Abraham and Isaac
God talks to me in ways that I can understand. I’ve got a great-niece who’s about five years old. We can talk about how well she knows her ABCs or what’s her favorite bedtime story, but we can’t really get into things like why the United States trades freely with China but not Cuba. So when I talk to God, I’m sure there’s nuances that I’m missing and whole subjects that never even come up, still I do what I can. I think that maybe I’m more like a dog than a child, most of the time. Sure I love God when he’s there, but comprehend him? I’m not sure I’m even capable of that.
So, we got onto the subject of the Bible today. Well, we didn’t really happen on to the subject, I just had one of those questions that I had to ask, in much the same way as a dog just has to stick its nose into your crotch. I asked about the story of Abraham and Isaac.
For those of you who aren’t up on your Bible studies (and mostly that includes me), the tale can be summed up pretty quickly. Abraham was one of God’s chosen. God wanted to test Abraham’s commitment, so he ordered Abraham to take his son up on the mountain and sacrifice him on an altar. Abraham began to do what he was told. With a flair for the dramatic, God waited until Abraham had Isaac tied up on the altar, and his knife raised up and poised to strike, before he sent an angel to call the whole thing off.
So, like a friend that’s too stupid to know better than to ask someone how their divorce is going, I brought up this story and asked God what it was about. He said to me, you know how you go out in the yard and play fetch with a dog, and every once in a while you can’t resist and you fake a throw? The dog goes running off to find the ball but can’t, because it’s still in your hand. Well, that was it, Isaac was a fake throw.
Perhaps a flair for the melodramatic?
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Emotionally, I’m an atheist. Rationally, I’m an agnostic. By heritage, I’m a Jew.
Today was Yom Kippur, the holiest of Jewish holidays – a day of atonement for the sins of the previous year. Some Jews believe that if that were any day that one could speak with God, this is it. Others believe that God is too busy to care, and that the purpose of Yom Kippur is actually self-atonement.
Personally, I like the idea of self-forgiveness. I have always felt that seeking a conversation with God is a futile endeavor. If God really needs to speak with you, it won’t be in scriptures. It won’t be through others (religious leaders). And it won’t be because you hope he would. He’ll just do it. Then, it is up to the individual to decide if the conversation was real, or just an hallucination.
So, each year on this day, I leave myself open to the possibility that if God were to speak to me, it would be on Yom Kippur.
Upon reading your blog, I’m beginning to wonder. Is it possible that God did not seek me out on this day because he was too busy in Arizona?
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