I think it falls back to Genesis 22. Abraham was called to sacrifice his then only son to prove that he loved God more. On the way up the mountain, Isaac asked, "where is the lamb for the sacrifice" and was answered by his father, "God will provide one for us". In those times, the act of slaughtering of a prized animal was believed to be the one way to channel God's attention to gain God's blessing. Suppose God was watching this going on as Abraham and Isaac were walking up the slope, and gets an Idea. Up until that moment, God was going to let Abraham go through with it, but now the notion of providing a lamb for man in the same way man provided for It seemed absolutely brilliant.
And so God provided his then only son up for sacrifice and went through with it to prove that It loved man more than It loved Itself in a way that man could understand at the time. Much like Quetzalcoaltl as I mentioned in a previous rant, "after this, no more". Man no longer needed to make barbaric sacrifices to get God's attention. God proved we already have it.
Your viewpoint as God-as-Scientist is interesting, though. Suppose there is a multiverse of competing Gods for the Big Ribbon of Ultimate Enlightenment or whatever the divine prize is. I could then see a god that was detached but concerned in a way that a tropical fish enthusiast frets over his aquarium and introduces an ultra-rare specimen to see what happens. It would make the idea of sacrifice a question of valuable data, and to an analytical mind that gives it a sense of worth.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2010-05-01 04:00 am (UTC)Suppose God was watching this going on as Abraham and Isaac were walking up the slope, and gets an Idea. Up until that moment, God was going to let Abraham go through with it, but now the notion of providing a lamb for man in the same way man provided for It seemed absolutely brilliant.
And so God provided his then only son up for sacrifice and went through with it to prove that It loved man more than It loved Itself in a way that man could understand at the time. Much like Quetzalcoaltl as I mentioned in a previous rant, "after this, no more". Man no longer needed to make barbaric sacrifices to get God's attention. God proved we already have it.
Your viewpoint as God-as-Scientist is interesting, though. Suppose there is a multiverse of competing Gods for the Big Ribbon of Ultimate Enlightenment or whatever the divine prize is. I could then see a god that was detached but concerned in a way that a tropical fish enthusiast frets over his aquarium and introduces an ultra-rare specimen to see what happens. It would make the idea of sacrifice a question of valuable data, and to an analytical mind that gives it a sense of worth.