up with Vineland
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Do any of you pirate books?
I've been thinking of just downloading stuff to put on my Kindle.
It's not morally bad if the authors are dead it the books are old as fuck right?
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If I can't pirate a book then I can't afford it then I'll never read it and I'll never tell anyone how good it is.
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EPub and Mobi files of public domain books are so easy to get you should feel embarrassed for asking. Just search for the book in Google and add the file extension you want, which would be Mobi since your Kindle owner.
Bookzz is a popular source, there's also the IRC Channel #bookz. It's not talked about on wait but Project Gutenber also has a lot of public domain stuff for free. Never pay money for public domain ebook.
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>>9458820
in an age where information is so easily deliverable, I believe it is the publishers who are in the moral wrong for wanting to restrict access to information that can be distributedly for virtually no cost. The best authors write to be read, not to make money.
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How did Gondor manage to pay for the city repairs after the Battle of the Pelennor Fields?
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Southron Slaves.
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>>9458294
Aragorn ran up the city debt and then paid it off with wise investments in later years.
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>>9458344
>Aragorn was Donald Trump
Pretty good comparison actually.
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Is there a point in reading Spinoza today or is he just a historical curiosity like how Alchemy used to be a legitimate part of Science?
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>>9458119
Its just like, I normally read philosophers to understand other philosophers. There's like traditions of ideas and perspectives.
Spinoza gets mentioned a lot but no one really carried on his torch it seems. He was kind of just a dead end.
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>>9458129
>Spinoza gets mentioned a lot but no one really carried on his torch it seems. He was kind of just a dead end.
literally every history of philosophy says otherwise
Anonymous
Did he 'Figure everything out'? 2017-05-03 04:50:37 Post No.9457936
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Did he 'Figure everything out'? 2017-05-03 04:50:37 Post No.9457936
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Did he 'Figure everything out'?
Anonymous
2017-05-03 04:50:37
Post No. 9457936
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Did he find the 'truth'?
You hear from these Eastern religious types all the time that they've found the 'ultimate truths' about reality. They've got it all figure out.
Does Eastern spirituality really subvert a couple millenia of Western thinking?
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>>9457936
You can state the dhamma without the word truth. Truth is really a word used by normies to think they are good guys.
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>stoicism but for meek asians
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What if Stirner met the Buddha?
I think he'd call him a cuck
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Can someone please give me a few ideas for a pen name? Everything I come up with sounds either too fake or too forgettable
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>>9457880
Faggot Mcsucker
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Gayman Gundamlover
Cheeseburger Fagboy
Hairy Styles
Thomas Pynchon
Crapper McClure
Unimaginativehackwriter Notalent
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literally just use a name generator, fag
Anonymous
Grammar quiz and general grammar thread 2017-05-03 03:47:38 Post No.9457759
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Grammar quiz and general grammar thread 2017-05-03 03:47:38 Post No.9457759
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Grammar quiz and general grammar thread
Anonymous
2017-05-03 03:47:38
Post No. 9457759
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Alright you god dam fagets time for a rude awakining, did you think you were good at gramer because NEWS FLASH yo'ure fuckin not. Here's a quiz put together by the man himself the bandanna'd frek of nature Himself:
https://101books.net/2011/04/22/the-david-foster-wallace-grammar-quiz/
I got 8/10 because I'm not got dam reterded.
Also general opinions on the necessity of proper gramer, why its important to corect peoples speech and writengs whenever posible, and how smart your mom thinks you is.
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>>9457759
gay as AIDS
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>>9457759
Actually taking issue with split infinitives... ewwww
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>>9457759
I got them all but I don't agree they're all errors.
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Been looking for over a year and today I finally found a mcelroy in the wild. What have you lads recently purchased? Anyone ever read mcelroy?
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>>9457653
Is Barth actually good or a meme?
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Reminder than Women and Men is being released in about two months. You can preorder it on The Book Depository.
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>>9457676
Barth is great. What would make you think hes a meme? People dont meme him. Im excited for women and men. Once I read smugglers all that is left is hinds kidnap and women and meme.
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Surely there must be something else like the 120 days of sodom. Surely sade wasn't the only person to live a life of unbridled sexual excess and write fiction about it. I imagine there's droves of writings out there just like it, scat and taboo and all. Where are they?
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Bataille, it's always the french.
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>>9457149
Hogg
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>>9457151
This.
I recommend Story of the Eye. Great read.
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How's your reading challenge going?
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>>9457119
Pretty well. Was aiming for sixty. On pace for 80ish. Good year so far. Hoping to maintain it, but I want to tackle some big books this summer. Might bring the number down a bit. Only 600+ page book I've read this year was The Recognitions.
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>>9457119
Super slow! :-(
Who knows some fun short books so I can inflate my numbers? I've already read all the Hunger Games -- that pesky Peter! -- and am looking for more of the same!
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>>9457141
Fuck off.
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Is this any good? I don't want to get meme'd on.
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>>9456998
It's unironically one of the worst books I've ever read
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>>9456998
I remember reading 100 pages and getting bored because the plot wasn't going anywhere and I didn't get any of what might have been mythological references or something so I stopped.
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>>9456998
I'm reading it now and I'd say it's mediocre at best, this is coming from someone who is new to lit and utter pleb.
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What is your extremely short, 100 % comprehensive, and always correct life philosophy? The one sentence that lets you know what to do in all situations?
Of course it's a stupid question. I feel like "Be yourself" or "Have no philosophy" should be the answer but it's like allowing yourself to be cucked by advertising.
And Notes From the underground was right. As soon as I hear "rules for life" style shit I immediately stop following them.
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>>9456992
Yes.
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Taken from a song I heard once:
>Do what you want, do what you will, just don't mess up your neighbor's thrill.
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>>9456992
The redpill. I am inherently superior to 99% of the world's population, I know the truth and am virtuous and my failings are the result of the works of women, leftsts, jews, blacks, and liberals.
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I just noticed I've never read a diary before. Samuel Pepys diary seems really interesting. What are some good diary's.
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HAHAHAHAHA
WHY NOT TRY
M Y
Y
D I A R Y
I
A
Y
D E S U
E
U
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>>9456171
fpbp
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bump