Abraham: A Paradigm of Faith Essay

The life of Abraham is one of varied geographical places as Abraham moves from place to place as well as an expedition through life's ups and downs with its challenges and disappointment. Abraham's spiritual life is also a journey, as he moves from periods of great faith to those moments of weakness and sin. Ultimately we find that Abraham, this man of faith, learned to trust in God as he traveled, not only from his home in Ur but as he journeyed towards faith.

To study Genesis in terms of its literary and historical content is not to say that we are in any way being irreverent in our reading of this part of the Old Testament. In other words, it is possible to read Genesis in both a spirit of appreciation for its position as the opening exegetical narrative of the Bible and as a document that reflects literary and historical realities and influences during the time when it was being written down. This paper examines some of the contemporary sources that influenced the two sets of writers who recorded the events of Genesis.

Judaism, Islam, and Christianity are some of the religions that most individuals can relate to, being the three largest religions in the world. Like many religions they share many differences and also some similarities. One difference that these religions hold is their view of Jesus Christ. Similarities are surprisingly common to find among some religions because of the basis they put on one another. Some similarities between these religions include: belief of monotheism and the influence of Zoroastrianism had on each religion. Also another similarity carried out by these three religions would be the significance of Abraham. Some other differences include: religious texts and also how they approach God in prayer.

When they got on the top of the mountain, God saw that Abraham truly had faith in him, thus he sent a ram instead so that Abraham did not have to sacrifice his son. Abraham never had a doubt in God’s will and was offering even to sacrifice his own flesh and blood to prove his undoubting faith. Moses on the other hand, questioned God. When he first encounters God in the form of a fiery bush, Moses questions God’s will by asking, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11). Although he meets God in a physical form, he still questioned him with doubts of his own abilities. Unlike Abraham who had unquestioning faith, Moses started out his relationship with God with a lack of faith. Eventually, Moses does develop the same undoubting faith that Abraham processed. Only initially did he have doubts about his relationship with God.

The calling of Abraham in 12:1-3 is shown as a bridge to link 2:4b-11 and the ancestral narrative of 12-50 because it explains the human problem and the divine solution. In Genesis 2:4b-11 God noticed that as mankind began to reproduce they became more and more wicked because of their selfishness and arrogance (Human Problem). God decided to wipe them out and start fresh stating “Now the Earth was corrupt in God’s sight and the earth was filled with violence”. Before God ended flesh he saved Noah and his family because of their holiness by allowing them to aboard an ark so that they could multiply the Earth with people of holiness. When Noah’s family was told to be fruitful and multiply, Abraham was born by Noah’s grandson Terah. This links to the ancestral narrative placed in 12-50 because they are consisted of

God’s covenant with Abram, whose name was later changed to Abraham, was to be the father of many nations. The covenant includes promises concerning a land covenant, a seed covenant, and a blessing covenant. The foundation will flow out of the “Seed Covenant” to his descendants Isaac and Jacob, through whom the twelve tribes of Israel were born.

Abraham’s seriousness and dedication in regards to his covenant with God control tense actions and events between Abraham and Isaac. Abraham is compelled in his actions by his understanding and faith that his belief in God will reap benefits. Without hesitation, he considers doing everything that God tells him to do. Abraham’s willingness and sacrifice of Isaac show the great power that God has over Abraham. Abraham’s desire for God’s approval and blessings compel him toward grave actions without the concrete command from God. Abraham merely implies God’s intentions from the limited conversations held between Abraham, God, and the angel.

The hymn is written in the Bible book of Psalms, for example, it has its roots in the tradition of Canaan. But it was the ultimate belief of Judaism is exclusive to the gods of the people around them. Israel was considered to have been selected as one of God's chosen people. In their patriarchal culture, it has been recognized as the ruler of God's children to their parents, or closely related to the people as sovereign to the servants. First known as the best and only god of the universe, the God of Israel, later on, might be perceived as a personal god (Fisher 252-253).Abraham is seen as an example of obedience to God's command. Without hesitation, he, like all men and the beginning of the ceremony, the God of Abraham and his descendants

In his famous work Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard declares that “no person has a right to delude others into the belief that faith is something of no great significance, or that it is an easy matter, whereas it is the greatest and most difficult of all things.” The difficulty of faith lies in the requirement of sacrifice. The story of Abraham’s near sacrifice of his beloved son, Isaac, is what Kierkegaard utilizes to demonstrate how costly faith in God is. Here is a man, who after seventy years of waiting for God’s promise of offspring finally received his son, is commanded by God to slay his promised son with no stated reason for doing so. Kierkegaard, in attempting to experience what Abraham might have experienced in those moments, cries, “Now all is lost, God demands Isaac, I shall sacrifice him, and with him all my joy – but for all that, God is love and will remain so for me.” What bold words! The cost

Disillusioned Latin students, who cringe at the thought of repeatedly scribbling their grammar, are often told by their teachers, "Per repitio nos studiare," which translates to "through repetition we learn." Though this may seem hard to believe as their hands begin to cramp, it bears a certain amount of truth. As my grandfather once told me, "Experience is often the best teacher." Truly gaining an understanding of something often comes from repeated involvement.

The New Testament portion of the Bible is widely accepted as the book of hope, grace, love and forgiveness. However, the Old Testament also provides evidence of God’s grace and love for his people. Richard Dawkins opposes this view of the Old Testament God .Richard Dawkins in his book, The God of Delusion states that the God of the Old Testament is a God who is unjust, unforgiving, and vindictive amongst many other negative human nature attributes. Richard Dawkins view of God in the Old Testament is far from a God of grace and love. The God of the Old Testament is a God who desires to have a relationship with his people .God created covenant relationships throughout the Old Testament, starting with Adam and Eve, then

In the Abraham and Sarah story, we see the faith through Abraham’s obedience. On leaving Haran, Abraham was 75 years of age and Sarah was 65” GN 12:4. An elderly couple is sent to leave their comfort zone and going to the unknown and facing hostile land in Ur. They were confident that if they obeyed God, they would be rewarded. God says to Abraham ““To your seed I am going to give this land”. God blesses his descendancy. After all, that God has given to Abraham, he begins to doubt. The lack faith can be seen when Abraham ridicules God, when he tells Abraham that his wife will bear a child. Therefore, the couple takes matter into their own hands, and their servant, Hagar, bears a child named Ishamel. It was through faith where Sarah reconciled

The Old Testament consisted of a set of documentations of religious scriptures, which were written by different people at various times for a different audience. Most of the Old Testament contains short stories of traditional stories and those stories of distinguished ways God established mankind. These stories are often told to the people in narrative form, which are guidelines often referred to as laws, songs, genealogies, and a list from these authors that composed the Old Testaments. The pressing of set documentation is essential because it is the framework for the lives of God 's followers. The term “Old Testament” originated as a means to express spoken traditions and God 's creation of that particular era. It is an method of philosophical investigation was designed to answer the why questions within these spiritual text documentations. These religious documentations consisted of four parts. These four sections retrieved from the Old Testaments are the laws, history, wisdom and prophecy. The laws are a rule of behavior enforced within the community. The rules are sometimes called “Torah.” When analyzing this Torah, these rules viewed within the first five spiritual books of the Bible. For example, in the first Torah in Genesis, it explains the creation, Noah’s Flood, Abraham and Isaac, and Joseph’s coats of many colors. However, the laws in Exodus were in regards to the going out. The going out took about 40 plus years, until the people led to

The bible was written as an account of what many viewed that God had accomplished so his actions and words could be passed on for generations. Some believe it is a literary account and some believe it is a historical account. The word of God in the bible comes in many forms and is left up to interpretation by the reader. Some believe that the word of God should be the only word and should be strictly followed. Some believe that the words are meant as a guideline to help us through life. Whatever your belief is you can always seem to find the meaning behind your belief through the word of God in the Bible.

Many argue that the Bible especially the Old Testament is not the inspired word of God because of the command to destroy the Canaanites. Many use this as a basis of their argument that the scriptures are not inspired by God because they wonder how could God, a God of non-violence, mercy and goodness command such a thing. The focus of this paper will be “how is one to respond to this accusation that the Old Testament is not inspired because of commands to destroy people such as the Canaanites? This paper will attempt to answer this question by offering contrary evidence, will argue that when God’s nature is properly understood, the command for destruction of the Canaanites is not against God’s nature and that God had justified reasons in this command. This paper will provide proof of the goodness, mercy and moral nature of God, as well as the accountability that God demands from all people. It will then show the justified reason for such commands not only for the Canaanites but other nations as well. This paper will show that in spite of the commands of destruction from God that Scripture is indeed inspired by God.