Hearing God's voice

[Guest]

Steve,

That was me that asked the question on behalf of my cousin Dia, who is not a follower of Christ. I was going to ask a question for myself, but she was standing around when your show came on. So, I asked her if she had any questions about the bible whatever it may be, then to ask you. That question was what she came up with first (she has more), and we did listen to the recording a couple hours later. She enjoyed it, laughed, and thought you were a knowledgable man. As I said, I do appreciate you.

Anyways, I have a question in regards when you said "there are many people who are in mental institutions today who think God's spoken to them instructing them to kill their children or their wife." With this in mind, what do you make of God testing Abraham?

Genesis 22:1-2
1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. 2 Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."

This is a passage questioned by skeptics, though I doubt Dia is familiar with it. If God has spoken before instructing one to kill their child, on what basis can we say He wont again? If someone claims that God told them to kill their son, daughter, husband or wife etc., how would you counsel them?

[Guest]

Hi SE,

First, we must remember that God did not really want Abraham to kill his son, and prevented him from doing so. Therefore, there is no precedent for God really wanting anyone to kill their child.

Abraham was being tested, and the text mentions. But he could not have been tested in that manner if he had at that time had the scriptures and the law of God, which would have told him that God does not desire human sacrifices. The pagan nations around Abraham did practice such things, and for all God had heretofore revealed to Abraham (which was not much) perhaps Yahweh also required these sacrifices. Abraham learned otherwise, and we have learned otherwise also, both from this incident and from the later revelations given through Moses, to which Abraham was not privy.

[Guest]

Thanks Steve. Dia's next question will be on how we can know the bible today accurately records what was originally written. After all, (she reasons), many of us are aware of the classroom analogy where one says something to another, that one repeats it to another, and so on till it's back to the first person. In the end, what one first said has been changed significantly. She thinks the same applies to the bible, and think that the bible has been translated and retranslated and retranslated throughout the centuries if not ages. That is why she thinks the bible today lacks authority because in her eyes, we can't be certain we have what was originally written. Lord willing, we'll call in Monday and you can deal with this issue/objection. I think she enjoyed calling in. She was stayed on hold for a little while and was going to ask you her question herself, but her cell phone rang so she gave me the phone to ask you.