Whence Comes Evil?

In the TBS movie “Abraham,” God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son. Abraham goes out and screams “Why?”

In the Bible, that never happens. Maybe it did, but the Bible never mentions it. Hebrews says Abraham took Isaac to be sacrificed convinced by God’s previous promise that he and the boy would, somehow, return.

Abraham took that all the way, never pausing to say “Why?” along the way. When Isaac asked where was the sacrifice, Abraham didn’t get smart and say “Good question.” He said “God will provide a lamb.”

God doesn’t give explanations very often. He’s working for a bigger result- faith and trust in who he is and what he’s done for us- and will do- in Jesus.

That’s the life. I need to get busy living it, because every moment I’m shouting “Why?” I”m wasting my breath.

from Boar's Head Tavern

Now you've got to understand, to people like me, this kind of talk scares me like nothing else. Imagine the Abraham story in a modern setting. Say your friend tells you, "Hey, guess what! The voice of God, which only I can hear, has ordered me to kill my son as a sacrifice. I'm going to murder my boy without question to prove my loyalty and faith."

I'm sorry, but my response will never be, "Sounds great! You sure are an exemplary human being!"

My response will always be, "HOLY SHIT! SOMEONE CALL THE GODDAMN POLICE!"

This disdain for questioning, this rejection of reason, this anti-intellectual belief that asking, "why?" is a waste of breath, chills me to the bone. Honestly, it is a moral teaching that is so counter-intuitive and in complete opposition to my basic sense of right and wrong that I could never embrace it without feeling sick and corrupt.

I think it is a philosophy of obedience and assumed authority without justification, the essence of totalitarianism, which is decidedly dangerous, unhealthy and immoral.