Thread: If...
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Old 12-10-2005, 10:46 PM
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Default Re: If...

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Side point: my residual doubt reason is not addressed by this.

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Surely you're not suggesting that Abraham might have been mistaken?

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If you mean mistaken in that Abraham had no doubt (I do not know the story well enough to know if this is so):

It is hard for me to answer this in a serious way because an amusing vision of Abraham's [censored] buddies standing around afterwards laughing their asses off keeps on intruding into my head. However, I will try. I suspect that Abraham would have verified that there were no plausible technological hoax possibilities, which would have been rather easier in his day than it would be now. I also suspect that Abraham's theological theoretical commitments would have prevented him from seriously entertaining the malicious entity possibility, theoretical commitments that I lack. Finally, it is possible that Abraham was socialized in a culture that found child sacrifice more palatable than we do today. All of this is, it goes without saying, supposing that it all went down as written.

If you mean mistaken in the actions he took:

I didn't say I wouldn't do it, just that it would "irritate" me, which was a somewhat sloppy way of referring to a serious, lingering negative emotional response.

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and not eating cake because it would spoil your tea seems about the right analogy which is why I describe it as a tiny sacrifice not no sacrifice.

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The right analogy, I think, in one way but a poor analogy when it comes to magnitude.
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